Don't work for PetSmart

For someone who has no traing you sure do talk like you know alot! The snakes that are sent to Petsmart and raised on dead food. So thats all they eat. The birds do not come from a "bird mill" They come from a breeder just like the rest of the animals. They are all healthy. You might come across a couple that come down with something. Most of the problems that people bring their animals back with is do to their own stupidity. People want to buy animals they have no business getting because they don't know how to care for them. And as far as your befenits go, you probably weren't any good at your job! I've been with Petsmart for only 4 months and have been promoted twice. So get a job you can handle and leave Petsmart alone!

I agree with you 100%. I have been to many petstores and PetSmart used to be a fav, until I worked there found out the Truth. You people who think she is "imature" must be lucky enough to work at a nice PetSmart. The Petsmart I attend has rude employees, thats why I quite, I would go and try and help out our sick animals and get yelled at for it, they would say "Your new, so you dont know how this works. If its sick, end its misery". My former fellow employees would take a rat , with a minor cold, and flush it down the toilet saying it was not useable for sale. Or they would watch as one gerbil torn another apart and killed it. So the posted in this scene is not "immature" , You all are just lucky enough to work at a decent place. SO please, back off unless you work with her and know teh conditions. I could say more about the establishment but Why would I overload your minds with the horrible truth of some petsmarts. But I will leave with one more fact, ALL the animals that came in for sale at my former PetSmart came from MILLS! Some of the animals were dead when they arrived, and the beta came in is small 3 inch plastic bags with baerly any water, and that water was Green.So there is somethig for you all to think about instead of jumping on peoples backs. So have a wonderful day an remember, Its not about the store, or your employees, Its about the animals who need your help to find a permenent loving home for the rest of their days!.

So many of the views shared left me feeling so disappointed in the human race. Not that this is a new feeling! I am sure that there are as many wonderful stores as there are deplorable stores. For those of you contemplating working at one of the stores I think you should question yourself on how you would react to the mentioned experiences. It only takes one person to make a difference. I would sincerely hope that if an employee is witness to bad management or mistreated animals that he or she could find a way to report this behavior without causing negative reactions. Remember that the bottom line is the animal and the moral responsibility to it. Bless those of you who care and do an amazing job!

[QUOTE I would sincerely hope that if an employee is witness to bad management or mistreated animals that he or she could find a way to report this behavior without causing negative reactions. Remember that the bottom line is the animal and the moral responsibility to it. Bless those of you who care and do an amazing job!

That's just it. I so much wanted to talk to my district manager about things, but were afraid too because of the negative reactions in my store. I was getting so frustrated about what was doing on and didn't say anything, but they felt that, and then they fired me over a 30% coupon I let someone use. Was with the company almost 11 years. I have been so disappointed in PetSmart. I don't like where they are headed. It's all about money, not the customers. They treat you like crap. I understand about the speciality department also. I am stress free and alot happier, and will not buy anything from them. When they fired me, my students stop shopping there also.

It is such a shame that you had the experience that you did. It doesn't say much for people in general, does it?

i work as a groomer in a grooming salon. i love my customers and store but the corporate people are uncaring and unconcerned with the employees and the salon. they keep wanting us to groom more dogs but not have any overtime. they wonder if we overreact when we turn away very aggressive dogs we cant even touch, but we get in trouble if we get bit. and the bathing area has mold on the walls: and when brought up to the corporate people they say just to put disenfectant on it, they wont even call anyone to clean it up, they want us to do it.

kitty in Ontario, California said: i work as a groomer in a grooming salon. i love my customers and store but the corporate people are uncaring and unconcerned with the employees and the salon. they keep wanting us to groom more dogs but not have any overtime. they wonder if we overreact when we turn away very aggressive dogs we cant even touch, but we get in trouble if we get bit. and the bathing area has mold on the walls: and when brought up to the corporate people they say just to put disenfectant on it, they wont even call anyone to clean it up, they want us to do it.

There is that number to call if you want to call someone about what is going on. You don't have to leave your name, but they will contact your store, and figure out who was the one who called. The mold is a health hazzard. You shouldn't have to work in that envioroment that is going to harm your health.

dreamer27 in Lewisville, Texas said: There is that number to call if you want to call someone about what is going on. You don't have to leave your name, but they will contact your store, and figure out who was the one who called. The mold is a health hazzard. You shouldn't have to work in that envioroment that is going to harm your health.

