dolphinsilversea01":8579c said:
It is not easy to become an animal specialist at Petco. I have looked into doing it throughout all the departments - bird, small animal, fish, and reptile. It is, at least for me, more difficult than it looks. There is alot of information you must consume and remember in a short period of time and then be tested on! Many have had to take the test a number of times before becoming certified. Upon this and the above please remember that we are taught by Petco, we learn the Petco way of doing things. If we know now other way, if no one has informed us of anything different than what do we have?
This is good to hear. At least I am wrong and it does take some work and training to become a specialist. The sad thing is that the misinformation taught during this is usually incorrect in the first place which just makes for a bad situation. It's not your fault, but just the nature of the corporate business model to make a profit off of animals I *guess*. Its much easier to keep all animals in the same uniform manner, but it isn't always the best practice. Different species need different setups, but the big guys on top seem to decide it is either easier, cheaper, or more convenient to standardize the husbandry of certain types of animals. People in general are less knowledgeable about reptiles and invertebrates so the practices of petstores don't seem all that appalling to the general public. Now, if the same general public were to come into a petstore and see the dogs and cats kept in an enclosure with wet mud as their bedding, they would have a fit. The more I come to love all kinds of different animals from the furry ones to the creepy crawly ones, the more disdain I have for petstores and importers in general. There are some good ones out there, but let's be frank, they are in it to make money, not for the welfare of the animals.
dolphinsilversea01":8579c said:
Oh, I know ... it just saddens me. I know so many employees from different stores, and even different states, who care so much about the animals and love there job so much. It is sad that some ignorance out their shines through. I don't argue your point or fact, I just get tired of hearing the bad. I mean I know it's out their, but ugghhh...well I am sure you can try to understand.
This I can relate to quite well. I have worked in restaurants for many years now and the negative impressions on customers is the things you hear, and the things they tell their friends. Much like you getting tired of hearing about the bad experiences at Petco or anywhere else, I get tired of hearing the stories of maybe they are going to spit in my food, or drop it on the floor because they don't like me. Lot's of bad apples out there in the bunch, and maybe even more so in the restaurant industry than the pet industry. One thing I know, if I ever see that happen at a place I work, someone's gonna lose their job, and I might lose mine as well if necessary. I take too much pride in my job to ever allow something like that to happen. Afterall, you don't have to love food or people to make money. If you eat at a certain place regularly, you begin to know when NOT to go eat there, because the service or food won't be as good as if you go at another time of day. Some people care, some don't.
Sad, but true.
dolphinsilversea01":8579c said:
We have joked at my Petco, saying things that a customer who doesn't know us or isn't a regular could probably take the wrong way. Our "joking" though is done sarcastically to the ignorant people at my store. The turtle water, just for example, we would say something like that after finding the water dirty to where someone the day before obviously didn't clean it out. It doesn't make it right, and it may not seem as a good way of handleing it (which it isn't the only way), but it gives us a chance to laugh about something that makes us want to cry and scream.
To correlate this to my experiences in the restaurant industry, we do much the same. We joke all the time about things that if the customers in the dining room could hear, they probably wouldn't return.
We don't take those jokes to heart though, and it is more of a means to passing the time or proving a point. IE: A customer says they want something extra crispy, or a meat item extra well done, I tell whomever is cooking it to "burn da **** out of it" Obviously we don't do that (or we would be out of business) but the other person knows what I mean and we get a little humor out of it. Nothing wrong with that, just that in this case, the customer didn't hear it.
dolphinsilversea01":8579c said:
The throwing of the bird food - that was wrong! Petco dishes out alot of $ for that food and it sure shouldn't be thrown around. And the feeders, yeah we have had that problem at our store where customers come up and inform us that they are all dead in the fridge. It should be someone's, even all of our responsibility to check on them at least maybe once a week, it personally isn't something I think about. I get more worried about checking the birds poo to make sure non are sick, the beardies, etc. After reading about that the first time though I did think maybe I should make a form for people to state initials and date of checking on the feeders. I did this for cleaning out the crickets bins and it made people clean them out more!?! So, maybe it will help with the feeder problem.
And this is the thing I love to hear about. It's people like you that these companies need more of. The ones that will take the initiative and do things like this. Someone that stands up and says this ain't right, or we could do this a different way is what makes the stores themselves better. I just wish my local Petco had you working there.
Those feeders are the last thing on your mind, just like many things I do in my job each day. However, when it is brought to your attention, you will start thinking about it more actively and even look for a solution to the problem so that you aren't the only one taking care of or checking on them. I think your idea about the form is a great idea, and though I haven't worked in a petstore something as simple as that should at least make the other employees more aware. I'm not a fan of more paperwork, but sometimes it is needed to jumpstart the process.
I am quite sorry about the long post, I am just ranting at this point I guess. The more I think about it, the more I look at what happens in my company and see a lot of examples that are similar. I don't doubt one bit that you or the other employees care about the animals, its just my personal experiences and those I have read from others seem so negative at times. Your posts just further my opinion that its the little guys in each store that make the difference. The experience from one Petco (or any other petstore for that matter) to another is all about the people that work there. All I can say is keep up the good work and never forget your love for the animals themselves! More power to you!
<---Employee_______________________
the pure stupidity of these people just keep amazing me.
