Only if you're desperate - even then you could probably do better
An average day: prepare the store for opening by counting the tills and setting up the registers. Remove the fish that died overnight (you will have some each day), feed the adoptable cats and fish, clean out the cat's cages. Once the store is open: check in dogs at the salon, run the cash register, stock shelves, customer service, answer phones, schedule grooming appointments, assist groomers with dogs, handle complaints, catch and bag fish, and always sell, sell, sell. At the end of the day clean the fish tanks, scrub the fish's filtration socks, count the tills, prepare the deposit, face the store, and clean the bathrooms.
Part time/full time:
As with many companies today, Petsmart (the LaVale store) has more part-time employees than full-time employees. While this is economical for the company, it is one of many ways the company shows it's employees they don't matter. The big difference between part-time and full time: vacation days, paid holidays, and health benefits. For Petsmart, part-time is considered 28 hours a week or less.
Work life balance:
This may have changed since I left but previously to obtain a job at the LaVale Petsmart you had to have open availability. This in and of itself is not unusual, but it's taken advantage of here. For example, it was normal to have 1-2 clopens a week. (A clopen is when you close the store at night, then reopen it the following morning.) In that same week, you could work a morning shift, afternoon shift, and an evening
ProsPeople bring their dogs in, that always brightens the day
I started at PetSmart as a cashier. I really enjoyed my job, and had the confidence to do it good and get things done on time and answer any and all questions to the best of my ability. I really liked my managers and everyone seemed super nice, in the beginning... I eventually got into petcare, which of course made my hours go up. Everything was going great, and the weekly pay checks were awesome. Me loving to work, started to think of all the things I could do to up my hours even more. So I asked the store manager what I could do. When I was hired, she told me the more stuff I could do the more hours I could get. She then put me in grooming as a bather. And that.. is where everything went downhill. Me being very confident in my ability to adapt to any job, was met with hate and high school drama the moment I walked into that grooming salon. During my job out on the floor, I barely interacted with the groomers so I really wasn’t prepared for how they were when I was then completely ripped out of pet care and put into grooming every single day. Which is not what I wanted(I was hoping to do bathing twice a week, and petcare the rest because I was one of only 3 people that could properly do petcare). I was then doing bathing five times a week. After two weeks, I already knew I didn’t want to do bathing anymore. I went to my store manager and she told me to ignore their behavior and that it wasn’t worth reacting to aka I was completely shut down instead of her actually going and
Some stores are apparently better, but the district I worked in drilled it home to me that my words didn't matter, I was spending every day fighting against the company, and customers didn't know who to trust.
They want you to hand out "care guides" that give INCREDIBLY inaccurate information (such as hamsters loving to live with a friend, birds only needing a tiny cage, bettas needing only .5 gallons, etc) and while the company policy says you can refuse a sale, you will almost never be allowed to regardless of the conditions. I've had a customer yell at me that "it's not about the hamster, it's about me" when I suggested skipping on the hamster ball due to the injury risks they pose, or at least only using with close supervision in case of an emergency. I've had people tell me to feed my pet bird to a snake because a snake is better. I've had people tell me to flush my betta fish because they don't deserve a 10 gallon tank and I should get something more entertaining. The customer base is rough and continues to decline as petsmart drifts farther from good animal care and other companies drift closer, leaving petsmart with the (typically) less caring people who don't care what their animal needs as long as they still own it and do whatever they want with it.
Management varies greatly store to store and you won't know for sure if you've got someone who knows how to do their job and will also care about you even as an employee until you've been stuck there for a year
A typical day at work for the pet products manager, was arriving at the location at approximately 3:50am to let the rest of the team into the building to begin work. This would consist of a little bit of paperwork, while your team moves displays and pulls out the pallets, working, with the team to unload all pallets, stock shelves, move overstock into places, and correct wrong overstock placement from the previous evening. The next person comes in around 7:45.
I would like to state before you read the rest of this: I LOVED my job. The reason I left so quickly was because of the upper management within the store. The general manager and the operational manager became some of the most awful people I have ever met, but they weren't always that way.
When I first accepted the job, I was very excited to be working there with them. They were both very nice, even leaving me cute “welcome to the family” notes. I was in heaven. I felt like I had finally made it to a place where I belonged. But during my first few weeks all of my coworkers told me about the two upper managers and about how awful they were, a few of the girls even told me to run! I laughed them off and assured them that they were really nice to me and I would keep an eye out. Then, about 3 weeks in they started being short with me, after that downright rude, even mean.
The Operations Manager actually shut a door in my face while I asked her for help one day. Another example, I had used a forklift at my p
Prosgreat pay, nice benefits, bonuses, petting puppies, its a work out
ConsRude management, terrible HR department, weird hours, continued work in sweaty clothes
Can be a fun place to work, until you become upper management.
