Duh gets pet store employee in trouble because he didn't lie about kid's dead hamster

From Not Always Working:

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(My daughter’s hamster has died of old age. My daughter is still young, so we decide this time to tell her that her hamster is being looked after by the shop. The day before I see and reserve a hamster of the same colour. That morning we bring her to the shop to pick the new hamster up. Whilst my wife and daughter look at the pet toys I quickly pull a sales guy aside.)

Me: “Hey, we are here to pick up a hamster.”

Sales Guy: “Okay, sure, let me get a travel box for you.”

Me: “Just a sec. Look, my daughter’s hamster died. She is really upset about it and thinks this is her one. Can you please either play along? Her old hamster was called Ruby.”

Sales Guy: “Uh huh.”

(He disappears returning moments later with a box. My wife and daughter join us to pick up the new hamster.)

Sales Guy: “So, this is a Russian hamster, it needs [type] food and plenty of space. His name is Alan and he’s three months old.”

Daughter: *to me* “Why did the man call Ruby, Alan?”

Me: “Oh, I’m sure he is just mistaken. The hamster is called Ruby.” *glaring at the sales staff* “We know that, don’t we?”

Sales Guy: “Oh, yeah, sure.”

(We walk over to the till. The sales guy finishes the transaction.)

Sales Guy: *loudly to my daughter* “Look after Alan for us!”

(The whole way home our daughter starts to wonder why her hamster is being called Alan and why it looks different from the last time she saw her. She gets quite upset and confused. With no idea what to do, I return to the store after dropping them off. Luckily I see a staff member in a suit talking to the same sales guy.)

Me: “Excuse me? Are you a manager here?”

Manager: “Yes, I am; what seems to be the problem?”

(I explain the issue.)

Me: “It’s left my daughter very upset.”

Manager: *to the sales guy* “You come with me! And sir, could you join us, please?”

Me: “I– yeah, sure.”

(He led both of us to a back room, where he verbally laid into the sales guy. The manager was calm, fair but brutally honest. It turned out the sales worker’s attitude had been an on-going issue and he was now on his last warning. We visited the store to pick up some food later in the week. The manager recognised us and spent a while asking my daughter how Ruby was and how they looked after her for us.)

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I personally don't see where the employee copped any attitude in this story (though I have no idea what he's done in the past). Why the fuck is it this employee's job to lie to Duh's daughter about the whereabouts of her dead hamster? Not to mention I think it's straight-up horse shit that Duh decided to not tell his kid that her pet is dead, but rather, he chose to just get a replacement hamster and pretend like "Ruby" is a-okay.

It doesn't sound like the store employee was trying to be a dick to the kid. Sounds like he had a brain fart to me, or maybe he simply didn't care because I seriously doubt he gets paid enough to deal with the bullshit that comes through the doors every single day. In any case, it's not his problem if Duh can't grow a pair and be honest with her brat about what really happened to her hamster.

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Duhhh
The whole way home our daughter starts to wonder why her hamster is being called Alan and why it looks different from the last time she saw her. With no idea what to do, I return to the store after dropping them off.

Well that's because old Ruby has been replaced with a far younger hamster, meaning it probably moves faster, has brighter eyes and smoother/fluffier fur. On top of that, from what I'm seeing of Russian hamsters, they seem to come in a variety of colors and I'm sure it's not outside the realm of possibility that the replacement hamster was slightly different in appearance from its predecessor, like it has spots in places the late hamster did not, or vice versa. I don't know anything about hamsters, so I don't know what counts as "old age" for them, and I don't know if they start to look scruffy like many animals do when they get old either.

And what do you mean you had no idea what to do? How's about you tell your kid what actually happened? No, it's not going to be fun having to explain the death of a pet to a little kid, but how is shielding her from the truth doing her any favors? Or if need be, could he not make something up about how Ruby made a friend at the pet store named Alan that looked just like her? Why's all this the employee's fault?

Does Duh intend to just keep on buying replacement pets and having his kid go her entire childhood believing that her hamster lived for two decades? What else is he going to hide from her? Fuckin' busybody Duh got an innocent employee in trouble all because he doesn't have the spine to tell his kid the truth.

