Strange things can happen in retail
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
Eugene, Oregon
August 30, 2016 3:26pm CST
I worked a few hours yesterday at my retail part-time job. I was in front helping a customer; my co-worker was in back. As I finished and stepped into the back room, she said, "Look at this snake," to which my reaction was "Snake? In here?"
Sure enough, over by the door leading to the alley was this little snake in the photo. I had expected to see a garden snake, kind of greenish with stripes like I see in the yard sometimes, but here was this little gray/black snake with a ring neck and strange tail.
It turned out to be called a "ring neck snake, not too common here and only "mildly venomous" the site we searched said. We got it into a dust pan and another co-worker took it across the street to some tall grass along the alley.
How he got in under the door is a mystery.
20 people like this
22 responses
@CinnamonGrl (7084)
• Santa Fe, New Mexico
30 Aug 16
We used to get snakes at both the courthouse I worked in and then years later, the call center where I worked. One dropped through a vent at the call center. Fun, huh? It didn't happen more than a couple times at each place, but both buildings were by open fields. It is weird when they get in one's workplace. I'm sure you were surprised,, lol.
4 people like this
@Marilynda1225 (82809)
• United States
30 Aug 16
I would have run out of there the second a snake fell through the vent 
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
30 Aug 16
We have had a few mice, but he was not big enough to be helpful with them.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
30 Aug 16
Yes, we were surprised to read that "venomous" part later.
1 person likes this
@akalinus (43209)
• United States
31 Aug 16
@JamesHxstatic Good thing you did not find out the hard way.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
31 Aug 16
Could be, the alley pavement was hot.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
31 Aug 16
So were we. He was small but assumed a defensive posture (who could blame him?) and we kept him in that gray dust pan.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
31 Aug 16
@JudyEv That would be a scary situation for sure. Did they charm him ok?
2 people like this
@JudyEv (340286)
• Rockingham, Australia
31 Aug 16
@JamesHxstatic One got itself into a classroom where Vin used to work a few years ago. They got the kids out and called in a snake charmer guy but the snake was going ballistic. They are very fast when they get agitated and this was a tiger snake, quite aggressive (more so when angry) and highly venomous.
2 people like this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
31 Aug 16
Maybe he was reading a recipe?
1 person likes this
@RubyHawk (99405)
• Atlanta, Georgia
1 Sep 16
@JamesHxstatic Most likely, I didn't go back in the house until the snake was removed.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
31 Aug 16
Stretched out like that, he was about 14 inches I think.
@crazyhorseladycx (39509)
• United States
31 Aug 16
"mildly venomous"?? i'm glad that y'all moved 't 'cross the road, but 'pparently there's somethin' there its got'n eye'n, no doubt'll be back.
snakes're kinda like mice - they seem to be able to squeeze through most anythin'.
2 people like this
@MKAlubs (455)
• United States
30 Aug 16
Interesting. I also have a retail part-time job and about a month ago I was about to step out the front door of the business to see what the weather was like outside and as soon as I opened the door a toad hopped into the store. It was a pretty big toad--way too big to fit under the door. Apparently it was just waiting for someone to open the door so it could come in. Maybe it wanted to shop. So I decided to catch it to take it back outside. Do you know how hard it is to catch a hopping toad? It took me almost 15 minutes to catch the darn thing and as soon as I did it peed on my hands. A defense mechanism perhaps. So I took it outside and let it loose in the bushes then went inside to wash my hands. I never noticed what the weather was like.
@MKAlubs (455)
• United States
30 Aug 16
@JamesHxstatic - I figured that if I dropped him I'd have to catch him again and then he would only pee in my hands again. So I just got him outside as quickly as possible. By the way, the pee was rather stinky. It was one of the few times I've ever used anti-bacterial soap.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
30 Aug 16
I can imagine that catching a hopping toad would be tough. That was quite defense mechanism. Some would have dropped him at that point.
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (82809)
• United States
30 Aug 16
That would have freaked me out as I'm not a snake !over
2 people like this
@TheHorse (218967)
• Walnut Creek, California
31 Aug 16
@JamesHxstatic The first time I ever got rattled at by a rattlesnake on Mt. Diablo, that's about how long he was. It still scared the living heck out of me.
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
31 Aug 16
He was maybe 14 inches or so, and that color on his neck and tail is interesting for sure.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
31 Aug 16
All sorts of things get through under doors. I don't know how they do it, but I find little critters just inside my front door. I know the door jamb fits tightly, and I check before I go out, and never leave it open. It's one of those mysteries in life, like where all the single socks disappear to on laundry day.
2 people like this
@ElizabethWallace (12074)
• United States
31 Aug 16
@JamesHxstatic If you ever find out, let me know.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
31 Aug 16
I would have started screaming..you took it so matter of factly.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
31 Aug 16
My co-workers were both women and took it even better than I.
1 person likes this
@JamesHxstatic (29413)
• Eugene, Oregon
31 Aug 16
@responsiveme Nor mine. I would not want one for a pet. This one was pretty small and fairly harmless.
1 person likes this
@responsiveme (22926)
• India
31 Aug 16
@JamesHxstatic that snake looks poisonous.Well snakes are a reality here...they are not my fav creatures to put it mildly.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (167094)
• Boise, Idaho
31 Aug 16
He may have come in in something that was actually carried inside the store. Ugh! I do not like snakes.
1 person likes this
yikes.
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
31 Aug 16
Yeah, that would have had me jumping. I don't like any kind of snake but seeing one with a ring around it's neck I would think was poisonous and nothing to mess around with.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43418)
• Denver, Colorado
30 Aug 16
Snakes wig me out. Creeps me out. I have a phobia of snakes.
1 person likes this
