I worked as a cashier at a large chain pet store for a few years before the global health crisis. This particular chain had a policy where all refunds were accepted regardless of reason, and there was this couple who regularly brought in a suspiciously large number of items to return without receipts.

It was an incredibly easy scam to spot as none of the items had been touched by any animal, and they were the kind of items that could be carried out in a brief moment when employees weren’t paying attention.

My first instinct was always to call a manager the moment the couple approached me, but one of the managers told me I needed to ring the return up first and then call for a manager for “approval” since the amount was going to be rather large.

The next time they came in, I did as I was told. I rang up the return, which was in excess of $300, told them I had to call the manager for approval, and sent out the page. A different manager was on shift that day, but he knew full well who these people were. I assumed he would reject it and make them leave, so I stepped away to take care of some of my other duties.

Once the people left, I headed back to the register and the manager stopped me.

Manager: “You did the right thing in calling me, but since you’d already rung up the transaction, I had to give them the return. You should’ve called me first.”

I just stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded by his logic. He didn’t seem to notice and went back to his office, while I just sort of wandered back to the register wondering what the heck had just happened. And this guy was the head manager of the store, so even if the scammers had tried to escalate, they’d have been out of luck.

Content Warning: Animal Death

I worked at an aquarium store that was near the big airport in my city. I got a call one day from an airline worker.

Airline Worker: “We have what appears to be someone’s live fish in transport, and the containers are leaking.”

Long story short, upon opening the containers, they found that many of the fish were protected exotics caught illegally in Hawaii.

My shop ended up housing them for a bit while we waited for the appropriate officials to intervene.

The gross part came a few days later. The stress of transport and being in broken, leaking bags with little oxygen was rough on the animals, and within a week or so, the (not endangered, thankfully) snails and other invertebrates began to die off, despite the best efforts of the store workers.

We had to freeze and keep the bodies as evidence to show to fish and wildlife, so I spent the evening one night fishing dead snails and tube worms out of the tank and carefully placing them in plastic bags for the freezer. The smell was overwhelmingly horrible. It made no difference whether I breathed through my nose or my mouth, so I had to stop periodically to run off the back loading dock and breathe fresh air.

It’s been years since that incident, but my barometer for bad smells has shifted ever since. I can deal with garbage and dog poo and rotted food with no problem because absolutely nothing compares to that.

When I worked at a little mom-and-pop pet store, it was common to have people come in remarking how they wished they could just take home ALL the animals… but one woman came in and worded that sentiment with a VERY disturbing scenario attached.

Woman: “I wish this store would catch fire so I could come and rescue all the animals and take them all home with me!”

Yikes, lady.

We have a satisfaction guarantee on dry kibble for dogs and cats; customers can get a refund within thirty days of purchase with the original receipt if there’s 50% left in the bag. One customer came in wanting a refund.

Me: “According to your receipt, it’s been forty-five days since purchase, so I can’t give you a direct refund since our policy is thirty days. However, I can give you the money on a gift card.”

Customer: “Okay.”

I then went and weighed the bag of food and discovered that they had used almost 80% of the food!

Me: “I’m sorry, but I can’t give you the gift card. There’s only about 20% of the food left!”

Customer: *Annoyed* “So I can’t get a refund at all?”

I stood my ground.

Me: “I could bypass the thirty days but not the fact that you almost used all of the food!”

CONTENT WARNING: Animal Death

I was working in the fish department of a big box pet store. We had a policy that if someone purchased a fish (or another animal) and said creature died within fourteen days of purchase, if they brought back the dead creature and their receipt, we would give a refund or replacement.

Someone brought in a dead Betta fish.

Me: “Do you want a refund or replacement?”

Customer: “We were hoping you guys could revive him.”

Me: “…”

Customer: “You know, in your lab?”