#i work at a petstore

[kingflups]

Boy I didn't even know submissions actually worked and you sent me sick piggy. on the clock no less

[indiegame]

got some stuff lined up for today 👍

[ratgingi]

woe characters inspired by some of my cats be upon ye. info on them in my tags lol

[chrimsone]

Boss makes a buck, I make a dime

So I apply to other jobs on company time

[sassyhazelowl]

As I enter another season of selling birds [to pay for my birds], I am already reminded of how many people are just incredibly annoying. It makes me never want to sell a single bird ever again LMAO.

[theonlythingimfuckingisstupid]

going to the petstore today and hopefully getting a fish :)

[piierrote]

the embarrassment of spending 4 weeks at work saying 'I don't really know anything about fish' and then coming back after Christmas like hi I hyperfixated on learning everything I can about fish and now am getting a tank

[disabledwarrior]

pickles got a shot today and tried to bite the vets assistant lmao

[mirkwood-trash]

im sorry i just had to let you know bc this is sending me sfdghkd your tags on the "what do u wanna give kyle" post made me stop, stare at my screen, and say outloud "OH so not a bag of goldfish CRACKERS......a real fish......oops"

Y'know now that you mention it they might mean goldfish crackers lol. My brain just immediately went to the animal LMAO

[greatgoddyke]

its so cool how lucky i am

[lazyneonrabbitt]

MarchWeres prompt day 9

"Good boy."

Dog! And some Daryl x Reader

Dog just had his much needed shower, and now that he was all dried off you got to the hard part.

Brushing him out.

Luckily Daryl had found a petstore and grabbed a bag full of care items.

Once downstairs you made sure to give him a some dried meat for behaving so well in the tub and lured him onto the large towel laid out for him.

"Come on, boy. Gonna get those pesky knots out of your fur." You fed him some more dried treats to keep him relaxed and went to carefully work at his fluff.

As you brushed out his fur you coo'ed at him. "Such a good boy, letting me brush you." You made kissy faces at him and gave him a treat every few minutes. "Gimme a paw?" Brushing at his elbows you smooched his clean paw. "Thankyou, good boy." At every mention of the words his tail wagged happily.

Unknown to you there was someone else downstairs whonwas wagging his metaphorical tail at your words, only there to grab a drink but stopped so Dog wouldn't see him.

And then you started talking oh so sweet to the animal and Daryl's mind wandered.

He wanted to be treated like that dog, to be cuddled and brushed and called a good boy. He kept his distance and watched how you had gotten Dog on his back and brushed at his neck fur, paws up and tongue out he looked so happy with his hind legs spread and tail thumping on the hardwood floor. "Does the good boy want belly rubs? Yeah he does!"

Daryl's mind filled with scenes he'd never dare talk about. His shifted self with you on the bed, your hands gently scratching at the skin of his stomach and moving down south slowly-- no, not now not here.

"You're being so good! Want a treat? Yes you want a treat huh."

And Daryl's mind was back in bed, this time with you sitting on top of him, cooing in that voice you used that drove him absolutely crazy. His hands grabbing onto the counter so hard his knuckles turned white and his eyes closed to picture you even better. "Such a big boy, so good and obedient.."

A hand on his hip made him jump, ready to grab at the knives still strapped to his legs until your laugh sent him back to earth. "Yeah, I knew you were there. And now I know a way to tease you. How fun!" You stood on your tiptoes to give him a kiss at the corner of his lips. "Love you, my good boy."

[lethesbeastie]

My betta fish, Achilles, passed this morning.

I haven't talked about my fish here much, aside from the occasional shitpost or silly doodle, but they've done a lot for me, especially Achilles.

See, Achilles was the very first fish I bought. I got him back in January of 2023, and as of today I'd had him for almost two years. I know that might not seem like much, but Achilles was a petstore betta— their lives tend to be short due to shitty breeding and terrible keeping in corporate locations. I knew going in that, as hardy as betta can be, there was a chance I'd fuck things up and lose him if I wasn't careful.

