Pet Stores: If you were offered a Job at a Petshop..

[wonderwhiskers]

Would You take it?

[Peggysu]

No, I already have two jobs. Also I would not work somewhere where I don't support what they do and stand for.

[wonderwhiskers]

I know, the gut reaction is 'No, I'm totally against petshops and everything they stand for .. but then you start thinking ..

You could discourage people from buying the animals, and giving them direction to a local shelter
You could make sure the animals live in a lot better conditions
You could direct people to this site
You could try to educate people who want a pet

But then, is it double standards? Are you compromising your morals?

Its hard to keep a straight head when animals are involved isnt it! You want to do the best for both individual animals, and the whole species.

(By the way I work in Topshop 5 days a week, and volunteer in a RSPCA center one day a week, just incase you thought I was asking because I applied for a job or something)

[TwilightStar]

Of course, I wouldn't be buying from them.
Plus, they're losing money on me, not me giving them money.

[WildRye]

Originally Posted by wonderwhiskers

You could discourage people from buying the animals, and giving them direction to a local shelter

Unfortunately, I think one would get fired if he/she deliberately botched sales like that (no matter the intent!). It is a business, after all.

On the original question, no -- I would not be able to work for a pet store. I would not be able to do my job well, as I would really struggle with sending animals that I took care of away to complete strangers who may or may not be knowledgeable people. Plus, aside from the obvious moral issues, I would have a terrible time in any customer-service related job. I'll stay hidden in my lab, thanks very much.

[Paula]

First of all, people need to work, and so I don't think there's any point in bashing someone who needs a job and takes a job in a pet store, whether or not it's a pet store that sells animals.

Second, if you were to discourage people from buying the animals in your store and management found out about it, you'd likely be out of a job. Your ability to improve the living conditions of the animals would be seriously limited by the resources you have available to you there at the store, so I don't see that as a valid point either. Beyond that, sharing information and directing people to this site or any other might be acceptable, but would most likely always have to be done on the sly and with fear of your boss finding out, so I don't know how reasonable I think that would be either.

There's no shame in working for a pet store, I don't think, especially when you consider the state of the economy and how scarce jobs are these days. I imagine it would be hard for me, personally, to do it, because I can't see conditions like that and not speak up.

If you can choose a job strictly on ethical principles, which is so seldom ever the case, I think the answer to this question for many would be no - because you'd be taking money from a place that is really in the business of putting out bad care information and mistreating and breeding animals for the sake of turning a profit.

[wonderwhiskers]

This was only ever meant as a rhetorical question.

I'm very lucky at the minute because I'm still on school, so although I work so much .. I have to pay for very little myself.

I'm not judging anyone who works in a petshop .. I was just wondering how everyone one here would feel about it. (We all on here do have very strong Petshop views).

I think alot of good could come of actual animal lovers working in Petshops .. but I don't think morally I could cut it.

As for secretly discouraging customers ..I did that in my old job! I worked for a buisness which really ripped people off, and I could'nt keep my mouth shut. I did'nt get fired.

[CavyLuver516]

I definatly agree with wonderwhiskers - you could definatly inform people on the right way of taking care of animals/suggest reliable pet sites. I think I would take the job to help new owners get more informed. by doing this, a few pets might be better taken care of, which would be my goal.

[CavyLuver516]

Good for you, wonderwhiskers! Sometimes you have to break the rules if it will help something in the long run! I like your chance-taking, how brave!!

[Ibbet]

Personally yes. If I needed the money I would. Plus like someone said, you could help make sure the animals are treated good while they are there and when they do get taken try and help the people who buy them by giving them the right information.

[Paula]

In reality, people don't always have a choice on the jobs they're able to take. If you have a family to feed and the only place you can find a job also happens to be a place that does or sells something you feel strongly against, I'd guess that the vast majority of people are going to be compelled to take the job and put their personal feelings aside for the sake of feeding their family. I understand you meant it as a rhetorical question, but I don't think it's a relevant question in terms of the real world.

