Pros
You get to see animals. Not everyone gets to work with them though. And they don't give you really any time to socialize with them. Even the ones customers bring in with them while they shop.
Cons
Management is the most major problem with our store. It's very stressful. In my store animals definitely don't come first. I have seen some appallingly nasty animal habitats in our store. Broken habitats that go several months without being repaired. It doesn't really seem to matter how good of a job you do as long as you do it fast. It's all about time and money not the animals. Our manager refuses to work the cash register but holds the cashiers to very high standards that he bases their hours on. CLI, PALS percentages, and when applicable donation collections. Every time a customer says no they don't have and don't want a PALS card it really stresses me because I know next week I am not going to have very many hours. I honestly don't know if the numbers he expects the cashiers to meet are company expectations or his so he gets a better bonus but it puts a lot of stress on the employees. He writes notes yelling at the employees like we're all children so you don't really feel like you're appreciated at all. I have seen all the lower level of management that happen to be female demoted with the excuse they were going with less or no team leads only to then promote male associates to those positions. If a manager quits or transfers they just rotate a new one in from another store or our district manager hires one of his golfing buddies. So there doesn't seem to be any opportunity to advance at all from within the store. The stress level is very high. You have very high expectations from management/corporate, have to know a lot about the products because what you tell someone will impact the health and well being of their pets, get relatively low pay, it's a dirty nasty job, you run the risk of being bit by unsocial animals. You are pushed to get customers to switch to premium brands of dog food. But I have to feed my dog the stuff we try to move our customers away from because it is what I can afford. We hear from our customers all the time how our products are several dollars more expensive than our competitors. And then you get 10 minutes to use the restroom and gulp down a snack for a very non relaxing break. Out of the jobs I have over the years, including a furniture store where the paychecks bounced regularly and one that had me so stressed I was nearly suicidal, this is by far the worst job I have ever had. The absolute bottom of the barrel worst. Definitely not a job. Just a paycheck. A rapidly shrinking check. Some times I wonder if I'm going to have to give up my pets because between bills and feeding the human members of the family there's just not a whole lot left each pay period. I have holes in my shoes and pants but I can't afford new ones.
