Just another petstore thread

[Kokorobosoi]

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...n-stores/page2

There were some comments here that I found really interesting. Instead of derailing, I figured I'd bring it here.

Truth: I worked at a PetSmart from 16 to just before my 18th birthday, then moved to a mom and pop place for a couple of years after I was discharged from the military.
Truth: I almost never admit that fact to any reptile keeper, since I am afraid of the backlash.

The times I admitted to a customer that I had no idea, they reported me. I received a poor performance review. I lost out on a raise that I very much needed. I tried to learn and remember everything that I could about everything in the store. And I mean everything. But how well can you really do that?

I was hired as a small pet specialist. Which meant if it wasn't livestock, I was the one to go to. And since we HAD no livestock person, that ended up being me too. Cats, dogs, birds of every size (even if we didn't sell it), lizards of all types, snakes, the eight legged monsters that I'm highly phobic of. Legless lizards. I didn't even know they existed... until they showed up in a shipment one day. Small caged critters. Chinchillas all the way down to dwarf hamsters.

People used me as a cage decorator, a trainer, a therapist, and a vet. I was expected to know pretty much everything about whatever we sold in the store, alive or otherwise. It was maddening. I became an expert in the bluff. When you tell a customer no, they get cranky. Cranky customers complain. So... I read labels out loud to people. I carried pamphlets around and handed them out. I lied.

There were days where my name was called... "koko to fish....koko to birds...koko to aisle 3 7 and 12. KOKO to small animals....KOKO TO FISH." all in one message. They didn't even put down the mic. And yes, I, in the indomitable wisdom of a 17 year old shouted that "Koko only has two hands" across the store. In the weeks before Christmas I resorted to handing out numbers on post it notes.

Is that insane? Absolutely. But the store I was in...well it was old. And dirty. And that meant corporate wouldn't hire any more people. the new people went to the new stores. For several months there was NO small animal manager. Just me a cashier, a stock boy, and a general manager. My stressed, bluffing butt was the best people were gonna get.

Was I wrong for basically bluffing people out of the store? Yes. Was there more behind the scenes then the customers knew? Yes. Did any of those customers ever see me spend my own money to buy toys for the conures, chew sticks for the hamsters, better bulbs for the beardies? No. I took my best guess to what they needed, offered up an often ignored, "I would really recommend a vet, but this will help in the meantime..."

Am I beneath a herper who never worked in a chain store? Am I to be looked down on, ridiculed? There is so much disdain and segregation between "herpers" and the "employees". Yes, many of the kids that work there have no clue, and don't really want to know. But the ones that do... their hands are tied. There are "plan-o-grams" that had to be followed. I would flat out ignore them. But I can't blame anyone for not doing the same.

Would you give up your job, the food on your family's table? For what very well may be something that sends you into a panic attack? I didn't have a choice in the eight legged demons. They just showed up one day. I opened a box, dropped it, knocked a shelf over, threw up. On my second attempt to do my job, I passed out when I got the container open and it jumped out. They called an ambulance.

Well, I hope this isn't a giant can of worms. But it is so strange, we all have all felt the sting of people who are "anti reptile". People who want to take our animals away, because they don't like them, or they don't understand. We are dismayed at the lack of positive publicity, and the over abundance of the negative. ..... Well, aren't we doing the very same thing? We all post or comment on the petstore atrocities. Which are horrible, and uncalled for. Absolutely. No excuses there. But we very rarely comment on a petstore doing it the right way.

This isn't meant to defend the store itself. There are big issues on corporations that large dealing with living things. This is just a plea to not condemn the herpers that have the "stain" of their chainstore jobs.

Hope everyone has a great day! Now that Ive put my soapbox away... I suspect my savannah monitor pooed in his water dish. He LOVES to wait until I clean it to just let loose.