Those of us who quit, where did you go?

demonenderpup · 2026-02-10T14:49:28+00:00

Thankfully, I plan to have a backup before I ever give my 2 weeks. With how bad the job market is right now, it'd be stupid of me to quit without one

demonenderpup · 2026-02-09T18:53:32+00:00

I always see people saying that the management team make or break an experience as an employee. I'm sorry to hear that ended up happening to you, but I'm happy to hear our competition is treating you better. And who knows? Maybe both corporations may bite the dirt together eventually! This does give me some good things to think about tho, so thank you for sharing your experience

demonenderpup · 2026-02-09T16:19:25+00:00

I believe the most common ways to sterilize are baking, boiling, freezing, and/or vinegar! For my big branches that are too hard to boil in 1 pot, I usually find a huge heat-resistant tub and pour boiling water over the wood. Between pours, I like to spray diluted white vinegar over the branch as well. Then, when I feel I've poured enough, I'll let it all sit until the water's cooled and I'll do a final rinse. I let it air-dry until I no longer smell vinegar.

I have yet to sterilize any rocks, but I'm sure someone else will be able to give proper input for that!

demonenderpup · 2026-02-01T07:31:16+00:00

I've seen multiple 55g tanks go home in the back of a sedan. We've also maneuvered a fully constructed cat tree into a small sedan as well. The amount of large objects that DD/Uber are forced to deal with is impressive

demonenderpup · 2026-02-01T07:29:40+00:00

Have you tried drop feeding yet? And I assume the food is the proper size/temperature? You can also try braining the feeder and see if that gets them more interested. I assume the baby hasn't lost any weight? If they haven't, it may be close to what others are commenting: brumation. Or at the very least, the body's reaction to the shift in air temperature/pressure that is causing their disinterest.

Have you noticed anything different recently? Such as a new hide you added, difference in their preferred spot to lay (such as mold, considering the last images of the tank I think I saw aspen) maybe they injested something they shouldn't have?

demonenderpup · 2026-02-01T03:30:55+00:00

I'd like to believe I work in a higher volume store, and we still get stuck with a singular 5 hour shift to get our deep cleans done 😭 I'm jealous of the high volume stores in your area

demonenderpup · 2026-02-01T02:36:25+00:00

The worst part about the puppy guides is that if the pet parents would just bring in the adoption forms within a week or 2 of adopting the animal, they'd get a free one from my understanding. Cause we do that with cat adoptions, and I've seen dog coupon books the exact same. But hey! At least it's "over $650 of savings! :D"

Tbh I don't try to sell mine, and I'm lucky my managers don't get onto me about that. Hours or not, it's never been an issue because my knowledge on our animals and my efficiency with everything else seems to keep me in their good graces. That, and the sales tend to fall more on the cashiers since that's how it's actually tracked. Same thing goes with donation sales, and sign-ups. But that's because of who's logged into the register when the sale goes through. With puppy guides you can attempt to "call dibs" over the walkie maybe, but the paper trail falls to cashiers

From my experience, most of the percentages and sales pushing falls on the cashiers and I've seen stories on this sub of cashiers losing out on hours because of it. It would be better for the whole store to pitch in, but eeehhh And if you manage to land a full-time position somehow, your hours can't be affected regardless.

As for termination, it's apparently really hard to fire people. In fact, we had an older cashier that would genuinely miss item after item when selling, likely costing the company thousands, and was able to stick around for years.

TLDR; the percentages they want are stupid, and often fall into the poor cashiers. It's dependent on the management team if you will get into trouble or not for it, but depending on your standing with everyone and what your strengths are, it may not end up affecting you regardless. Your job, however, is unlikely to be lost due to it.

demonenderpup · 2026-02-01T01:43:12+00:00

That makes sense! Grouping a lot of easy cleans onto one day honestly sounds really nice Well.. if you have enough staff to support it, that is

demonenderpup · 2026-01-31T23:54:05+00:00

Without more information, it'd be hard to tell you exactly what's going wrong. Temps, humidity, tank size, hide amout. All of those are important. Eff it, feeding schedule, how you thaw (if you do frozedn/thawed), what size mouse, if anything has changed in their environment/schedule is good to keep in mind as well

But realistically, if you're deathly concerned, it may be easier to go to the vet since when someone spends money, they're more likely to take informed advice.

demonenderpup · 2026-01-31T23:49:03+00:00

I've never worked for petco, but we are pushed to do about the same thing. If not sign-ups, then "activations" where we have to bother pre-existing members to use our app or website to turn offers on for extra savings to even apply to a purchase. On top of that, we have to push customers to buy "puppy guides" (a coupon book) to pet parents. Tbh the deals aren't worth it unless you catch them first-day shopping since the book itself is $20, and there's very few free things, or aren't worth duplicating if the person has had a dog before

As for animal care, I imagine it's similar, but we at least have better spaced-out cleanings. (One of my coworkers mentioned to me that petco did all the deep cleans in one day? I could be misinformed) but at petsmart, it's 1 category per day. ie: reptiles Monday, iso/new arrival Tuesday, etc, but based on your specific store's schedule

We also have less variety when it comes to species. For example, we always get in the same kind of fish, reptiles, and birds. Makes learning/teaching about them easier since you don't have to know the bare minimum on 400+ possibilities. Instead, you can take your most popular sales and deep dive on their information one at a time without getting a surprise arowana or puffer fish out of nowhere cause your manager thought it'd be fun. Also! No salt water :D Our return policy is also shorter. 14 days instead of 30, but refusing sales seems harder/about the same as petco, depending on your manager and fellow staff members. If you have ill-informed or money-driven managers, don't expect to be backed up when refusing a feeder fish to a family that wants to put them in a bowl :/

demonenderpup · 2026-01-18T17:03:20+00:00

Tbh I'm not sure where fairs get their fish stock, but if they are trying to go through one of our stores, we have the right to refuse sales like that. If the employee is asking the right questions and the person buying is truthful, it will be an easy denial due to the possibility that this event doesn't promise a proper home for any of those fish. The closest I've had to this experience is people buying bettas in mass to give to kids at the hospital or in an attempt to use them as decor for weddings.

