Actually, you're right--it's not all big chain stores. The petco by me has a lady working there who breeds ball pythons, and takes it upon herself to care for all the herps. She does a great job, but there's only so much you can do when the rest of your coworkers are incompetent. If she's not there, all of the other employees are either afraid of everything in that section (one lady lifted the hide and jerked her hand back and yelped...about a tiny little hatchling ball. I told her I'd get it...before she got her dumb--ahem--bitten!) or just uneducated/don't care. She was away for a week's vacation, and when she came back, she said she had to treat everyone for mites because someone didn't quarantine a batch of new arrivals. >_<
I'd love a job there! xD My husband would probably kill me, though, because I'd want to bring home a new friend every week. xD