For employees at Preuss Pets, the time they spend at the store is more than just a job.
The store is located in Lansing and includes departments for reptiles, small animals, fish, birds and kittens. While there, visitors can see anything from hamsters to large spiders in their cages as they wait to find new homes.
Tricia Brockman, zoology and fisheries and wildlife senior, has been going to Preuss Pets as a customer ever since she was 6 years old, and on every visit she asked if they would hire her.
The response was the same each time — not until you’re 18.
When she did finally turn 18, Brockman put in her application and was hired right out of high school.
Though she no longer works at Preuss Pets, Brockman said her time as an employee really helped when it came to choosing a major, and the group of passionate people she worked with was an “inspiration” for her.
"There’s a lot of communication and on your break you go and you talk (about) reptiles,” she said. “It’s just a bunch of really passionate people and it’s really inspiring.”
Like Brockman, MSU alumna Marjie Niblack also began her Preuss Pets experience at a young age.
"It’s like having a family away from home, really,” Niblack said of her co-workers.
The people at Preuss Pets may seem a little quirky at first, Niblack said, but the employees “all bond over this very base connection — the passion for these animals.”
The store also offers opportunities for MSU students in zoology and associated fields to get some hands-on experience with animals and customers.
Baxter works in the bird department at Preuss Pets and had a particularly rewarding experience with a nervous African grey parrot named Duncan, who was afraid of hands before she was able to get him to open up and overcome that fear.
“Establishing a connection with (Duncan) was my most proud moment,” she said. “He never would have had any socialization otherwise.”
Before being hired at Preuss Pets, fisheries and wildlife senior Julia Krohnsaid she was very nervous speaking with strangers.
Now, she said she can have conversations with people about anything so long as they’re friendly.
“There’s never a dull day,” reptile department worker Josh Waldron said. “Everything there just kind of keeps me on my toes.”
