Hey guys. I've been working at PetSmart for nearly a decade now, and I've been here through TouchPoint, SMS, and now Prism, I was here when we were still making appointments out of a binder, and before Hydrosurge was even a thing. Needless to say? I've seen some things. This also includes some things I've been seeing about PetSmart's fall as a company, and felt gross without publicly sharing an insider perspective on how PetSmart is actually handling the Coronavirus pandemic.
Firstly, I'm obviously not giving my personal information or real identity because I still work here, and yes, this account was also made for this purpose. I can say I'm a groomer, and have been working in the salon for the entirety of my employment, and I myself groom around 6-7 dogs per day. Second, for anyone curious, I work in California, though I'm not comfortable saying the region (Sorry, I know it's a big state). Second, I know this is tedious but the history of how PetSmart got here might be necessary. If you don't want to read all that and just want to skip to the part where you or your pet may be at risk, skip to the paragraph starting with "Thirdly."
To premise, PetSmart isn't a company full of bad groomers, but it is mismanaged, and this mismanagement has caused both employee and canine distress in the past, emotional and physical. It's known at PetSmart that the turnover rate of employment has gotten ridiculously high. This means that groomers come, and groomers leave FAST. The reasons for this is that PetSmart's training regimen revolves around hiring people as bathers (our entry position to the salon, and where I started), and promote them quickly to groomers. The business sense here is that a haircut is worth more than a bath, and so creating salons full of groomers would seemingly create a salon full of money? Not the case. Instead, these bathers become groomers at a breakneck pace, go to their month-long training, and come back to their stores where most are usually left to fend for themselves. This is also coupled with the fact that these bathers often become groomers for the promise of a raise, full-time work, and commission pay. The problem is as follows: For one, you do not receive a raise for becoming a groomer. Second, you do indeed achieve full time work, but then are pushed to take as many dogs as you can stomach. Last, groomers at PetSmart don't recieve traditional commission pay, and are paid due to the hourly average of our hours worked, number of dogs, and service price (it's a mess), and will often be told "if you want a raise, just take more dogs. All of this is significant because these new groomers either quit when they realize that PetSmart isn't treating them well, or stay to become apathetic. This is not to say that I have not seen new bathers be thrust into the role of groomer who actually perform well, but I can safely say it's rare. This entire method of rapid promotion and overbooking dogs tends to lead to stress, haircuts not being completed, and many, many accidents that result in injury, of either a pet or a groomer. Even in instances where groomers have repeated incidents where they injure dogs, I've seen new groomers take these incidents into the 10+/yr territory until they're let go (keeping in mind we are only allowed around 5 per year). Overall, PetSmart grooming salons have become apathetic, over-worked, under-staffed, under-trained, mismanaged, and solely focused on income by any means necessary. So, finally, what does this all have to do with your animal and your health?
Thirdly, let's get into the most recent hiccup at PetSmart: The Coronavirus. The store I worked at was actually shut down twice during this pandemic, and is opened for the third time. This is because, the first two times, we were in violation of California CDC regulations and opened without notifying the county, and I believe we received a fine for the second offense. My store has tried a number of good-faith measures of preventing the spread of the virus, including only allowing one family at a time into the store, disinfecting the leads we use for dogs, requiring that owners take leashes and collars with them, separating our tables from each other, and only allowing one bath to be performed at once. This all sounds like a good start, but if it was going well, there wouldn't be a novel in front of you.
PetSmart, as I've stated, is a company whose sole focus is revenue, and nothing more. Being that this is the case, groomers are currently still taking a full schedule of dogs and cats every day, and are even being booked additional appointments on top of this. For context, if three groomers all take 6-7 animals per day, you now have 18-21 animals that day that all need baths and haircuts. One bath at a time stops being viable, and instead, corners are cut, and baths are usually taken two at a time in a secret understanding that it's the best way to save time so that we can all leave at the end of the day. Every morning, the salon is dirty, and this includes every kennel, which are supposed to be disinfected and scrubbed every night. This means that, when your dog comes in first thing in the morning, a kennel has to be cleaned rapidly, even though the surrounding ones haven't been, or the floor, or the lead around your dog's neck. No cleaning also means the leads are not disinfected, and are contaminated. To be frank, due to the tired nature of most PetSmart groomers, cleaning often goes undone most nights I myself don't work, even outside of a pandemic. One of the more troubling things is that masks aren't mandatory, meaning that groomers have full contact and breathe, talk, and sometimes sneeze near your dog (saw it happen this week) after coming into contact with 6 others customers that day and 4 other dogs. And, worst of all... PetSmart upper management (above the store leaders) are content with this. We are told to keep working, take more dogs, and are still expected to have time to clean properly and thoroughly. However, with Petsmart's turnover preventing true experience to enter the company any time soon, an air of apathy and resentment in the company, and the need for the upper heads to force many dogs to come in on the same day, you dog can simply not be groomed safely. I would feel positive to say that the threat of spreading the virus through a grooming salon is just as real as spreading it through a standard hair salon.
Overall, I'm not here to disparage the groomer you've been seeing for years, or the good experiences you may have had in the store. By the same notion, I'm also not trying to provoke those of you who complain to customer service seemingly as a hobby. I'm just truly concerned about the safety of the pets, customers, and frankly, myself. It's not hard to see that I'm extremely frustrated with our company, especially with no improvement in sight. Groomers who work for PetSmart are doing so because we too need the income in this weird time, but we aren't safe doing so, and neither are your animals.
Simply put, your dog cannot be done safely unless hours are adjusted to allow for both opening AND closing shifts, and less dogs are being taken in order to commit real time and effort into assuring our salon stays clean for animals coming through. You are your own adult, and getting your hair done or getting your dog groomed is your own decision, and I'm not here to tell you that you're a bad person for doing so. I am absolutely saying it isn't safe, and you should avoid our company during this time.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/grxk24/coronavirus_petsmart_and_you_a_warning_for_pet/
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