Of Mice And Mental Regrets
(I’m helping a customer in the small animals area at our pet store.)
Customer: “Hi, I’d like some feeder animals for my snake.”
Me: “Certainly. Would you like mice or rats?”
Customer: “I’m not sure.”
Me: “Well, how big is your snake?”
Customer: *holds hands a good distance apart* “He’s a ball python… pretty big.”
Me: “Okay, so maybe a rat…”
(I show him to our rats. Note that we have small and medium rats in different cages.)
Customer: “Why are the ones on the bottom more expensive?”
Me: “They’re just bigger than the ones on top.”
Customer: “How long until they get that big?”
Me: “I’m not sure. They’re at least a few months old when we get them.”
Customer: “No, how long does it take them to grow from those?” *points to the mice*
Me: “You mean the mice?”
Customer: “Yeah, how long does it take them to grow into these guys?” *points back to the rats* “Like, what’s the difference between the rats and the mice?”
Me: “Um, they don’t grow into rats. They’re two different species.”
Customer: “So these guys aren’t big mice?”
Me: “No, they’re rats.”
Customer: “Oh… well, I feel like an idiot.”
Me: *laughs* “It’s okay. It’s an easy mistake to make.’
Customer: “…I worked at a pet store for three years.”
This story is part of our Snakes roundup!
Question of the Week
Have you ever served a bad customer who got what they deserved?
