Pros
Paid grooming academy, small grooming salon environment meant working with friends, learning about the animals in Pet Care was fun and interesting. The company culture when I started in 2014 was fun, informative, understanding and friendly.
Kontras
When PetSmart was bought in 2014, the new owners slowly rolled out more and more pressure causing pushes to make more money. Some things meant that there is less management support. Managers are being worked to the bone and are stressed because a manager was eliminated from their store. They take that stress out on others sometimes so of course it's just more tense. The grooming salons are a nightmare. Some of the practices are atrocious. Dogs are regularly put through far too much stress, are hurt, are manhandled and wrestled. They're choked with the choker lead. Then there's the practice of overhiring groomers so the ones in the salon don't make enough money. Then, they tack on 75 little corporate policies so you have to read things to the customer when they check in, check out, you have to try to up sell 6 different things, you have to take 15 quizzes a week to learn about dog foods the store sells, you have to take your lunch at a super specific time, make sure not to get overtime, don't work through lunch but don't take too long at lunch but follow policies but get it done on time. You're also the bather, receptionist and groomer all in one so as soon as you start something you have to put it down to answer phones or grind nails. This is because they won't hire employees to do that kind of thing. It's obnoxious how much you have to be aware of and keep up with and it's incredibly stressful to keep up. Until they adjust policies and bring the work load down, I would definitely not recommend working here. The regular store is fine, but the salon is a disaster.
