My Pet Store

[Haligren]

As many of you know, I work at a local pet store up here in PG. I love working there. My coworkers are friendly and my boss is very laid back. I thoroughly enjoy working with all of the animals, from the puppies to the bearded dragons. My main section is the reptile section of the store. Everyday I work I make sure all of them are comfortable; water dishes filled, feces removed from their enclosures, the tropical reptiles misted, etc. But I have a problem.

I attend UNBC most of the week for classes, and only have time to work on the weekends. However, the reptile section has continued to decline. Every day I work I'm pulling shriveled frogs and starved baby reptiles from their tanks. There are two other girls working this section; one is my supervisor who has very little time over all for them because she has other responsibilities. So the most she does is feed and water them, they're tanks sit unclean for most of the time. The other girl has been there for thirteen years, I think, but I find it hard to believe. Whenever she works, she leaves behind wrappers from snacking and empty water/juice containers all over the place. Heat lamps over the reptile's enclosures are removed and not put back and are often left on over OTHER reptile enclosures making their tanks incredibly hot and unbearable. Some enclosures are even left open and we've had a ball python and a few corn snakes go missing and/or escape. One of which was a very expensive Mohave ball python, which, thankfully, we later found. She is so scatter brained that she'll often start projects, such as watering the reptiles, but will get distracted by chatting with customers or coworkers, or will simply move onto something else. She'll also forget to feed animals as well. I hate working with her because I have to work twice as hard cleaning up after her and filling in for her mistakes. Not that I've had to work with her that much as she's usually there only one or two days a week.

Recently, I've started coming in nearly every day to make sure the reptiles have water and are fed. I'll also clean their cages as well. All this takes about an hour and a half. The manager (aka my boss) has noticed this and has told me to keep track of my hours so that I could get some compensation for it. I've voiced my concerns several times about the state of the reptile section but my complaints seem to fall on sympathetic but inactive ears. Our store is already tight with money. Hiring someone else would put us in the red. I've also probably been costing the store more as well seeing as how I've been pulling more items from the shelf to help care for the reptiles. Items such as calcium and vitamins, which prior to me working there were seldom if ever used.

I wonder how a big chain store such as PetLand can have such tidy and well-cared for reptile sections while smaller pet stores like the one I work for seem to struggle. Do they have more people working there or just more knowlegable people or people that just care more about what they're doing?

I don't expect answers in this forum, of course, but it's nice to have a place to vent to those who care. The only solution to this problem would be if I was able to work every single day to ensure that all of my reptiles are well cared for.

 

[clear]

I wonder how a big chain store such as PetLand can have such tidy and well-cared for reptile sections while smaller pet stores like the one I work for seem to struggle. Do they have more people working there or just more knowlegable people or people that just care more about what they're doing?

They have bosses that have "to-do" list and they make sure it gets done, no matter who does it.

 

[Greyscale_Geckos]

I work for a big chain, and I work specifically in the reptile and fish sections. Chains normally have a lot of employees, but not all chains take good care of their animals. It goes on a store to store basis. I was very lucky, I got hired at a store with managers who honestly wanted to learn more about the animals in their care, and who were looking for people with actual knowledge. Heh, but that's just the store I work at, I can go up a few streets and find one that is the exact opposite of my store.

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. I know how it can be... You sound like a very caring individual, and I'm glad you have stepped up to the plate to ensure the reptiles are getting proper care. That one coworker girl who's messy and such like sounds like a few coworkers I've had over the year... Most of them don't last too long. Since she has been an employee for such a long time, maybe it would be beneficial to either have your managers, or maybe you yourself talk to her?

At one point I was working 5 hours every day of the week just to make sure my two sections were functioning.... Heath problems ended that. In the end, I just had to trust my coworkers to do the job without me... and to also have my managers enforce the same principles. They didn't while I was gone, but hey, we can't always put the entire thing on ourselves. I ended up having some awesome friends who were able to help me out.

It sounds like you have a lot of responsibility on your plate, and the extra stress from this probably doesn't help. My suggestion would to be to try to convince both of your coworkers to do a better job at keeping the section well cared for. Stress to them that it is equally important, and have your managers back you up on that.

