They’re Stored In Order Of Lives Left

Impossible Demands, Pet Store, Silly, USA | Right | May 2, 2017

(I volunteer with a small cat rescue. Because we have no brick-and-mortar location for adoptions, we place our cats in adoption centers in several chain pet stores. There are spaces for five cats in this store, but there are times when not every space is full, depending on who is ready for adoption. Every Wednesday night, I go in to clean the cages and play with the cats, as a supplement to the care they get from the store employees. Tonight, an employee and friend of mine has stopped in to update me on a food situation, and we get to talking about the kinds of crazy customers a person encounters in a pet store.)

Employee: “I had this one guy… he came in when we only had a few cats in the adoption center. I talked to him about who we had here at the time, but nothing was really matching with the kind of cat he was looking for. I was about to tell him how you guys have a website and other locations, because they always seem surprised that you have more cats in other places, and not just the few they see here. But I never got that far… He asked if we had more cats in the back.”

(I start to laugh.)

Me: “Are you serious?”

Employee: “Yes! Can you imagine? Pallets of cats, all stacked up!”

(After years of retail, I thought I’d heard all of the “magical back” stories, but I guess not!)

This story is part of our Animal Shelter Roundup!