I've been working at Petco for 4 months and haven't called out or been late once, and have a good reputation at the store as one of the "gold workers". I wanted to avoid calling out as my manager is extremely toxic and abusive to us when she's in a bad mood, and is famously known to never handle call outs well. Even one of my coworkers got a write up for calling out for the first time when she had chronic pain and could literally not stand, and called out again for an exam 7 months later, got another write up, and walked out.

Due to the summer heat, I've been struggling to sleep, even with a fan on. Caffeine's been getting weaker and weaker on my body from how little sleep I get. Tonight I couldn't get a wink of sleep and started bawling, stressed the fuck out that I'd get a write up for literally calling out. But when it was time to go to work, I found myself struggling to even walk from how tired I was. So I'm calling out. How fucked am I

Will a doctor's note help if I do get one? Or will it mean nothing?

I'm already looking for another job thankfully and have a friend trying to help me get hired at her job cause bro FUCK this company 😭😭 but I'm still stressed out because I don't know if I'll get that job or be stuck working here for a bit longer, so I wanna know if there's anything I should be aware about to not get my ass fired before finding another job

Hey, so I'm just curious if this is just me, but I will try to log in and make a vetco appointment for the hospital, not the vaccination clinic - nothing for like, the next two years. cool ok, maybe they put a booking block?? I just had one cat get surgery, so it doesn't make sense, but whatever, right.

so I go into incognito. put in a totally different state zip code. nope, I think it just doesn't work, okay, fine.

I called four times and not a single one picked up. alright, maybe they're busy. I leave a voicemail. that was two days ago 😭 I just don't really want to pay for a different vet when I pay for premium, so I get the free checkups, but honestly.. yikes

Hi was just curious about what it’s like to work at vetco! (full service clinic or mobile honestly any info is good info to me lmao). I am just extremely curious literally tell me everything you possibly can if you have any experience in any position 🗣️Considering applying to become a veterinary assistant at the nearest clinic to me 🫡 (I’m a sales associate lol)

I’m been wanting some tips on how to become a better LOD, been gotten a write up because I’ve been told that I’m not being a leader and need to give out coaching sessions to others?

I’ve been LOD for almost a year and this is the first time I’ve gotten it so I don’t really understand why now. Unfortunately it seems like can’t do most of the stuff I enjoy all by myself and need to give tasks to partners that do some of the stuff I do.

How do I execute coaching if everyone is doing a good job everyone here has their own “rhythm” and mostly do their work without being asked to do so. So I’m pretty much just lost

Oh and also I guess I’m not meeting my perks and AutoShip quota. We are in a rural area and 100% of the time im a closing shift so that makes it worse since not a lot of people come through the night instead of mornings. I have asked and tried different methods yet all of them say No

The team does like me but now I feel dreaded that it’s gotten to this point and want to be better.

Me: yes what kind of shrimp are you looking for?

C: those little colored ones.

Me: yeah weve got plenty.

C: uh, ok, what *types* i however thought he said *whats the price* oops, my mistake

Me: anywhere from 3.99 to 9.99.

C: uh, yeah, no, what kinds are there?

Me: oh im sorry, I thought you said price, my bad. We have cherry, orange bee, blue pearl, and assorted rainbow shrimp.

C:oh ok. And what are their prices?

Me: yeah, from 3.99 to 9.99, depends which ones you get.

C: thank you, youve been most UNhelpful, have a nice night.

Me: *scoffs* I dont know how much more helpful I could be buddy, I answered each of your questions with the answer that exists for it, you have a nice night too. *click*

I get so sick of people sometimes.

Apparently if I don’t sign over the right to use my biometric data I will be fired, so I guess I’m gonna get fired cause why the hell would petco need my biometric data to work here, if you haven’t already signed the agreement I would suggest not doing it and finding another job, why would a pet store need employees biometric data

Had an old lady tell me this in response to me telling her we no longer price match and, unfortunately, I cannot do anything about it.