I worked my way up from a part-time employee to a full-time leader position. I did what was required of me at all times, even went above and beyond to help cover extra shifts when associates call out or don’t show up to their scheduled shifts. Some days I worked 12+ hour shifts in order to help out “the pack.” You’re constantly told you’re doing a great job and that you’re an excellent addition to the team. Except when it’s inconvenient for the team. Constant drama and bickering amongst the employees. I have a degree but unfortunately petsmart pays me more than working in my actual field of study. I’ve tried to mention to management that I’d like to move up to a corporate level position, seeing that I feel that I’m ready for it. But I’m told I’m “too young” and that I’m perfectly fine where I’m at. No opportunities to move up within the company. I don’t want to be a leader for 25+ years before being considered for a corporate level position. Everything is great and you have an advantage, until you decide to have a family. Schedule is limited and management becomes upset if you can’t respond to emergency incidents or help cover a shift if somebody calls out. Management is always micro-managing what you do, they don’t let you run your department without some sort of negative input. You can’t hire employees without consulting with the district leader first. It’s an extremely stressful company to work for, if you’re at the retail level. Management also takes your words and twists
ProsThe pets, pet parents. Great benefits.
ConsInconsistent hours, no set schedule. Management talks down to you.
Management isn't what it should be at nearly every Petsmart I've worked
I've worked for Petsmart for quite some time. And management has always been a struggle. Particularly Salon managers. It's not an easy position to keep filled. Each salon has a team of people that grow close too eachother as they are essentially in a fish tank. So as a manager it can be like going into a shark tank until said manager gets their barring. Even then managers and associates are not compensated as well as they should be for thier work load. Most associates I know recieved 1 or more injuries most often bites, but hands can get tendionitis or carpal tunnel, your shoulder can get injured and your back. You will meet really nice dogs and nice people, but you will also meet the far opposite. What I hate most about this job was that I am not allowed to demand abusive owners to leave not can I contact animal control on the owner. Clients can be unreasonable and most managers hand them whatever they want like a skilled child having a tantrum. Causing continuous mistreatment to emplyees and services. Getting discounts and things for free due to those tantrums. Often times the clients complaint was something untrue or due to thier own neglect to thier pet. Clients pet is so matted that when shaved the fur comes off as one solid peice. Client complains the dog is naked even though you warned them 7 times at check in and suddenly they get a discount or a free groom. Does it matter if you did everything right? Made sure client was aware and why. Had client sign all
ProsDogs, the ability to limit contact with people. Has strict regulations protecting pets, usually good about making sure you get your lunch, working with dogs more then people, Usually some freedom to go home when dogs are finished
ConsFavoritism matters oftentimes more then work ethic, Are often over booked causing stress, and injurys happen throughout, breaks are difficult to take and the inviroment can be over wheeling
Good Job but underpaid, Management wasn't the best
PetSmart was by far my favorite job I've had yet, my dream always was to take care of animals so I absolutely adored the time I spent there. The problem was having a manager who would misgender me daily, and did it the entire time I was there, despite other staff and customers alike calling me the correct pronouns. Even the customers would ask why she would do it. She was known to misgender all previous trans employees as well apparently. She also, despite being the pet care manager, was never in pet care. I don't think I had ever once seen her actually working in petcare. She didn't even know what food we fed the doves. She was also the reason over half our staff had tried to quit at various points throughout their time at petsmart. Either way, I and the maybe 2 other capable petcare employees had to pick up on her slack an do her job for her. I quit due to the lack of training for petcare which led to mistreatment of the animals, and no matter how hard i tried to make sure these animals got what they needed they were always underfed, dehydrated, or dying. As I left, apparently every Syrian hamster in the store died due to a bad shipment. I had already dealt with the deaths of multiple hamsters, and they refused to allow me to head home early despite the fact I had spent the majority of the shift sobbing and unable to hold myself together. And I know there are policies in place that say they have to allow employees to go home early if they are unable to emotionally handle th
For a typical day, which was for me a closing shift in the Pet Care Department, I would 'do my rounds' and check the animals for food, water, health, proper sign-age, habitat display, etc., as well as assist customers throughout the day. I would also spend time cleaning up messes, scrubbing tanks, organizing the department, as well as backing up cashiers, and occasionally getting carts. I would break for lunch, repeat all that stuff I just mentioned, then go home.
I learned that my favorite part of working at a pet store wasn't the animals, although that was a huge chunk of it, it was working with the customers. I LOVE interacting with people, especially educating them on the proper care of their pets. I quickly found out that if it didn't bark or meow, people often had no idea what the flip they were doing to take care of their pet, to put it crudely. So, I really got into reading books and magazines on those various types of pets to really provide them with the best possible knowledge to do so.
With a couple of exceptions that are now all thankfully gone, I got along great with the management. I personally had very few problems with them, save for some that had poor attitudes or who just tanked at interfacing with people politely.
Co-workers at my location are super-crazy awesome. With one exception or two, everyone has been real nice and easy to work with. There's a great sense of teamwork in my department, especially.
The absolute harde
ProsSchedule flexibility, great work environment, working with pets.
ConsCustomers not caring about goldfish and having to sell them to them knowing that, over and over again.