Originally Posted by wonderwhiskers

As for secretly discouraging customers ..I did that in my old job! I worked for a buisness which really ripped people off, and I could'nt keep my mouth shut. I did'nt get fired.

You were very lucky, because this isn't a common situation in the vast majority of pet stores or other businesses, for that matter. Encouraging people to go elsewhere for products you are tasked with selling is not something business owners generally smile upon. Doing so secretly is one thing, but it puts a worker in a position of always having to look over his/her shoulder and that's a stress that's not generally very appealing to most people working for a living.

I think there might be a few cases here and there where a person can do some good by working in a pet store when s/he is against the pet store's principles. I think those cases are few and far between, though, and if a person wants to protest pet stores and what they promote, there are much more effective ways of doing it than working as a mole in the store.

[FrasierandNiles]

At the actual petshop? No. But I do volunteer one day a week at Petsmart with the adoptable cats, cleaning out their cages and petting them. The pet adoption service is separate from the actual petstore, so technically I don't work for Petsmart, I work for the adoption service. I love cats, and I need the community service hours to graduate, which are the reasons why I do it.

[PiggieMom]

If I had to, yes, but I'd be uncomfortable working there for more selfish reasons. I find the petstore atmosphere pretty depressing, so I'd continue to look for work while working there. My sister actually works for Petsmart in the grooming area and even in there she gets pretty aggravated over people who treat their dogs flippantly (not abusive, but they're often second thoughts).

[gooberific]

I've actually applied at both petsmart and petco multiple times in the past when I was hard up for a job. I think they find my inability to lift over 20 pounds discouraging (and my fear of birds), and during my talk with the manager of a petsmart, he told me that he gets about 5-8 applications to work with the small animals every day (mostly teenagers).

I've spoken with a petco manager, where they have "Please Adopt" type signs everywhere, and Petco Encourages Adoption plastered all over the small animal "department" and she was completely oblivious to the fact that there's a guinea pig rescue out here, let alone other small animals. The only job available there was stocking (once again, limitations on lifting made me unsuitable), but she told me she encourages her employees to let people know about the shelters in the area.

This was all over the past year or so, so I'm not sure who's still there as far as managers go. But given the attitudes of the management, I would have rather worked at Petco so I could tell people about the shelters more freely.

(On a bright note, I went into PetSmart a few days ago, and they finally have hay holders for the guinea pigs instead of just throwing it on the floor!)

[fieryone]

I wouldn't unless I had to. I'm just not a good candidate for any retail job, honestly. I don't particularly like dealing with public and prefer to work on my own. But I have always wanted to be a wildlife biologist and work in animal conservation in some way since I was three years old. Unfortunately my life didn't take the path that I had carved out for myself at a young age and I now work in insurance .

I have had an idea for several years that I would like to put into practice one day when I have the funds to start it up. I want to open a "pet store" that only sells quality foods, adequate housing, and offers real education. I would have animals on site, but only surrendered/rescued animals and potential owners would be screened. Kind of like a shelter or rescue but with all of the supplies needed on site.

So would I ever work in a pet store? Kind of, but not really

[Holliegh]

I wanted to work at the local pet store.
They sell animals, yes, but they're actually ones that have been abandoned or need re homing. So I don't have a problem with it.
I buy all my supplies from them because they're cheap and everyone in the store knows how to look after a pet.

I was chatting with one of the girls and said how I care for my piggies; she was impressed and it turns out that every girl in there has at least 2 piggies that are also kept in C&C cages, and they encourage other people to do the same.

Of course, regardless of where you get a pet...What the person does when they take them home...Isn't up to you. there's nothing more you can do; other than advise and hope that the person getting the animal will listen.

To answer the question:
A normal pet store: No.
The one that's about ten minutes from my house: Yes.

