I think the intentions of the employees are not malicious or abusive on a store to store basis, but I do not support the sale of exotic animals especially if its not from a reputable breeder (I generally do not support breeding but that's my prerogative) so I tend to do my animal shopping at local places that do not sell animals or chewy.com/amazon.

The type of person who "buys" their animals from petsmart or petco has no business taking care of an animal for the most part especially if its for children. They want something fun to play with and neglect in a too small enclosure and don't read up on the actual needs of the animals (social, space, enrichment, etc.). I don't think these pet owners are necessarily malicious either, but we shouldn't normalize and make owning exotics so easy and accessible because by and large, they end up living in poor conditions and dying prematurely.

I feel like Petco and Petsmart would not sell these animals if ethics were a big deal to them. At least "order" from reputable breeders, put fewer on display and make the purchasing process more difficult. A big influential company like Petco is well aware of the ethical concerns (peta is always on their ass, not that I support peta, but they have a point) but they choose to ignore it for profit. And as ailish said, the enclosures are a problem. Knowingly putting animals in those situations is neglect on behalf of the company.

SO long story short, if you care about ethics I'd suggest working for a mom and pop pet shop that does not sell animals, and if they do sell animals, they treat their animals very well. (I like the pet stores that only sell supplies and have a house pet like a rescued macaw or a store cat.)