[PSY]

I used to work at a PetSmart PetsHotel, and if someone only received the minimum number of hours (4) week after week, it was for two reasons:

1) Like Bumble Bee said, they wanted to "force" the employee to quit. No one would admit that, of course, but since it happened several times during the course of my 3+ years there, I think it's safe to say they actually DID do that on purpose.

2) The manager/supervisor who creates the schedule could be incredibly lazy, and just "roll over" the previous week's schedule. This happened at my work place, where someone would request a bunch of time off one week (and only work 4 hours as a result), and then only be scheduled for 4 hours the following week. The person who requested time off would have to go to the manager/supervisor and make a point of saying, "Hey, I don't need time off, so you can schedule me for the full amount of hours again." It's stupid, and people shouldn't have to tell their managers/supervisors things they should already know, but that COULD be happening in your case.

Honestly, I would just talk to your manager/supervisor, saying that you need more hours. If they continue to schedule you for 4 hours every week, start looking for another part-time job. Once you've been offered another job, give your two weeks' notice for you current job.