My piggies are actually bought from a "real" pet store. And I can't say I'm sorry about it because I love them and wouldn't trade them for anything.
I don't regret it but I wish I had been wiser at the time.
I was meant to adopt when my Louie died but I saw Arnold in this tiny cage with 3 rabbits...Who were sitting on him and bullying him...Every time the birds made a sound, he'd try and run for cover but would irritate the rabbits or run into the side of the cage.
I couldn't leave him there. I saw that poor little bundle of fluff and I thought "Regardless of where he comes from...He won't live long in there."
So I just had to buy him.

[Ly&Pigs]

Originally Posted by Holliegh

My piggies are actually bought from a "real" pet store.

I wasn't aware that there were "fake" pet stores. Can you explain the difference in the store you say is 10 minutes away and what you call a "real" pet store? Petstores that sell animals are all real no matter if they are a big chain type store or a local mom and pop type store.

[Holliegh]

Originally Posted by Ly&Pigs

I wasn't aware that there were "fake" pet stores. Can you explain the difference in the store you say is 10 minutes away and what you call a "real" pet store? Petstores that sell animals are all real no matter if they are a big chain type store or a local mom and pop type store.

Yeah. Okay.

I bought them from a pet store.


The difference would be that this store sells pet supplies but has an adoption center rather than selling animals from breeders.

As I actually did say.

[Ash-Ro060708]

I worked at Petcetera for 6 months right after I finished high school. I wanted to work at a pet shop because I loved animals and wanted to work with them. But when I saw the "back rooms" and the cramped cages first hand, I knew I wasn't going to like working there. The worst was the guinea pigs and rabbits, 4-5 animals in a cage the size of a 10-20 gal fish tank.

It was a hard job seeing all the animals like that... especially on "shipment day", boxes full of bags of fish, wooden and wire crates with four 3-6" high compartments holding animals, guinea pigs or rats on the top, dozens(if not a hundred sometimes) of hamsters, mice, gerbils, etc in the smaller levels. Budgies crammed in cardboard boxes and larger birds sealed with screws in solid wooden boxes with a few air holes. The method of removal for the small animals was to rip the wire apart with pliers(making sure not to rip open the other levels) and reach in and blindly grab the animals out or if there was too many... just tipping over the crate and dumping the animals into a cage.

Animals were not supposed to be sexed or separated, so if there was a shipment of 50 mice there could be 48 females and 2 males, so in a few weeks we'd have over 200 mice sitting in the back. I was pretty much the only one that know how to sex animals and would do what ever I could to separate them, in the back cages I would label the cages, but once the animals went to the display cages we could not label them, so the animals would get mixed back up. Once animals were in cages we were not to take them out unless there were being moved to a different cage, so that meant cleaning cages everyday without taking the animals out of the cage, just push them to one side, clean it, push them to the other side, clean pour the shaving in, food, water, next cage.

I could go on and on about the horribleness.....

I did save a guinea pig(my Baby-Boo) and 4 budgies(since passed on), all of them were sick or injured and I nursed them back to health as best I could.

[Paula]

Originally Posted by Holliegh

The difference would be that this store sells pet supplies but has an adoption center rather than selling animals from breeders.

If they have an adoption center how did you buy an animal there? A lot of pet stores will only adopt dogs and cats (and sometimes bunnies) while still selling animals from breeder mills. Animals like guinea pigs, and hamsters, and gerbils. They're no better for adopting certain animals while still selling others.

Originally Posted by Holliegh

They sell animals, yes, but they're actually ones that have been abandoned or need re homing.

If this were true, they'd be adopting the animals, not selling them for profit. Sorry, there's a difference, and this pet store is just as bad as any other that sells living creatures for profit.

Originally Posted by Holliegh

I saw that poor little bundle of fluff and I thought "Regardless of where he comes from...He won't live long in there."
So I just had to buy him.

Sure, what you've done for this one animal is good. But what about the others who will take his place? They "won't live long there" either. Are you going to go and buy all of them? Whether you understand it or not, buying that one animal did more damage to all others that will come after him, because by buying him you said to the people selling him that doing so is perfectly acceptable.