Yes, at PetSmart, we call this the Careline!

juflier10 in Maryland said: Yes, at PetSmart, we call this the Careline!

Worked for PetSmart for almost 11 years, forgot what the name of it was.

The store in Waynesboro,Va.is new and the young people try, but it is evident that they look disappointed with their jobs. They are not trained well, I asked for mealworms and the poor kid looked in the freezer, I told him they were refrigarated twice and he didn't even know were the refrigarator was, I suggested, the back room. gone for 4 min. he returned and winced when I opened the pack and ran my finger through them to ck size and health. I asked the girl at the register where the flea products were and she said she didn't know. They need to find the women who owned the pet store, FIN FAIR PET Supply as she knew her stuff and could improve their bottom line. I,m sure they want some manager with a collage degree who knows nothing, me I miss Flo, she was worth her salt in gold. She also kept the cleanest,most well run business that I loved to shop in.

Ive been working at a petsmart for over a year now and i am extremely disappointed. i started out as a cashier, within one month they wanted to promote me to lead. i declined explaining that i did not think i was ready for the job. within 2 more months they asked me to cross train for specialty, this i accepted because i wanted to work closer to animals and thought it would be more fun. little did i know i would be batted around and argued over between managers at where i was at what time. Eventually i became a pet care associate only, but was still expected to come in if cashiers needed help. now they are expecting every employee in the store to sell a pet training class a week, or we get written up. we dont get many dogs over in specialty, so they're excuse is 80% of people to have fish have a dog. might be true, but you try and sell a class to someone who doesnt have their dog there and doesnt think its necessary. we are constantly given higher and higher goals/ expectations, and no time compensation for it. It makes for a very stressful work atmosphere. my store manager is also extremely unprofessional and gets upset if anyone mentions a suggestion that contradicts hers. I'm so stressed out from work i hate going there at all. I dont think anyone should have to work in an atmosphere like this...

sam in Eugene, Oregon said: Ive been working at a petsmart for over a year now and i am extremely disappointed. i started out as a cashier, within one month they wanted to promote me to lead. i declined explaining that i did not think i was ready for the job. within 2 more months they asked me to cross train for specialty, this i accepted because i wanted to work closer to animals and thought it would be more fun. little did i know i would be batted around and argued over between managers at where i was at what time. Eventually i became a pet care associate only, but was still expected to come in if cashiers needed help. now they are expecting every employee in the store to sell a pet training class a week, or we get written up. we dont get many dogs over in specialty, so they're excuse is 80% of people to have fish have a dog. might be true, but you try and sell a class to someone who doesnt have their dog there and doesnt think its necessary. we are constantly given higher and higher goals/ expectations, and no time compensation for it. It makes for a very stressful work atmosphere. my store manager is also extremely unprofessional and gets upset if anyone mentions a suggestion that contradicts hers. I'm so stressed out from work i hate going there at all. I dont think anyone should have to work in an atmosphere like this...

well, if you are getting written up for not selling classes, i would ABSOLUTELY take this to you store manager or district manager/district services manager. call the CareSmart Hotline as well if you need to...and if it's as bad as you say...put ur 2 weeks in, no one is holding you to the job.

I worked for the store for 10+ years and complaining will not help. The goal is how much money the company brings in. I was being threatened on being written up all the time, and that is no way to treat the employee. What ever happened to the positive reinforcement. Sometimes I was training 6-7 days a week, because they can't keep an instructor in the store, and do they care, NO. There were issues that I wanted to take up with the district manager, but I knew that my life would have been total hell for me. I was very unhappy, stressed, they knew how to ruin your self esteem. I am so happy that I am not there anymore. My confidence is back again and happy once more.

just so you know you don't just "get" benefits. you have to sign up for them. you can call the benefits people yourself and sign up. i've never done benefits at any of my jobs through the store management. that is entirely up to you and some people decline because they don't want the money taken out of their check.

I guess I'm just a better manager than all of the managers that you have worked then. I have worked in HR and management at a few different companies. At each company the owners gave me packets of benefit information to discuss with my staff members once they became eligible for benefits. In my current position I also schedule yearly meetings for insurance reps to discuss the benefits w/the staff. If PetSmart has a contact number or website that I was supposed to go through to get benefits, then my former manager should have told me about it or at the very least given me a memo of some sort w/the contact info.

