The Customer is NOT always right.

The saying “the customer is always right” needs to be banished from retail. It is a phrase that is stupid and arrogant. Being someone who worked in retail for years and dealt with customers who think they’re “always right”, hearing this phrase makes me want to strangle someone. 

Often times this phrase is uttered when the customer(s) want something they can’t have. There were times where some dumbass co-worker would bend the rules for a customer, and that same customer would get pissed when I refused to bend the rules. A popular one would be to take two store coupons on one transaction (where I worked that was against the rules), and customers who were used to getting “special treatment” would get pissed and ask for the manager (who told them the same thing and added that the employee doing that for them wasn’t supposed to do that). 

Customers need to know that RULES ARE RULES and it is unfair to employees to complain about it to them and use “the customer is always right” phrase. Don’t they understand that breaking the rules can get an employee fired? Most probably don’t give a shit as long as they can use their $2 off and $5 off coupon at the same time, even though it’s against the rules, but who cares?? 

I’m thankful I’m no longer in retail and I don’t have to deal with that crap anymore. But I feel bad for the employees who have to still deal with this. Just because you spend money at a store doesn’t entitle you to special treatment. There are rules and policies that you need to respect, I don’t give a crap if you don’t like it or want to use both your coupons. And just an FYI, some places have a “ONE COUPON PER HOUSEHOLD” policy as well. This means that NO you can’t split your transaction into two and use both coupons and the employees (who work in a store with that policy)who do that for you are BREAKING POLICY. Maybe you can just ACCEPT it. 

So the phrase “the customer is always right” needs to be done away with. It has NO place in retail and never did. It implies that the employee doesn’t know what they are talking about, no matter if they worked at a place for 4+ years. The customer is always right except when they are wrong, which is frequent. Also, in retail, the answer is always yes…except when it is NO. Some customers need to learn what the word “no” means and how to accept that one too. 

And while we are on the retail subject….if an item is in the wrong place on a shelf (it doesn’t match the items behind it), DO NOT ARGUE ABOUT THE PRICE!! Customers are lazy and don’t put crap back where it belongs and so they just put it on the nearest shelf. It’s a low move and if you’re that person, STOP. If an item doesn’t ring up with the correct price, tell the cashier. They’ll price-check it, sometimes if there was a sale change not all the items carry over to the new price at the same time. If the item wasn’t in the correct place, accept that you cannot pay $3 for a $40 item. Chances are that it wasn’t the employee’s fault and you are taking money from their paycheck (the store looses $37)because you don’t wanna pay full price. Again, having worked in retail this crap pissed me off. 

To the customers who follow the rules and accept policies, THANK YOU!! 

Poe Dameron: Gay or Straight?

So I was prompted to blog about this after seeing this on tumblr  

 Who cares? Can’t two guys be friends and not have to be gay?? Can a man express concern or relief that another man is alive and well and still be straight? 

Frankly I’m tired of this. It falls under the same category of a woman and a man not being able to “just be friends”. That they had to have done the deed or are still doing it. That it’s not possible for a man a woman to just be friends, no sex involved. I guarantee you that if anyone implied that to a woman, she’d be up in arms about feminism and sexism. This is the same thing, minus the feminism. It is sexist.

Why does Poe have to be gay? Why does caring about if Finn is alive make him gay? God forbid a man express concern about the well-being of another man, his friend. “Oh Poe looked so relieved and hugged Finn when he saw that he was alive!!” Well duh!! Finn had gone against what he was taught all his life, he risked his own life to save Poe in the beginning. Why does this make him gay? Can’t it just make him a good guy?? A decent man who cares about another guy’s life? We already saw that Finn isn’t big on slaughtering innocents, and from what he saw of Poe, he figured the guy was a good man. Someone who could help him become a better person. Why does this make him gay? Don’t we all strive to be the best we can be, to make sure we do what we feel is right? 

Poe was relieved to see Finn because he values life. How does this make him gay? Finn saved his life. A Stormtrooper saved his life. A trusting man who went against his friends and his superiors, who risked his life for a stranger. But nope, there is no way the man can be straight. He MUST be gay because he was relieved and hugged another man, one whom he thought was dead.  

