Working in ANY retail store, you will deal with rude and incompetent customers. Thats a given, so I will give you some more "AutoZone" specific issues that you may or may not come across.
- 90% of your customers do not know anything about the vehicle they need to fix and probably should take it to a shop or send their mechanic to purchase the parts. This also includes the year, make and model of the vehicle.
- Schedule is going to be unpredictable. You may close one night and open the next morning. You work weekends now. Hard to get 2 consecutive days off in a row. All of this depends on how competent your scheduler is, and if they have a heart they may not screw you too much.
- Pay rate is low. You will live pay check to pay check working this job. You will need 2 jobs to get close to the top of the poverty level. You are expected to do magic tricks for what you do make, however. Even at the store manager positions, you will work way more than you are compensated.
- In general, promotions are based on how much you are liked by your superiors vs your actual skills at work. There are many in management who have no idea how to do their jobs. So if you want promotions, sucking up and persistence is key. However this is common in most retail work places. It is in the companies best interest to keep you in the lower position because they can get you to work above your pay grade and save money to increase their stock value. When the store is understaffed, which is usual, it's easy for the company to accomplish.
- If you are a "red shirt", management may look down on you, and categorize you as a "red shirt" instead of a human being. I've been on both sides, and I always made sure to treat those below me with just as much respect as before I got to where I was. You will automatically be treated better by everyone as soon as you "earn" a grey shirt. The whole thing is extremely infantile.
- The most important thing for the company is the stock value for those in corporate. Low pay and consistent understaffing is purposeful to keep expenses down for the 1% to make bank. So the quality of the workplace will always suffer. If you choose to work here, thats your fault, however.
