I'm 55, have a graduate degree, have worked at small retail stores and a Fortune 500 company (in sales). I only lasted ~five weeks at a Talbots store before I quit. I had been looking forward to a fun retail environment and customer interaction, as I've enjoyed in the past, but the lack of professionalism at Talbots sent me running. Details are many but here are some: I was never adequately trained, and my manager did not make sure I could log into the company Web site to see my hours, request days/hours, and see paystubs. I kept mentioning that I couldn't get onto the site, and my manager never addressed it, so I had to take a photograph of the next week's work shift calendar and just take the hours they gave me. (Turns out, on my last day before quitting, that Manager 1 simply gave me the wrong Web address. Couldn't be bothered to make sure employee was on board properly.)
There were many Managers in the store and a couple of serfs like me. All the Managers each individually reminded me constantly that they were Managers, and they gave me conflicting advice. Manager #2 would start the day by admonishing me for the many infractions others had committed in my three-day absence, many of which were just the sysiphean tasks of retail (the clothes aren't hung properly, yadda ya). Manager #3 would interrupt my helping a client to give me some gratuitous advice on how to word something, Manager #4 would tell me to work Petites, and Manager #1 would then admonish me for not working the Missy department. I was never adequately trained on the register or the ordering system, yet the Managers would toss me a tablet and tell me to do an exchange/order/what-have-you for a customer or answer a phone call with a complicated request. I would be told to "ask for help" but when I asked I was ignored or admonished. E.G., another employee passed me a phone call she couldn't handle (probably got training as good as mine) and went on break. I tried to handle it ("Where's this garment in the store?" was typically answered with a general "over there") but, being new and stepping in in the middle of a transaction, I couldn't. So I want to Manager 1 for help and she said, in front of everyone (including customers), "So you're passing this off on me?"
As a minimally-paid sales associate who spent most of the day hanging clothes, I tried not to take this personally. I'm a hard worker -- I would learn eventually. But when Manager 4 complained about me to Manager 1 and I was called in for a barrage of Reprimands, I was astonished. (I had that day asked a corporate Manager who was visiting whether the problem with my getting into the Web site was a corporate matter, and she said that wasn't her problem but no doubt told Manager 1). As newest employee, I was receptacle for all irritations. I did my best to note my perception of the general dysfunction of the store. (Meanwhile, Manager 1 saying "You look like you want to punch me. Take that look off your face." No one has ever spoken to me that way before.) Series of reprimands was topped off with a personal insult about my arms showing, with a look that indicated they were Not Attractive. This couldn't have waited for another day? Went home, thought on it for a few minutes, and submitted my resignation.
Other things: store hot, I would get sweaty running around all day. Employees actually bickering with each other on the floor. Trickle-down irritation -- managers taking things out on those below them on the pecking order. So, during my big Reprimand, Manager 1 complained about the corporate visitor saying that the atmosphere in the store was negative. As if this were my fault. Store was understaffed (wonder why?). It was one of the worst working experiences I've had. When I worked at McDonald's as a teenager it was much better.