Again, this brings me back to this fact: apparently two men cannot be friends and still be straight. At least not in film. They have to be gay. Why can’t Poe just be straight and a decent human being who cares about the lives of others? Why can’t Finn just be surprised that someone cares about his life. I guarantee you the First Order didn’t give a crap about whether he lived or died.  

Why can’t Finn be surprised because he is being so warmly welcomed, despite his past? Here he is, an ex-Stormtrooper, amongst rebels and instead of being regarded with suspicion, he is given a pat on the shoulder. There is someone who was happy that he was alive. He probably hasn’t experienced compassion being shown towards him. 

Personally, I don’t think either character is gay. I think two men can be friends and still be straight. That two men can express concern for one another and still be friends. I know that homosexual people get annoyed when others automatically assume they are attracted to them. “Omg he is gay, I bet he is in love with me!!” “OMG she just gave me a compliment, but she is a lesbian….she MUST have a crush on me!!”

How is this not the same thing? “-gasp- those two men just hugged!! They must be gay!!! Make them gay Disney, be brave and do it!!” There are plenty of LGBT characters in film now-a-days. It’s not a new thing. But not every male character who cares about another male character is gay. Same with the women. 

It becomes a huge deal when women are the subject of things like this. How dare someone assume that a woman is sleeping with her male friend! “They can be friends and not have sex!!” “Not every woman just sleeps around!” 

Well how dare people assume that two guys can’t be friends and not be gay. It happens all the time, we all know those two guys who are like brothers! But when it is in film, “nope they are gay…they have to be!!! There are so many hidden meanings blah blah blah.” Maybe you are just reading too deep into something. That if Disney or J.J Abrams says they aren’t gay, then it becomes “hate against the gay community”.

Granted people are free to have their own opinions. I frankly don’t care one way or the other if Poe is gay. It doesn’t change his character at all to me. But what annoys me is that some people can’t fathom that a straight, male character can express concern about the fate of another straight, male character. 

 

I can be offended

In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris, people have been saying to not pray for Paris. That the prayers are “embarrassingly misguided”. That to me is offensive. People can pray for Paris all they want. Pray for the victims and the wounded. Pray for those who are grieving and angry. These terrorists say they killed in the name of God, ISIS says it kills in the name of God. The God I know and pray to says “Love one another as I have loved you”. Yes some say that Islam screams “death to the infidel”, but there are extremists in every religions. 

How dare people say not to pray because religion is what killed the innocent victims. No. Horribly mean and cruel people pulled that trigger, using God as an excuse to justify their twisted thoughts. Religion is being used as an excuse. 

So Buddhists pray. Muslims pray. Sikhs and Taoists pray. Christians and Hindus pray. Pray for the comfort of those who are in pain, both physical and emotional. Pray for the souls who were taken too soon, that they may find peace. 

In my religion, my God will comfort. My God will protect and will punish those responsible. 

All Lives Matter

On September 22, 2015, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department lost a beloved deputy. Deputy Bill Myers was shot in the back multiple times by a man who had just been served an injunction for domestic battery by Deputy Myers. As Myers was fighting for his life on the operating table, the suspect had fled to a nearby town and had barricaded himself in a room at a Comfort Inn. Police surrounded the area, forced the man out with tear gas, and a shoot out between the suspect and police ensued. The suspect was killed and Deputy Myers passed away after surgery at 2:15pm that same day. 

Deputy Myers had originally retired from the force in 2013 and was re-hired January of this year to help with Civil Process, a job that would result in his death. He was working hard to be able to take his granddaughter to Disney World. It was especially sobering to me when i realised that this brave man passed away as I was rubber-banding leashes at work. That as I was tired of being at work (even though my shift had just started) a family and Brotherhood were heartbroken and grieving. 

This isn’t the first time a cop has been killed in the line of duty in my town. It hits the community hard each and every time. However, the way this man was killed is tragic to me. He was doing his job. He was serving a man an injunction. The man waited until his back was turned and then gunned him down. 

