Pet Stores Petland Employee

[rabbitsncavyluv]

Today a girl came in wanting to buy one of the bunnies. She obviously had no idea how to properly care for one. She also wanted me to show her some cages. Which I did. But clearly none of them are big enough. So I opened a book on guinea pigs, which has C&C cages in it. I told her to go home, search how to care for a bunny, and come on this website and search the cages.

Some of us don't give a crap about our sales goals.

Oh, yeah. We have sales goals. Oh noo.

So your store does not carry humane cages or x pens at all? You're only selling crappy too small cages?

 

[Biscuit]

So your store does not carry humane cages or x pens at all? You're only selling crappy too small cages?

But but, isn't that better than no cage at all?! You are so closed-minded.


:sarcastic

 

[SFailed186]

But but, isn't that better than no cage at all?! You are so closed-minded.


:sarcastic

Actually, no cage is better. Free range is better. But, I'm sure a lot of people won't do that. And once again, we/she/whoever is not close-minded. We know whats best and of course we'll defend it.

 

[SFailed186]

Actually, no cage is better. Free range is better. But, I'm sure a lot of people won't do that. And once again, we/she/whoever is not close-minded. We know whats best and of course we'll defend it.

Biscuit, please ignore that post.
I did not catch that your were being sarcastic. I guess I looked over the smiley and what-not. I reacted without getting the full meaning from you, and I am greatly sorry for my mistake.

Blackarrow was kind enough to let me know of my error, and I appreciate that. So, thank you very much blackarrow.

 

[Simonmaal]

What the hell is this?

First image I see when I go to the Petland site is of a goldfish bowl, one of the most cruel inventions of all time.

"First and foremost, goldfish are large animals that can attain an adult size that may be twice as large as the bowl itself. A comet goldfish (the kind often won at fairs or sold as live food in pet stores) can attain lengths of 10 inches, while an oranda can fill a large man’s palm easily. In addition to their size, they are dirty animals that pollute their environment if it isn’t properly maintained. Yet, there are other concerns in regards to keeping one of these gentle giants in a bowl, such as the shape of the bowl itself...the curve of the glass makes it hard to see the animal, and it also makes it hard for the animal to see its host. It is for this reason that the goldfish bowl was recently banned in Rome; the lawmakers stated that they believe the curve of the glass could make fish go blind."

(broken link removed)

I needed go no further to make up my mind, but some of the horror stories I'm now reading are making my blood boil. I'm leaving at that before I go too far.

 

[NICOLA2]

How nice for the poor little animals being dumped from store to store to store until they are sold! thats not destressing at all for them!!! they should be taken to a shelter and adpoted out, a shelter wouldnt just put an animal down!

 

[SFailed186]

How nice for the poor little animals being dumped from store to store to store until they are sold! thats not destressing at all for them!!! they should be taken to a shelter and adpoted out, a shelter wouldnt just put an animal down!

The sad fact is that a lot of shelters are forced to euthanize animals due to overpopulation. Shelters become full very quickly. The animals usually have a period of about a week until they are euthanized. The shelter I volunteer at, however, is a semi-no kill.

(PS. If you are being sarcastic, I apologize because I cannot distinguish sarcasm when it is written, unless it is blatantly obvious.)

 

[NICOLA2]

i was being sarcastic about it not being destressing for them. seems so horrible for them to taken from place to place.

i didnt know that about shelters. every shelter ive known here in England have been a no kill shelter. ive known small animals to be in a shelter for a very long time! sad to hear that! makes me want to go and adopt all the piggies in there right now!

 

[SFailed186]

i was being sarcastic about it not being destressing for them. seems so horrible for them to taken from place to place.

i didnt know that about shelters. every shelter ive known here in England have been a no kill shelter. ive known small animals to be in a shelter for a very long time! sad to hear that! makes me want to go and adopt all the piggies in there right now!

I knew you were being sarcastic about the first part.

And yes, it is very sad. That's why I chose the shelter I would volunteer at very carefully. I know I get attached, and I know that I could not stand to see my favorite dogs or cats being being put down. I still have to deal with it occasionally at my shelter, but not nearly as much.

Ly, I apologize for getting off-topic.

 

[Sirene]

I'm sure this has been said already, but I couldn't do it. I simply could not sell an animal to someone who I know (or even suspect) will not care for it properly (or at all), or watch an animal in my care suffer or die due to untreated illness. Because believe me, this WILL happen to you, PancakesWaffles - your customers and your manager, your sales goals and your coworkers will ensure it does. At the end of the day, Petland is a business, and if you won't toe the line and follow policy, there are plenty of people to fill your shoes on that sales floor.

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but I've worked in retail for a long, long time, and I would never have anything to do with a store that sold live animals.

 

[Biscuit]

I totally understand the need for a job, any job. However, I've always said if you are going to sell your soul to a pet store, and your mind to their propaganda...please do it for more than $13/hour.

 

[Sirene]

I totally understand the need for a job, any job. However, I've always said if you are going to sell your soul to a pet store, and your mind to their propaganda...please do it for more than $13/hour.