"For someone who has no traing you sure do talk like you know alot!"

-My experience in animal care outside of PetSmart allowed me to be hired as a Specialty Manager (the manager over the animal dept.) at PetSmart. They chose to hire me because of my extensive experience in reptile and bird care. I did not need training in animal care or customer service. I did need training in PetSmart policies and procedures, which I never received. I was handed a very small booklet on my 1st day and that was the full extent of my training. I was told by a friend who was a Specialty Manager at a different PetSmart that he loved PetSmart because they had clear policies and procedures. He mentioned a large reference guide that he was given upon hire. Training might be better at other locations, but at the location that I worked in it was practically non-existent. My sister worked as a regular employee in the specialty dept. at a store in a diff. state and they were trying to get Chameleons to drink from regular water bowls. If you know anything at all about Chameleons, you know that they only drink from moving water sources. The common way to water a Chameleon is to mist the enclosure. It saddens me to think what kind of things the birds, reptiles, and small animals go through.

"The snakes that are sent to Petsmart and raised on dead food. So thats all they eat."

-That's IF they eat. Ball Pythons are notorious for refusing food when young. If they don't have perfect living conditions, they very well might refuse food. Kings & Milks are VERY picky eaters when young. They RARELY would eat a dead pinky. I'm sure Corns have no problem eating dead mice, but the other snakes are more finicky.

"The birds do not come from a "bird mill" They come from a breeder just like the rest of the animals. They are all healthy. You might come across a couple that come down with something."

-I agree that most of the birds are physically healthy, however they are not mentally healthy. Birds are extremely intelligent animals. Some breeds (African Greys & Amazons) tend to often bond with one individual over time. Since PetSmart birds are rarely touched or held by the public they often bond with an employee and are afraid or aggressive to others. I will admit that there are some disadvantages of the public having access to the birds to touch them, but there are advantages as well. If a bird does not sell at a PetSmart store, the bird is transferred to another store in hopes of selling him/her at a different location. This is good because it allows the bird a better chance of finding a home. It's bad because instead of even considering lowering the birds price to increase his/her chances of finding a home, PetSmart would rather rip the bird away from the one or two employees that the bird has become bonded too. I've never seen another store sell birds as slowly as PetSmart.

I feel sympathy for the birds. The birds come from Kaytee Preferred Birds. Kaytee is a mass producer of birds located in Nevada & Florida. Although Kaytee may technically 'hand-feed', it is done in an assembly line manner w/tubes being forced down the birds throat. It is not the same 'hand-feeding' routine that a loving breeder who doesn't mass produce would provide. This leads to unsocialized birds. I've also walked into a few PetSmart stores to be horrified to see a baby bird in the large bird enclosure perched several feet in the air. Baby birds are clumsy and shouldn't be allowed to perch high off the ground until they have better balance as they grow a little older.

"They come from a breeder just like the rest of the animals. They are all healthy. You might come across a couple that come down with something."

-The small animals do come from a breeder. It's a mass production breeder, otherwise known as a mill. I'm not sure if all PetSmart stores purchase from the same facility or not, but stores in many parts of Texas purchase from Rainbow World Exotics located in Hamilton, TX. In all honesty I never saw small animals come into my store with any illness other than diarrhea, which could be related to just the stress of travel to the store. Healthy or not though, they did come from a mill. PETA has launched complaints against PetSmart & Petco who often purchase their animals from the same companies. I do not believe all that PETA says. I am against PETA due to their lack of concern over human lives and due to their misleading representation of themselves and other companies/charities/causes. PetSmart has responded to some of PETA's 'investigations' on the company website.

"Most of the problems that people bring their animals back with is do to their own stupidity. People want to buy animals they have no business getting because they don't know how to care for them."

-I whole heartedly agree. People are often irresponsible and stupid. They purchase animals without knowing how to care for them. They buy on impulse. They want the pet, but don't want to spend the money needed to properly take care of the animal. The animals end up sick and either returned to the store (either at the register or dumped on the door step overnight). They sometimes end up turning the animals loose outside to be 'free'. Some might even kill the pets.