When I first went into this interview it was just as a seasonal Cashier position but when I got to talking with the manager I told her about my interest in hotels and she was really excited that I wanted to work in that area. 5 minutes into the interview I was already told that she liked me and we went over to the hotel in the store to take a tour of the place. It was really amazing that I would be able to get hotel experience and work with some of my favorite animals.
I was offered the job the same day to work at the front desk but I just needed to take a urinalysis to make sure that I was drug free. I was fine with that and did it the same day and called up the manager (this was on a Thursday). That Sunday was my first day of training and it was really interesting.
Now my job as a Guest Service Associate varied depending on what time my shift was but here's the run down. Getting there in the early morning meant that I would go through the paperwork that the previous night had done. Going through Master Boarding Agreements (MBA) to ensure everything is correct and update it in the TouchPoint system. This time is also the heaviest time in regards to check-ins because most people drop their dogs off for Doggy Day Camp so they can go to work. The check in goes something like this:
If the Pet Parent (PP) is a regular we already know the name and dog so we do a quick look-up and pull out the paperwork. We go over what the pet will do for the day, if they'll be fed, if th
ProsGreat co-workers, working with pets is great, connecting with people in a different way.
ConsPay was just over minimum wage, hours died down near the end to only work a couple days a week, some pet parents were very rude.
Hopefully some helpful details if you want to work as a Pet Care Associate
A typical day as a Pet Care Associate includes assisting customers with questions regarding the care of fish, small animals, reptiles and birds. You will be bagging and selling crickets, bagging and selling fish, ensuring the well being of all store animals, be responsible for properly filling out paperwork for adopting out animals, adopting out other animals from local rescue agencies that are partnered with PetSmart and much more. There is a lot to remember with policies (it seems to change frequently) which are not always made clear to you by management which can make things difficult at times. This is not a cushy job, be prepared to get dirty and work hard as you will be constantly cleaning animal habitats, scrubbing fish tanks, cleaning up after peoples' pets, (etc.). You do get to meet a lot of cool customers that share a passion for animals, and sometimes you get to interact with their pets (be sure to ask owners' permission first!) which definitely makes the work day more fun. Be aware that there are short time constraints on daily tasks (there is A LOT to do) and if you don't meet those management will come down on you, so good time management is a must for working here! Some days are absolute chaos and customer flow is non-stop; be prepared to be the only one in Pet Care department for your shift most of the time!
I learned how to work in a fast paced environment and manage my time more wisely. I learned how to stay calm under pressure. I learned that to do you
ProsSome cool pet parents, get to work with animals, employee discount, you learn a lot, get to educate customers and connect with them
ConsNo benefits, little room to advance, minimum wage, very stressful at times, ignorant/very rude customers sometimes
I regret applying at PetSmart. Very Discouraging and Disappointing
I completely regret working here. Disappointing and Discouraging and Disheartening. I found training at PetSmart did not prepare me to work at other grooming salons. Training at this particular location did not even prepare me to work at PetSmart. Applying here was difficult and time consuming, 3+ months including the background check. For some reason I wasn’t getting the all the emails, even though my email address was confirmed by me and accurate. Finally getting through hiring process the computer troubles continued and it was difficult for me to sign in and get started, taking even more time. Getting through that and on to the first day working, tools were not available for me to complete my computer training completely, ie a completely working computer, on the days I was scheduled to do my computer training, the completely working computer was double booked and I was pressured to rush through it anyway, using a computer that had no sound and not being able to listen or watch all the safety and training videos. Starting in the salon, tools were not available for me to do my job, ie a grooming table to work on, so poorly prepared they were for another groomer to work there. Even though they knew over 3 months ahead a new groomer was coming. I felt my own personal grooming tools were not safe as the drawers in my stand did not lock and I was never given a key. The work environment there is anything but calm. Completely chaotic. Toxic. As a new employee the on the job safety
ProsEffort made on staff room which was appreciated:)
ConsEverything else
Questions And Answers about PetSmart
Does petsmart hire convicted felons
Asked Feb 22, 2016
Yes they do, I have 3 felonies and i just got hired
Answered Jan 17, 2021
They did not hire convicted felons
Answered Jul 22, 2020
Does Petsmart drug test?
Asked May 2, 2016
Was hired in 2018 and they required it
Answered Nov 27, 2020
Yes they do, along with an endurance/physical test.
Answered Nov 9, 2020
What is the best part of working at PetSmart?
Asked Dec 25, 2019
Pets, ppl and co-workers. Job stability.
Answered Nov 27, 2020
Everyone there has a love for animals
Answered Nov 20, 2020
How flexible are your working hours at PetSmart?
Asked Mar 13, 2020
Retail can very, depending on sales. You can expect to work at least 4 hours up to more. Depending on your availability. Store leaders and fellow co-workers are available, if a personal change pops up.
Answered Nov 27, 2020
Flexible hours depending on the position
Answered Nov 20, 2020
What are the hours like for an early morning stocker?
Asked Aug 2, 2017
5 am - 5 pm
Answered Oct 8, 2020
The true hours of a morning stocker start as 3:00 am.