I've had a lot of experience losing pets. Like a lot of kids who get into exotic animal keeping, I started with lizards I caught in my backyard as a child and worked my way upwards through various "beginner" pets that I usually took in from family after their care became too burdensome for them. I loved those animals, but I'm not going to lie and say that I didn't fail them more often then not. I had mental health issues and school and grew negligent with cleaning tanks. After I lost my leopard gecko Lillian back in 2020, I decided I wasn't going to keep anything until I had the mental capacity to care for it properly. I didn't have the time to anyway; I was going to college and couldn't exactly keep a pet in the dorms.

I tried other things in the meantime. Threw myself into art even more, got into dnd, tried (and failed) at making terrariums with moss. I got better mentally, then had to live at home after freshman year of college and got worse.

Eventually, I realized I was getting a lot worse, and that I needed something to focus on to drag me out of it. I needed something I could care for, but that I could set up in a way that it would be able to sustain itself if I fell off mentally again. I started getting into terrariums once more, then isopods. I came across Serpadesign on YouTube, fell in love with the notion of building vivariums. And through that, I discovered a newfound desire to keep fish.

I do not want to prop up stereotypes: fish are not "easy" pets, no matter what petstores tell you. I did not go into fishkeeping because I wanted to put an animal in a bowl. I got into fishkeeping because I saw that it was possible to create a self sustaining ecosystem at an accessible size if I was willing put in the proper work. And god, I was willing to put in the work. I spent months scouring the aquascaping community on YouTube for tutorials and process videos, did research into the best types of fish for small tanks and the most ethical ways to keep them. I had spare tanks from my old reptile keeping days that I could easily repurpose for fishkeeping, and I spent every spare penny from Christmas and birthdays on buying up hardscape and natural decor.

And one day, while browsing my local petsmart, I saw Achilles.

I loved him the second I saw him, the moment I picked up his little cup and was greeted with the most indignant stare. He flared at me, which I'd never seen a betta do in a cup before. I was enamored, decided that I had to take him home.

I bought him on impulse, which wasn't the smartest thing to do. I didn't have a tank set up yet. I just knew I had the supplies and that I could make an early setup safer by dosing beneficial bacteria to jumpstart the nitrogen cycle. My first tank wasn't as naturalistic as I'd hoped, but it was functional, and I knew I could add more plants as time went on and Achilles settled.

Like I said, it's been almost two years. I've gone from keeping an underwhelming five gallon with gravel to several fully furnished naturalistic tanks with riparium plants for additional biological filtration. I still make mistakes now and then, since fishkeeping is a continuous learning process, but I've been able to provide my fish a home that sustains them naturally, and I have aspirations to build more tanks when finances and time allow.

None of this would've happened without Achilles. I would never have had the courage to do this if I hadn't fallen in love with the silly betta I found that day in 2023. He's been a constant friend, a source of joy, and a reason for me to keep going.

I'm going to miss him very, very much. But I can take heart in the fact that he brought me into a hobby I loved. Sparked a passion that will stay with me for life. Feel proud of the fact that I gave him an enjoyable life for the time in which he shared my home.

Achilles inspired one of my favorite creative writing pieces I did last year, so I'll share that here in his honor. It's called Betta Splendens, it's about fish, petstores, and the existential dread of living in late-stage capitalism as a disabled person.

[solar-sunnyside-up]

tell to me about the info

Really??? 👉👈

Okkk soooooo this is our project up in Calgary. Recently there's been a lot of drama about it as the provincial Cons attempted to cancel the project due to them being owned by Oil lobbies, but due to the accumulated $200million in fines for not honoring contracts made with construction companies had to go back and build at least half of the train line.

Now out of the 8 stops on the new line, there are really only 4 I'm mega invested in.

Ogden-

This is the one closest to my house. There's a few extra pieces of info that can't be seen by the maps, mainly that the reason for all this Plaza space in the front is due to the fact that they are also building a skate park about 2 blocks away and when I asked about the potential hostile architecture being added to the station they actually pointed out they wanted skaters to go to the Plaza and have ppl use bikes/skates/boards/etc.. within the space!!also that events could be held there in the summer.