One step to help prevent this would be to better educate staff members so that they can better educate the public who desire to purchase a pet. A person who has never owned a bird should not start out with a Macaw. A person who is terrified of bugs should not own most lizards (there are a few exceptions). Some of the staff members at PetSmart stores are very knowledgeable, others are clueless.

"And as far as your befenits go, you probably weren't any good at your job! I've been with Petsmart for only 4 months and have been promoted twice."

-Benefits are not based upon work quality, they are based upon length of service & hourly time put in. Even if they were based upon quality, my quality of work is very good. Congrats on your promotion. I hope that you will receive training in HR should you ever be in a position of management of other staff, since your obviously lacking the knowledge of how a business (any business, PetSmart or others) is ran.

"So get a job you can handle and leave Petsmart alone!"

-I did get another job which I can handle much better than I could handle working for a company that supports the mistreatment of animals (such as PetSmart). I still go into PetSmart to volunteer at their cat adoption center. The cat and dog adoptions are PetSmart's only redeeming quality. Too bad they don't care to support bird rescue as well instead of contributing to the problems.

"THIS PERSON SOUNDS YOUNG AND IMMATURE. pETsMART IS A PET STORE OF COURSE THE ANIMALS WILL POOP AND PEE ON THE FLOOR"

-I must be immature if a person who types in all CAPS (except when typing the word 'I') calls me immature. I'm sorry that you've never been to a pet store where there are clean floors. They do exist in some places. Yes, animals will have accidents, but I should not have to tell my child to dodge stepping on dog fecal matter almost every time we walk into a PetSmart. There are some pet stores dirtier than PetSmart, but there are also some that are actually truly clean.

"I worked for the store for 10+ years and complaining will not help. The goal is how much money the company brings in."

"i love my customers and store but the corporate people are uncaring and unconcerned with the employees and the salon. they wonder if we overreact when we turn away very aggressive dogs we cant even touch, but we get in trouble if we get bit."

"It's all about money, not the customers. They treat you like crap."

"They are not trained well, I asked for mealworms and the poor kid looked in the freezer, I told him they were refrigarated twice and he didn't even know were the refrigarator was."

So lets sum this up.....PetSmart cares about:

*Money
*Money
........AND......More MONEY!

They don't care if their employees are injured, untrained, or unhappy as long as they can sell, sell, sell.

Hey,
i live in Victoria B.C. Canada and we have a petsmart here, and i feel lucky to have such a great one. Many of the people who work there own many animals and really know their stuff about them, and they do not give you false information. Im not sure where the animals are supplied from in the Canadian Petsmarts, but they seem pretty healthy. They do allow the bigger birds out on the workers shoulders and do let them socialize with people when they are out (they could fly away though but i have never seen a loose bird there.) The store is always super clean, and if you look at the rodents, birds and reptiles they and kept properly and enclosures are always clean. Even fish are housed appropriately (except for the bettas which is pretty sad.) The employees never seem like they think their job is horrible either and always know where everything is. Im not saying im ok with the ways other petsmarts deal with their animals and employees though, because i really think most of the other Petsmarts could do WAY better. In Victoria our main concern is Petcetera, now THAT place is bad.

I would appreciate any information (pros and cons-please be reasonable) on the following;

Being trained to be a dog trainer at Petsmart

Being trained to be a dog groomer at Petmsart

Any information on working as a Vet Assist at Banfield in a Petsmart

jane doe/dreamer27 did you work for the 1104 las colinas store? i've been there for about a month now and i hate it. i already have so many horror stories about dealing with the management.

No, I wasn't at 1104. In the beginning years, it was stress free, I loved getting up and going to the store.

I was a groomer trainie with Petsmart. I was cursed at, had lude comments made to me by managment. When I finally had enough and complained I was told to "return to work and let that boy do his job". I really loved being a groomer and believed in the company and its policys. I don't think I could have been a more loyal or hard working employee. I am a 45 year old woman and the man that used such language was 21. I tied all those numbers they did me no good. I did find that the EEOC has actually rulled against Petsmart for the same thing in other states. Its Federal law and they break it all the time. Guess I should not feel singled out.

PetSmart is a horrible place to work. The one I was at, the managers did not care for sick animals, they let them die in their cages. Many rodents had viruses like ringworm and still made employees handle them where they ended up getting ringworm from them. The managers are lazy buttholes who don't care about customer service or animals, and only care about maintaining their paychecks.

