Animal Lovers Nightmare - Sales Associate/Cashier PetSmart Employee Review

2.0
10 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good hours, staff is typically friendly and fun to work with, employee discount was great

Cons

I still, to this day, have nightmares about working at this place. If you are an animal lover, do not work here. Besides the fact that working retail in and of itself is a punishment that should be reserved for the worst of the worst criminals, regardless of the store, working at petsmart as someone who loves animals was eye-opening. It was my first job in high school and i thought itd be great to get experience working with animals there, but i was wrong. I very quickly learned that managers hire based on how they think youll do with retail, not based on any experience you have with animals. Most if not all of my coworkers had ZERO idea how to care for animals and gave customers made up advice they pulled from thin air. Every shipment had sick animals that we kept in the back. For the "less valuable" ones with a lower $ amount, managers would put off their vet appointments again and again until they inevitably died. For the more expensive ones, theyd get treatment and (if they survived) would be put up for sale. Employees are HEAVILY discouraged to deny the sale of an animal to a customer, so you end up having to box/bag up animals you know are going to die in no more than two weeks due to the customers lack of knowledge on it. I knowingly sent countless hamsters to their deaths in the hands of little children, and sent endless fish away to live in a 0.5 gallon bowl that would never be cleaned. I didnt expect their animals to be in great condition, i knew where they came from, but i at least expected the workers there to care. They are seen as and tteated like merchandise, property, an item, when in reality they are living breathing animals. If petsmart had their managers hire employees that care and know what theyre doing, maybe it wouldnt be so bad.

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PetSmart Response
2mo
We're very sorry to hear this was your experience, this is not aligned with our values whatsoever. Please contact our CareSmart team so we can get more details, learn more and help support. Here is where to contact: 1-800-738-4693.

Explore other reviews about PetSmart

5.0
1 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Welcoming environment. Good benefits. Work with animals. Supportive peers.

Cons

Retail headaches. Work with very young associates that don't share good work ethics. Salaried and often work 50 to 60 hours depending. Not enough labor provided. Grooming salon can be tough.

1.0
2 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The company pushes for more and more from the bottom level employees without better pay. I worked there before the restructuring and; not much can make me cry, but working here sure did, even back then. I can’t imagine how anxiety inducing it must be to work there now. Animal welfare is a complete non-concern. The only thing that’s pushed is sell, sell, sell. It’s borderline dystopian. Bad management seems to be a common issue, not only from my experience, but many others’ as well. I worked until I was an exhausted sweaty mess to make sure everything in pet care or, when I groomed, the salon, was cleaned to perfection as expected of me (and I reiterate: “me,” because these standards were not expected of my co-workers, just me) and overall felt very unseen. The only times I did feel “seen,” was when mistakes were made. Work was treated like boot camp. A co-worker that was subtley targeting/bullying me, and even started rumors accusing me of racist remarks(!!!), was promoted and anything I reported was downplayed because they were friends with the assistant manager. Working here was an overall traumatizing experience.

Cons

Employees are expected to be work-robots

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