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During my shift at Petsmart today...

3K views 23 replies 16 participants last post by  toad 
#1 ·
During my shift at Petsmart today I did my routine browse of the bettas, practicing my willpower at not getting any more fish. Usually my petsmart is great at taking good care of their bettas, but today the fish were kind of unhappy looking. I noticed something odd with one of them, a big plakat of nondescript color due to the fact that he was SO sick. I thought he was dead, but he was slightly alive and floating perpendicular, with his head near the top taking big gulps of air. He swam/sank to the bottom when I picked him up, floating on his side and attempting to right himself. I brought him to the pet care manager, (pet care deals with all the fish/small furry/small scaly things in the store) and told her this little guy was sick and needed urgent care. Clean water, put in a warmer place at the very least! Later I asked one of girls who works over there what actually will happen.. and she said "We just put some medication in the sick fish's water and usually they die." I almost cried, or yelled at her.. He could probably have been saved with the proper care, as well as the 6 other sick bettas she told me they had in the back room!! If I didn't work there I probably would have made a much bigger fuss, which would have been to no avail. Petsmart is really invested in customers being happy and keeping up an image of actually caring for pets, which for the most part they do. I wonder what kind of effort would need to happen for chain petstores to realize that bettas need better care? Most customers don't even know, unless they find their way to a betta forum or the like there isn't a glimmer of a chance they are going to know how to care for a betta or know that those tiny cups are terrible for them. If more customers really knew, I wonder if those corporations would consider changing their policies regarding bettas? They might even make more money, it's a lot more expensive to buy the proper setup for a betta than a tiny aesthetically pleasing bowl. They might lose a few customers who are looking for a really cheap pet, but in the long run it might be good. I think I'm going to start writing weekly letters to Petsmart, or maybe calling the employee petsmart hotline where you can voice concerns that aren't getting heard by management....
 
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#5 ·
It's true, pet stores don't seem to care about the little bettas. When I bought my first betta Sparky years ago I had no idea that they required so much space, so I bought a 1/4 gallon tank with no heater, no filter. We wondered why Sparky passed on but since learning more it makes perfect sense. I feel really guilty about that still. I make it up by ensuring Kudo is well taken care of.
 
#7 ·
I applied for pet care literally every single time they had an opening in the last year. I was getting desperate for a job, and they were hiring again so I just selected EVERYTHING they had open, (lol along with about 30 other places/week!) and they had already hired internally for petcare, but needed cashiers. WHICH MEANS - If I stay there long enough I probably would have a real shot at being hired into pet care. In case you missed that, I'm a cashier :)
 
#8 ·
I definitely suggest that you call the employee hotline; something is seriously wrong if they are letting those animals rot away in a cold backroom. I hope they promote you - you'd be wonderful in a pet care position!
 
#9 ·
That is SO SAD! but i believe that you can make a difference.
My petsmart's betta section is the best i've ever seen. Yes, they still have the little cups but they're quite bigger than all the other betta cups you see and i always see them changing the water. It's so hard not to buy another one every time i go in there.
 
#10 ·
I worked at petsmart for a year. Luckily when I had this problem and took them back into the 'sick room' I would do a daily water change on their cups and place them on top of the larger tank for freshwater sick fish or near the space heater to keep them warmer, which is what I would do when you get into pet care :) This actually saved quite a few and they got to go back out on the sales floor in a few weeks-months depending on their situation. I started as a pet care associate then went up to a lead. If you let the pet care manager know that you are interested in working over there, and just in regular conversations with them let them know how much knowledge you have in that area, and when an opening comes hopefully they'll remember and put in a good word for you! I'd also make sure the store manager knows you're interested since they do the hiring. It's much easier to hire more cashiers than people for pet care. Best wishes!
 
#12 ·
The last thing they want is for this to go public.
(similar story happened when Petcetera was here. A girl went to the media about the care of the small animals there. She was fired which brushed up the feathers of the public even more)
 
#13 ·
So sorry to hear about your day! But, what a better place to vent than this website? It was very smart of you to take the betta to immediate care. Just think of what a more non-responsible employee would have done? my guess: nothing. Do you buy your betta fish from Petsmart/petco? or do you rescue from stores such as walmart?
 
#14 ·
I refuse to patronize wal-mart, on conscientious consumer grounds. I have gotten my bettas from Petsmart! I'm working on inserting myself into the pet care department, it may take a little while but I'm hopeful!
 
#15 ·
Hoping you get the job... Imagine if every petco/petsmart had one of us forum members as workers :)

We would need a lot more members LOL
 
#17 ·
I was as petsmart and petco yesterday and petco did a nice job of unstacking the bettas, petsmart did not. I don't work there but I spent 15 mins organizing and unstacking. Is there any training that happens there? And what's the blue water in the cups?
 
#18 ·
Well at the Petsmart I work at they don't stack the bettas, we have a rack with cup sized holes that each betta cup goes in to. The only time they are stacked is during transport on the stock cart, but they aren't stacked there very long. Not sure how other petsmarts do it... I don't know about training there either, there is totally different training for the Pet Care section! We don't have blue water here, but the petsmart across town does.. Kind of interesting. It's supposed to be from a water conditioning stuff that contains an anti-fungal treatment, but I am not really sure if anyone reaaally knows why it's blue! I have read on other sources that the blue is to lower stress by making it harder for them to see other bettas.. There is a thread on here somewhere devoted to the blue water!
 
#20 ·
During my lunch venture to Petsmart today I noticed a little boy, labeled dragonscale, looked cellophane. I thought he was tinged reddish until I noticed it was a sore near his tail. I took him to the petcare employee, who is probably the only knowledgeable one there as far as fish. He said it was a fungal infection and took him off the sales floor and in for treatment.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Ugh, it really makes me mad that companies are too short-sided and stubborn to put people where they belong. This is the second thread in 2 days I have read about someone who works in a place that sells bettas that should really be in the pet department .. but instead the companies totally don't give a *$#@ and leave them doing something like cashier or stocking shelves far away from the bettas.

What is WRONG with people? When you have someone who is knowledgeable and passionate, and even makes valid points about how the company could possibly even make more money educating its customers on nicer set-ups for bettas .. .. you don't take advantage of that? (Think about this person taking the time maybe change the displays near the bettas in order to suggest slightly more expensive products. OR , think about if a store let an employee set up just ONE display tank with an ideal betta set-up, people could see how cute and fun, silly, or active a betta really can be in their homes. Maybe enough people would actually LIKE it that they would make up for the profits lost by someone who wouldn't take that on. Or let them still have the option of a crappy 1 gallon bowl, but no smaller! Smaller things aren't even necessarily cheaper anyway.)

I think we all need to write some letters or comments to big chain stores regarding this.
 
#22 ·
$$$ <---
 
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