  
Flags in my town are a half-staff for this man and blue ribbons adorned cars, gates, and are pinned to people’s shirts. This man was killed for doing his job. Killed by a man who was pissed off his was being served for domestic battery. 

Current events rant

Okay so I’m going to say a thing and i seriously don’t care if I lose friends over it. If I do, then I’m better off without them. 
I am sick and tired of all the shit that’s going down. People killing cops, cops exercising their BASIC HUMAN RIGHT to self defence and getting threatened for it because the person they happened to need to defend themselves from was Black or Latino. I get that there are racists out there, I do. But not everyone one who arrests someone of another race or has to use deadly force to protect themselves is a racist. 
I am SO OVER this cop killing crap! People need to shut the hell up and quick acting like children. If something doesn’t go your way, don’t riot or throw a tantrum over it. That’s life, not everything works out the way you want it too. If a cop arrests someone for committing a crime, don’t be all “FREE SO-IN-SO!!!!” if the arrest was clean….THE PERSON COMMITTED A CRIME AND HAS TO FACE THE CONSEQUENCES LIKE THE ADULT THEY ARE!!!!!! 

  
This picture pissed me the hell off. How dare people compare the current riots to those of the 1960s!! Those riots weren’t riots…they were MARCHES!!! Sure plenty ended up becoming violent thanks to the anti-civil rights groups of the time, but most began peacefully. And they were warranted. The riots of today are nothing more than people yelling and crying racism because people who commit crimes get arrested, people to resist arrest get hurt or killed. Yes, it’s sad that someone’s life ended so soon or a guy threw his in the trash for a couple hundred dollars….but the police were doing their jobs. Last I checked, resisting arrest and hitting a police officer IS A CRIME!! There are so many other options open. 
Another clear difference between now and then is the fact that AMERICA ELECTED A BLACK PRESIDENT!!! Sure some don’t think he was the right choice…and not because he is black (with the exception of the sad white supremacists that still exist). In the 1960s, a black boy would be laughed at if he said he wanted to become President. He’d think it was just a wishful thought that would never happen. 
Also….think about this. Are there “blacks only” and “whites only” signs hanging around everywhere?! No! In the 1960s, the police where using the fire hoses….now they wear riot armour to protect themselves from large rocks and bottles being thrown at them. They are the ones protecting themselves. They put their lives on the line every single day…and now they are being executed while filling their tank or having their life threatened because they had to shoot someone who was trying to kill them. 
“Black lives matter as long as they don’t bleed blue right.” That was a statement I saw the other day…and how true that is. Except, let’s make it more accurate to what people believe now: 

“All lives matter as long as they don’t bleed blue and haven’t shot a person of another race in self defence.” 
I get that slavery was an awful mistake made in our country’s history. The things that happened are unspeakable. But that was our country’s PAST. There are many countries that still participate in slavery. Police, the very men and women who people threaten and throw rocks at, are trying to find and destroy underground slavery and trafficking rings active in the U.S.
I’m going to say something that might be very unpopular…but I think some people cry racism knowing how it will affect the government. Regardless of what transpired after, George Zimmerman was within his rights to be suspicious of Trayvon Martin. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t be nervous of someone in a hoodie, the hood blocking their face, walking around in an area that that been robbed several times that year. In the dark it’s pretty hard to tell a person’s skin colour. Also, Michael Brown fit the description given to police by the owner of a convenience store that had just been robbed. It was later confirmed to be him on camera! Darren Wilson was doing his job by stopping him. The medical examiner confirmed Brown was the aggressor in the altercation that followed. And that announcement made several “key witnesses” confess to not really seeing what happened. 
This country is so messed up. People are fighting against and killing those who put their lives on the line to protect them. 

Maybe people should watch this and see what happens when #Blacklivesmatter activist show up to make a big show and not actually do their research. They were the ones judging him unfairly in that situation. 

Do your research before leaping on stage and behaving all high and mighty.