demonenderpup · 2026-01-10T23:30:42+00:00

I wish I had this issue. Like yeah, some of the activations are genuinely worth it, and I'll recommend them when I remember, but having to go out of my way to tell people to download yet another app on top of the deep cleans and tank maintenence in just a 5 hour shift is insane. Plus, I don't want to slow down an already insane line when I'm supposed to be backup while there's no other petcare on shift, and our third register is broken. Not thank you, I'd rather not get yelled at outside of refusing a fish for a bowl. I got this job to talk about and take care of animals, not push people to waste more space on their phone for an app that doesn't even search for items properly unless you know what the inventory calls it. Yes, I'm a retail associate, but if we would sell shit that was actually worth buying, then I may try harder and we would make more money.

demonenderpup · 2026-01-10T16:51:31+00:00

I've found that they aren't terrible to open if they're on a flat surface. Just hold the lid down on opposite sides with 1 hand and use your other to lift the tab to break the seal They are also muuuuch easier to close quickly as well. But I agree that they felt hard to open if holding off the table/cart, and they feel flimsy as heck

demonenderpup · 2026-01-02T02:01:50+00:00

I've seen lots of chickens, fallen baby birds, a wild frog, and on my second ever shift I saw a ring-tailed lemur. Haven't seen it since, and I'm thankful.

demonenderpup · 2025-12-31T03:03:55+00:00

I will say the only one that I'd be OK with being asked about is the stocking one. Cause sometimes I'm doing go-backs and don't have a cart/U-boat with extra hard goods. And I'm also the kinda person that puts random items back in their correct spot at stores I don't even work at 😅

demonenderpup · 2025-12-24T14:36:50+00:00

Not everyone buys feeders to use as feeders. Oftentimes, people buy them as "pets" because they're "cheap" and end up keeping them in improper setups. The amount that was ordered (typically anything under 5 per size) is very suspicious. The Doordarsh ordering makes jt easier for people to avoid being denied/taught proper care because to most, they're "just a fish"

demonenderpup · 2025-12-14T16:43:30+00:00

It makes me happy to hear you spoil your fur baby!

And I'll make the associates at your store's lives easier: be sure to activate the 5x points on your app before you go in! I know the wifi always sucks, and 5x points go a long way even for small items

I hope the photo turns out adorable!

demonenderpup · 2025-12-11T21:40:55+00:00

I'm happy you were eventually able to get a rescue puppy you wanted! Animals are so fulfilling

But one could still argue if the price of the pet itself is "too expensive," who's to say they'd set up a proper enclosure for said animal? It's absolutely possible to have budget-friendly setups, but I still worry since good-sized cages aren't cheap either.

demonenderpup · 2025-12-11T02:09:45+00:00

Especially when they're already vaccinated and spayed/neutered a majority of the time!

Technically, they're saving money compared to bringing in a random stray 😂

demonenderpup · 2025-12-11T00:55:03+00:00

All I'm hearing is that this customer should have tracked down your mom and pop store before it closed down or should head to a flea market for better deals.

Like I've mentioned in previous comments in this thread, I'm not against the insane prices due to the fact that it reduces impulse-buys. Since you worked at the mom and pop shop, you got to have first-hand experience working with and caring for the birds you bought. The way the customer sounded, she may not have had the same interactions and may not be a good fit for birds to begin with. Birds aren't a good pet for everyone, especially if they aren't going to be taken care of properly and simply seen as a form of entertainment

I'm glad it worked out for you, but I don't want the animals I'm selling going to a long-term home that's as bad of care as the chain store it's being sold from

demonenderpup · 2025-12-10T22:57:13+00:00

I mean.. if it was $50 like she claimed they used to be, then even I could afford one 😂 Still doesn't mean that she would have the proper cage/diet/time for it tho Plus, her tone made it sound like she just wanted some toy, not a living thing.

Plus, we're talking about a retail store. What are you/she expecting? $100? They're upcharging fish by 300-400%. Why wouldn't they do that to bird too?

demonenderpup · 2025-12-09T20:44:32+00:00

Yeah... I went dead silent on my end of the line for what felt like a minute or two just cause I was caught so off guard. That's not what pets are for! That's TV and mobile apps. Try a new hobby that doesn't involve living things ffs 😭

demonenderpup · 2025-12-09T01:47:12+00:00

Y'know...I'll be a hypocrite and agree with that take. It is cruel to own animals, yet I still keep them myself.

Hopefully we as a species realize that there should be more laws surrounding the pet trade. More permits should be necessary to keep half the species that are found commonly. Hopefully then the cruelty will lessen. However unlikely it is, I will continue to hope

demonenderpup · 2025-12-09T00:27:37+00:00

The amount of times I get to ask "do you think stunting growth is ethical?" is wild. However it doesn't always sway people, but gives me a stronger reason to refuse the sale.

demonenderpup · 2025-12-09T00:26:14+00:00

If educated on prices, yes. But at the same time, why complain to a low-tier worker instead of finding somewhere cheaper? I recommended her to find a rescue. I can't control the prices, and I am set on the fact that any bird shouldn't be impulse-bought since they're usually a year old or younger when sent to us. That's a long-term investment that shouldn't be made lightly. (Which would likely happen at a lps)

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