Afraid To Be Their Guinea Pig
(I am not actually a store associate but I try to help out since I work as a vendor within the store and I have plenty of information from my veterinary college program. So, I was not really getting paid to do this.)
Customer: “Yes. I would like to know about these gerbils. I want a pet for my daughter. She just turned six.”
Me: “Well, ma’am, gerbils tend to bite if not handled properly.”
Customer: *gasps and points to the guinea pigs* “They bite?!”
Me: “Oh. Those are guinea pigs. And no those don’t usually bite.”
Customer: “Oh, guinea pigs.”
Me: “So were you interested in getting one?”
Customer: “Yes.”
(She starts asking about all the information on guinea pigs, which is on the info card right under the aquarium at eye level. Shrugging it off, I answer her questions.)
Me: “Anything else?”
Customer: “Which one is the healthiest?”
Me: “Uh. All of them.”
Customer: “Okay. But which one is the healthiest?”
Me: “Ma’am, they wouldn’t be on display if they weren’t healthy.”
Customer: “Which is the youngest?”
Me: “Since they came from a breeding distributor they are all the same age. Most people pick them out by what colored fur they have.”
Customer: “Okay. But which is the youngest?”
Me: “You’ll have to ask up front for that information.”
Customer: “Oh, okay. I can leave one of these alone for a week?”
Me: “… Seven days? No, ma’am. There aren’t any pets aside from some fish you could ever leave alone for that long.”
Customer: “Oh. What if it’s just a weekend?”
Me: “No, ma’am. If something happened to their water supply or they got hurt there would be no one there to make sure it was okay.”
(At this point I don’t want her taking an animal due to her lack of knowledge and the potential danger the pet would be put in.)
Me: *hands her a book on guinea pigs* “There is also plenty of information online so you can be better prepared.”
Customer: “Okay.” *turns to her daughter* “We better just get this! It’s a lot more work than we thought for your first pet!”
Daughter: “Second. We had a fish.”
Customer: “Oh, yes. Second pet.”
(I shook my head as I walked back to my store section, thinking that the fish is definitely dead.)
Question of the Week
Have you ever served a bad customer who got what they deserved?