Seriously? I'd be surprised if it is more than $8/hour (the standard sales associate wage for Texas, at least).

 

[Biscuit]

Seriously? I'd be surprised if it is more than $8/hour (the standard sales associate wage for Texas, at least).

I based this on the going rate for souls. Currently, 1 soul is $13/hour for 3-6 months, plus vision and Anthem BCBS HMO. Dental is not included, as some of the finest souls in our history had bad teeth.

Sometimes you have to hold out to get the highest rate possible for your soul. Of course, if it's not worth very much in the first place, I suppose you can let it go for less.

 

[Paula]

I'm not entirely sure I like the direction in which this is going.

Humor aside, I really think it's in poor taste to knock someone for needing to work and possibly support a family.

I don't disagree in the slightest that working for a pet store would be less than ideal for a variety of reasons, and I personally hope never to have to be in a position where I would need to take a job for a place I loathed or for a company that I knew to be completely devoid of any kind of morality.

But the fact still remains that people need to earn a paycheck to support themselves and sometimes their families, too.

Someone said previously that s/he hoped "never to be so destitute" as to have to accept a job at a pet store and that she'd "rather work at McDonalds or WalMart" which also implies that there is something inherently wrong or debase with working for either McDonalds or Walmart, but that aside, the statement itself is offensive and seemingly made by someone who hasn't had the real world experience to understand that sometimes you have to do things you don't like or don't want to do so that you may earn food and clothing and shelter for yourself or your loved ones.

Now we're going to go down a road that might also suggest that anyone working for a pet store must also be lacking in some sort of moral character, and while I understand the wit and sarcasm, I think you're going too far and would like to see it stopped at this point.

It's not to say that I don't understand that there are people who work for pet stores and love it and haven't the first problem with the cruelty and the carelessness they are supporting. There most certainly are.

But there are also people who hate it and would do something else given the opportunity. There are people that do what they can to make it better while they can and people that don't like it anymore than we do that have precious few options for a job.

Which category the OP falls into, I neither know nor particularly care, but I think it does a tremendous disservice to people needing to earn nothing more than a paycheck who DO care and WOULD make a change if they could to suggest that they have "sold their souls" by accepting a job at a pet store.

The bigger issue is of course the pet stores and their policies to sell live animals, and that's where the focus should lie. Not on the individual workers who may or may not actually want to be working there.

Cheers.

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

I agree - there is nothing wrong with working at mcdonalds or walmart inherently. Or finding work where you can get it. A lot of people have worked their way up into management positions when they wouldn't have been able to elsewhere.

Walmart practices aside, they hire people others wouldn't often.

But the OP said they were looking for a job and happened to get hired at petland is what I'm getting from it. They didn't say they couldn't find work at all or it was a 'last resort' or the pay was better than other jobs (which I doubt).

Just that Petland is great in their opinion.

Yeah, right.

 

[Paula]

But the OP said they were looking for a job and happened to get hired at petland is what I'm getting from it. They didn't say they couldn't find work at all or it was a 'last resort' or the pay was better than other jobs (which I doubt).

I rather got the impression that she had sought out Petland intentionally and made a choice to work there, perhaps despite having other options. But that's not the point, even if it is true.

It's important not to make broad sweeping generalizations about pet store employees as a lot because they aren't necessarily all shaped from the same mold.

 

[Res Judicata]

I totally understand the need for a job, any job. However, I've always said if you are going to sell your soul to a pet store, and your mind to their propaganda...please do it for more than $13/hour.

Better yet, do not sell your soul to a pet store at all. I would not do so even at the per hour rates I charge clients.

 

[Biscuit]

No one is going to agree or even know all the implications of a large company they work for.

But yeah, that wasn't my point at all. As I said, everyone has to work. Or well, most of us!

 

[Feeorin215]

The shelter I volunteer at, however, is a semi-no kill.

Sorry for going so far back in the posts, but can you please explain how that works? I have heard of a kill shelter and a no kill shelter, but not a semi-no kill.

 

[SFailed186]

Sorry for going so far back in the posts, but can you please explain how that works? I have heard of a kill shelter and a no kill shelter, but not a semi-no kill.

At my shelter, the only dogs/cats that get put down are either extremely contagious/deathly ill dogs/cats or animals involved in court cases. A court case animal is just that, they are currently in a court case, usually a mauling, and professional dog trainers care for them because they are aggressive. It is almost always a mandatory euthanization based on the findings of the court. When I say deathly ill, I mean things such as Distemper, Parvo, and Kennel Cough in dogs and Feline AIDS in cats, just to name a few.

Providing that the dog or cat does not develop a contagious illness (very rare) or a dog does not develop extreme aggression, then the animals stay up for adoption until they are adopted. At some shelters, the animal gets a period of a week, or less, to be on the adoption floor before they can put down, well our animals do not have a limit.

In fact, we had a 4-year old German Shepard that was there for about 7 months before he was adopted. Some cats stay with us for over a year before they are adopted. We do provide SOME of our cats for Petsmart adoption because we can only hold 10-12 cats in our adult cat room and Petsmart does not make any sort of gain off of these adoptions, trust me.