The Pets Hotel is even worse...they steal money from customers, and they are liars. Animals get mistreated and abused in the care of employees and get sent home with them saying the animal was happy and had a great time and got a lot of attention, when in reality...they get really neglected. I know this, because I worked there and worked my butt off to try and tend to 120+ dogs every day, with little to no help.

PetSmart thrives off lazy employees. The lazy idiots who do nothing, get promoted. The people who bust their butts, are unappreciated, and looked down at, and are basically made the lazy peoples slaves...cause SOMEONE has to do the job.

A girl I worked with was made a supervisor a day after she came into work overnight...drunk. A dog got out of the store somehow and they had to file a report and call police and search for the animal. The next day, she was made a supervisor. Why? Cause she was friends with the store manager and kissed her butt.

PetSmart will see its end. I am in the process of going as far as having the store shut down. I've already contacted the SPCA, and PETA. The humane society and animal shelter are next. As well as the better business bureau...for stealing and lying to customers for their money.

A company that thrives off lazy idiots should be ashamed of themselves. I don't care if they are a fortune 500 company...they won't be there for long if I can have my way.

maybe that's the case for your store, but in my store, people work their asses off and take care of animals and take them to Banfield when they need to go...our managers are hardworking and most of the associates are themselves. you have no experience talking about PetSmart as a whole, but only the store you worked at, so don't try and talk crap about the entire company because of a bad experience where you worked.

oh yeah, and i forgot to mention, you can't do anything about that store, tell everyone you would like...you don't think PetSmart gets this kind of crap from disgruntled employees sometimes and has experts at SSG that make sure nothing happens at your store in terms of shutting it down...

juflier10 in Maryland said: oh yeah, and i forgot to mention, you can't do anything about that store, tell everyone you would like...you don't think PetSmart gets this kind of crap from disgruntled employees sometimes and has experts at SSG that make sure nothing happens at your store in terms of shutting it down...

man you really have a stick up there don't you? Fine. YOUR store worked their asses off. Let's take a minute to contemplate this sentence. First word: YOUR. Meaning the store YOU worked at was nice. Aaaah yes. YOUR store. Obviously mine was not a nice place at all. So while you are accusing me of talking crap about an entire company when i only know 1 store, you're praising said company when you only know 1 store. See any type of connection? For your sake I hope so. The fact is the store I worked at sucked. The mistreatment of the animals was just downright disgusting and the fact that the managers can look at it and not be bothered is sick. Going higher up doesn't help either. Petcare manager doesn't care? Operations manager doesn't care? Store manager doesn't care? District manager won't call back no matter how many time you leave a message explaining what's going on? So now what? Caresmart line? Well that's the only option. Maybe petsmart will never get shut down but these horrible managers will pay for the way they've been running this store. Watching an entire tank of animals suffer and die over the course of a couple weeks is something i won't forget. I also won't forget the hundreds of times i tried talking to the store manager about this and she said "it's not my problem". I don't care what YOUR store was like. THAT was my experience and THAT is one of the many reasons I have a problem with petsmart. So run on back to your cozy happy land of healthy pets and smiling associates and keep your mouth shut.

I totally understand. Like in my store with the want to be corporate managers. I kept my mouth shut, but they knew that I was getting frustrated and they were afraid that I would go to the district manager. Well, I let someone use my 30% off coupon, and they fired me. Never in trouble in the 10+ years with them. Worked 6-7 days a week. Never late, never written up for anything. I kept them from getting refunds when the other trainers quit. I paid back the $128 they wanted and they fired me. I do not recommend the Petshotel because of the things that I see there happening. I am in the public, so not a good thing for Petsmart.

It's retail. All retail is the same. Walmart, Home Depot, CVS drugs, Barnes and Noble, etc, etc, etc.

Long hours, angry customers, low pay. Period end of sentence.

ive worked there for three + years. ive never seen animal abuse there but that doesnt mean it hasnt happened at other stores. and yes all they care about is money!! i am a dog groomer now and have been for a year, all they care about is if we made plan, how much we got that guy to pay and so on. they push you and push you, making you walk the floor and bug customer about grooming, call their houses all work hours and send cards in the mail. and if you dont make so much you get introuble, honestly its more of a headache than anything, and unless lets say your a store manager or a really fast super groomer you arent going to make any money there. and yea weekends always, and nights too. not worth it. and they dont care about customers or their pets they care about money. and if you dont make them it then you get yelled at.

