[Newticus]

I worked in pet stores for 7 yrs before I left and got a job that actually pays enough to live on :)
For the most part I LOVED it. What could be better then working with what you love everyday? I did lots of different things, I worked in the fish dept for a few yrs, then I was the reptile department manager, then I moved to the bird department.

However it's not all peachy keen because you get to see a lot of disheartening and sometimes terrible things. I had to watch animals go home with the wrong people and not be able to do anything about it without losing my job. I watched animals come back after the customer bought them and really hurt them.
An example of this was a uromastyx (type of lizard) was sold and the people returned it with a broken lower jaw. They managed to crack the jaw in two right at the front. It couldn't eat, couldn't drink. I had to give it liquids and food subcutaniously while it healed. eventually an empolyee took it home where it died.
My girlfriend actually stood up for a dog that some woman bought from her store who wanted to return it. she was dragging it around and holding it up by it's leash so it would choke. She called the SPCA, who did nothing. They gave the woman a warning and then set up an investigation of my girlfriends store (not that they found anything wrong) My girlfriend then got written up and almost lost her job. The worst part is, she was told it was ok to call the SPCA by someone at the stores head office, who then lied about giving permission.

Animals were also sent to us from breeders with illnesses. I watched a baby Senegal die of an unknown birth defect after we'd tried to hard to make it better for a month or so (not knowing what was wrong until the necropsy was done) We had 2 greys with unconfirmed polyoma ect. Both are actually still alive and doing very well!!

All that being said the satisfaction of helping a person find the right pet and seeing it go home with the right person was great. So was teaching people about the animals in the store and helping with school projects related to animals. We also did presentations at daycares and the like. We would bring animals to small children so they could see and pet them and tell them about each animal. That was always a lot of fun!
Another nice thing was the friends you make. I still talk to most of my old work friends because we all shared the same interest in animals. Most of my friends out of work could care less. I also met the love of my life at the pet store :)
The main problem with the pet store I worked for was they did not care at all about their staff, no matter how knowledgable you were,if your were great with the animals. if you had good sales, nothing, we were all expendable and they made sure we knew it.

sigh.
Sometimes I miss that job but like most retail jobs it just does not pay the bills.

Melanie

After a while of working there I figured I probably would make a really g