My daughter works for a pet adoption organization as an adoption coordinator. She usually works alone; her direct manager rarely is onsite. Her place of work is within a commercial pet store which also has a grooming center and a veterinarian clinic. In her “office” are kennels to hold at most three dogs and a dozen cats. Any animals that are held in this office have already been screened by their clinic; they’re up to date on vaccinations, have been fixed, don’t have any diseases, and are ready to adopt.

Most of [Organization]’s other animals are housed in foster parent’s houses; they stay there until they’ve been fixed and maybe a little longer. Many of the fosters work independently to find homes for their foster animals, contacting [Daughter] to take payments and get all the paperwork filed. Also, if an adopter wants to meet an animal that is housed with a foster, they make arrangements to meet at this office in a meet-and-greet room.

One day, [Daughter] arrives at work and begins cleaning the dogs’ kennels. After she finishes, she heads back to her desk. In the meet-and-greet room is a large Husky mix dog that wasn’t there when she arrived, with a note taped to the door from one of the vet techs.

Apparently, the vet tech found this dog lost in her neighborhood. She brought her in and scanned her for an RFID chip but found none. The vet clinic doesn’t have the facilities to hold animals, so she asked the store manager what she should do. [Store Manager] said that it’d be okay to put the dog in the meet-and-greet room — without consulting [Daughter].

[Daughter] confronts [Store Manager].

Daughter: “I legally can’t hold animals that haven’t been processed by [Organization]’s clinic. We could move the dog to the groomer’s area, which does have kennels to hold animals after their appointments.”

Store Manager: “We can’t do that because we don’t have any papers for rabies, distemper, etc., on this dog.”

Daughter: “That is exactly the reason I can’t hold the dog.”

The manager just shrugged this off.

[Daughter] called her direct manager at [Organization] and related the situation. She was directed to call the municipal animal control service (ACS) and have them collect the dog. In the meantime, [Daughter] kept the dog in the meet-and-greet room. This constrained the appointments that had been made for adopters and fosters to meet there. Also, the dog was in heat. Being a Husky mix, this meant she was howling, as well as bleeding (normal for females in heat). So, [Daughter] had to clean the room with disinfectant and put a “doggie diaper” on the dog.

After about six hours, ACS finally arrived and took the dog. In the meantime, [Daughter]’s manager had called [Store Manager]’s manager and complained about [Store Manager] just assuming that [Organization]’s space was hers to do with what she wanted. It turns out that [Store Manager] had done this about a dozen times before, just putting it on [Organization]’s staff to deal with an animal that they were not supposed to be housing.

[Store Manager] came over to [Daughter] after the dog was gone and complained to her that she didn’t need to go over her head and “complain” about the situation with the dog. [Daughter] countered with the fact that she was forced to deal with an undocumented dog, and that SHE would lose her job if it was discovered that she’d taken in an animal without going through proper channels.

This is just one of many horror stories that [Daughter] has about [Store Manager].

CONTENT WARNING: Gross

I work in a pet store. A customer comes up and asks, with no warning:

Customer: “Do you sell condoms for dogs?”

I somehow manage to maintain a straight face.

Me: “…no.”

The customer grunts and wanders off. My manager, who overheard, comes over.

Manager: “I really wanted to ask him who would’ve been rolling ’em on if we did.”

I work in a pet store. Due to various events going on in the world, there are a lot of problems getting our merchandise. Also, this brand is produced in England, and since Brexit, there have been a lot of problems receiving it; we are in Sweden.

We sell dog food in different sizes: 2 kg and 12 kg. For this brand, the 12 kg is sold out. This older couple approaches the till with a 2 kg in hand.

Couple: *In a very rude tone* “You’re out of the 12 kg bags. You should sell us this bag at the same price per kilogram!”

Me: “I’ve already talked with my boss about this issue, and unfortunately, I am not able to sell you the 2kg bag at a reduced price, since we still buy them at a higher price than the 12 kg.”

They become even ruder.

Couple: “They were able to do it at [Store ten minutes away]!”

Me: “In that case, you are more than welcome to go back to that store and make the purchase there. I could also check online and see if they have the 12 kg bags in stock.”

I check, and they do have it in stock. This answer makes the couple more upset.

Me: “I understand that you are upset; however, this is not my fault. Please stop being rude.” 

They did not stop being rude, but they eventually bought the 2 kg bag and muttered under their breath about how horrible it was. I told them that I would not risk my job for them.

I work in a small store that specializes in pet supplies. There are three locations that all sell more or less the same items. One of the things we sell is birdseed. It comes in jugs or bags. The bag is more than double the volume of the jug but less than $5 more in price.

We receive eight jugs and two bags of birdseed today, and my colleague calls a customer who requested that we put some aside for her. He has to leave a voicemail, as the customer doesn’t answer her phone.

About an hour after my colleague leaves for the day, I receive a call from the customer’s husband.

Me: “We received our shipment today, and we wanted to confirm that you wanted four jugs. Is that still the case? You’d save money by purchasing the bag, instead.”

Husband: “Can we get five jugs? I didn’t save my jug the last time; I recycled it. Can it be delivered tomorrow along with our food?”

Me: “I can certainly do that, but are you sure that’s what you want? If you buy two bags, you’re saving money and have roughly the same amount of birdseed. I can send you whatever you’d like. The food is ready to go—”

Husband: “I don’t have the jug anymore. What’s the price difference?”

I explain all the math — price savings as well as product volume. I state that I can send two bags tomorrow as that’s what I have to sell him.

Husband: “Oh! I’ll take five bags, then.”

Me: “Sir, I’m sorry. I have two bags physically here in the store that I can sell you if you want them all tomorrow.”

Husband: “Okay! I’ll take three bags, then! That and the dog food.”

I mentally hit my head on the counter.

Me: “Sure. I’ll send you three bags. Your total for the three bags and food comes to [amount]. If you’re all set, I’ll charge the card on file, and my driver will see you tomorrow sometime.”

Husband: “Oh, yes. The credit card. Do you have my wife’s card?”

Me: “Yes. It’s on file. I’ll charge it later today, and she will receive an email receipt.”

Husband: “Wonderful! We’ll see you tomorrow.”

Me: “Have a great day!”

I called the location closest to the customer’s address. Luckily, they had a couple of bags come in, so they were able to supply the missing bag.

Why is it so hard for people to actually listen to what you tell them?!

I have a bachelor’s degree, and I worked in a pet shop five years ago. English is not my first nor national language; where I come from, it’s mostly spoken between students of “exclusive” schools — upper-class people.

A mom brought her son to buy some hamsters. The kid pointed at the Syrian crate.

Kid: “How much is this one?”

Before I got to answer him, his mom said:

Mom: “No English; she won’t understand you.”

I didn’t take offense because, honestly, I was exhausted and my brain might not work properly to speak another language. Meanwhile, after the kid asked why, the mom basically explained something like this (in English):

Mom: “A worker like her didn’t go to the same kind of school as you did. She’s just like your nanny.”

So, not only was racist and belittling, but she also didn’t know that this enraged me to speak English better. I put my business smile on.

Me: “Pardon me for interrupting. What kind of hamster do you want, little champ? I’m more than happy to assist you in English! Or do you prefer German? Korean? I speak basic German and Korean, as well!”

Mom’s face was red, but she couldn’t do anything because her son followed me excitedly to ask about all the hamsters we had. Ha!

The kid and I conversed happily in full English afterward. I hope the mom doesn’t raise him to be an entitled rich brat. He’s actually a nice kid, just ironically not fluent in our national language.