Walmart may have greeters who hand out happy-face stickers. But the big-box store has nothing over the welcome you get at Sea La Vie. Customer entering the Virginia Beach, Virginia-based coastal-themed gift shop are greeted with kisses and tail wags. As you might have guessed, the greeter is a four-legged and furry adorable little corgi pooch.
A.J., aka “Wiggle Butt,” has been coming to work with store owner (and proud dog mama) Madeleine Philipp since he was just 10 weeks old.
Philipp describes this friendly fellow as “the perfect dog.” He’s a pretty good employee, too — extremely conscientious regarding his duties.
“I have two entrances,” says Philipp, “A.J. will sit by the main door, and if he hears the other door opening, he runs over there. He has to greet every single customer that comes in.”
A.J. has been known to lay his toys down in front of customers’ feet to get them to play with him. He’s also taken people’s water bottles — he thinks they’re toys.
Philipp would like to think that people come into Sea La Vie for the amazing merchandise she sells — but she admits that many times they come in just to see A.J. She gets it.
In the winter time, when the doors are kept closed, customers can see the gregarious doggie’s nose smooshed up against the glass, waiting for his next new playmate to come inside.
“He’s our little people pleaser,” says Philipp. The employees kid that he is also their “security dog.”
He’s also a pretty good little marketer. Sea La Vie’s Instagram page always gets the most likes when A.J. is in the photo. The pooch is so popular, in fact, that he has his own Instagram page, wiggle.butt.aj.
Philipp jokes that her dog should be on the payroll.