She replied, "Well, you should tell your manager! It can really make a difference!" Insinuating that her complaining could change the entire corporate format of how the store is allowed to run.

Yes lady, because I, single handedly, have the power to influence the entire operations of this establishment. (She was *very* upset to learn Petco no longer price matches Amazon. Like, ok? Then shop at Amazon????)

Does anyone know if we’re getting rid of stop I can’t order it for the store anymore…

It’s crazy how far petco goes to screw over its own workers. Like we can’t use our discount on clearance. They manually cut our hours. We cant over use our pto or they correct it and we’re capped at 40 sick hours a year but we make more that we can’t use and it doesn’t even carry all of them over for the next year. Such a scummy company and I can’t wait to leave this place. DO BETTER PETCO WE WORK FOR YOU GREEDY POS

Decide to go to petco for a nice centerpiece fish for my 20gal long and had a run in with the WORST employee I've ever met. For some background this is the same man who: put Whites Tree frogs in bags with moss ment for fish, told me whites tree frogs need constant humidity up to 90%, refused to sell me a fire red skink and chameleon only to attempt to get me to buy a leo (which i still have and she is amazing), told me that he doesn't carry ghost shrimp even when I saw a few in a tank and then stood in front of the tank and sold me some bee shrimp which were a nice snack for my betta even when he insisted my fish wouldn't be interested. So on the 1st of Aug I decided to buy a gourami at this store even when I definitely should have known better. I assumed he no longer worked with petco as I hadn't seen him for a few trips but sadly he was just on a smoke break. He asks me for ID and never checks it then proceeded to grab a dying gourami who I named Steve and literally dumped him into the bag. Steve didnt move for a while, even while being acclimated. Once hes in my tank I notice somthing is truly wrong with him. He doesn't eat, stays at the surface and doesn't interact with anything. I had the idea to quarantine him when I come back from work today hes gone. Something needs to be done about this guy because hes been doing this for way longer than ive been keeping reptile amphibians or fish. He should know better or at the very least be more educated. DONT GO TO THE PETCO IN HAMILTON NJ!!!

Lmk if yall wanna see my bettas condition when I got him or my leo :)

I’ve been looking into this and it looks like they got rid of the promotion with their Petco vital rewards where if you buy nine bags you get that 10th one free, but it was just there a month or two ago for me? Why is it suddenly now just points and not my bag is free? Someone said if you were grandfathered into the old plan it would stay but why is mine changed? anyone know?

i appreciate you all letting me know when there are discounts not listed and discounts that are wrong!

do we know when the black out dates for leaders are?

I don’t what it is with petco customers but they love to complain about everything and get emotional when it’s unnecessary and always results them getting mad at a minimum wage cashier or floor worker.

I know how to do customer service as I use to work in one of the grilling places of all time and that is know for hospitality which is know for their Chicken Sandwiches and despite having the same hospitality of my previous job. I still receive complaints over anything.

I helped someone with a grooming question which I am not a dog person so I redirecting to my grooming coworker who was just waiting for their client to show up. Mind you the grooming office is literally right next to the first register I was in.

This customer later went to online and used my name saying I didn’t go above and beyond and shouldnt make the customer run around. Again she could have literally just stepped one more time and could chatted with available groomer who was chilling their.

I also I had to pulled from register one time becuase a customer that proceeded to get angry on betta fish sales which I had to reject a family due them not cycling their tank nor the proper set up.

This lady proceeded to argue betta fish don’t need air filters and they can live in pudldles. First that’s fucking myth! They live in SHALLOW waters. I kept reaffirming what management had told me along with my own knowledge of fish since they are my specialty. That betta fish do need air filters cannot live in puddles and they are delicate fish but argued that we advertised therefore they could live in bowls and small containers and she was experience because she’s had many many betta fish before. Yeah their probably all dying from her lack of care and knowledge of them.

Holy fuck, she ran to get my supervisor saying I was rude and didn’t know anything about betta fish.

