Birds in the Store

[groceryhorror]

Any of you folks working at the big-box stores every have problems with birds getting in your store? We had two birds fly in and take up residence up in the ceiling joists of our store...chirping away.

I was talking to the front-end manager about it and asked him "Well how do you get them out?" He made a motion like someone loading a shotgun and firing it...and I said "What, you shoot them?!" and he said "Well how else do you get them out?"

So, my question to you...ever had anything similar? I don't think he was pulling my leg either, he's a pretty straighforward guy. But WTF? Shooting them? I can't imagine our customers would take too well to an associate walking around the store with a BB gun, never mind the birdie guts that would get everywhere.

[Food Lady]

Ha ha that reminds me of Steel Magnolias when Shelby's dad shoots at the birds in the trees to get rid of them before the wedding reception, and goes temporarily deaf.

[DrugstoreJulie]

I remember those birds from my days in a grocery store. Vicious little sparrows that pecked open and pooped on everything and drove the floormanager of the produce section insane. Bird droppings are caustic, so not only would you have to throw away the food items, it would even damage the furnishings of the store

I don´t think we ever got them out. Even if you did, the next couple of birds would gladly take their place.

Apparently there are electronic devices that keep birds away.

[Retail Associate]

I worked in Pet & Garden for 5 years. Not only did wild birds get into the store, the birds we sold would occasionally get loose also. Most of the 'pet' birds would eventually come back to the Pet Dept when they got hungry enough and we could catch them with nets and return them to their cages. But the ones who didn't return and the wild birds were shot during the night shift. We would find their blood on products that were on our risers (upper shelves).

The wild birds also build their nests in the rafters of the outdoor garden center. They were considered a nuisance and pooped everywhere. Management got tired of it so they taped small cardboard boxes filled with poisoned bird seed up there. A few times I'd be helping a customer out there when a bird would suddenly fall from the rafters, flop around on the ground, then die. I always told the customers the truth if they asked, "What happened?!"

What management didn't know is that one of my coworkers started climbing up the pallet racks and removing the poisoned seed.

[Broomjockey]

Management got tired of it so they taped small cardboard boxes filled with poisoned bird seed on the rafters. <snip>
What management didn't know is that one of my coworkers started climbing up the pallet racks and removing the poisoned seed.

This story made me sad, but yay for your co-worker. I understand management's position, but it still makes me sad, and reminds me of the time we found a bird that froze to death on our loading dock, on the little lip between the door and the outside edge of the dock. It was just sitting there, trying to be out of the wind, we guessed.

[KaeZoo]

Yes!! An opening for my "bird in the store" story!!

A few years ago a large blackbird flew into our store and was there for several days. We had no idea how to get it to leave.

One of the guys in the warehouse had plenty of time on his hands. He started feeding the bird with ground up corn chips and assorted snack food. He'd spread it out on the floor in the warehouse (the warehouse area in that store was open at the ceiling to the rest of the store, so the bird could fly in and out easily) and eventually the bird started to fly down and eat it.

He ended up catching the bird with a trap right out of a Warner Brothers cartoon. He propped up a cardboard box with a stick, attached a long string to the stick, scattered some potato chips underneath, and when the bird flew down to eat the chips, he just waited for the right moment and pulled the string. Worked like a charm on the first try. He then slid another piece of cardboard underneath, turned the box over, and presto! Captive bird.

His genius streak was marred a bit when he poked his fingers into the box and the bird bit him. After that, our feathery guest was quickly released back into the wild.

For a few years, that store shared a wall with a pet shop. We once had an escaped snake that found its way onto our side of the wall.

Also, birds in our installation bays are fairly common. We just turn out the lights and open the bay doors, so it's lighter outside than it is inside, and they usually fly out again pretty quickly. But that's not really practical in the rest of the store.

[Chantilly]

I used to be an AM for a national video store chain (selling, not renting). One day this dove flew down out of the rafters and dive-bombed the Musicals section. Flew straight into Funny Girl and knocked itself out cold. I busted up laughing, even though some of the customers looked at me like I was a coldhearted b***h. I had to call security to remove him since I was the only employee there, and hope they got there before the thing woke up! (They did. Whew!)

We also had a bat take up residence in a storage cage in the service corridor near the back entrance. I thought he was cute but he scared the other girls working there, so he had to be gotten rid of.

[Becks]

Birds occasionally fly into the grocery store. I don't know how they get out. Do they leave on their own? Do they get caught? Does night crew shoot them? No clue.

[protege]

[QUOTE=Chantilly;137284We also had a bat take up residence in a storage cage in the service corridor near the back entrance. I thought he was cute but he scared the other girls working there, so he had to be gotten rid of.[/QUOTE]

Getting rid of bats is fun...

