I wish I caught on to how predatory this company is during my interview.
To start off I’m going to be a bit vague since I know my coworkers/SL know about this subreddit. I was hired as a bather almost half a year ago, and each week my SL has tried to squeeze as many hours out of me as she can even though I’m not in a full time position. Looking back, during the interview she kept telling me “Are you sure you want this position? It’s reaaaaaaaally hard and not everyone can handle it. You don’t seem like the type of person we hire for this job” etc, really making it seem like this was going to be the most difficult thing in the world. The reality is that working as a bather isn’t hard, but fighting for days off and general autonomy is. She’s been trying to convince me that if I don’t keep my schedule open it’ll be impossible for me to make it to 200 dogs, even though I’ve communicated with her that academy isn’t really a thing I can do right now based off my availability. I’m also 95% sure in this time frame and how busy our salon is I’ve already reached 200, but if they tell me that then they can’t schedule me just below full time hours. We have other bathers with my type of availability who’ve been working there for years without being hounded to do academy, but when it comes to me they have me in this invisible corner where I can’t continue doing this job without being a stylist. Before this would cause me so much anxiety and stress trying to keep up with their demanding schedule, but now I see right through it all and refuse to work more than I’m available. I have a husband and kids, so why am I expected to choose PetSmart over them?! Even when I asked for reduced hours to be with my family, they still try calling me on my days off. We definitely have enough people who can help out, and if we genuinely need someone there they can hire a new bather, I am so done being guilt tripped into having my free time taken away from me!