I think it's very different in the States, here in Canada, the people who work there are almost all friendly and most thankfully know what they're talking about. I live by one of the bigger stores, and they only have a few fish, some mice and a few birds. There is also a section of the store that is devoted to cats and dogs, but they don't sell any rabbits, cats or dogs. The only rabbit cats and dogs they have are in the adoption center and they are from rescue shelters. Petsmart Canada is a great company, it's a shame that it's not that way elsewhere.

Jen2 in Toronto, Ontario said: I think it's very different in the States, here in Canada, the people who work there are almost all friendly and most thankfully know what they're talking about. I live by one of the bigger stores, and they only have a few fish, some mice and a few birds. There is also a section of the store that is devoted to cats and dogs, but they don't sell any rabbits, cats or dogs. The only rabbit cats and dogs they have are in the adoption center and they are from rescue shelters. Petsmart Canada is a great company, it's a shame that it's not that way elsewhere.

My store is the same way...everyone is pretty cool, and i'm in MD...it all depends on what store exactly.

deansuraci in Cornwall, New York said: It's retail. All retail is the same. Walmart, Home Depot, CVS drugs, Barnes and Noble, etc, etc, etc.

Long hours, angry customers, low pay. Period end of sentence.

I agree, the exception being we get to interact with great pets! Most of the people I work with are high school age and their biggest problem is that they are immature, don't anything seriously and have to be "hand-fed" on how to do everything. They can't make decisions on their own, don't have a clue how to treat customers because they haven't entered the world of being a consumer, etc. Why management keeps hiring these drones is beyond me. Oh, I know why...because the little puppets will do exactly what they are told and won't question the logic behind some of those decisions. As a whole, working for Petsmart is fun. My biggest complaint is why can't pet parents clean up their dogs poop and pee? I especially like when they act stupid "oh did my dog do that?"

dreamer27 in somewhere said: I totally understand. Like in my store with the want to be corporate managers. I kept my mouth shut, but they knew that I was getting frustrated and they were afraid that I would go to the district manager. Well, I let someone use my 30% off coupon, and they fired me. Never in trouble in the 10+ years with them. Worked 6-7 days a week. Never late, never written up for anything. I kept them from getting refunds when the other trainers quit. I paid back the $128 they wanted and they fired me. I do not recommend the Petshotel because of the things that I see there happening. I am in the public, so not a good thing for Petsmart.

Sounds like you're complaining because you didn't follow P&P. You got a 15% coupon for friends and you gave them your 30% anyway? All you had to do was get a shopping list from your friend and go to the store yourself to use the 30% coupon. You're not being fair to dump on Petsmart because you didn't follow their policy. Whether you repaid them or not, were a good employee for years, etc. you basically stole from the store and should be glad they didn't file criminal charges for theft by deception. And no I'm not a corporate rah-rah. There are certain things that are definate no-nos in the policy and you crossed the line.

Danntheman in New Jersey said: Sounds like you're complaining because you didn't follow P&P. You got a 15% coupon for friends and you gave them your 30% anyway? All you had to do was get a shopping list from your friend and go to the store yourself to use the 30% coupon. You're not being fair to dump on Petsmart because you didn't follow their policy. Whether you repaid them or not, were a good employee for years, etc. you basically stole from the store and should be glad they didn't file criminal charges for theft by deception. And no I'm not a corporate rah-rah. There are certain things that are definate no-nos in the policy and you crossed the line.

good point, i would have to agree, you did not follow company P&P, and that is terms for termination

Question for anyone who may know...
For at least the past few months I have been under major stress because of a 15 yr old son ditching school, failing classes, doing drugs, fighting, etc. I've been called at work by teachers, police, you name it. I've had him in counseling & rehab. Now, my supervisors have known all that is going on and how stressed out I've been with all this. Last week I blew up at my boss over another employee and was totally out of line. I admit this. However, that same day my son walked out of his therapy session, I had been crying all day, and I just lost it. I got put on "suspension" and I asked about taking a short term leave for mental stress. They were suppose to be getting me paperwork, and now this week I got fired. Is there a phone number or who or where would I appeal this? I admit I was in the wrong, but also the reason behind my blow up is the reason I needed a leave of absence not to be fired. Any advise?

