I said dead not ten

Usually all my stupid stories usually involve the birds. But this time it's about my loving 19 year dog Bailey and my cat Tom Tom who was a hit and run victim. Don't bail out; this is not a sob story.
I register all the cats and dogs with Petsmarts website for gift cards and coupons. One day I received two Petsmart birthday gift cards in the mail. The one gift card was for Tom Tom my tailless cat. He had a tail but lost it in a squirrel fight. Or I should say it fell off in the vet's office after the fight. He was the coolest cat on the planet. The other Petsmart birthday gift card is for our lab mix Bailey who just turned 19 on 02/07/10. Bailey is a "Buck midnight special"; anyone from Athens NY will know what that is. Our friend Ding had a dog called Buck, you can figure out the rest. Bailey is mostly deaf, a little crazy and missing his tail also. He is a wonderful dog.
I take my two coupons and off I go to Petsmart for food and supplies. At the register there is a young 6 foot tall girl waiting on customers. I've seen her working here before and I know she is not the brightest puppy in the litter. We start chatting and along came the manager who is about 5'2'' and high on life. He starts rambling about how happy he is that I'm shopping at Petsmart and chose his store. Meanwhile I hand the coupons to the young lady working the register. She is very sweet but a totally blank look comes over her face. She then turns to Mr. Happy Manager to ask how to use the special Birthday coupons. Mr. Happy bounces over looks at the coupons and tells her to process them like any other coupon. He then proceeds to congratulate me on the birthday of my cat Tom Tom.
I stop for a second and think. Then I slowly say "well as a matter of fact, the cat is dead". The register girl gives me a sympathetic look; I tell her that it's okay. Mr. Happy pants manager bounces off to another register. Then I notice in line behind me there is a co-worker who tells me how sorry he is about my loss. I didn't notice that the Manager had bounced back to the register that I was at. He proceeds to ask me "How old is your cat?" I'm a little puzzled at this and respond with "He's Dead". With a big smile on his face Mr. Manager's response is "Oh that’s great!" With that the young 6 foot tall girl operating the register leans over to the 5' 2" manager and yells "Dead, She said Dead, Dead, the cat is Dead".
Now my co-worker is giggling behind me, I'm trying to suppress my smile. Mr. Happy pants manager said "Oh I thought she said ten". This starts up the register girl again yelling "NO she said Dead, not ten, Dead, it's Dead". By this point I'm laughing, trying to tell him its okay, the girl is yelling dead at him, he runs away, disappearing into the isles of Petsmart.