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Petsmart
Petsmart Work hazards at petsmart may have contributed to my daughter being born with neurological issues. Internet, Michigan
6th of Dec, 2010 by User428195
I am a former Petsmart employee I was employed in Taylor MI. I applied to be a bather and was interviewed by the salon manager. During the interview she asked if I was interested in grooming and explained how the grooming academy worked. I told her that maybe in the future I would be interested but I wasn't ready to place my three year old son in daycare. She told me that whenever I was ready to become a groomer to let her know and she would sign me up. My first day in the grooming salon I learned that I had already been signed up for the next grooming academy. I approached my salon manager at this point and told her I was unable to do the grooming program because I didn't have full time child care for my son. She went on to inform me that she hired me to be a groomer not a permanent bather and that if I didn't go she would have to let me go. So afraid of being fired I enrolled my son in a daycare and began grooming school. I did enjoy working as a groomer and probably would still be employed with petsmart had I not be treated so cruelly. After completing my training in academy I was sent back to my homestore to complete my training under my salon manager. The salon manager was supposed to be in the salon to train me and per petsmarts rule not left alone to groom until I had finished my hundred dogs. From the very beginning I was left alone the groomers in the salon provided me most of my training. My salon manager was usually to trashed to show up on time or to assist me in anyway. One time when she was assisting me she took a seven blade up into the tuck up and cut the dog pretty good. She said that she would inform the owners that she had done it but she left before they showed up. I called my store manager into the salon and told him what happened he told me to grab some ointment off the shelf and to let the pet parent know that I had cut the dog and if they had to take the dog to the vet to call the salon manager. He wanted me to take responsobility for something I didn't do. On top of all this we were constantly being harassed about our add on sales. Its hard to make commission when the salon manager checks dogs in and doesn't even do hands on pet. Speaking of hands on pet on several occasions I was spoken to about not doing hands on pet in front of a customer. I would do hands on pet discuss the options available to the pet parent and than I would move on to the computer a couple of times the salon manager would walk in while I was doing the computer portion of the check in and would chastise me for not doing hands on pet. I would try to say that I did and he would quickly respond that he had been standing there and I had not done so. I would usually perform hands on pet again just to avoid confrontation in front of the parent. The pet parents were usually pretty forgiving they recognized that the store was being run by Barney Fife. Towards the end of my in house apprenticeship I found out that I was expecting my second child. I immediately informed my salon manager and she told me to keep it a secret until I finished my dogs because they would fire me. I told her that was illegal and she walked away. When I entered into the grooming salon she had already informed everyone that I was pregnant. Within three days of me finding out that I was pregnant I presented a note from my Dr regarding my restrictions. The Dr's note stated that I was to be provided a chair, I was not to lift over twenty five pounds and I was not to be exposed to any flea chemicals. At first my salon manager seemed ok with my restrictions and she told me if people were doing flea baths that I could walk out and stock in the store until the fumes dissipated. She also made a note in the book that I was not to be booked any dogs over twenty five pounds. After a short period it became obvious that she wasn't ok with my restrictions. She became very rude, she personally booked me large dogs as well as flea baths. The chair I was to be provided with was never provided and I spent long hours on my feet grooming. If I walked out of the salon when the fumes became overwhelming she would get upset. By this time she was becoming increasingly erratic, she showed up late everyday and some days not at all, and her work became sloppy. Everyone in the salon was frustrated because she would change your hours after you had left for the day so you would end up coming in late or not at all because you weren't supposed to be in. We at this time spoke to our store manager but Barney Fife that he was and is fluffed us off and said he would speak to her. After this things got worse we were all treated worse than dogs but for some reason she singled me out. The last few weeks before I quit they finally provided me with a chair but I couldn't sit in it because the salon manager couldn't keep her butt out of it. The last day I worked at petsmart was the worst. I came in and found out that I had been booked seven dogs and all of them were flea baths and every single dog was a large breed. One of the dogs didn't show but I was unable to do the baths I ended up doing one with gloves on because I had to get the dogs out the door. I wouldn't have been able to do it had my co-workers not stepped in to help me. I had had it at this point so I called our shift manager in and told her that I quit that I would finish my shift but that was it. I packed up my gear and left as I walked out several of my employees wished me luck and stated that they were supprised that I had stuck it out as long as I had. The whole store had witnessed the treatment I received as an employee. For a company that promotes providing Total Lifetime Care for the pets its amazing how crappy they treat their staff. When I left petsmart I contacted corporate to let them know about what had happened to me as well as somethings that were going on in the salon that were dangerous to the dogs. I thought that corporate would want to get on this and take care of the situation but instead they began to hassle me asking how far along I was, how many flea baths were actually being done in November, as well as how many dogs I could do in a day. The gentleman from human resources actually said that if I couldn't handle the work load than I probably wasn't suited for Petsmart anyways. I was shocked I thought that they would do something to the managers that had treated me this way but instead I received more harassment this time from human resources. All the people who were involved in this mess are still employed with petsmart. Apparently petsmart only wants to employ lazy drunks who work fast to put out crappy service. I would never have contacted petsmart again regarding this matter except the things that happened to me during petsmart have had an effect on my now six month old daughter. I can't prove for sure that my exposure to the flea chemicals caused her problems but I have a son who is very healthy but my daughter was born failure to thrive and with seizures. I don't drink, I don't smoke and I have never done drugs yet my child is born with a neurological issue. During my third trimester I began to have problems with my pregnancy at times she would't move and other times she would move frantically like she was in distress. I began going for Non stress test three times a week to monitor her and once sometimes twice a week to monitor her with ultrasound. During this time they could find no reason for her inactivity or frantic bouts. I believe now that she was having small seizures in utero. When she was born she was a healthy seven pounds seven oz. Within three weeks she was down to five pounds twelve oz for some reason she was unable to maintain nutrients. We finally put her on soy formula and she began to gain weight. After she was born we noticed that she had tremors in her left leg. The didn't seem to bother her but they became increasingly noticeable. We brought it to the pediatricians attention and he referred us to a neurologist. The neurologist at the time thought that it may have been normal reflex spasms and that they would go away by six months. I had asked him about my exposure to the flea chemicals and he said it could have possibly caused a problem but their was no real way to prove it. Around four months of age the tremors stopped and she began to progress normally. Last thursday just a few days before her six month birthday my daughter had a grand mal clonic-tonic seizure. We took her back to the neurologist where she was given an EEG. We are still waiting for the results but all of friday and part of saturday she continued to have small seizures. I know I can't prove that the environment in Petsmarts grooming salon had anything to do with this but in my heart I know that it does. The salons are poorly ventilated and the flea fumes would be so strong sometimes that it would give you a headache and make you feel nauseaus.

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