I work at a chain pet store that does not sell live feeder mice, but we do sell pet mice. Two men in their early twenties come in and spend plenty of time in the reptile section. They collect a snake hide from the shelf and then find another employee to catch them two mice “as pets.”

Thankfully, I get to her first.

Me: “Don’t they have snake merchandise in their hands?”

Coworker: “Uh, yeah.”

Me: “And no mice merchandise.”

Coworker: *Pauses* “Right.”

I go up to them.

Me: “Aren’t you the guys who called earlier today to ask if we sell live feeder mice?”

One blinks.

Customer: “Uh, yeah, but I was just wondering, so…”

Me: “So, you know for pet mice you need a cage, right?”

They left, sans mice. Some people just really want to fight the system.

I work at a pet store chain. I’m at the bottom rung of the corporate ladder, meaning I stock shelves and ring up customers. I have zero say in how the store is run, where things go, or how things are priced. Yet, somehow…

Customer: “Did the dog food increase in price?”

Me: “I’m not sure. It’s possible that it did; we update our tags each month.”

Customer: “Last time it was $1.79 a can, now it’s $2.29!”

Me: *Internally* “So, you know the price increased.” *Externally* “My apologies. Did you want me to take them off?”

Customer: *Ignoring me* “That’s too much. I can’t believe the price went up!”

Me: “Again, my apologies for that. I have no say in the prices—”

Customer: “Well, you have a mouth, don’t you? Tell your supervisors that they’re too much!”

I’m internally a bit frustrated but not about to show it.

Me: “My supervisors also do not control the prices, unfortunately. It all comes from corporate. We have to put the prices up as corporate tells us.”

Customer: “Well, next time, I might go elsewhere!”

Me: *Smiling* “You are more than welcome to! I would never ask someone to shop here if they aren’t satisfied with our prices.”

She harrumphed and left after paying. Funny thing is, I would’ve offered to price match one of our competitors, who I know charges around $1.89 per can of that brand, if she’d been less rude about it.

I work at a vet office inside a national pet store chain. Despite being inside a pet store, we are completely separate. I do not know where every single item in the store is. I do know some stuff because I shop there sometimes.

It’s almost closing time for the vet office and I am really busy doing work at the front desk. An older male comes up to the counter where reception is for the hospital. It’s not uncommon for people to think we’re together with the store. Most times, they understand why we direct them to find a pet store employee.

Customer: “Where can I find catnip?”

Me: “I’m not sure, but you can ask a pet store employee where it is.”

Customer: *Sarcastic tone* “Well, thanks a lot.”

Me: “Sorry about that. We are separate from the pet store and I’m not familiar with the item locations in the store.”

Customer: “So you can’t call someone over here to help?”

The vet office is in the back of the store. I am annoyed that I have to stop my tasks to help this guy when he can go to the front to ask an employee. I admit I do have a rude look on my face and an irritated tone of voice as I page on the intercom for a pet store employee to come to the hospital area.

Me: “Someone will be with you in a moment.”

I go to the back treatment area to cool off and rant to the remaining few nurses and doctor about this guy, thinking a pet store employee will be down shortly to help him and I can finish my tasks. This is not the case as I go back up to finish checking out the last patient.

Me: *To the patient* “Okay, the total will be—”

Customer: *Interrupting* “You know what? What is your name?”

I respond with the biggest customer service smile I can manage.

Me: “[My Name].”

Customer: *Continuing the sarcastic tone* “I am going to report you to corporate, because your customer service attitude just makes me want to spend my money here at this store! Here you go!”

He slams down a cat scratcher thing on the counter in between me and the client I’m checking out. I manage to keep a smile on my face the entire time because this whole thing is funny.

Me: “Okay! Have a nice night!”

I finish checking out the patient and continue with my tasks, mentally wishing good luck to that guy with complaining to corporate about a “pet store” employee with my name when I don’t even work for them. I think that is the end of things, but then he comes back with a pet store manager as my back is turned.

Customer: “Oh, there it is.”

I turn around and see it’s him and that he is grabbing the cat scratcher thing he slammed down on my counter earlier. He says in a sheepish tone:

Customer: “Uh, thank you, [My Name].”

Me: “Yeah, no problem.” 

I asked the pet store manager what he’d said. He’d tried to complain about me but did not get anywhere because she told him that I do not even work for the store. I guess he decided to spend his money at this store anyway!

Working in a grooming salon, we tend to get some strange requests. One day, my coworker comes to the back and says she has just been talking to a “crazy” man in the lobby.

An older man came into the lobby and stood for a few minutes before talking to my coworker

Man: “My kids brought me a pet and I want to get it a bath.”

Coworker: “Certainly, do you have a dog or cat?”

Man: “It’s about this big by this big.” 

He held his hands about two feet apart and then indicated about a foot and a half high.

Coworker: “All right, sir, what breed of dog is it?”

Man: “It’s a turkey.”

Coworker: “Oh, um, sorry, sir, we don’t do baths on turkeys.”

Man: “How about raccoons?”

I joked with her that he was a little confused; prank calls work better over the phone.

Lockdowns have lifted, but I am still very cautious about going out, even though I work retail, so I try to minimize my contact with others as much as I can. However, my dog’s nails have gotten long and I have trouble trimming them, so I have brought her to a local pet store for a quick trim.

I have already paid and dropped her off and am standing off to the side of the grooming salon waiting. I happen to be in direct eyesight of the doors. A man and a woman walk in — one not wearing a mask and the other wearing one but leaving the nose and mouth exposed — and approach me.

Customer: “Cages?”

He has come super close, and like I said, he isn’t wearing a mask properly. 

Me: “Excuse me?”

I guess my tone takes him aback.

Customer: “Oh, you don’t work here?”

Me: “No, and can you please back the f*** up? You are clearly invading my personal space and not wearing a mask properly.”

He started to say something, but at that moment, my dog came out. She is a very large German shepherd mix and can look quite intimidating. She nearly launched herself over the gate after seeing me. Once they saw this very large dog clearly trying to get to me, the two quickly hurried off.