My grandmother's house was built during the Civil War. Big old farmhouse, empty, unfinished attic and basement. So, naturally, critters sometimes get in and hide. Usually, the bats stay in the attic. Grandma doesn't care, since there's nothing up there anyway. However, they sometimes get into the house and fly around.

One night, I was watching TV, and something was flying around in the living room Flipped the light on, and it was a small bat Since bats can carry rabies, he had to go outside. Only way to get him, was to whack him with a badminton racket. (I know it sounds cruel, but they can't see it--all it does is stun them.) Once smacked, I wrapped him up in a towel, and put him outside...where he happily flew away.

That wasn't the only time. When my grandfather was still alive, we counted over 100 bats as they came out of the attic one night. They weren't hard to miss--easy to hear them tumbling down the eaves before they fly out Soon after that, most of the attic was sealed off

[SuperDan]

Birds are pretty common in my store, in fact we've had two that we just can't get rid of for almost a year now.

Back in the day, we used the ever popular "box on a stick with birdseed under it" trick and apparently it worked, so that's not what we do now.

A few years ago, the manager that is now our grocery manager brought a BB gun to the store, walked around the store with said firearm at about 6 pm on a Thursday, and eventually shot the bird we had at the moment over the produce department. No customers were in the immediate area, but there were some customers present who witnessed this from the other end of the department. Manager made me clean it up too. At least one cashier walked out of the store after seeing the manager walking through the store with the gun, and another said she would have if she could afford to lose the paycheck. Manager got an unexpected "vacation" after that.

We asked our pest control company if they could do anything for us in the way of poison or traps. All they told us was to turn off the store lights and open all the doors. Not exactly feasible in a store that is open 6am to midnight every day and has customers in it that entire time. We do close early on Thanksgiving (3pm) and are closed Christmas day, but leaving the doors open when we and pretty much every other business is closed is only going to invite trouble from SCs who will try to get in and buy stuff.

Same manager who shot the birds before decided to do it again, only this time when the store was closed and he was the only one in the store. Rumor has it he came in Christmas day with a BB gun, lawn chair, and case of beer, and spent most of the day in the store. Didn't work, both birds are still around.

[BookstoreEscapee]

There was a bird in the bookstore once. It was just kind of flying around, stayed near the ceiling mostly and eventually found its way out.

A couple weeks ago I saw a bird fly up above my office; the office is on the second floor of the warehouse, or the "mezzanine" as they call it, and there's several feet of space between the ceiling of the office and the ceiling of the warehouse. I wonder how many birds are laying dead up there... I'm assuming they come in the truck bays downstairs and find their way up (the mezzanine only extends maybe a quarter of the way across the warehouse).

[Becks]

Same manager who shot the birds before decided to do it again, only this time when the store was closed and he was the only one in the store. Rumor has it he came in Christmas day with a BB gun, lawn chair, and case of beer, and spent most of the day in the store. Didn't work, both birds are still around.

If it's true that a case of beer was involved, maybe he was so drunk he missed.

Or maybe it's different birds.

[JustADude]

Before I start, I want you all to know I swear I'm not making this up, since most people refuse to believe me on this one.


At the B&N I worked at many, many moons ago, there was a period when one of the front displays was completely sold out, and the manager, E, told one of the senior staff, G, to go find whatever she felt would make a good display and fix things up. So G, being the kind of person she was, heads back and grabs everything we have by E.A.Poe (Can you see where this is going?) and makes a very nice looking display of books, topped by a leather-bound hardcover copy of his complete works propped up by a metal frame, facing the doors.

About an hour later, there's a few groups of customers passing at the entrance, so both sets of doors are open when a HUGE black bird flies in (If you guessed, congrats! You get a cookie!) and lands right on the top of the display! It just sat there for a moment, looking around, while everyone was standing there going either or , then cawed and took off back out the doors, which were still open because everyone had stopped to stare.

A couple customers that then headed to the cafe actually asked if we'd had a trained bird brought in to do that every so often as a promotion, and one refused to believe me when I said no.

[Princess-Snake]

Oh my goddess. Poe must have sent the bird. That's the only explanation. Well, either that, or he was the bird. But still, it's creepy. And for people giving me the look, I do believe in ghosts and the supernatural and that bird was as supernatural as it can get. Nevermore! Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Andara Bledin]

About an hour later, there's a few groups of customers passing at the entrance, so both sets of doors are open when a HUGE black bird flies in (If you guessed, congrats! You get a cookie!) and lands right on the top of the display! It just sat there for a moment, looking around, while everyone was standing there going either or , then cawed and took off back out the doors, which were still open because everyone had stopped to stare.

Man, I'd have loved to have been there for that one. I'm something of a Poe fan, and that was just priceless.

^-.-^