Pros
Some of my coworkers were absolutely amazing, very knowledgeable, excellent teachers, caring, and compassionate towards the animals.
Cons
Company policy and employee negligence ensured animal death, mutilation, and illness. During the holidays it was policy to stuff the cages/tanks with lots of animals. Hamsters killed and ate each other. Birds became highly aggressive and mutilated or killed each other. Turtles died from being kept in tank water that wasn't kept clean. Animals weren't checked on, and dead animals sometimes sat in cages until they were mushy. We were understaffed to the point where people knew they could get away with slacking because we couldn't afford to fire anyone. Guinea pigs were left to sit in their own poop and urine soaked bedding (too many animals meant that even with daily cleanings the bedding could become saturated), leading to a large number of ring worm cases (the fungus breeds in filth). People would accidentally squash lizards to death under ornaments. Someone chopped a lizard's tail off on more that one occasion. No real room for growth; outside managers with no petcare experience were hired.