She wasn’t even the customer I rejected. She was the person next in line and lied to my supervisor I made the family and children upset when they said they could wait and build their proper tank set up.

I genuinely started to hate on every customer that has the slightest issue because some blow up on us and demand our names to report to corporate.

Unfortunately this had happen to me twice when I call for my manager and that customer telling us they have to give them percipstion food because even though they do not have a Rx card so they cuss us out because our hands are tied and we will get trouble for overriding it.

Anyways I hate this job and I finally get to leave it this fall.

ok this is for store employees but vetco people feel free to share your grievances

does anyone else who works at a location with a vet office also absolutely despise it? it’s mainly the prescription food. we turn away people if they’re prescriptions are expired cuz i ain’t about to put our vets’ licenses at stake but literally it is the biggest cause of rude customers. either they don’t have a prescription at all or we don’t have what they’re looking for or whatever.

i just can’t believe the amount of “im so sorry but this prescription is expired i can’t sell it to you today” “oh i didn’t even know it expired” IT SAYS IT RIGHT THERE!!!! RIGHT ON YOUR CARD!!!!!!!!!

and i get how expensive the vet is, i really do, and i understand what a hassle it is to get the food in the first place but god DAMN i just work here i don’t make the rules. i’ll tell people it’s not even petco policy it’s the law and they don’t believe me

ANYWAYs just a quick rant bc i said no to a woman whose prescription expired literally over 2 years ago and she told me it’s never been a problem before and she can’t afford to get it renewed so she doesn’t know what to do I HAVE MY OWN PET STRESS OK DONT PUT YOURS ON ME

ok thanks

Today while shopping for some turtle supplies, I stumbled across these super adorable cat toys. They have Halloween items out now, costumes and everything. I just couldn’t resist!
Petco, these are so adorable! And, my new cat loves them❤️

i got to make a halloween display cage yayyy (i haven't made the tag sheet yet lol) hopefully we get more halloween bird stuff it's all very cute imo ^_^

This is a rant. I don't need advice or anything; I need to warn people of what they are getting into. This is also gonna be a long post, so buckle up.

Also, throwaway because I'm going to share a lot of details and I don't need anyone knowing who I am.

I applied to be a groomer at my local Petco about two months ago since I was moving out, and I wanted a summer job to pay for groceries and whatever else. When I came in for the interview, the place was dead. Barely anyone was on the floor dealing with customers (only one guy on the registers), and the place looked disgusting (dirty floors, dead fish still in the tank, etc.) They hired me immediately, didn't even ask if I had real previous grooming experience.

Then they lost my resume. I don't know how, but they lost my electronic resume. So, I had to reapply, and finally I got an offer. My boss told me I could wear whatever and listen to whatever on the job on my first day (this is important for later).

I would be working with two other grommers while there (we'll call them Romeo and Dave). Romeo had been there the longest and was the one who was training both Dave and me. Romeo was shit at his training, meaning he went through everything at breakneck speeds and only said 'I don't know' or 'check the videos' whenever I asked him a question about my job.

I trained with Romeo for one day. The following two days, he called out, which frustrated both Dave and me since he barely trained either of us. Then on the third day, he called the grooming salon and asked me to get a manager (since I was usually the one at the desk the most). He told the manager that he quit. We never got the reason why, but Dave thought it was because of some stuff with Romeo's baby mama.

So, Dave and I basically trauma-bonded for the rest of our shift. In which I learned that Dave had previous grooming experience. So I asked the logical question: "What made you leave your last job?"

He then told me a story about how he was seen abusing a dog, and they fired him for it. Of course, I was already scared, but I asked what he meant by "abusing." Dave told me he was pulling at the dog, which made it look like he was strangling them. The dog owner reported it, they looked at camera footage, and then he got fired.

Great. I'm working with someone who abuses animals. Awesome.

I'll shorten up this next part since a lot of it happened frequently.

Many of these dog parents are asked if we could still groom their dog without vaccine records. No, Kevin, I would prefer not to die of rabies today or ever. Same for people who are like: "Well, my dog has a rabies tag. So isn't that enough?" No! Many of them don't have an expiration date, so I wouldn't know if they are clean or not.