What a nutjob!
I wonder what he is going to do in the case the grandma / grandpa / chyld's mother dies.

Btw. buying a hamster to a chyld is a dumb idea. Hamsters are nocturnal animals...

... actually-- and speaking as a (back-room) retail employee-- I'm gonna side with Dad and the manager on this one: Sure, eventually, the little girl will learn that animals (and Grandma and Grandpa, etc., etc.) die. That's obvious. But it wouldn't have cost that employee one damn thing to play along (read: not be a sullen slacker asshole) and do the most important thing in the retail rulebook: make the customer's experience enjoyable and satisfying. (And why is THAT so important...? Because then the CUSTOMER COMES BACK AND BUYS MORE STUFF.) All that dick had to do was play along for a minute or two-- and, sure, he could have been a big tough somebody afterwards and bragged in the break room about how stupid that little girl and her dad were-- but he didn't. Dad wasn't asking for the moon here. And Little Mr. Pet Store Creep was a zero-empathy asshole. (Congrats, Little Mr. Pet Store Creep. Aren't you the BIG MAN in the picture. Mm hm. Yay for you.) Now, sure, he's out of a job... but all he has to do is ooze over to the next retail establishment and fill out the one-page application: if what I've experienced in the last year in retail is any indication, most stores will hire anything with a head, at least two limbs, and/or a pulse. Short form: what a dick.

If the girl had a hamster called Ruby, one assumes it was female. I'm also assuming Alan is male. Male hamsters look very different from female hamsters - they walk like John Wayne cos of their huge balls, so she will notice that Ruby suddenly looks different

Im also gonna side with the famblee on this one. While I agree their behind on teaching their child about death, they are the paying customers and it seemed like a small and reasonable gesture to play along.

I tend to think it was a slip of the tongue, maybe an accident. He's been caring for Alan, feeding him, cleaning his cage, etc. etc. since he was a hamsterling, and probably just forgot to use the name Ruby. I imagine it wouldn't be hard to make that kind of mistake. I don't think he deserved to get his ass whooped by the manager for that.

Unless the kid is totally stupid, she would have figured out that Alan was not Ruby anways. Those little guys may look similar, but to a kid who has played with and loved a pet, I can say she will know the difference rather quickly.

My niece had a Russian hamster. Fucker bit me right on my finger while I had it in the palm of my hand.
My niece and her sister are not the types that would mistreat any animal, much less their own, so I get the idea that this breed is a bit "bitey".

I think Duh is setting up his pwecious crystal snowflayque for a nasty bite. If "Ruby" had previously been a good hamster, it could be a different story with "Alan".

Amusing story!
My money is on the employee having been "made" to get the job, either by his own parents or some kind of a work incentive, or rehab type of thing.
If that is the case, of course he was looking forward to getting fired, but not by just balls out refusing to work. A little slack here, the odd intentional mistake there, made your daughter upset for entertainment purposes...
Yup, that's exactly what I'm thinking.

THE FUCK IS THIS?

If I had, let alone was a lowly employee of - a pet shop - regardless - I'd tell the customer to spin their own tales.

And take your Dr. Phil shit ELSEWHERE. Store employees ARE NOT "Grief Counselors". (Another Moo invention. Excuse me - MooVention!)

It's a STORE - not Magical Make Believe Land.

You want that? DIY.

Dad's an asshole, and they're doing their kid no favors lying to her. If she was wondering why the clerk called the hamster a different name "and why it looks different," she was going to figure it out on her own, anyway. Always good for the parent/child relationship to find out parents have been lying to you. Wasn't the clerk's responsibility, and asking him to lie to their daughter was out of line. Lying is a big deal for some people. Maybe this guy is one of them. Not up to the clerk to help raise their kid in a world where no one ever dies, either.

Sales Guy is probably a teenager making minimum wage who has no incentive to humor this famblee. I'd have no expectations in that instance. Local teenagers make between $11-13 an hour at Target and are too lazy to put bags of purchased items in a cart, which is part of their job.

Also, daughter isn't upset that the hamster isn't hers, she is upset that hers is dead and she was deceived. She figured out the hamster looked different by the time she was in the car. And some parents consider their kyd young until they hit their mid-twenties.

