* I could burn pages on the horrendous communication, direction, reactive approach, organizational planning (sheer CHAOS as described by one of my peers) etc. For now if I can steer anyone way at all, let's start with the fact that you will give your entire life over to ASM and be told what a great thing it is to have a job. Absolutely non existent work/life balance. 6 days a week, 70+ hours are the norm. Worse than the hours is that you actually accomplish VERY LITTLE. Weekends are pretty much the only time to do any actual work. The amount of emails and conference calls and meetings ensure you spend 40 hours a week just being an administrative coordinator. There is no time left to actually work on improving processess or increasing sales, despite the constant cries for LEAN. It is accepted that you just "beat the crap" out of your Supervisors so that they "beat the crap" out of their hourly merchandisers until they find a way to get 60 hours of work done in 40 - since the RSMs can't have overtime. There is also little acceptance of ideas for change anyway. I have watched one of my peers on multiple occasions provide on the spot improvement suggestions and have them brushed aside with "that's not how our system works". The Director has been with the company over 30 years and has no idea that the business world has changed since the good old boy heydeys of the 80's. And neither does our client. We should work our 70 and then hit the (golf course/basketbal/baseball pick your sport) with the gang after...and of course drinks in the evening to discuss politics and religion (it is better if you are Repub/Christian and be willing to engage in heated discussions). After all, if your wife is at home managing the household what do you need to be there for anyway? Hmmm...*
