Shall I vent?? Okay!
My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to 99 cents a can. That’s almost $7.00 in dog money.
– Joe Weinstein
Ahhh yes, lets talk about dog food for a bit. Not in depth kinda stuff – just some general things like – Cashiers don’t set the prices. I KNOW – concept, right?? They have like ZERO power at the place you buy your dog food. They show up, they do their job the way they are told to do it. That’s it. That’s all the power they have.
I'm worth every penny, right, Mom??
Yelling at the cashier about the price of dog food may make you feel like a powerful person, but all it does is upset someone who can do nothing about it. Who can’t even yell back and keep the job they need. It solves Nothing.
Cashiers have no decision on what we carry in the store either. Nope. They decide that at corporate. We have no input at store level – and even if we did – the cashier wouldn’t be in on the decision making process. They have no power.
They have the power to give me a good dog treat - 'cause I'm a very good dog!
Well, okay – they have some power. They can greet you cheerfully as you walk in the door. They can direct you to where you might find the item you are looking for.
Sometimes they can give you information about some products. Sometimes, not, but maybe they can find someone who can. If they can’t – again – Not their fault. They can’t pull people out of thin air to help you. Corporate has cut hours so much – sometimes there just isn’t anyone to help. The cashier is sorry, but they can’t make the manager do anything and they can’t pull the one other person in the store away from another customer to help you.
No magic wand to create help? That makes me very sad.
They can check you out speedily and accurately. They can wish you a great day, say thanks for your business, and hopefully leave you with a smile.
Unless, you know, the person ahead of you yelled at them for personally raising the price of dog food loudly and harshly enough to make them cry.
Times are tough for everyone. Do your bit to make things better, not worse, okay??
Dog trainers get to go to parties and celebrate! Cashiers - not so much,
Vent over – back to dog training tomorrow.
Thank goodness - 'cause we just wanna play!
Day in the life of….
Shall I start with the customer of the week story? This was actually a phone call – picked up the phone and the lady said “Tell me all the brands of dog food you carry.” No, really – she did. I laughed as I do to my children’s ridiculous requests, and said “Tell me what kind you’re looking for.” Well, she wasn’t sure….. So she was wanting not only the Brand Names – Nutro, Purina, Science Diet etc – but she was wanting me to list all the Flavors we carry in those brands. Yeah, let me spend an hour with you on the phone….Come to find out after Painful Prying she was wanting a prescription brand that she couldn’t remember the name of ’its something for his teeth…’ and thought if she heard it in my list she’d know. Okay then. No, we don’t have that.
sheltie
Seemed yesterday was crazy cat lady day, too. I have NO CLUE how many cases of cat food were rung up by me and the other very patient cashiers. No, there is never just a simple Case of cat cans – Noooo – they must all be different flavors because our kitties are so very picky. So they all have to be taken out and rung up separately. And of course, we must request six cans to a bag. Double bagged. Both bags tied . While they tell you all about each of their cats likes and dislikes. Then , of course, they are ALWAYS surprised at the end they have to pay. I still can’t figure this one out. You COULD be fumbling for that check book and writing the check out while I’m scanning. Just a thought!
Then there was ‘hairball treat’ lady. She didn’t want to feed her cat a hairball formula catfood – specifically made for the issue she was discussing, which is actually kind of gross….but she wanted ‘hairball treats’. She’d bought them there before! We carry them! Hairball Treats!!! If you say “hairball treats!’ enough – you start to feel as crazy as the crazy cat ladies!
But – The best thing about crazy cat ladies is how much they really do love their kittys. I like to see love.
Ahhhh – the guy who wanted the ‘firehose toy!’ for his dog. We don’t know where His mind was – but one of my managers and I both thought that sounded rather naughty.
I graduated a class last night. Some classes, to be honest, I’m just ‘bye-bye’ and send them on their way. Some I just love. This was one. I had the Best time playing with these people and their doggies. All the dogs were fun, all the people showed up for class most every week. It was a Good time. I told them ‘too bad! you all failed! gotta go through again!’ but……….they didn’t believe me. SIGH! A couple of them will be coming through to intermediate class starting at the end of the month – yay! And one is repeating the class – her baby is just now starting to socialize and we need to keep up the momentum.
yellow lab
Then there is one of my private lesson ladies I hadn’t heard from in a while – she’s been in the hospital since Christmas. She’s doing better but wanted to let me know she was alive. A good thing.
Oh and – the crying woman. She called “are you there? I need you!” I’m here!!! So she comes in crying. I thought her dog died. She is just Insane about this dog – loves him dearly – even when he was quite literally biting her black and blue. We’ve gotten him through quite a bit with her and she just adores him. Well, she was crying because she thought she was going to have to get rid of him – he’s developing separation anxiety. She showed me video of what he was doing in the crate. I’ve seen worse – but there was blood – and to me, that is usually a good case for anxiety. Blood in the crate from pawing or biting to get out. So I gave her a list of things to do and advised her to take doggie to the vet for a physical. And we will go from there.
boxer
A little slice of my day. And how was yours?
Customer of the week
So last night, I was helping a couple – they had several dogs, and were having some issues with them.
Some of the problems were barking, jumping, food aggression between the dogs, etc, and they were asking asking asking ASKING about How to solve. Since my biggest fault is giving away too much information for free – as my boss tells me – I was giving away information for free….and talking about training classes…REALLY!!! SEE – I’m good doobee!!!!
They seemed fairly interested in the classes – were asking questions about how long, when, etc. When she asked The Big Question.
“How much?”
And I told her.
And the man looked at me, shocked, and declared “Well, that’s Just Offensive! We can train our own for free!” and they left the store…..
Offensive? Wonder what he does for a living that people pay Him for??? And if he will give me that service for free???
People are soooooooooooo – well, lets just go with ‘Interesting’ shall we???
Yes, good plan.