I Pit the Local Fuckup Pet Store

The BBQ Pit
1

And I pit me for going there, but more on that later.

The “best” local pet store in the area is a piece of shit. They sell cockatoos (generally not an easy bird) like they are selling fucking cotton candy, to people with no clue. I know, I’ve watched (and cornered the people in the parking lot to give them a clue).

They have had a hyacinth macaw (pretty rare, generally cost about $8000) there for two years. She is in a cage that is too small, with two perches, and no toys. She is stunted from being fed incorrectly as a baby. I went in yesterday (moron alert, yes ME) and holy shit, she had a toy. An acrylic toy that obviously was not going to hold up to the beak of this huge bird, but a toy nonetheless. Their reasoning in the past as to why she doesn’t have toys is: She is afraid of them. She screams and hangs off of them. She chews them up. THIS IS WHAT BIRDS FUCKING DO, MORONS. I have offered to buy toys (elsewhere) and bring them in for the bird. They said no. So I was surprised to see the toy. They also had a military macaw, who I noticed had a sore on one foot. I didn’t say anything, because I have dealt with this pet store before and knew I needed to uh…compose myself before trying to speak with the morlons who work there.

So I go back today. First thing I notice is that the toy in the hyacinths cage is gone. They took it out and gave it to another bird. I guess she was having too much fun. So I go over to look at the military macaw, and I notice that in addition to the large crack she has in one foot, she has a blister which is 5 minutes away from becoming a big bloody oozing wound. Now I, being slightly smarter than algae, realize this is because she has only two perches. One that is too small that she doesn’t stand on, and another that is made of concrete. Obviously, she spends most of her time on the concrete perch. Head explosion pending, I walk up to the clerk (who I have dealt with before).

Me (trying to sound like interested customer): How much is the Military Macaw?

Asshat: $1000

Me: I noticed that she has open sores on her feet.

Asshat: Yea. She gets them from standing on the concrete perch (oh, asshat is also slightly smarter than algae, great).

Me: Well, you could wrap the perch in vet-wrap, that would help. (I know from previous experience that they will NOT give the bird a different perch.)

Asshat: Yes, but she would just chew it off.

Me (in head): If she had a fucking TOY or two maybe not.

Me: Vet-Wrap is cheap (and you get it wholesale by the case)

Asshat: Yea.

Me: Long pause with mouth open

Asshat: Theres nothing we can do.

Me: Yes, clearly open sores are better than my idea.

Asshat # 2 is standing nearby, white flecks of dried spit in the corners of his mouth. I wonder if I shoved a bottle rocket up his ass if he would notice. The original Asshat is apparently through talking to me.

Me: Walk back over to the bird. Play with her a little. Leave store.

To rant some more, they want $13,499 for the hyacinth. Lets ignore the fact that you can buy a healthy baby for $8000.

They have a sign by her cage.

"Hi, My name is Gabby. I am a hyacinth macaw. We are very rare, there are only 2500 of us in the wild. Since I am the largest of the macaws, I take a long time to mature (hey, not two years assfucks, change the sign). Please do not touch me, as I am more susceptible to germs than other birds (uhhh, sputter, spit, ok.) I must be sold with my cage (which is too small and not sturdy and I can snap the bars and have…because we LURVE HER SO MUCH). I am looking for a good home (no fucking kidding). I want to take a big black magic marker in and while my husband distracts the assfuckers with shiny objects, write PLEASE HELP ME, I AM ABUSED on the sign. (hmm, that would be a fun thing to do for Valentines day…)

This bird has started doing repetitive motions (much like I might bang my head against the wall if I were locked in my hall closet for 2 years). If you want to hold her, you have to be VERIFIED AS A SERIOUS PURCHASER by the owners (are they telepathic? Do you have to put a deposit on your credit card? I have 17 birds and walk upright, does that qualify me, monkey breath?), and make an appointment to have the everfucking PADLOCK taken off her cage.

Why I deserve the pit too. I know better. I bought a bird there once out of pity, a severely retarded african grey who they refused to give perches to, and were handfeeding at 10 months because he “didn’t know how to eat”. After I bought him, they didn’t even mention that he didn’t know how to eat and was getting handfed. Garsh, sure glad someone ELSE didn’t buy him, they would have starved him to death in three days (he died two years later of calcification in his brain, probably from low oxygen during hatching). We spent $3000 dollars on vet bills for this bird in 2 years.

