Sorry if this sounds like I’m rambling. I’ve been working for Petco as a bather since last December and I was hoping to become a groomer some day, but with the way things have gone within the past few weeks, I’m thinking of either transferring stores or just giving up and leaving entirely.
I was told by my GSL a little over a month ago that they felt I was ready for academy as my performance and animal handling have been great. They even said I “needed some clippers in my hands when they saw my bath technique for the first time”. My productivity was where it needed to be and my customer interaction had improved over time. The store manager was gone for a month and all we really needed was their approval. Once the manager returned, the final verdict suddenly changed to “We still think you need more work”. To add insult to injury, I was told this on a day that I not only had a full schedule, but had to stop what I was doing multiple times to handle walk-ins, causing me to run a little behind schedule. I was then lectured on time management by the GSL and another stylist. I fully understand that time management is imperative in the grooming industry, and I have days where I can handle 5-6 dogs with walk-ins in a timely manner. But it feels like they’re putting so much weight one one bad day.
From that day forward, it suddenly feels like the GSL and other stylists put more weight on every small flaw they detect rather than looking at my performance as a whole. I’m starting to feel like everything I do is wrong. I was getting positive feedback before constantly being over corrected. Now there’s no clear sense of direction and I feel like the goalposts keeps changing. I’m getting vague feedback on areas of improvement, and I’ll get different opinions from different people. Sometimes the feedback I get from people becomes contradictory either to my own observations or another person’s. It’ll go something like:
Person A
1 time management
2 Productivity
3 Check-ins
Person B
1 time management
2 Customer interaction
3 Bath quality
Person C
1 Confidence
2 Brush technique
There’s always gonna be areas of improvement for everyone regardless of skill level, and I always ask questions and take any feedback I can get. But in some ways, it feels like I’m being “over prepared” and there’s no clear sense of direction or criteria I need to meet. Person A will say I did a good job with a check in one day then say I need to improve check-ins without specific details. Person B will say that I need to get better at customer interactions and “talk the way they do”, but the repeat/request clients I get, positive feedback, small conversations, and client education says otherwise. Person C will say that my baths look/feel good, and Person A will complement my de-sheds, but then Person B will say my de-sheds need more work with no further details. Sometimes I’ll ask a question to make sure I’m doing something right. Person A will be reassuring but Person C gives a snarky response back. I’ll sometimes hear Person B and C talking smack about me when they think I’m not within earshot. There’s no clear criteria for me to meet to get into academy and it feels like I must make everyone happy before I can go.
To finish this off, I’ve heard bad stories about the grooming instructor in our district and that they “bully people” and make it seem like they’ll find any reason to kick you out of academy. None of the experienced groomers have trained in our district, nor have they met the instructor. A new groomer who recently transferred to our location after finishing academy tells a different story about it, and says it’s not as scary as everyone makes it seem. They say the instructor may be stern, but she doesn’t expect you to go in knowing everything. She just wants you to learn. I don’t know who to believe anymore.
At this point, I wouldn’t mind transferring to a store with more traffic if productivity is the issue, or one where the management gives clear feedback on areas where they think I’m lacking. If this is a common theme at every location, I might just throw in the towel. If there were things I truly needed to work on, I wish I was told sooner instead of being told I was ready. Now it feels like there’s no end in sight.
I’m tired, confused, and ready to take the L.
TLDR: Thinking of transferring or leaving due to lack of support, vague feedback, and unclear expectations.