I find it curious the daughter's age isn't mentioned, suspect she may be a bit old for these shenanigans. Would anyone feel bad if they knew she was six or seven?

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If the girl had a hamster called Ruby, one assumes it was female. I'm also assuming Alan is male. Male hamsters look very different from female hamsters - they walk like John Wayne cos of their huge balls, so she will notice that Ruby suddenly looks different

I didn't know this... I mean, I assumed male hamsters had balls, but I didn't know they had ones so noticeably large that it made them walk funny. I'd blame both the employee and the Duh for this one. Did Duh know the hamster's actual gender? And if so, why did he not specify a female hamster when he bought the replacement? I'd place some blame on the employee for not having sense enough to think to get Duh a female hamster based on the name "Ruby", but how would the employee know if the hamster's name was indicative of its gender (though he could have asked to be sure)? Kids are stupid - my first male cat was named "Molly" because that's what I decided it was gonna be at the age of four. I know Duh told the guy the hamster's name when he bought it and it could be assumed that Ruby was female, but maybe Alan was the only Russian hamster the store had and the clerk didn't want to lose a sale?

If the new hamster is an unaltered male, would that make it a little more "lively," as tends to happen with intact male pets? Unless Duh rushes out and gets the hamster neutered, I think Bratlina is going to notice a couple new things on her hamster, especially if it starts humping her hand.

I don't know... to me, it didn't sound like the employee had any malicious intent, because if he did, I think he would have really driven it into the girl's head that the hamster's name was, in fact, "Alan". He's probably a dumb teenager who just forgot what he was "supposed" to do and/or didn't care. Plus, we're only hearing Duh's side of this story, and in typical breeder fashion, I can only assume he's omitting a few details to make himself sound like a saint. I think if Duh wanted to ensure his pweshus left the store truly believing that she'd come to pick up her old hamster, he should have spoken to the manager and had said manager handle the transaction.

Even if the employee had been a dick, I still think Duh fucked up by lying to his kid about her hamster's actual fate. Had he just manned up and told her the hamster died, this whole thing could have been avoided. He missed an opportunity to have an important conversation with his kid. In general, I think parents lie far too much to their kids about important things just so they don't have to listen to any crying. This whole hamster thing was probably for Duh's comfort more than the kid's because he just didn't want to deal with his daughter pouting and sobbing.

My friends just lost their beloved dog Lucy a few weeks ago. Lucy in this case is a he. So that's a really good point Cambion.

Jesus, why can't parents do the job of teaching their children about life themselves instead of having to involve every retail clerk out there?

I'm on the wage slave's side on this one.

Just for the record I want to say that Special Patrol Group is a stupid name for a hamster.






I'm sorry. I had to. For Lucy. And Lucy's mom.

@ the noodler: The breed is not bitey. Hamsters tick like that - when they don't like something, they bite.
Another good reason why not to buy one to a child.
The only rodent which tends not to bite is guinea pig (as far as I know).

If it was the first transaction between the teen and Duh, I would've left it there as a teen being a douche (which is their default), but going back to the store and intentionally getting the teen in trouble and boasting about it on the net, show that Duh is a vindictive asshole and by the looks of it a control freak at that.

Duh, was obviously trying to control the entire situation, and not accept any responsible parenting on his behalf by looking to foist these responsibilities on someone else. Not only that he was trying to mislead his kid by buying a replacement pet to cover the one that had died. Then to go back and demand an apology, be witness to a dressing down and boast about it, proves that Duh is a downright entitled scumbag. Probably adheres to the fallacious belief that the customer is always right - even when they're emphatically wrong. These self-righteous and entitled douches are the reason why I hate working in service industries.

I'm sure a phone call to the manager is sufficient enough grounds for an apology and that would be the end of the story in the Duh's point of view, but the employer verbally reprimanding an employee in front of a customer without asking about the employee's side is downright disgusting! - I can see why the teen has a bad attitude. That being said, the teen went out of his was to be an ass to a customer, but that still doesn't warrant a demeaning and unprofessional berating in front of the public. Granted he was an employee with a bad attitude, but that doesn't mean that he could be dealt with in a professional manner.

