Update to Petsmart firing story

See an update to the story of the Petsmart employee who was fired for bringing his dog to the stor while he was working an overnight shift when no one else was there.

Stupid decision rescinded

From NPR comes the story of Eric Favetta, a New Jersey Petsmart worker who was required to work a double overnight shift.

He brought his pooch to the store, not wanting him to be alone all that time, and put him in the store's doggie daycare.

You guessed it, Favetta was fired for "theft of services."

He was eventually offered his job back, but come on. It's not as if he put the dog in daycare when he wasn't on the job.

The transcript makes the point that the daycare is a very popular offering at that store.

Well, daycare isn't overnight. Favetta was looking out for the welfare of his dog.

One would think a store whose clientele are pet lovers would be a little more understanding about their employees who have pets.

UPDATE: Favetta got a much better job while he was unemployed. Read the whole story here. Good for him, and bad for Petsmart for treating him that way.

Peanut butter contamination affects PetSmart

PetSmart is recalling some products that contain peanut paste made by a company being investigated by the Food and Drug Administration for potential salmonella contamination.

Seven of PetSmart's Grreat Choice Dog Biscuit products are affected.

The peanut butter and paste is made by Peanut Corp. of America, a Virginia-based company. The products are made at its Blakely, Ga., facility.

Here's an article with more details from the Wall Street Journal.

PetSmart isn't aware of any pets becoming ill from the products but has removed them as a precautionary measure.

The recalled products include packages ranging in size from 32 ounces to 10 pounds, sold between Aug. 21, 2008, and Jan. 19, 2009.

UPDATE: Here's is PetSmart's press release about the voluntary recall. Products can be returned to the store for refund or exchange.

Happy hour for you and your pet

On Tuesday, the PetSmart stores are having a Summer Happy Hour from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at all their U.S. stores.

Actually that's two hours.

It will feature:

• Contests for Best Smile/Personality and Best Bikini/Summer Apparel.
• The grand prize winner of the Best Bikini/Summer Apparel contest will also receive a one-month supply of Purina® dog and cat food. First, second and third place winners of both contests will receive a $5 PetSmart gift card.
• Goodie bags including coupons for free samples of select Beneful® dog food and Fancy Feast® cat food items, and additional items such as key chains, pet food can lids, tab openers, CDs or toys.
• Free digital photo and cardboard frame.
  

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I think the contests are for your pets, not you.

To locate a store near you, click here.

Locally, there are stores in Kingston and Newburgh.