Set It Up, Please

It always stresses me out a bit.
When customers call on the phone, or walk into the store and demand that they speak to our "expert." 

"Fish Expert." "Reptile Expert" "Bird Expert." 

Because yah...I get it that they probably think our pet store is a bit like Best Buy and if something goes wrong you can come in and talk to the 'professionals' who know how to fix it all.

But newsflash...
We don't have 'experts' in our stores.
You just have people with varying levels of experience with different animals.
But most of the time it's just personal experience. What they've owned and researched and learned in the store etc. 

We don't have 'experts'
So it gets me a little tense....when people ask for one.
Because it's not like I have a group of people sitting and twiddling their thumbs in the back waiting to be called upon.
Nope.
Often it's just me in my department.
So it doesn't matter if I'm an expert or not...you get to talk to me. 

A lot of the time the questions are really easy to answer. So they're no stress.
It's when the people call going "My animal has this issue, what do I do?" that we run into a bit of a problem.
Because...maybe you should go see a vet??

In any case.
The woman who called today didn't need help with animals.
No she wanted to talk with our 'expert' in fish filters.
Because she'd purchased a filter second hand today and wanted someone who could take her step by step through the process of setting it up.

Which....*exhales*
It's...not like actively work with the products in the store.
Unless we've bought the thing ourselves or have had a coworker tell us about a thing they bought...
We have very little experience with things.
We sell the product. We don't do all the set up/repair/figure it all out things. 

Still.
I was game to see what I could do.
And really hoping she wouldn't expect me to walk her through a set up process over the phone because like....that just doesn't seem like it would work. 

But she'd bought a canister filter....second hand.
-Complicated canister filters....I already didn't like how this was going.
And she'd taken it apart to clean it. 
-Which if she wants to know how it works....just put it back together the way you found it and fill full of water? 
And in the process of cleaning this used filter that's in 'really good condition'
She discovered that the rod that connects to the propeller that helps the water to go....
Was broken.

So she was like "Do I need it?"
And me, I was already preparing to tell her that no we don't sell the parts and she'd need to go find said pieces elsewhere. And I was like "You probably do."

To which she responded. "Nah, I don't think I do, actually I think it's an extra part because like, there's still the magnetized thingy and I just think the rod is extra as it doesn't say it's needed in this instruction manual I have for this other filter of the same brand just a larger size." 

*squinty eyes* 
It's another pet peeve of mine.
To have people ask me questions they already know the answers to.

Like if you already knew the answer to my question lady...why are you calling me? Why are you asking the question in the first place? 

-Because literally my only experience with canister filters is the one we have underneath our goldfish display tank.
and it's a filter I work with very carefully as the thing has electrocuted me two if not at least three times because it's finicky. And it's been months since I've actually handled the thing.

In any case....
She was like "If I brought the canister filter into the store would there be someone available familiar with filters to be able to set it up for me and make sure it works?" 

O_o 
Couldn't you do it yourself?
If you don't think the broken rod is necessary to make the propeller go.
And you have an instruction manual for a different but similar canister filter...
That means you've already set one up before previously.
Meaning you have the experience necessary to get your canister filter working.
The only difference is the size.
But otherwise...it's basically the same thing. Same product. Same method of getting the thing to run. 

I didn't say that of course.
I was like "Well, we don't usually handle the products in the store, we just sell them, so some coworkers have more experience than others." 

"But you guys helped me set up a filter before! Took me into the back filled a bucket full of water and such!" 

….*exhales* 
Yes...I remember doing this on occasion with customers....testing filters...though usually never canister filters. It's usually the over the back filters. 

"It would depend on when you were coming in." I tried. "Because I do have newer associates who aren't as familiar with it."

"I just want you guys to help me out." Came her basic response.
The "You do it I don't wanna" sort of response.

So I checked in with the manager.
Discussed a course of action.

And told her that if she could come in before 4 today, then there would be someone here to help, if she came later, the associates may not know how to help as they're newer and I wasn't sure of their experience in regards to canister filters. 

-My department manager after I told him this was like "Yah, we really need to just sit everyone down and show them how to get those to work." 

In any case.
I told her a time frame because either me or my manager would be there, and I knew we both had experience with the canister filters. 

But mostly I was hoping she would decide to not come in.
She was like "I'll be right over"

Cue stress.
Because I really didn't want to help her out.
And knowing my luck she'd show up just as I was supposed to be getting off and the manager would be nowhere to be found and it would be like 30 minutes before I could break away and therefore I would be clocking out late. and *exhales*
I didn't want to deal with her.

I already didn't like her over the phone with her insistence of talking to experts and the nagging demands to help her set up the filter etc.

*shakes head*
Especially since she could probably set the whole thing up herself.
I mean...what more could we do?
"Oh yes, the rod is necessary to get it to work. But we don't sell the parts. So either a) you return it from where you bought it or b) you go online and find the right part because we don't have it."

I lucked out though.
I managed to clock out without seeing her.

But as I was walking out of the store, I saw a woman with a large canister filter in hand, talking to my manager.

*whew* 
So I just baaareeelly missed having to deal with her.

For which I'm glad.
Because I didn't want complications in my life.
And canister filters take a bit more thought process to get to work than I wanted to expend at the end of my shift.

….Hopefully she figured it out....

Until you next see these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi