It Wasn't A Good Day

Today was not a good day.

It's probably not the worst day I've had at work.

But it definitely wasn't a good day.

I was hopeful, in the beginning, despite the fact that I was working the midday shift, that work wouldn't be too crazy....

Which it's hard to be hopeful when today was a Saturday. Notoriously the busiest day of the week.

And this month it's been hard to predict just how crazy the day would or would not be. Some Saturdays have been Christmasy busy. Others have been Summer slow.

But I wasn't too concerned because we had plenty of coverage.

And then....

Things went....well....downhill?

There were 8 of us this morning.

Three managers, two cashiers, two stockers, and one pet care.

Which was great because around 11 or so we were already pretty busy. And it was nice to have plenty of hands on hand to help out.

And then like 12:30 hit.

And I should have had my other two managers and my two stockers until 1:30. 

But suddenly.

They were all gone.

The stockers clocking out early because they hadn't taken lunches.

My other managers also decided to leave early...so that they wouldn't go into overtime. As they don't always take their lunches either.

Which I get.

I don't mind people leaving early.

But FOUR people at once? 

ON A SATURDAY that was gearing up to be crazy busy? Like right in the middle of a lunchtime rush?

Without telling me when I first came in so I could mentally prepare to be the only manager on duty for like 45 minutes until my closing manager came in.

But to be told that everyone was leaving right as they were all walking out the door?

Not. Helpful.

And not. Very. Nice. 

On a busy Saturday.

Like. No. We can't do that. That doesn't help. 

Like yes, I still had two cashiers and one petcare person. So I wasn't totally short staffed for the 45 minute period.

But I would have liked to have had that heats up to prepare.

Especially when I then had to figure how to do a carpet cleaner rental...as I've done like...maybe three before? In the past 8 years. *exhales* 

And then I had to juggle picking orders, taking out orders, helping customers, and...yah...it was stressful.

Even more so when my closing manager texted to say that they were gonna be late. 

Which meant my 45 minutes...had turned into a good hour and a halfish short of timeframe. 

Not. The best. For a Saturday.

And unfortunately right as my closing manager got into the store...there was an incident in grooming.

Where a dog apparently freaked out in his kennel while waiting for his owners to come...and ended up cutting his muzzle and hurting his paw.

Which meant we needed to take him immediately to the vet.

Which thankfully one of the groomers did do.

The sticky part of the situation was that the owner was already in the store getting ready to pay....so we had to stop him real quick before he paid and make sure that the dog was taken care of and such and see if he was still okay paying for the groom. Which he was.

The semi sticky part was that the vet was like "I can treat him but it might take a while because of such and such reasons, so he can stay here, or else the owner can take him to their vet."

*exhales*

That's not how we do things.

If the dog is in our care, we cover the problems that may arise. We don't make the customer pay for things that happen in our store. 

But to do that we need to keep the dog in our custody and keep it at our vet. 

Thankfully the customer was understanding and even remarked that the dog didn't like being cooped up so he didn't seem too surprised to hear that he had freaked out in the kennel.

Though like....if the owner knew the dog would get so anxious...he should have told us that. As the groomer later informed him that we offer Express Services. For those dogs that can't be cooped up in kennels. So that they're groomed quickly and fast and in as minimal of a stress environment as possible. 

And because we learned the dog was high stress in kennels the vet ended up seeing and caring for the wounds faster because they couldn't put him in a kennel to wait due to the anxiety of the dog.

But yah.

To have all these stressful events happening, before my shift is even halfway over....is well....stressful. It's hard. Especially when the store was busy for a good three hours straight and only slowed down when the sun went down and the dark cold stormy weather finally discouraged people from coming into the store instead of flocking to it. 

And to make an already tough day harder....at the end of my shift.

Right as I was getting off work and trying to detox.

I got a message from a friend that an acquaintance...one that I haven't actively interacted with in years...was feeling sad on social media. And my friend was commenting on it. And I was like "Yes. This person is usually sad."

And then the friend was like "What are YOU gonna do about it?"

Like....Excuse me?

What am I gonna do about it? 

I haven't spoken to this person in YEARS. The most interaction I do is I occasionally like a social media post. 

So I have no idea, beyond the fact that I had commented to said friend the evening before that I didn't like the acquaintance posting negative comments on my positive posts,what made my friend think that I needed to do anything. 

Like dude.

I've just had a rather bad day at work.

I just want to grab my fast food. Go home. And unwind. Chill. 

I literally spent 8 hours running around the store helping person after person after person after person.

And now this friend wants me to go help another person? One that I no longer know well or talk to? One that I know has other people already there to support them and help them. 

I don't have the energy for it.

Especially after a bad day at work.

And it irks me that this friend expected me to jump immediately to another person's aid.

Like...they didn't even ask how I was doing. They had no idea the day I'd just had. 

And it bugged me.

Like if you are so concerned about this acquaintance...then why don't you do something about it? Why come to me at all if you are the one who are concerned.

Because in the end. All it did was made me feel worse than I was already feeling. Because I wasn't helping the person. Because I didn't want to help another person today. I am physically, mentally, and emotionally drained after today. I don't have it in me to go be someone else's uplifting force. I need to focus on myself and recharging. Getting my own comfort. Finding my own happiness and zen.

And I just ended up feeling horrible for being like "They can handle it themselves." Because I just couldn't today. 

Definitely not the best way to end the day. At all.

*exhales* 

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

-Sarnic Dirchi