Tweaking POGs and catching bats

[XCashier]

We're setting up the Halloween display. Due to too much last-season stuff and lack of room, we're doing the craft section first, then we'll do costumes when the last-season stuff thins out enough.

Whoever did the planograms, I wonder what they're smoking. They're okay spacing left-to-right, but have a lot of difficulty with top-to-bottom. I wonder if they're measuring the items we sell, and forgetting to measure the hang tag or label. Everything's in too short of space, and we're having to tweak the POG an awful lot.

I hope we can get room to set up costumes soon; the stockroom is awfully crowded.

A bat was lying on the floor by the bay door. An actual living bat, a tiny little thing, about the size of a mouse, probably an insectivore. My coworkers thought it was a decoration and had fallen out of the Halloween boxes until it moved. One screamed, one propped open the back door and tried to figure out how to coax it out. I got the dust pan and broom, carefully caught it between pan and brush, and hurried it to the door and tossed it outside, where it flew away. I hope it's okay.

[Monterey Jack]

"ALF pogs! Remember Alf? Well, he's back...in pog form."

Aw, hope the little bat turns out okay...I actually think they're kinda cute.

And you're setting up a HALLOWEEN DISPLAY on the first day of AUGUST?!

[XCashier]

And you're setting up a HALLOWEEN DISPLAY on the first day of AUGUST?!

We are a fabric and craft store. Crafts take a while to put together, as do Halloween costumes. Since we really don't do Back To School, we skip ahead to Halloween.

Besides, the stuff is really cool this year.

I like bats too. I would've liked to have seen what kind it was, but I didn't want to traumatize it any further, nor did I want to get bitten.

[Ghel]

My ex used to keep a long-handled fish net in his office because the building was infested with bats when they moved in. Most left when the building became occupied, but every once in a while, one would show up again. He got good at snagging the bats out of the air with the net. Or he'd find one on the ceiling, bump its butt with the edge of the net so it would fall, then flip the opening around so it couldn't get out. He would always take them outside and release them, even though everyone else wanted to kill them. They eat mosquitos! Why would you want to kill them?

[XCashier]

He would always take them outside and release them, even though everyone else wanted to kill them. They eat mosquitos! Why would you want to kill them?

"Because EEEUUUWWW! Bats are ICKY! They're creepy!" Nope. They're important pollinators and insect control. But since they're not pretty like birds are, they're automatically evil in many people's eyes. It is stupid. Kudos to your ex for rescuing and releasing the bats.

[EricKei]

Crafts take a while to put together, as do Halloween costumes.

We eagerly await your yearly deluge of customers coming in on the evening of the 30th looking for Halloween-print cloth for the costumes they intend to hand-make...

[notalwaysright]

They're important pollinators and insect control.

They eat mosquitoes! I grew up in a log cabin, and they'd get in once in a while. Standard procedure was to open the front and back doors and go back to sleep. Or that was what my parent's did. I generally slept through it, even if our cats were jumping up and down on my bed trying to catch the bats as they flew back and forth. The whole house was basically one room plus the bathroom, everything else was completely open.

We do have some costumes out, but not much. Most of the stuff we have out is premade, not crafts. The POGs are pretty funny. Our store wasn't originally built to be this store, it was a different fabric store. The building is from the mid 70s. We have such fun trying to fit POGs into the space we have. Every time an employee or manager gets transferred to our store they just can't believe how shabby and strange it is compared to other stores. It's nearly impossible to keep the "standards" that corporate lays out. They don't care about reality, just their plans and layouts.

[greek_jester]

But since they're not pretty like birds are, they're automatically evil in many people's eyes.

I object to that remark. Bats are cute! Those adorable little wrinkled faces with their up-turned noses... *sighs happily*

[taxguykarl]

An actual living bat, a tiny little thing, about the size of a mouse, probably an insectivore. My coworkers thought it was a decoration and had fallen out of the Halloween boxes until it moved.

Sounds like one Thanksgiving: One of our cats was mauling a grey fuzzy item. Mrs. TGK yelled at me, "I told you to get rid of the realistic mouse toys."
I took a closer look and replied, "It's not a toy."
"Good kitty."
It seems our now deceased black cat caught a mouse that was in the basement. The reason Mrs. TGK banned realistic mouse toys was a winter in which we had a mouse problem. The cats caught one every day it seemed. Hasn't been a problem since.

[TheSHAD0W]

You should pretty much never see a bat, unless it's sick. There may be some exceptions when they're trapped and exhausted from trying to escape, but you should always consider it to be sick - and often, with bats, sick means rabid. So make sure you don't have any personal contact with it and I'd recommend you wash any fabric items it may have been in contact with that humans also have significant contact with.

[Deserted]

Near my old apartment, when the weather wasn't insane, I could often see bats hunting the bugs around street lights. Pretty neat.

[XCashier]

We eagerly await your yearly deluge of customers coming in on the evening of the 30th looking for Halloween-print cloth for the costumes they intend to hand-make...

I'm not! I've been through that before, and that was enough!

[Minflick]

Hell, even my local big chain supermarket has Halloween stuff out already.... Decidedly NOT a craft store!

[EricKei]

Well, XC, I'll let you in on a secret....The "S" in "CS" can also stand for "Schadenfreude."

...But that's OK, just as long as we all share our own stories of the same, as compensation