Good first time job that "builds character."
Pros
You got to learn dog behaviors and see how they interacted between others. Seeing the different breeds was fun. You got to interact and play with animals all day and rarely had to deal with people. Eventually would see the regulars and you would get a opportunity to bond with pets. It is a good first time job, but only if it's for short term. It was easy to have a second job as you could sign a availability slip, with specific times. Having a 15% discount was nice and getting 10$'s off (a monthly coupon) certain dog food brands was also nice to have.
Cons
I worked as a Pet Hotel Associate for 2 1/2 years (2015-2017). My hours were usually between 24 to 30 hrs a week. 8am-5pm time slots were normally scheduled back to back. Half of my time was spent in Day Camp. The only time I would be relieved, were for breaks and lunch time. Being in that room became exhausting and left me wanting to do other duties within my job title. I brought this up to the Managers, only to be ignored. Seniors and Managers would go out of their way to single me out and put me in camp, even when I would trade duties, like checking kennels and cleaning, with other employees. This became such a problem, that I had to contact the Careline. However, the Managers would not do anything to fix this problem even when I reached out to HR. The Day Camps were usually overcrowded (15 max for small, 12 max for big). A lot of times camp would go over the maximum occupancy. Some of the dog’s were not well socialized with the group. This created a very stressful environment as fights would break out. During morning play times, employees would not follow specifics made by pet parents. Extra play time (which are paid for) were not utilized or cut short. Managers played favorites with certain employees hours and times. When my pay was increased to 10$, my hours got cut from 30 hrs to 15 hrs per week. There were constant miscommunications and under-staffing issues, especially during the holiday’s. During our busy seasons, some dog’s would be left in their own messes and it would take forever before someone would come to clean out their kennels. The most upsetting part of this job, was seeing cats not being socialized twice a day like their charts specify or having them sit in a cage, with dirty boxes for long periods of time. Managers were negligent over obvious health/safety hazards. These problems consisted of mold in the play rooms, dusty air vents, faulty sanitizing equipment, etc. It would take the Managers months to do something, because they are to "busy" to call someone. Co-workers were a toss up, most were difficult to work with. There was bullying from Seniors (I was on the receiving end of this) and they were very cliquey. It was difficult to even get people to work together because of the drama between Seniors and Co-workers.