Sorry, Duh, but grow some balls and teach your precious snowflake that nothing lives forever, instead of expecting the world to kowtow to your irresponsibility. Furthermore, I bet this douche had his obvious ego inflated after getting some mouthy teen fired over some $20 pet vermin.

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the noodler
Just for the record I want to say that Special Patrol Group is a stupid name for a hamster.






I'm sorry. I had to. For Lucy. And Lucy's mom.

Fans of The Young Ones?

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bookworm

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the noodler
Just for the record I want to say that Special Patrol Group is a stupid name for a hamster.






I'm sorry. I had to. For Lucy. And Lucy's mom.

Fans of The Young Ones?

Lucy's mom. It was one of her favorite lines to just throw out of nowhere for shits and giggles.

@mrschinaski.... Oh my god I love guinea pigs especially when they chortle.

Bullshit. That hamster wasn't "Alan" until the split second it took for Salescreep to pluck the name out of his five or six firing neurons. If he was already on "final warning"-- and, trust me, it takes a lot to get there-- he was fucking with the little girl's head, pure and simple.

It doesn't fucking matter if he's making "minimum wage." You do the job you're paid to do-- or your ass gets shown the door. I am sick of shit of little entitled assholes who think they're better than whatever job they oh-so-unfairly have to do.

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Zzelda
THE FUCK IS THIS?

If I had, let alone was a lowly employee of - a pet shop - regardless - I'd tell the customer to spin their own tales.

And take your Dr. Phil shit ELSEWHERE. Store employees ARE NOT "Grief Counselors". (Another Moo invention. Excuse me - MooVention!)

It's a STORE - not Magical Make Believe Land.

You want that? DIY.

"Dr. Phil shit"? Fuck you. Forty seconds of make-believe and a smile is not psychotherapy. I work at Target. What the fuck should I do at Christmas, honey? Go around telling every guest under the age of ten that Santa doesn't exist...?

That's why it's called "customer service," bucky. Some of us actually take pride in it.

"smile iDr. Phil shit"? Fuck you. Forty seconds of make-believe and a s not psychotherapy"

I do not think this "first world problem" is anything to get upset over. The teen worker probably did have some attitude, but if I were to go into Macy's and try on a jacket and ask a miminum wage sales associate how it looked on me and they told me "there is a mirror over there" I would accept that. They are not fashion consultants. Retail work today is all about go in, have what you want pointed out if you can't find it, so you can carry it to the cashier, pay for it and leave. I have no expectations of better treatment than that.

punctuator don't you have kids to go look after?

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cfdavep
"smile iDr. Phil shit"? Fuck you. Forty seconds of make-believe and a s not psychotherapy"

I do not think this "first world problem" is anything to get upset over. The teen worker probably did have some attitude, but if I were to go into Macy's and try on a jacket and ask a miminum wage sales associate how it looked on me and they told me "there is a mirror over there" I would accept that. They are not fashion consultants. Retail work today is all about go in, have what you want pointed out if you can't find it, so you can carry it to the cashier, pay for it and leave. I have no expectations of better treatment than that.

This is why we live in a shitty society where so many people yell into cell phones and let their kids run around like monkeys. It's all part of a code of conduct that has unravelled and killed manners and decency.

Minimum wage work is nothing new. It is supposed to teach work ethic but if being a slacker or asshole to customers is supposed to be ok, it teaches them it's fine to go about life being lazy and treating people badly.

In this case the employee lied to the customer by agreeing to go along with the Ruby thing, then intentionally fucked with the customer and the kid. WTF, a psycho. Or maybe wanted to get fired.

I really honestly wish that life was the way it was in the old days. I remember there was real "customer service" back in the 80's when people gave a crap. I HATE people yelling into cell phones and especially thoose "boom cars" where assholes ride around with that nasty noise, I even see middle aged white males doing that now in BMWs, pretending to be young rappers. It used to be just a ghetto/criminal thing, also people are cranking their car radios up so that whenever I go into a parking lot I park away from people. I do not know what has happened to society, but I have accepted there is nothing to be done, it will get worse. Soon it will get like China where life is truly not worth a nickel. I would change it all if I could and I am trying to learn acceptance and to be happy in a crappy world. My husband always says that by the time the world is no longer worth living in we will be dead anyway. At least CF'ers are not leaving kids behind to deal with it