I didn’t really want to post this but watching these comments is making me mad. Saying they wish we would have spoken up, and then in the same breath going on to trash talk the person who wrote it trying to shift blame around really says it all. Speak up and it falls on deaf ears, and if you’re casual it may very well cost you your job.
You get met with “this is a retail job if you can’t handle it then you’re not cut out for the beauty industry” I can say with 100% certainty I’ve worked for other makeup retailers and it’s definitely not as good as it gets so don’t give up, just move on.
Hours of unpaid overtime, getting there 15 minutes early and leaving half hour sometimes an hour late on a Saturday because they book you till close, then you have to clean the store and count the till and write a lengthy email about your day, fill out budget spreadsheets, answer calls from management at close because they’re freaking out about their area not making budget. If you work there take notes and call fair work if they refuse to pay you for what you actually work because it’s illegal. If you’re going to parade your money around like an idiot at least pay your staff correctly.
Basically they hire youngens who did the course and then when they get experienced and savvy enough about how bad it is they either leave feeling shattered and go back to their old jobs, move onwards and upwards to another retailer or go freelance. Then the next new intake of newbies is recruited, rinse and repeat. Nobody really books makeup there anymore because it’s all freshly trained artists working there, so they could get a better job done elsewhere. Sad but it’s true. Same goes for makeup you’re constantly told to use “a bit of mixology” and custom make products and sell them to people. So basically someone shows you photo of a girl wearing Mac honeylove which costs $36, you have to make it for them and convince them to spend $100 on the 3 items and make it themselves every time they wanna wear it (which of course they don’t) and then you get hours cut for not making budget.
While I’m at it, stop spending your money on trash designer clothes and spend some money on new marketing so you don’t have to bully your staff into writing the only positive comments on every Instagram photo you post (no joke it’s the same people on every photo.)
I get that it’s napoleons baby and creative outlet or whatever which is great but they can’t keep blaming people for not selling these products when you’re so far removed from what people actually want.
Overall, it’s a place to start out if you absolutely must (and if they’re hiring. I think they’re firing everybody at the minute), but make sure you go into it as a learning experience. It’s not a place to find job security by any means or build a career. And don’t let them kill your passion there are other more magical makeup and retail jobs out there.
