Pros
Casual atmosphere. Some of the employees are real nice and work very hard. Others are complete deadwood.
Cons
Trader Joe's has to be one of he worst run companies in America! They have absolutely no formal training program for newly hired managers. Favoritism runs rampant. Many longtime managers have never worked anywhere else and as a result, have an air of self satisfied smugness about them. Most of these managers wouldn't last a week in a company with real policies and standards. Most never have been promoted to a management level position in the first place. The store captain has absolutely no interest in providing any real leadership. He's totally biding his time until he can retire with a big stash of retirement money. He comes in late, goes home early, does very little when he is there. Loves to hang out in the back of the store bbqing for the crew. Claims he does it as a reward for their good performance, but it's really just an excuse to not work. The guys a total slacker and doesn't deserve half the salary that he makes.