Pros
Room for advancement Company attracts some great people who are passionate about pets Associate discount is good, occasionally get 50% certain brands of food Good management teams provide learning opportunities by setting of vendor seminars (with free lunch) Some stores run really fun events Company supports adoptions and adoptions groups Opportunity to transfer to another store if you move Plenty of opportunity to stay busy--there is always something to do! You are able to build good relationships with customers The company has a good vision and good ideas
Cons
I have worked in two different districts and the difference between them was like night and day. My previous district had a great DM. He was annoying at times but he cared about store input and built a relationship with all members of store management. I enjoyed my job at that time. My current DM is terrible. He hardly visits stores and maintains poor communication. He is terribly frustrating to work for because he is practically non existent. We have another regional partner who is responsible for animal care and pet services. He micromanages the stores, yells at you if you don't complete things his way, and knows nothing about proper animal care. The company is tightening payroll and is placing more tasks on the shoulders of their smaller teams. They have no concept of how much is truly too much. The company has good ideas and good vision as mentioned above but THE EXECUTION on these is terrible. We receive a memo and they say, "do this." It is impossible to fire bad managers and good managers are not rewarded or recognized. My only motivation to succeed is so I have the opportunity to celebrate with my team. It also gives my DM one less thing to bug me about when he decides to contact me or hold a conference call.