 

[Snowy & Petra de Gecko]

Your Pet Store

I am sorry to hear about the problems in your pet store.

I am happy to hear about your dedication to your job and the responsibility that you have taken to do your job, to care about what you are doing and to actually care about the animals in your care.

What ever you do will not be easy.

1) In life you will find that the 20/80 rule usually applies. 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work and 80 percent of the people do 20 percent of the work.

2) Some people really care and some people just want to get the paycheck.

3) Be careful of complaining. You may want to make suggestions as to how to minimize the loss of the reptiles in your department vs complaining about the care.

A) You may want to develop a checklist of what needs to be done daily and what needs to be done once a week.

B) You may want to talk to your manager about a "To Do" schedule which should lower the loss of your reptiles in your department.

C) You may want to talk to your manager about a "To Do" schedule which should make the cages look cleaner. So that potential customers are not offended by the condition of the reptiles.

D) You probably can think of several other things that you can talk to your manager about with a "To Do" schedule in hand.

E) A Manager is concerned about Sales and Loss of Inventory. So you have to approach the topic with the mindset of keeping inventory loss to a minimum.

F) After the "To Do" Schedule, you can talk to your co-worker with the Managers backing.

4) You then have to learn to be happy with the job that you are doing and the fact that you are doing the best job that you can and the fact that the reptiles are receiving the best care that they can get given their current circumstances.

5) Then you have to understand that you cannot do everything and that some of the reptiles will die.

6) You then should slap the coworke so that they can wake up and understand that they should care about their job and the reptiles!!!

However, while that would be nice you cannot do that.



Well I have given you my 2 cents and I hope that it helps you.

Good Luck.

 

[Spooki]

i work at a big chain store... and when stuff does not get done right there is hell to pay. we have checklists that must be signed off on and management that does check to make sure people aren't just pretending to do work.

even though some of the management doesn't seem to care a whole lot about the animals they realize dead animals don't sell and sloppy cages turn customers away.

the district manager likes to pay lots of visits and is fond of military style inspections... something i'm all too familiar with.

definitely talk to your coworkers about providing better care. if they can't keep track of all they need to do make a check list and try to get them to check or sign off on a task before starting another. unfortunately though, sometimes the only way to make changes is to get tough and it makes some people dislike you. my dept manager had to do that when she took over, she didn't win any friends but in the end we got rated #1 pet store in the area. your coworkers need to realize they are the primary care givers and the animals and customers deserve better, if you can make them realize how important this is you'll see some positive changes.

you have your work cut out for you... good luck.

 

[Snowy & Petra de Gecko]

Spooki

Good Post.:main_thumbsup:

You never seem to surprise me with your comments and/or reponses.:main_yes:
You made me Smile.

 

[Haligren]

Good news, everyone. In taking Snowy and Petra de Gecko's advice, I talked to my manager about the reptile department in terms he could understand; "You're hemorraging money at the rate of nearly $100-$150 every other day. And sometimes more than that every day." Which is true considering how many reptiles perish. So he's agreed to let me write up a check list which he will approve and ensure that everyone who works in that section does everything they should. My main concern is that the reptiles get fed, watered, and their waste removed. Also, every day that there is no one in the reptile section I will be paid to come in and focus only on the care of the reptiles. Which takes about two hours even with helping customers. Pretty cool, huh? :3

Thank you, everyone, for your support on the matter. Your words alone were more than I had anticipated.

 

[Snowy & Petra de Gecko]

That is Great!!!

I am glad that I was able to help.

In the world of business, the constant thought for a manager is the bottom line.

So it is always best to try to get what you want by expressing the thought in a way that would help another.

Just remember that even with the checklist and with the manager's blessing that things will work slowly at first and that it will take time to see the results. There will be some stumbles but, in the long run things will be better for the reptiles.

Good Luck.:main_thumbsup:

 

[Haligren]

Oh I know. I'm just glad I got the ball rolling for now.:main_thumbsup:

 

[Greyscale_Geckos]

Congrats! I hope things go well with this new list.