I know that at my local PetSmart the staff may as well be stalkers. They were so bad I ended up stopping going to the store because anytime I would walk into the store the staff would be lurking behind me. The bad thing is I used to be a frequent shopper to the store and would spend about 200 a month on pet supplies. Now the money goes to a different store because the staff members are just creepy and I have seen this at other Petsmarts to!
I found that some pet lovers are just creepy people in general. For example, that old lady with 60 cats living with her. The people who dress their pets up in clothes. The ones that kiss their pets on the mouth. I guess Petsmart is where these people hang out. I'm not a pet lover myself, so I can't relate to people being so serious about pets. I've only been to one Petsmart store because someone else wanted to go, and the people there were a little creepy. They know everything about all the items in the store, and it was just too weird for me. I know it's their job to know about the merchandise, but they would tell you what ingredients are in the food.
We don't have a Petsmart near us. I am glad we don't now because that would probably creep me out to have a staff member lurking behind you everywhere you go. We do have a Petco and they do not do that. It is actually a pretty good store. They do let people bring their pets inside and that can be a bit annoying at times. I think the shoppers there are creepier than the staff.
Honestly I've been in the local Petsmart and Petco dozens of times and have never experienced anything remotely like this. The staff was friendly but certainly not stalker-like or creepy. I don't think it's fair to classify the whole chain of stores like this off of a few employees in one store. It's like saying that everyone who works at McDonalds is a low-life. Some of them are just people trying to get by and to them it's a job, you can't hate on them for that.
I've never had this issue either. I usually shop at Petco instead of PetSmart because of the food they carry there. My dog is allergic to corn, so I'm glad the staff knows about the ingredients in the food as it can help save my dog's life. Not everyone's going to be a pet person, but it's kind of rude to insinuate that people who do are rude, don't ya think? I agree with psufootball. There are creepy employees everywhere. I used to work in a bookstore and everyone always assumed everyone who worked there was a big loser nerd. Actually, a few people who worked there (myself included) just applied at every store in the mall and that's who hired us.
I do demos at Petsmart and find the staff pretty friendly. It may not be the people who work for Petsmart coming up behind you. If you go on the weekends you will notice some pet food demos going on. Those workers don't work directly for Petsmart, they work for third party companies. I do agree some weird creepy customers that come through but that's anywhere though.
I again think this is a local issue. The best stores in my area may have a terrible reputation somewhere else. I bring my kids to Petsmart to look at the animals mostly, and have never had an odd experience.
Maybe it is a local issue. It is just creepy when the guy is following behind you like you are stealing items. I mean heck, like I said earlier I used to spend 200-300 bucks a month on pet foods there. Now because of him I have not been in the store for about 5 months.
I've never had that experience at all. I'm thinking that the store managers just want them to keep up with the shoppers to make sure they don't need anything. Maybe that's all it was?
I have never experienced anything like this at my Petsmart. In fact I think the staff is inattentive and have actually had to search someone out to help me.
At my local petsmart, it depends on the time of day what type of employees you will get. During the day, when the younger employees are not working, I tend to feel stalked by the staff. At night, when all the employees look like high school students, we are lucky to receive any assistance. I have found a different pet store to shop at due to the inconsistency of the staff serve, and then varying levels of knowledge the employees have.
Adeal4u, you cracked me up with comment about kissing your pet in the mouth! LOL!!! Thanks for that. I am a pet lover and I love my dog, but I am NOT kissing my dog in the mouth! She licks her stuff! Nasty! Anyway, I agree Petsmart staff can be a little creepy. But I just shop and get out.
It good to know you have some common sense not to do something like that. I've seen many pet owners kiss their pets on the mouth right after they went to the bathroom. It's okay to love your pets, but that's just taking it too far.
