There isn't enough space to list all the cons of working at Petsmart.
-You are given ZERO autonomy. Customer wants a 5 cent coupon? You need a manager approval. Need to void a sale? You need a manager approval. Need to go to the bathroom? You need (no I'm not joking) a manager approval. You are given exactly 0 empowerment to solve any customer problem.
-You are given almost 0 hours. My hours at the company went from 15-20 for 2.5 years to 3 hours a week for the past six months! How is anybody supposed to do anything on $35 a week?
-SELL SELL SELL. Every time you see a puppy? Sell them a puppy kit (a book of sham coupons). They didn't want it? Be prepared to get chewed out for twenty minutes about it, and potentially written up. No puppy? Sell them the treat of the week. If they didn't want that, repeat the step of getting chewed out. And God help you if you don't cram a Chance or Lucky doll down every customer's throat at Christmas time. And training classes, you have to sell them to everybody whose dog even hints at the tiniest problem. And salon services, can't forget to sell them on those too. And lastly email captures. You are required to get at least 50% email capture rate every week or you're written up and fired. But what about the majority of people who are sick of giving out their emails? Doesn't matter. What about the old people who have no email? Doesn't matter. It's YOUR fault THEY don't want to do it.
-Compensation. You are expected to sell: Puppy Kits, Treat of the Week, Training Classes, Salon Services and proprietary (store) brands. And your compensation for doing so? A candy bar. No. I'm not exaggerating. If you sell 10 Puppy Kits (valued at $200 total), you get rewarded with a candy bar worth $1.
-Need money? Enjoy your minimum wage. Petsmart pays close to the minimum wage, and your 'raises' (I laugh) are about 10 cents A YEAR.
-Room for promotion. I was promised a job as a pet trainer. The company spent a month training me and getting certified only to hire somebody else to do the job the moment I got back. Turns out I was the 'backup' trainer. I don't get to do anything, I'm just there to make it look like we have a lot of trainers.
-Management. Be prepared to be worked to the bone. Need to take more than 3 minutes in the bathroom? You need a doctors note. Have sunburn and can't wear the mandatory iPads? You need a doctors note. Have no customers? You need to be washing the registers (hint: A customer will come up just as you spray the belt every time without fail) or 'looking busy'. Absolutely every second of every minute of your shift you must be working, no questions asked.
I can sum up my 3 years at Petsmart thusly: If you want to work here, be prepared to watch the college kids get passed over for promotions in favor of the 'lifers', which means your boss will be an idiot. Be prepared to work 3-5 hours a week due to 'budget cuts' for six months to a year with zero notice or warning. Be prepared to cram every single product you can down every customer's throat or get yelled at because of it. I can not stress enough how terrible of a company this is to work for. I'd rather be unemployed, and at 3 hours a week, I essentially am.
