Truth about working as a bather at Petsmart

[christiangirl30]

I’ve been working as a bather at Petsmart for about 5-6 months and there’s a lot of uncertainty on my mind, I just need to get it off my chest. First of all, I hate how Petsmart constantly pushes holiday packages and Addons to the customers like we’re working in sales. We also have so many dogs booked each day, I end up doing like 5 in a 4 hour shift or 9-10 in a 8.5 hour shift. I’m not trained to do haircuts but bathing, drying, and doing the paws takes a lot of time, not to mention the constant walk-in nails that bathers have to do. I find myself running around constantly not even taking my 15 minute break like I should be. It’s also a very dirty job as some groomers will touch some dogs poop and not even wash their hands. My salon leader pushes all the salon staff to work and do more dogs, especially since petsmart is profiting off of the bathers since we’re hourly. It’s also an insane rip-off for the customers because if I have two breeds booked in a 3-4 hr window I’ll lightly scrub the back with shampoo, not even use conditioner, and quickly brush the fur out before I call the owners. This is because I just don’t have time, and can’t enjoy what I’m doing since I’m booked with other dogs. I also don’t have any prior experience besides a LOVE for dogs, I’m a uni student, and I have 2 jobs so it’s difficult to allot days to work here more often. I was hired knowing I’m a uni student and also that I have a secondary job so only now am I seeing the true colours of the salon leader and now they don’t care about the workers but rather maximizing profits. I want to keep working here though because I’m not going to let the salon leader tear me down and quit, it’s also unique in a way and I want to become a groomer because that means that I can quit petsmart and work at a private place but also I’ll be receiving commission. I honestly feel a bit mad about how unprofessional and exhausting it is, I never would e expected this kind of behaviour from such a big company like petsmart. Have you guys gone through similar experiences and what do you think about this situation.

 

[genna]

@christiangirl30 Yes, that is how PetSmart is. I worked at PetSmart for 6 years and became a groomer there. I now work at Petco and from my year here, it seems they don't push numbers and packages as much, but they also don't charge as much so a little less pressure but also less money. And this has only been my limited experience, other salons in the company could be very different.

 

[christiangirl30]

@genna Wow 6 years. My salon leader is getting pushy about giving up more days for this and in the end, I might have to become a full time groomer here which is something I don’t want to do. I want to be part time but also have another job. I guess I have to decide now if this is something I want to do? It’s just that once I decide this is what I want to do, I’m afraid I might stay like 6-7 years like you, constantly overwhelmed. Can groomers be part time?

 

[genna]

@christiangirl30 If you want to be a groomer, you will have to be full time, but if you don't want to be a groomer, they can't make you be full time.

They also can't make you be a groomer either.

 

[jcc19240]

@genna If your management is understanding you can be part time. I’m also in school and am able to be part time as a groomer, even when I was a trainee.

 

[genna]

@jcc19240 Yes, it really depends on the manager. I know there's things the manager can do if they're really determined and are in need, but I wouldn't want people to rely on that because most likely they will say no.

 

[christiangirl30]

@jcc19240 How much do you make as a groomer now

 

[jcc19240]

@christiangirl30 Part time about 24 hours a week I make around $500 after taxes on 50% commission, paid weekly.

 

[christiangirl30]

@jcc19240 Basically about $21/hr? Why’d my salon lead tell me some groomers working at my location make about 300/day doing 6-7 dogs?

 

[jcc19240]

@christiangirl30 Same for my location. Weekends I usually make around $250-300 a day before tax plus tips. My ~$500 weekly is after taxes and 401k. My state’s income tax is pretty high. I also do 6 dogs a day on average.

 

[christiangirl30]

@jcc19240 ok wow that’s pretty good. I mean 300/day is almost like some doctors or medical professionals wow

 

[audreykate]

@christiangirl30 I have been with Petsmart for 9-1/2 years--1.5 years as a bather and the rest as a groomer. I have health issues so I only do 5 dogs a day, but I regularly make $900-1000 a week in commission. Those holiday packages and other add-ons bump your commission up.

