Pros
I love my job. I really, really do! But I know that things like management and employees are going to vary store to store, so I'm trying to take all of those things out of the picture and focus on why I would recommend working at Petsense. If you like interacting with animals, you're going to have a good time. People love to talk about their furbabies and you will hear all sorts of stories! (The rescue stories are always the ones that get me.) If you like helping people and problem solving, you're going to have a good time! We greet every customer that comes into the store and ask if they need assistance. Sometimes they just need to know where the collars are, but sometimes you'll get a very specific problem that has them stumped. Those daily challenges keep things interesting! Basically, you will get out of this job what you put into it. If you're friendly and engaging with the customers, you'll have fun. If you go through the motions and don't care a whit about them or are plain rude, it will be a dreadful experience. Also, Petsense has an "Open Door" policy that says you can call anyone in management, regardless of rank. There is a hierarchy of course, but if you're stuck and things just aren't progressing, you can call the next person on up for help. I have had to utilize this in the past, and while it wasn't fun at the store level, I felt that the higher ups I spoke to actually listened to what I had to say.
Cons
The pay is slowly improving, but it is still very, very low. To give you an idea, our assistant manager has been with the company for 8 years and been the assist. manager for 6. She makes less than $12 an hour, and she works her butt off! If you go down the street you can get a job making biscuits at Hardee's for $10.50 an hour with no experience. Kinda sad. (I've been working a year and a half and make $9.70 an hour.) From what I read on other reviews, it seems like managers don't make a lot either. This is a big problem because they make up the difference by getting bonuses on things that can negatively affect the store. For example, every store gets a set number of work hours to schedule each week, based on how profitable the store is. Not using all of these hours is a good thing from the company's standpoint because it means you're spending less money. But from an employee's standpoint, it really sucks when you're working alone at night and there are tons of customers in the store. I cannot give one-on-one attention to every customer and run the register at the same time. People don't like to wait and they will leave if it gets bad. That's money walking out the door! But hey, at least the manager got hir bonus, right? We sell thousands of different items but receive zero training on any of them. Most of what I've learned has come from listening to other employees and talking to my customers. It makes it hard to sell new product because I don't know what makes it better than "old" product! Our prices are not-so-slowly creeping up, and customers do notice. It isn't uncommon for someone to say, "I can get this cheaper at Wal-mart!" and off they go. Honestly, I can't blame them. If it was $1 more on a $20 item, eh, whatever. But it's more likely that we are $1 more on a $1 item, and a $20 item will probably cost $36.99 (or more) with us. And often a "clearance" price is still higher than Wal-mart or even the grocery stores. I have fought to get prices changed on things, and was successful for a time. But in one of the recent price increases, something that we were REALLY noncompetitive with in the past has now jumped back to it's old price. The price doubled overnight, and I'm stunned. Petsense is supposed to be in more rural areas, and our customers aren't exactly rich. If they can save $15 by driving 1/4 mile down the road, they absolutely will. But first they'll take out their frustration on the employees. I like that we offer Bettas, but I dislike that they're in such small cups. (Some stores have beautiful displays with tanks. We do not.) Bettas ideally need at least 2.5 gal of water and the tiny cups are cruel.
