A quiet week

So here I am attempting to write a blog. I have been running a Pet Shop for some 25 years now and seem to have amassed quite a number of stories/anecdotes/moans/opinions and feelings about my business/my pets/my customers/my life.

Would anyone out there like to read about them - I wonder?

Life can be very,very strange dealing with people and their pets. Not only their pets, but their emotions as well. Sometimes I feel like a shrink, a marriage guidance councillor, a Doctor/Vet and a Social Service Provider all rolled into one.

My love of animals goes back before I was born. They and the Business have been in my family for three generations now. I like to think that I am fairly sensible about animals. I can't abide cruelty and see pets as a help to mankind. They are something that we should look after and respect. They are company and often a crutch but what we should not forget is that they are ANIMALS, with different needs from ourselves.

Enough of the lecture. I thought you may like to hear a little of the goings on in my shop over the last week or so. - It was a quiet week too.

Valentines day. We sold two hamsters as romantic gifts for young lovers. Both had hamsters in the past and their boyfriends thought that the most romantic gift (and cheapest I guess) would be a cute little creature. We even sold them some heart shaped treats . The recipients of the gifts were thrilled. (We ask all our customers to read and agree to our conditions of sale when we sell any pet which involves taking the owners name and address and making sure that the pet goes with all the necessary information). I couldn't help but be a little worried though. Not for the hamsters - they were going to be really well looked after, but for the lovers. Hamsters only live for about two years. Does that men that when the hamster goes to that big hamster wheel in the sky that its owners lover will evaporate? Or worse still - The Mother of one of the young 'romantic' men bought the hamster for her son to give to his girlfriend. She even picked it out and gift wrapped the box. Then she took it to the girl on her sons behalf. I don't know about you but I wouldn't be too pleased if my boyfriends Mum was doing all the running on Valentines day. Doesn't say much for the 'devoted' boyfriend.

Then we had the rather eccentric woman in her 30's who wanted a guinea pig. Because she was rather agitated and forgetful and basically did not know what day of the week it was we refused to sell her a pet. On hearing this she burst into tears and started sobbing. We tried to pacify her and asked her to come back with someone who cared for her and then we could discuss the guinea pig situation. That seems to do the trick and we have not seen her since. It was quite an embarrassing situation all round. I am sure not too many people have gone into a Pet Shop to buy some doggie treat or other and had to walk round a full grown - and very well dressed woman sobbing as though the world had ended. Needless to say I am very grateful for my staffs handling of the situation.

Many of our customers are little old ladies who keep a budgie as a pet. They come in quite regularly to buy budgie seed and have a chat. My favourite lady came and told us that it was her 80th Birthday the previous weekend. I don't think that she has much of a family, but she does attend some Church or other. Anyway my faith in humanity was restored when she told me that she had been taken out for two celebratory meals and had had so many cards, gifts and flowers that she had to give some blooms to her elderly neighbours because her windowsills were overflowing. So the world isn't such a bad place after all. There are people out there looking after their friends and neighbours. Makes me feel good.

Oh yes and just a quick note. One of our staff members has taught our Parrot to say 'Give us a kiss'. This can be very embarrassing when you are the only person in the shop and a customer comes in. They don't know that we have a talking parrot and invariably think it is me!

So as you can see running a Pet Shop isn't just about animals, although I have lots more to write if anyone is interested.