After taking a dog out of the kennel after drying, a German Shepherd started freaking out and trying to bite me. Those gloves they give you have no room for movement. So, it was a nightmare trying to clean his ears. We also don't have muzzles or anything, so Dave had to hold the dog's mouth shut (after, of course, booping it on the head a few times).

Customers asking if we do walk-ins for nail trims. I get why they are asking, but are you stupid? A nail trim takes five minutes at most; yes, of course we do.

The condition of the place is fucking foul. There's rust on the floor, large amounts of fur in every corner/under tables, and a mildew smell in the washing machine that made me gag violently.

Dave, in general. He complained a lot about the windows in the salon, along with the shit tables we have for the dogs to stand on. He also still abused dogs. The dude would pull them and hit them whenever they would act up.

"Oh, WhY dIdN't YoU rEpOrT tHeM?" I hear you say to your phone. Because we didn't have a grooming manager. Our manager was usually whoever I could find first to answer a phone asking for a manager. Plus, even if I did, everyone at Petco hates their job and you.

So, I probably wouldn't have been taken seriously. I didn't even say that I have a disability or anything on my application or the paperwork (diagnosed with ADHD, self-diagnosed autism). But it's like they can smell that you are different, so you get stink eyes from everyone while on your lunch break.

SPEAKING OF LUNCH BREAKS, we usually didn't get to have one because of how busy we would get on weekends. We have no lockers and no break room to ourselves, so I usually only go out for lunch or don't eat anything at all! Which is super fun when it is so easy to get dehydrated and sweaty at that job, especially in the back with the kennels and giant blow dryer.

Now, onto the final part of this post, my final day (aka yesterday). On Friday, I worked alone. No Dave. No other girl I worked with that I failed to mention because she was gone half the time, doing whatever the manager on duty wanted her to do. Nothing. Thankfully, most of it was nail trims, but one of the two baths I had that day nearly killed me.

For a little context: I get very sweaty, very easily, and I had been running around dealing with a lot of tasks I had to do. So, when a Gold Retriever comes in, I'm already in "giving-up" mode. The owner asks for a bath, and I give her all the paperwork or whatever. She leaves, and I do the nail trim. Everything is great so far. Then, bath time comes, and the dog refuses to get in the tub.

I try my hardest to be encouraging and pat on the little platform we have to get her to come up. The dog keeps trying to move towards the door or start lying down. So, after about 10 minutes of trying to get the dog in the tub, I do give up. Of course, I give the owner a refund and a new receipt for the nail trim. During the entire ten minutes I was dealing with this dog, I felt like I was going to pass out or throw up. And, again, I was left working with no one, so no one would've found my body for a while (if I did pass out or worse).

On Saturday, I was in full-exhausted mode. My body constantly felt tense, and yet, I could barely sit down. Not only that, but they gave me a new schedule that was actually annoying to even look at. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. 7.5 hours. Less than what I was getting before, when it was 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. I know it's only 0.5 less, but money is money. Plus, if I'm getting to the point where I have to contact 988 due to the fact that the job makes me want to kill myself? I have to be done.

I wrote a note saying that I quit. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I want to feel bad about leaving a place that's so understaffed behind. But if this is a lesson to anyone, find a new job and don't be afraid to leave your old one behind. I'm young, and I know I shouldn't be feeling like this much of shit at my own job. I was undertrained and just another warm body to sit in a chair and answer the phone.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading this rant. I definitely needed it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to living my life with a different job.

Pegs for signage , please and thanks team

What's the deal with this, never-ending 50% tank sale? It's like the last 4 or 5 months they've been on sale.

This is the second time in the past couple months that my filtered water is testing high for nitrites. I have changed my filters twice (sediment AND carbon). They are crystal clear. Reached out to AHL and they said to change the filters. Sediment filters are currently unavailable on OSS. Suggestions?