Robyn PHarr in Tustin, California said: Question for anyone who may know...
For at least the past few months I have been under major stress because of a 15 yr old son ditching school, failing classes, doing drugs, fighting, etc. I've been called at work by teachers, police, you name it. I've had him in counseling & rehab. Now, my supervisors have known all that is going on and how stressed out I've been with all this. Last week I blew up at my boss over another employee and was totally out of line. I admit this. However, that same day my son walked out of his therapy session, I had been crying all day, and I just lost it. I got put on "suspension" and I asked about taking a short term leave for mental stress. They were suppose to be getting me paperwork, and now this week I got fired. Is there a phone number or who or where would I appeal this? I admit I was in the wrong, but also the reason behind my blow up is the reason I needed a leave of absence not to be fired. Any advise?

If this isn't enough proof to not work at PetSmart, then I don't know what is. PetSmart has made her and her son mental. DON'T WORK FOR PETSMART!

Thanks for the chuckle

I am sorry that you were fired from PetSmart. So was I, but you will have to read up on it when you have time. I would start by calling HR at corporate and ask them if you were elegible (sp) for the short term absent. At least they could point you in the right direction. Good luck with it all. I was with the company for almost 11 years, and I am so glad I no longer work for them. I don't need to be treated as bad as I was. They looked for any reason to get rid of me. They knew how stressed out I was, and afraid that I would go to district manager. But I never did, and I wish I had long ago, but then again, they could have made my life a living hell. Everyone has quit my old store. There is no one left. I am a much happier person, no stress. Let this give you an opportunity to work with your son, work on you not being stressed out. Hope things get better with your son. You are doing what you can for him, and hopefully it will sink into his head that he is headed down the wrong path. You should put him onto one of the talk shows for help!

Danntheman in New Jersey said: Sounds like you're complaining because you didn't follow P&P. You got a 15% coupon for friends and you gave them your 30% anyway? All you had to do was get a shopping list from your friend and go to the store yourself to use the 30% coupon. You're not being fair to dump on Petsmart because you didn't follow their policy. Whether you repaid them or not, were a good employee for years, etc. you basically stole from the store and should be glad they didn't file criminal charges for theft by deception. And no I'm not a corporate rah-rah. There are certain things that are definate no-nos in the policy and you crossed the line.

Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have let her use the coupon with me. The thing is: they have allowed it in the past quite afew times. Some of the managers have given discounts to employees who no longer work for PetSmart. The store manager was standing there in the next register and another one came and turned the key. They wanted me OUT. Did I tell anyone that, NO. I wish I had tho. They were afraid I would go to the district manager over the treatment we were receiving in the store. The other managers in the district knows how these 2 managers operate with their store, and they are on my side! One of them got transfered and got bounced to one store to another because they couldn't get along with her, and it forced her to quit. One down, one to go!

PS, I paid back the $128 like they threatened me to do. Maybe I should turn in managers for not following P&P too. Hmmm, like putting in bogus returns, so it doesn't show up as a training refund in their store. That happens alot.

Thanks, I already feel less stressed just being gone from there for a week. My only complaint w/ my store was not being scheduled enough help. I worked in the Hotel, and when we were short of help the animals are the ones that pay for it by having pooh in their rooms that we can't get to, or no water in their bowls. Things that we know need to be done, but not enough hands on deck. Asking for more help did no good, and so I would skip my breaks and lunches just to make sure the work got done. I bent over backwards for that company and then when I needed help, I just get fired. Oh, well, there's worse things in life than being fired, and I know I can deal. I definately can use the extra time right now with my son, like you said.

Wow, dreamer, I'm glad I only wasted one year -11?! That's rough.

Wow, I didn't mean to start an argument. Why all the anger? I thought this was a forum to release frustration caused by the job, not attack each other. (and I thought I was wound tight)
Chill, people.

I guess that is what happens when you all are so stressed out, hard to tell who is kidding or not. :)

Petsmart wastes a lot of money on drug testing because there are more people that do drugs at Petsmart than anyplace I have ever worked before.

oh really. I know its kind of stupid to having the holiday hours and paying out more money than they will make doing it.