Pet shops unlikely to use floor cleaners

carpet cleaning MelbourneThree out of every four pet shops in Melbourne have never been properly cleaned, a study released yesterday has shown.

Most pet shop owners are unaware that they should get professionally floor and carpet steam cleaning, Melbourne pet shop expert Dylan Larkins says.

“Pet shops are notoriously filthy places as animals largely cannot clean up after themselves,” he said.

“Yet cleaning duties are usually performed by staff when manning the shop. As a result, the cleaning is only for cosmetic purposes.”

The pet shop cleaning study was undertaken by Larkins, who had long suspected that pet shops were not being cleaned adequately.

Carpeted pet shops are slightly more likely to have had their floors cleaned, the study reveals. Larkins suggests in the study that this is because the pet shop owner may be aware that carpet can absorb odours.

“Floorboards usually get a good sweeping once or twice a week, and that’s it,” Larkins said, paraphrasing his conclusions.

“Furthermore, pet shop owners think that cleaning by a broom which may be re-used for many years is hygienic. The best option would actually be grout and tile cleaners for Melbourne regulations to be satisfied.”

Pet shop sales assistant Katrina Owers, 16, agrees with the findings of the study.

“As far as I know, the floors never get cleaned other spot cleaning when a mess is made,” she said.

“Usually it is because a bunny has pushed straw out of its cage and onto the floor. If I’m serving a customer, I usually don’t even worry about cleaning it up until long after they’re gone, because I might forget. We do clean inside the cages every week, though, so at least that’s something.”

The study also revealed that Melbourne pet shops who do hire professional carpet cleaners regularly are likely to have higher sales figures over the last quarter.

“What we’re seeing here is a feedback loop,” explained Larkins.

“Bigger shops are more likely to have strategies in place to manage cleaning such as hiring a proper cleaner, and in turn, stores that have better cleaning procedures have higher takings as customers spend longer in the store. This is consistent with a previous study of mine, which found that customers spend less time in shops with unpleasant odours.”

I Just Love Being High Up

folding platform laddersI think I might have ended up with a restraining order…against the sky. Well, uh, sort of?

Okay, I really just like my heights, but it keeps getting me in serious trouble. There was the foiled skydiving attempt when I was on the plane to Tahiti, which in retrospect makes me glad that it was foiled. The base jumping society has banned me from all further meetings because apparently I make them nervous. And then there are the improv bungee sessions, which eventually landed me in court. A lot of things actually landed me in court, but this seemed to be the final straw for the judge. Now I’m banned from being more than twenty feet in the air, lest my natural urges take over.

No three-storey buildings, no bungee jumps, no climbing walls, and definitely no folding platform ladders. In my defence, I didn’t do any prior research into what folding platform ladders actually were for, before I went and attached a bungee cord to one of them. Now I have to make an official apology to the people at the building site, even though I didn’t actually break anything. I suppose they want to know that I’ve learned my lesson not to mess with building supplies, but with a restraining order on my further airborne activities, what’s the point?

I don’t know how I’m going to live, being so attached to the ground. Humans weren’t meant to just walk around their entire lives, you know? That’s why we were made with brains to let us invent things like hang gliders and jet packs, and reunite with man’s best friend (birds) in the air. So, all kinds of aluminium work platforms are definitely out. I need to find another way around this. The sky is calling.

-Skye

Finally Moved In…

conveyancerMoving day is over, I can tentatively say that it’s all done with. I thought just the process of deciding to move was enough, since we tossed the idea up and down for a good three years. Not that I didn’t LIKE the old area, but…it’s boring. I want a place that can be quiet most of the time, but is still close enough to activity.

Well…that’s just when the troubles started. Finding the perfect home is a drag, but we didn’t have the money to build our own. It’s just that nitty-gritty bit of finding a place that checks all the boxes at once…and we thought, since we’d been looking for three years, there was no use rushing things and not checking every single box, right? What a nightmare. Eventually we had ALL the professionals in to help us look, like indecisive kids in a lolly shop. Pretty sure we bounced off (and irritated) every single conveyancer in Carnegie, and that was only the beginning.

Millions of miles of paperwork later, and we were finally ready to make our moving dream a reality.

Oh, unrelated note…did you know that Yaival DuMesque is filming his next big blockbuster in Melbourne? Whatever it is, it’s some sort of western, and he got permission from the local council to bring in hundreds of cows and dozens of horses to transform the Carnegie centre into a movie set for the day. Must’ve cost a fortune. And when I said unrelated, I meant that it happened on exactly the day we were moving. Funny, all those hours spent in the conveyancer’s office didn’t prepare us for the nightmare of being gridlocked by cows for three hours, then told to go the long way around.

But it’s done. It HAS to be done. The conveyancers over in Caulfield (they were dealing with the previous owners, and…oh, it’s too complicated) have assured us that the whole possum infestation incident isn’t going to affect the paperwork. Transfers are done, the house is hours…and I just want to sleep for three days.

-Tanya

Looking for an Alternative

dry needling courses SydneyThere comes a time when an office job is not enough. I’m done with fetching coffee and making copies! Also, making coffee and fetching copies. It’s very easy to get those two mixed up, and that also is a stress I do not need in my life.

I’ve been having a bit of a search for exciting career options, and nothing has really come up. I can’t be a mountaineering guide because my asthma would act up something fierce. I can’t swim and learning would be like taking another degree, so marine biologist. Of course, there are always those dry needling courses in Sydney currently taking place, but I’m not sure about that either. It’s not quite as ‘extreme’ as what I’m looking for.

Somehow, I’m not willing to strike it off the list entirely. Let’s face it: I’m not in the physical shape to be doing extreme sports every day, and something akin to dry needling might be be the alternative career path I need. It’s definitely more appealing than both massage therapy and forensic pathology, both of which came up when I searched for alternative careers. I’m not so into a ‘hands-on’ career like massaging, and forensic pathology would lead to poking around inside dead people, I’m pretty sure. That, also, is off the table. Way off the table. Off the table and into the trash can.

Well, unless I want to become a feng shui interior designer, I guess I’m taking a dry needling course. Me, needling. It’s still a bit too close to massage therapy for my liking, but you don’t actually have to touch anyone (the needles do it all, supposedly) and there’s no blood. I get a bit faint when I see blood, so I better HOPE there’s none of it.

Guess I’m looking around Australia for a dry needling course. There’s going to be one in Sydney, right? I kinda have a fear of flying…

-Terrence