Quote Originally Posted by 1beataway View Post
It surprises me he was so honest about not putting you in that department for that reason. Most of them would at least lie and say, "There's no position available over there." lol.

When it comes to pet stores, there's always going to be good and bad. That situation in Dallas is not something I've ever come across. When it comes down to it, the big pet stores are paying very little for very crappy work. My pay isn't worth what I have to do everyday, but I need the job, and it's not as bad as other places.

I know my manager prefers to hire people with at least some experience with animals, but sometimes she doesn't get those applicants. She went a while without hiring anyone when we needed another person because she wasn't pleased with the few people who had applied. But truthfully...when I started working, I had no experience with animals. As a child, I had dogs and a rabbit, and that was it. Now I can talk for hours about reptiles and amphibians and fish. So sometimes those uneducated workers learn some things on their own.

I know that in my petstore, when an animal is sick, it's immediately pulled off the floor and taken care of. If it is something more than just a broken tail on a lizard or bit wounds, etc, it's taken to the vet. I've never seen my managers express a problem with that.

So...in summary...each individual pet store is different, if you know what to look for you can easily spot which ones to stay away from, the situation in Dallas sucks (I hope you at least got a job soon after somewhere else!), and I didn't read all of Deku's posts because it made me think of some of my annoying customers, and I truly don't wish to think about them. :P
Agreed. Iam not fit or qualified to work in a petstore because I do have patience. But I dont have tolerance to carelesness and selfishness. Once you work in the petstore industry you will know what Iam speaking about. So dont get frustrated if you dont get hired. Truth be told depending on your tolerance for the many people who want to take the easy way out most of us would get frustrated. To be very honest I get very frustrated trying to work with those people. Most parents leave t he care to the child. Thats the first mistake. Then they wonder why the animal has either died, become ill or attacked the kid. Buying animals like hamsters, turtles, lizards, rabbits, guinea pigs, and pretty much any small animal to be taken care of by a mere child who does not understand the concept of being gentle, and has the attention span of a squirrel.
Small furred animals: Not good childrens pet due to the fact most can die out of fright(rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters), most die out of inproper care, most bite because are mishandled, and not given chew toys.
Reptiles: Having specific requirements, needing lamps that produce heat, heaters(for aquatics and undertank heaters), live foods, etc. Is certainly not good for a child. I mean common the light is a fire hazard. They cant go to the store and buy foods and supplies weekly. Chances are the animals will suppress the illness and kids wont be able to tell its sick until its late and die. Iam not saying all children will be bad with reptiles. But for the most part they are.
Amphibians: Not a touch pet, which kids like pets they can touch. Die out of stress easier than any other animal. Some could harm the child if its toxic. Some need heat lamps which is a fire hazard.

In fact any animal out there shouldnt be taken care of by a child(anyone under 13-14years of age). Animals should be researched before purchased to know what you're getting yourself into. Which alot of people just dont do. Where I used to work I had alot of people drop their animals onto us saying we didnt warn them this and that. Which we did but they were so far up their butts they never listen.
Its very true its not just the petstore. Some petstores are genuinly good. While others are bad. Agreed. But its also part of the customers fault. Alot of coorporations make their money off of ignorant people. Its business jungle. Coorporations are the predators and the ignorant consumers are the prey. Fact is bad service wont change unless action is taken care of. Unless you go out infront of every petstore and educate each and every customer then you will not be able to do anything. Sure alot of people are into reptiles. But guess what? The rest dont give a squat about them. Which is why they arent being taken care of very well. Funny thing is. People also get scammed by petstores. My petstore used to buy 5cent goldfish and then sell them off to the customers for like 10-30bucks a piece. Sometimes we would get rare fish dropped in bad shape in our doorstep.We would take it in. Try to cure it. Then we would just sell it to the customer for 3-4 times its original price. If you see a rare animal for the most part its a drop off. This is true because a petstore wont just order some random animal and expect it to sell.