Venting About Petco...

So I stopped by Petco today to see what that dollar a gallon sale was all about. While I was there I wanted to take a look at the ball pythons they had. So I first asked one girl to help me out... she didn't even know how to get into the tank, so she went to go grab a manager for me. Keep in mind I say manager.

The manager walks up and immediately asks me, "Do you want to take one home." To which I of course respond, "Well I cannot tell you that without actually seeing them, so could you please pick up the half log so I can look at the snakes." She gets up grudgingly on the step stool and pulls the log up to reveal three babies. I asked her to please pull them apart so I could see them all.

She pulls one away and leaves the other two on top of one another, then steps down off the step stool and steps back. I look at her and ask once more, "Could you pull those other two apart so I can see them." She looks me dead in the eye and I kid you not says, "You can do it." I looked at her in shock, then asked her, "Are you really that terrified of them?" So she replies, "I do not like getting bit and now they are all riled up." So I roll my eyes, get up on the step ladder, reach in there and pull them all apart so I can see them.

No bites... no strikes... not even a tense baby among them. I took a look at what was there and then said thank you and promptly left. Why does it still surprise me at this point that such ignorant and inexperienced people work at these places? As a manager you should be able to handle all the animals. God help her if I would have fallen off the step stool or gotten bit and then sued her stupid company. >:|

I'm confused. Were you really looking for ball or just looking for something to get riled up about? It's Petco - they are almost always that way. Sounds like they actually had a hide which is better than most. Who cares if some kid manager who makes $8 bucks an hour isn't comfortable with them? :confuzd::confuzd:

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Originally Posted by Crawly's Mom

So I stopped by Petco today to see what that dollar a gallon sale was all about. While I was there I wanted to take a look at the ball pythons they had. So I first asked one girl to help me out... she didn't even know how to get into the tank, so she went to go grab a manager for me. Keep in mind I say manager.

The manager walks up and immediately asks me, "Do you want to take one home." To which I of course respond, "Well I cannot tell you that without actually seeing them, so could you please pick up the half log so I can look at the snakes." She gets up grudgingly on the step stool and pulls the log up to reveal three babies. I asked her to please pull them apart so I could see them all.

She pulls one away and leaves the other two on top of one another, then steps down off the step stool and steps back. I look at her and ask once more, "Could you pull those other two apart so I can see them." She looks me dead in the eye and I kid you not says, "You can do it." I looked at her in shock, then asked her, "Are you really that terrified of them?" So she replies, "I do not like getting bit and now they are all riled up." So I roll my eyes, get up on the step ladder, reach in there and pull them all apart so I can see them.

No bites... no strikes... not even a tense baby among them. I took a look at what was there and then said thank you and promptly left. Why does it still surprise me at this point that such ignorant and inexperienced people work at these places? As a manager you should be able to handle all the animals. God help her if I would have fallen off the step stool or gotten bit and then sued her stupid company. >:|

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It's sad.. these stores fail because of bad work staff, kudo's for not blaming the entire company though. :) that gets REALLY annoying.

Personally, i think I'm lucky, our Petsmart has a BP breeder now who only puts two-three to a tank and gives them a hide per snake. I know it's bad, but it's better then most stores that sell reptiles..

You should report the manager to the company and say she endangered your life. :p

The Petcos/Petsmarts by me are the same way, they have the worst experienced staff. I ask them question just for fun to hear their bs. This is why i stick with trusted breeders and local trusted family owned reptile shops.

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Originally Posted by womsterr

I'm confused. Were you really looking for ball or just looking for something to get riled up about? It's Petco - they are almost always that way. Sounds like they actually had a hide which is better than most. Who cares if some kid manager who makes $8 bucks an hour isn't comfortable with them? :confuzd::confuzd:

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The issue is this is not a kid. It was an adult woman and she was the manager. As a manager at a store that carries multiple types of snakes you should at least be comfortable enough to handle them for general care. If you cannot even manage moving one then frankly you should not be in charge of a store that carries animals. Additionally she told me to get up on a ladder and move them myself. I have worked retail myself and can tell you that had something happened and I fell off the ladder or one of the snakes had bit me, they would be liable for that. Again that is something she should keep in mind as a manager.

I realize this is a major chain store and a lot of what they do is not right, however, that does not change the fact that they should AT LEAST know the basics... especially something as basic as moving an animal.

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Originally Posted by Crawly's Mom

The issue is this is not a kid. It was an adult woman and she was the manager. As a manager at a store that carries multiple types of snakes you should at least be comfortable enough to handle them for general care. If you cannot even manage moving one then frankly you should not be in charge of a store that carries animals. Additionally she told me to get up on a ladder and move them myself. I have worked retail myself and can tell you that had something happened and I fell off the ladder or one of the snakes had bit me, they would be liable for that. Again that is something she should keep in mind as a manager.

I realize this is a major chain store and a lot of what they do is not right, however, that does not change the fact that they should AT LEAST know the basics... especially something as basic as moving an animal.

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Very well said. Iv even asked their employies questions before and they didnt know the answer and i would tell them to their face "Then why are you working here?"

Their facial expression is priceless.

Yea, I had a similar experience at my local petco. I had asked to handle each normal and the worker just gave me the first one she could reach. There was one normal in a corner that was striking out at her. I asked to see that one and she said "I'll let you do that and you can use the ladder". I ended up buying a normal just to get some snake keeping experience.
I went another time to the same petco. Waited and waited and actually both times I had to ask someone for help. I was standing around for 10-15 min's , store was practically empty. A girl walk's up and when I told her I would like to look at the normal's? She had to get someone else. The guy walk's up set's the ladder up and open's the cage. I had go up the ladder pick out a few snakes hand some to the guy. And, the guy tried to choose a normal for me. He knew alittle info on them I'll give him that. I asked him "how do tell which is a boy and which is a girl?" He said "it depend's on how skinny the tail is. If, it goes from the thickness of the body then suddenly get's small and skinny (tail) then it's most likely a girl"
I'm not totally complaining about petco. But, IMO alot of people will go to petco or petsmart for the first snake. The experience should be pleasant and educational. And, the employees should not try and sell misc stuff to the customer if it's really not neccessary.

Wow i agree you should at least be able to stand moving the snakes, out where i live the petco staff is horrible as well. I got my BP Jay at Petsmart,one of the worker guys new a lot about Ball Pythons and even gave me some advice and told a story about his own BP. He was also able to tell me that the snakes they had are all CBB from a local breeder and the inclosure Jay was in was well maintained.

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Originally Posted by Crawly's Mom

As a manager at a store that carries multiple types of snakes you should at least be comfortable enough to handle them for general care.

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In a perfect world.

Unfortunatley some people just don't care (employees at any store, that is). I run into it all the time at a whole bunch of different stores: workers who can't give me the time of day to help me to get xyz off the shelf, who don't care to give good, personable customer service, some who are just down right rude for no reason. It happens.

We unfortunatley can't expect every worker at every petstore to have a passion for the reptiles like we do, but yes I do agree that workers at petstores should be able to offer help to someone who actually need assistance with something.

Were you actually looking to buy a snake when you were there?

i went to the petco by my house and the girl working there was a girl i went to highschool with. Now that would not have been a problem if this individual was not famous for killing the dolphin "chuckles" at the pgh zoo during her grad project. did not do much to help with my level of confidence in the stores knowledge about anything.