I have been forbidden by my husband to go there. I went anyway. I deserve what I get. But that isn’t going to stop me from wishing serious and painful bodily harm on the fucking whore there today. May she be locked in a closet with nothing but sharp rocks to stand on, and be forced to drink water with her own shit in it. Actually that is not really what I have in mind for her, what I do have in mind might not be appropriate, even here. And there is NO FUCKING SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM. If I bought them, they would just GET MORE.

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH.

Alisa

Well, let’s not start sucking each other’s dicks just yet. – Pulp Fiction

You wanna say something? Yeah. About a million things, but I can’t express myself monosyllabically enough for you to understand it all. – Mallrats

2

I may be stating the obvious here, but have you considered reporting the store to the appropriate authorities (SPCA or the like)?

DoperChic

3

What DoperChic said. You could also call the local police to inform them of animal cruelity.

4

I was thinking the same thing.

That was a hell of a first post, BTW. Welcome, Alisa, I think you’ll do fine here.

5

Alisa:

  As a former pet shop drone I can tell you that this is, alas, not that uncomon. Yes many pet shops manage to find people who both care about animals and have some sort of clue. There is, however a problem with this. Pet shops, especially in malls often to not pay any better than other retail businesses. So, for the knowledge that employees are expected to have, and the extra work they are expected to do,  (feeding, cage cleaning, administiering medications) they get paid woefully low amounts.

 The store that I worked at had another factor that certainly didn't help. Employees were expected to meet sales quotas. Fair enough, it was a business after all, but there is a catch. Often working with animals forces one to spend large amounts of time doing care related tasks (the extra work mentioned above). Often these tasks would result in a clerk  having to be off the sales floor (and not meeting a quota).  Other employees would spend extra time on the sales floor, but not much time taking care of the animals.  Guess which group management favored? 

 The result was that soon anyone who had any sort of clue about animals eventualy knew not to go near this place for a job. What was left were a bunch of people much like the clerks you describe.  While they probably would have been fine selling shoes, the fact that animals require care, and some degreee of knowledge, meant that the quality of care recived, as well as the quality of animals for sale continued to decline. The store is not there anymore.

Sweetums

6

I did call and report them. They are going to send out an animal control officer to check it out. I told them that in all honesty a vet would probably not do much for the bird, that it was the SITUATION that needed to change, and that it would cost the store about 5 minutes and 10 dollars to fix things.
To ramble on, in previous bird-related dealings with the SPCA I have found them to be either uninterested or uneducated, especially when it comes to birds. Seems they have a hard enough time defining their own specs regarding dogs and cats, and birds don’t seem to interest them (they technically either classify them as livestock or as research animals, depending on who you ask). Basically their position is if the animal has food and water, then everything must be okey-dokey.

The last time I dealt with the SPCA I was threatened with a defamation lawsuit from a national chain petstore. They had a bird that appeared to have a broken leg. I talked to the employees, they agreed it was probably broken, and they were keeping an eye on it (cool, now that I know everythings good, I’ll go now…duh). I posted to several bird related email lists, stating what I saw, and that I was OF THE OPINION that the birds leg was broken. Meanwhile, some knucklehead told the store my name and address, and they started harassing me. By that time I had found another friend, luckily enough, a lawyer, to buy the bird. When she went to get it (drove 6 hours one way) they refused to sell it to her because they had been “warned” by the person who turned me in that she was coming. She had to get on the phone with corporates legal counsel, write up a hold-harmless agreement, get it faxed back and forth, blah, blah. They finally let her buy the bird (full price even). It did turn out to have a broken leg. Happily while she was at it, she edumacated corporate counsel that stating one’s opinion on the internet in no way shape or form resembeled libel.
Alisa

Well, let’s not start sucking each other’s dicks just yet. – Pulp Fiction

You wanna say something? Yeah. About a million things, but I can’t express myself monosyllabically enough for you to understand it all. – Mallrats

7

Alisa

Welcome to the SDMB! It’s nice to see that you want to help and not just look the other way. I hope this link will help.

Take some action and you’ll feel a lot better. Good luck.

Honey

8

alisam, which store is this? The one on Woodruff Rd, beside Kyoto Express?

