Pros
-Creative freedom. When it comes to visuals, you are given a model to work with and you can make it whatever you want. -Great merchandise. We get some cute stuff! It's not always made well, but it will still go fast. -Small boutique feel. We only have about 10 employees, and it feels like a family. I've met some of my best friends here! My manager was very understanding and realistic.
Cons
Prepare yourself: -The Promise. I can not believe that this is still the standard in place, and it just keeps getting worse. While they are in the fitting room, we are LITERALLY supposed to knock on the door, ask them if they're dressed and then OPEN THE CURTAIN. Such an invasion of privacy, if that happened to me, I would never want to come back. My manager often said "just have a real conversation with people, don't stalk them". We hardly do the promise and are currently in the top 15 stores in the entire company sales-wise. I've had other managers and district managers come in and attempt to "reward and redirect" and it just sounds so fake. Employees aren't dumb, our customers aren't dumb. We can sense when someone is being completely fake. We do "role-playing" to practice the promise and it honestly just feels like I'm in elementary school again with everyone saying "great job!!" in high voices. -High Turnover Rate. Under appreciated workers do not want to stick around. Lower management is great, but upper management is completely clueless on what is going on. In our area, we had 3 managers quit, and for some reason it was up to our store to pick up the pieces. I worked at every store in my area with no bonus or any compensation, just trying to help. While I was there, I brought every store back up to visual standard (my specialty), and didn't even get a thank you. In fact, some people from those stores got mad at me because "they knew where everything was before". It's not my job, I don't get paid enough for what I do. -Expansion-focused. There are 5 stores in my city, and another one is opening in October. We don't even have enough people to manage our current stores. I have had to work open-close before as a Sales Lead. -Little opportunity. I've worked there for two years and have wanted to be an assistant manager since the first day I started. I already work 40 hours a week (double what I'm supposed to at part time), and have worked as an acting assistant manager when we didn't have one. But I still have yet to be promoted. -Inconsistent pay. As a sales lead, I make $9.50. I only make $9.50 because the store I work at is 30 minutes from my house, and my manager wanted to try to help me afford to go out there. I spoke with another person in my same position who said they got hired on at $10.50. This is someone in my position who only works 20ish hours a week and doesn't help out at other stores. SO frustrating. I feel like I give my life to this company and nothing is given in return.