The second thing is that this is across the street from our local pub/petstore/chruch/playgroup in a kinda strip mall type thing. Meaning people will have access to these things from the other side of the community without driving which is great particularly in the winter when we have -60c temps sometimes. Also as a result of the higher traffic they are completely redoing the crosswalk/adding bus stops within this area which is well over due as it's a super big hazard!

Additionally the heated bus stops as well as a noise barrier for the Canadian Rail line that is sooo noisey on our street.

Lynn/Millican-

This one is a little less exciting, but basically there's this stretch of land that's primarily for baseball diamonds meaning its barren come winter. Within the corner of said park, they're adding this station with a bus hub, better crosswalks, and is the other end of my community.

There's also fruit trees and a "park and go" parking lot - which was apart of a program by city originally came up with in the 80s basically allowing free parking at a train station to encourage people to park at the station then take the train into the cities center (which at the time was primarily offices but nows a lot of residential and retail spaces). This was basically to avoid traffic jams and over parking in the core of the city. Given that we have over 200 parking lots (which cost between 19-25$/hr when our minimum wage is $15/hr) this is exciting to see them invest in this style again!

26th Ave-

Now this one I'm so jazzed for!!! This location is in a spot where basically 1 bus goes by regularly and half the community is still unaccessable except by foot without sidewalks. Now, as we can see they are adding extra crosswalks and its also right next door to a farmers market!! Our oldest one in the city and is so popular people are constantly fighting over the parking and this will make it sooo much safer. Attached to the market is also a theater which is great for ease of access to arts!

Ramsay/Inglewood

This one i have the BIGGEST crush on. So we see this 2 tier station here? This is because this station is going to be adjacent to an overpass. They've done a lot of work to add murals to this spaces

So spaces like this ^^ but in place of those ANNOYING stairs to get up to this second road there will be a station with an elevator and heated seating and bike parking. Basically letting 2 separated communities having much easier access to each other and exteneral transit as well as the bike paths (seen in the lower photo as well)

Based on estimations they should be done the stations by the end of the summer and then additionally the train should be up and running by 2026 at latest!! Aaaah!!

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Former pet care industry worker here, you're right about the bird thing. Oh my Gods you're right. This is honestly a big problem in general when it comes to moral panic in the pet care industry, some information gets passed around without nuance and all of the sudden people are making major decisions that actually negatively affect the healthcare of their animals without considering the care that their individual pet needs.

When I worked at a petstore, bird owners were always the most defensive and self immolating about their animal husbandry, no matter how good it was. It was like they always had to tell me how well cared for their bird, like I'd judge them if they didn't prove they were an amazing bird owner.

Someone would always inherit a large parrot, give it the best care possible and then lament to me- "I feel bad he's not in the Amazon, I wouldn't have bought him, I don't think keeping him is right"

And like bestie your bird would not feel at home there, you've already told me all about how he loves when you put on Scooby Doo and sing the song with him, he's at home nowhere else. In the picture you showed me, his feathers look great, his eyes are bright and clear. Enjoy the life you have with him! If he's happy and healthy it doesn't matter!

I must have had a tons of different versions of that chat with parrot owners it's crazy.

THANK YOU

The moral panic about parrot ownership is DAMAGING and it needs to mcfucking STOP

I try to not talk about my birds like this because I KNOW they are happier with me than they would ever be in the wild.

This is Ellie. She was abandoned by her first owners and was left on the streets of Milwaukee for months, before being found and brought to a shelter, before we could bring her home. She went from constantly chewing on her feathers and feet and being anxious all the time and biting everything, to slowly trusting us and our surroundings. Now she has the healthiest, softest feathers; the most brilliant and curious mind; and just a wonderful enthusiasm that infects everyone who meets her with happiness.

Can you really tell me that bird would be better in South America, away from her flock (me, my spouse, our other birds)?

You can't.