9

Hi Sweetums,

I do know that pet stores have a hard time finding good employees. I was a manager of a pet store in college. Unfortunately this employee has been there 4 years and should know better (and she did…she acknowledged that the sores were from the concrete perch). I really do think she is just too stupid to live at this point. What is sad is it really IS the best pet store in town. Doesn’t sell dogs or cats, clean animal cages, no sick fish, but they treat the birds like CRAP. And they sell a ton of them because most of the other shops in town don’t carry large birds. Hell, I was in Petsmart yesterday as well (I am shopping prices on large fishtanks is the only reason I went either place) and they had a budgie (parakeet) that looked sick. I got an employee, she got another employee, and they took care of it…had the in store vet look at it. I mean if Petsmart can take the time, so can this place.

Oh well, hope she’s there when the animal control officer gets there (insert evil grin).

Alisa

Well, let’s not start sucking each other’s dicks just yet. – Pulp Fiction

You wanna say something? Yeah. About a million things, but I can’t express myself monosyllabically enough for you to understand it all. – Mallrats

10

Nope, farther down towards Mauldin on Woodruff, Between Bilo and Little Caesars in a shopping center.

If you go, ask why the hyacinth doesnt have any toys. See if they have come up with better reasoning since the last time I asked LOL.

11

Ah, and this gem from their website…

“Our full time bird and mammal experts know the pet you choose becomes part of you and your family. Hey, we talk to our pets…and they talk back. That’s why XXXXXXX lets you “Come into Their World” with our petting areas. Come spend time together with the pets. You’ll know when it’s the right pet for you! Large birds are vet checked and vaccinated!”

Apparently in regards to the hyacinth, you’ll know when it’s the right pet for you just by looking at it! Cause you sure as hell ain’t going to pet it. I have from time to time gone in and played with it through the cage bars, pretending I didn’t know how to read. I was of course swiftly reprimanded.

They sure gave me great advice when I bought the grey.

Me: I want to buy that Grey.
Them: Ok, let us ring it up. It will be 999.99
Me: Paid
Them: Ok, Good luck!

No, do you have a cage to put him in or are you just going to carry him out? No, oh yea, he is still being handfed, do you know how to do that? No, oh, he cant perch. And No, he crawls up the bars of the cage and beats his wings into bloody stumps. If that isn’t service I don’t know what is!

Alisa

12

Hmmm… well that could be one of those attention-grabbing lead-ins to the local news… What about calling to see if a station will do one of those special, investigative report thingies?

13

You know I really didn’t mean to post their name in that last post. I swear. Really

14

Hopefully animal control will take care of it. To anyone who walked in off the street, it looks like a nice pet store. Even I admit that the majority of the store is OK. I am really finicky about how my birds are kept, and while I don’t expect pet stores to do what I do, I don’t think that expecting appropriate perches and one toy or two would kill anyone. Maybe they honestly don’t see what I see, but If one of my birds had a foot problem like this one did, I would change things immediately. One of our birds (that passed away a few weeks ago) was 70 years old, and he had terrible trouble with his feet. He got a corner perch with bars to stand on, and had his perches wrapped in vet wrap. Oh well, my OPINION!!!

Alisa (who feels more lawsuit threats coming on).

15

The moderators here are really very nice. If you e-mail one, I’m sure they’ll delete the name of the store for you.

16

Cool, off to do that :slight_smile:

17

I was in there right before Christmas to pick up a collar for my sister’s dog. I noticed the birds but wasn’t paying attention to their condition.

There was a big white one near the door - no cage, and then a bunch of them in a row of cages next to where you check out. Which one should I be looking for/at?

  1. I live about 5 minutes from that store.

  2. I hate animal abuse.

  3. I’ll do something if I can.

18

The one with the sore on his foot (looks like his heel but it is technically his elbow) is in the row of cages facing away from the register…in the middle. She is a big green bird with a little patch of red on her face. She will come up to you for you to scratch her belly, you should be able to see her foot then.

The hyacinth is the one with the sign near her cage. If you do happen to ask why she doesn’t have any toys, please let me know what they say.

Alisa (hoping Bruce_Daddy doesn’t think she was overreacting LOL).

19

Have you had a chance to talk to the owner? Maybe he or she would be more receptive to your concerns?

20

I have talked to the owner before…she is not interested, as she believes she is doing things correctly. I didn’t talk to her about the military macaw as she wasn’t there.