pet store employee

[sorakitty]

Yeah. I was going to buy a bp from Petco. But I'm glad I didn't. They guy wouldn't grab me one. I have to reach on and grab a baby myself. And after holding it for 5 seconds, it began lunging at my friend, me and the employee. I'm glad I was suggested it a reptile only place. And they breed their own reptiles. And if they don't have a clutch, they buy from a breeder they know personally. And they take great care of their animals. I'm glad I was suggested to them. My baby is so relaxed and is just the best first snake I could ever ask for. =]

[mommanessy247]

ok so go to reptile basics & reptile supplies...got it.

[steveboos]

I personally work at a Petsmart and unfortunately when i'm not working, my co-workers do what you just did. Well they only recommend a 20 gallon (which is still too big), but some people do just come in and buy a 40 gallon and spend $450 on the setup. I personally tell people to get a sterilite 12 qt storage container, but some of them just want to buy something at the petstore, so they waste their money on the $40 5 gallon critter cage. Unfortunately most people find bp.net AFTER the fact and thats the issue!

[mommanessy247]

wow i already found 3 items that i can buy for cheaper then what i was gonna spend at petsmart/petco...hm good deal.

[mommanessy247]

i dont mean to dis anyone here for working at petsmart/petco or any pet store, so please dont be personally offended by what i said earlier. it just blows my mind how un-educated these employees are when all it could take to fill in the gaps are classes like i had said.
someone on another thread said "a little knowledge can go a long way."
so true man, so true...

[Rorschach]

There was/is a guy working at the Petco kind of near me, not sure if he still does as I refuse to set foot inside. I was looking at the reptiles section and saw a bp. He comes over and we converse for a few minutes regarding it's temps as they were pretty low in which he told me "blah blah I worked at the rescue society this is how we keeped all our pythons", so I played dumb and switched the agenda to eating. I asked what the kind little beast eats and he stated pinkies. I told him the snake is starving if this is true. I told the man I am just going to purchase the snake and feed him/her bigger meals to encourage better growth and he says to me "Why rush things?"

Long story short I have that cute little snake I call Waffles. They had him marked down to $30 for some reason, so I went with it. Whatevzz

[zantedeschia]

I was told it cost too much and shut up and do my job. Some care about health and have ethics and some care about money and if it costs profit margins to keep animals healthy or to treat sick ones well the dollar wins.

About a week after I raised a fuss about the BP with the retained eyecaps in Petco and they took it to the vet, the price of their mice went up. Both live and frozen. No way of telling if it was because of me forcing a vet visit on them.

Yeah. And after holding it for 5 seconds, it began lunging at my friend, me and the employee.

I've run into snappy babies at pet stores too. I would surmise it indicates they're hungry, tho I've been told a couple times it's because they're mean. Telling them "your snake is hungry, feed it" always gets "oh we do feed them, he's just aggressive." >sigh<

[Strtaylor]

Id just like to say that not all employees are like that. I posted another thread about how im turning the entire reptile department around at Petland it took me a while but i finally talked the reptile department manager into letting me partialy take over. I always give people good advice and make sure they know what they are getting into with a snake. Its cool because anyone at the store thats interested in reptiles sits and will listen so that means the majority of the employees will give better info now that they know what they are doing wrong. Idk i figured if im gonna work there might as well try and fix it instead of watch it happen.

[Jay_Bunny]

Well as someone who works for Petsmart now and has gone through the training process, I can tell you that the employees DO receive basic training on the animals in the store. Of course, it is just basic knowledge and even though there are plenty of opportunities to learn more, even while on the clock, I think many employees don't take that opportunity to learn and just go through their day. It is only a job after all.

One of my managers asked me yesterday how things were going with training with the pet care manager. I could honestly tell her I was having so much fun! I actually didn't want to leave work! I think the problem with uneducated employees is the fact that the managers continue to hire people who have the wrong attitude. When it comes to taking care of and informing people about animals, I think the stores need to be very picky about who they hire. They need to hire people that are very enthusiastic and have knowledge of animals BEFORE they are hired. You can hire anyone with open availability but if you want to provide your customers and their pets with the best possible customer service and provide healthy animals, the stores need to hire better people.

[mommanessy247]

again i say, i was not trying to go after anyone here i was just voicing my opinion based on what ive experienced and seen personally,thats all. if they do educate their employees thats great. i did not know. thank you for correcting me.