Yes, there are many people who don't treat birds seriously and see them as barely alive, and they should not have parrots.

But that doesn't mean no one should. And that rhetoric - that no one should - needs to stop, before shelters around the world just collapse under their own weight.

Anyways, I get to go home from work now. Can't wait to see my five tiny dinosaurs

[lollytea]

Delighted myself thinking about the witch kids again, specifically their various attempts to build a replacement portal during the Summer. I'm picturing lots of brainstorm sessions that stretch late into the night and when they get tired enough, they devolve into arguing over who gets the last piece of pizza or playing truth or dare or whatever.

Hunter is feeling really proud of himself for having helped Belos rebuild a portal before. He has experience! He can make himself super useful! And then Amity 'Woman in STEM' Blight is also aiming for the same thing. She's an inventor's daughter. Her Dad's main area of expertise is using magic to power technology. She has plenty of opinions on the mechanical side of things.

Hunter and Amity either click extremely well and are plotting away at a prototype immediately or they disagree on every trivial detail and cannot go five minutes without arguing about it. There's no real resentment here. They're both just used to doing everything themselves and struggle to work as a team.

I don't think the project would get off the ground without Luz. She keeps everybody from wasting time with dud ideas because she's already spent tons of time in the Boiling Isles attempting to build a portal home. She knows exactly what WONT work cuz she's already tried it. She's also got a knack for thinking outside of the box and knows that even though glyphs are rendered useless in this realm, they can still be utilized. If she draws just the right glyph combo and finds a bit of magic for the glyphs to soak up, she's pretty sure they can light this portal's engine up.

Vee reminds them that she's still got a supply of Hexes Holdem cards, which have been working pretty well for keeping her human form. Luz, who had forgotten those things existed, nearly hits the roof in excitement.

Vee doesn't contribute much to the whole construction process, but while she does supervise. She did a health and safety course while at Summer Camp and is diligently making sure nobody is getting their asses blown up.

Portal Building is not Willow's strong suit. She does not have Luz and Hunter's experience, Amity's engineering knowledge or Gus' enthusiasm for tinkering with human technology. So she does what she does best and offers support. She hypes her smart friends up. And when they start doubting that they're actually making any progress, Willow swoops in to encourage them that if ANYBODY can build a portal, her best friends can!! Once the team realizes that they're gonna need something super strong to hold the portal upright, Willow beams. Her vines!! Her vines are tough as hell!! She can do that!!

Gus falls behind a little at first. He might be a prodigy but his skills are quite dependent on the existence of actual magic, so he struggles a bit to find his purpose here. He's very eager to work with human technology but Luz knows more about them than he does. He's smart enough to offer ideas but Hunter and Amity always come up with them before he does because they're both annoyingly STEM brained and have gotten a bit competitive about it. Gus is given the task of gathering equipment for the portal with Vee and he tries not to pout about it. After they managed to track down a half busted TV at a lawn sale, Vee takes him to a petstore to cheer him up. Gus gloomily stares at the hamsters running in their little wheels. He idly thinks about an article he read in one of his human magazines. About how hamsters in wheels can create energy. Unfortunately, hamsters aren't magic.

Cut to 2 days later when the team realizes that the Hexes Holdem cards just aren't gonna cut it. They don't possess nearly enough magic to power up a portal. It's not gonna work. All the time they've spent on this, and it's not even gonna work. They need something else. Anything else.

Luz looks like she's gonna burst into tears. Amity is pacing back and forth. Hunter is like this close 🤏 to slamming his head against the wall in an effort to rattle a genius idea out of his brain. Willow is making a valiant effort to keep everybody from having a full blown meltdown.

Gus is staring intently at Flapjack who is pecking away at the floorboards again. Then he's like "Hey....hear me out....what if-?"

[jaskanetic]

Like my coworkers are driving me nuts, I've been at this place for almost 2 years and for whatever reason they're not even training people right anymore, for my specific department

And then get upset when i leave little reminders about things broooo

I just wanna make sure the animals are ok 😩

I just dont get people sometimes