Isis vs I.S.I.S

    

This apparently is floating around Facebook….and I enjoy Coke’s response to this lady’s comment. I think that exchange represents what has happened here. People forget that “Isis” is a name that some people are given at birth. It’s unfortunate that a terrorist group has taken it as their name, but it’s also important to note the differences. We have “Isis” as a name and “I.S.I.S” as the terrorist group (as it is an acronym). 

People need to do research before sharing stuff like this on Facebook as it starts unnessary drama. The same goes for those reports on dog/cat food recalls or rumours. We have people coming into our workplace demanding to know why we still sell such-in-such dog/cat food when it’s killing the animals. It often turns out that they are basing their information on reports that could be 5+ years old and no longer an issue. 

I do understand that on first glance this could be seen as insensative. But when you look at the bigger picture, it makes sense. 

Besides we have this awesome pooch from the hit BBC series Downton Abbey.  

   

Named Isis. A tribute to the ancient Egyptian goddess of the same name. 

Okay pet talk time

This has become a thing lately. People think that putting bunnies and guinea pigs in the same cage is okay. I just don’t understand where this thinking came from. I’ve seen it in numerous places online though. 

Let me say something first. I don’t care what you see online or what other people tell you or if you’ve been doing it for years. But if two animals DO NOT associate together in the wild, chances are you shouldn’t put them together in a confined space. Having both guinea pigs and bunnies is totally cool, but house them separately. 

Guinea pigs naturally lack vitamin C. They get it via their pellets, raw oranges, or orange drops. Vitamin C is ESSENTIAL to their diet and for their health. They MUST HAVE this. 

Bunnies, on the other hand, do not need vitamin C because their bodies produce it naturally. Therefore they don’t need it in their food. It won’t harm them, but it’s not good to feed it to them. 

Because of this fact: bunnies CANNOT eat guinea pig food and guinea pigs CANNOT eat bunny food (long term…I understand if you are out and are unable to go buy more at the time…just make sure to give them raw oranges). 

If you own both critters, house them separately so they don’t eat each other’s food. Yes it will be expensive to buy bunny food and guinea pig food and two different cages but that’s part of owning two different pets. 

As far as letting them hang out together outside their cages, SUPERVISION IS NECESSARY! Each animal is different and has a different personality. Some bunnies may get along fine with guinea pigs. Others may not. Same is true for guinea pigs. 

I’ve worked at a pet store for almost two years now and I own two rabbits. I get this question all the time “I can put this bunny with a guinea pig right?” I always advise against it and state that they are two very different critters and require some different things (vitamin c for guineas but that’s a no-no for rabbits). They have different activity levels and ways of expressing themselves. Basically I explain to them that if two animals don’t hang out together in the wild, it’s probably not a good idea to put them together in a domestic setting. Most of the time, people say that they saw it online (which isn’t the best method of information sometimes), others say they used to do it as a kid or their friends are doing it. I just repeat that all animals are different. That no two bunnies or guinea pigs are the same. But that I would not advise it. 

Again, that isn’t true for all animals (cats and dogs are a good example), but it’s true for most small animals. For example, a dwarf hamster and a teddy/black bear hamster won’t be friends if you put them in the same cage. They will fight and one will end up killing the other and possibly devouring it. 

In my opinion, if you own both species…house them separately and feed them the correct food for their breeds. Guinea pigs get guinea pig food, bunnies get bunny food. Dogs don’t get cat food and cats don’t get dog food and please stop your pet if they are doing this. I understand that might be hard and you will prolly think “they won’t eat anything else” or “they refuse to eat anything else”. An animal will eat when it gets hungry enough. There is a reason there are specific foods for different animals (dogs can be on a vegetarian/vegan diet…..CATS CANNOT!!!!!!) 

Housing bunnies and guinea pigs separately will eliminate one hurting the other. It doesn’t matter if they’ve never fought before…IT STILL CAN HAPPEN. Animals have good and bad days, just like humans.

I’m not trying to step on people’s toes, but I’m just stating why I don’t think this suddenly popular trend is a good idea.