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TIFU when I didn’t just hang up the overhead pager

On mobile, happened yesterday.

I’m a new (been here almost a month) pet groomer at a corporate store where we also offer walk-in services, like nail trimmings and grindings. I get them pretty often, and as I’m talking with the dog owner about what she wants, I end with my usual “please don’t leave the store it won’t even take that long and I’ll just page you to come get your puppy.”

Dog was really sweet and let me get through it all without much fuss so all in all not even 15 minutes. I take the dog out with me to the counter to start paging for the owner.

At previous jobs, the store overhead pager was a live call, as in I dial the number and hear myself talk through the sound system. Here, it’s a recording that ends when you hang up. As I start my “will Dog Owner please come back to the salon”, I see the owner turn the corner already making her way back. Here is where I fuck up: I don’t know how to end the recording without sending it to the store speakers.

I head back into the salon to ask my manager, she tells me that there’s got to be a way but she doesn’t know it so ask a store manager. I give the dog back to the owner and while dog owner is putting the harness on I get one of two store assistants - not the actual manager - back to the counter. I tell her the situation and that yes, it’s still recording. She fiddles with the phone system and I beg her not to end the call while I’m trying to finish the transaction with the dog owner. After a couple more seconds, she looks at me and I give her the solemn nod: do it.

It must have a limited amount of time to record because it skips the first part of me asking for the dog owner to come back and immediately jumps to my call to assistant manager.

Bing Bong - “I messed up and I need help back at the salon I don’t know how to end the pager without sending it to the overhead please.”

I’m crying giving the dog owner the receipt and she bows out fast. Immediately I’m on the floor laughing and crying as the salon erupts into cackles and the store assistant is holding her stomach doubled over with laughter over the sound of my voice and the assistant manager’s trying to end the pager early. The actual store manager charges back and we try to tell her what happened as she goes to stop it. There’s moments of silence in the recording, where I then can hear some of the other employees asking if it’s over yet right before my voice continues on just begging for help with turning off the recording and all the laughter continues. Then the realization hits everyone back in the salon at once: the pager repeats. Store Manager redoubles her efforts to end the whole recording before that happens, but her efforts weren’t enough.

Bing Bong- the recording starts over from the beginning.

By this time the tears have dried and laughing has died down to giggles as the other store assistant walks back with texts from another store with things to try. The store manager gets the pager to be on hold - not sure how - and there’s a reprieve from my voice begging for help. The store manager walks away, thinking this is it we’ve solved it and the elevator esque music will end our suffering. Until the hold music ends and for some reason THE PAGER REPEATS AGAIN.

3 times. 3 times do the innocent shoppers have to hear me say “Well I don’t want to send it to the whole store I just need help stopping it.”

Store manager is back, along with the other assistant who brought the tips and together they end its, and my, suffering with a second of back to back pager notifications like it reset itself.

Thankfully, it was near the end of the day so I could hang out back with the dog kennels to recover before heading home. And hey, now I know better - just end the pager as soon as I can.

TL;DR - After completing the service, went call the dog owner to pick up their dog ala store pager, but she was already on her way. Left the pager record the next almost 5 minutes of conversation for the whole store to hear me slowly panic about how to turn the recording off. It repeated three times.

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