Look at it like this for add ons as bather--

Customer gets basic bath and brush--

Dog gets washed with tangerine shampoo and just gets nail clipping. Dog goes home not smelling good, coat doesn't feel 100% clean (at least I never think it does) and takes longer to brush out, and nails are still sharp. At my location, these are the customers that are more likely to call back and complain that the dog doesn't feel like it was washed, that it doesn't smell like it was washed, it's still shedding, and the nails are still sharp.

Customer gets Holiday Plus package--

Chi and Hempz shampoo and conditioner work almost as well as Furminator for deshedding without having to let it sit for 5-10 minutes. Dog gets nails grinded and teeth brushed. Dog goes home smelling good, coat is clean, brushed out easily (providing dog was blow dried completely), nails were grinded and are smooth, teeth were brushed and at least mouth smells a little bit better (I always recommend the PP schedule a cleaning with their vet if there's visible tarter on the teeth and make sure they know that having them brushed by us won't remove it). These customers rarely call back to complain and I find them to be more likely to recommend us to their friends and family.

It takes time to develop a routine. And yes the job is frustrating when you have to stop and do nail trims. If our bather is busy bathing or drying a dog when a walk-in comes in, we tell the customer it will be a short wait (5-10 minutes) and we can page them as soon as the bather is ready for them. This way the bather has a couple minutes to finish rinsing and get the dog back in its kennel without feeling so rushed. Or if there are groomers that aren't busy and can continue working with the bathers dog while they do the nail trim, we do it. Bathers help the groomers when they're not busy and the groomers do the same for the bathers.

 

[allysmiles3]

@audreykate I know this an old thread, but if they book the holiday package online do you still get the commission?

I always do the chi package because my doodle really does mat less with it and I want to make sure my groomers get the commission!

 

[christiangirl30]

@genna Why did you leave petsmart if you worked there for 6 yrs

 

[genna]

@christiangirl30 I was commuting like an hour plus each day and got tired of it, especially when gas kept going up, my kid started school so I had to factor in more things. The Petco nearest to me I can get there sometimes in 3 minutes. I stayed a long time at PetSmart because I was making good money and It's hard for me to make a big change.

 

[lindalou55]

@genna I went from Petsmart(5 years) to Petco(1+ years now) do less dogs and make more money somehow. I’ll never go back to petsmart. Also despite what managers would say, full time is 32 hours, it is possible to work 4 days. Management was so fucked at our store too, and after being treated like shit after a few small incidents and being on an action plan I just had enough of the stress of it all. They didn’t give 2 fucks about me, so I quit on one of my days off, packed up and never looked back.

 

[genna]

@lindalou55 I think the money thing definitely depends on which store/area you are in either company you're with. PetSmart generally has higher base prices for that area and we usually charged higher than other PetSmarts in the region (we actually charged for things that took more time) the Petco I moved to a couple cities over charges way more than other petcos in the area but still the prices are generally cheaper than what I would see at PetSmart.

But yeah it really depends on the management in individual stores, some managers don't want to charge people even the proper base price for some reason. We constantly get XL long haired dogs that were being charged as Mediums or Large shorthaired dogs and then people will get mad when we have to charge a lot more. Or we charge extra when they bring in a pelted dog or they want a 1" Lamb cut with clean feet and so on, for the base price.

 

[genna]

@lindalou55 I definitely agree with you about the demands PetSmart has. They put WAY more stress on you, from my experience.

 

[mike_l]

@genna i think corporate ran salons have soooo many more cons than a private salon. it’s just the name of the game unfortunately

 

[genna]

@mike_l It depends on the private salon tbh. Private salons as a whole are very inconsistent, it's a total mixed bag. Some are great, some are straight awful. Even scrolling through this sub, you hear straight horror stories that happen at private salons. Anything bad you hear about corporate salons, is also happening in private salons.