Pros
Good pay Quick career advancement options if interested Generally flexible with hours (see cons)
Cons
Quick career advancement and opportunities often lead to ignorant people getting into department management positions because they passed a sales based interview with a smile on their face. Not always flexible about hours and can suit themselves when it comes to contracted hours ("you are obliged to work your contracted hours, except this week we're cutting them because sales were low" sort of jazz). January, one of the worst financial times of the year for the layman, hours are often severely reduced below contracted hours to save money. The value of the customer is often placed way too high above the welfare of the employee. People are awful to sales staff in all forms of retail. More effort should be made to protect the staff from silly people with ludicrous requests instead of welcoming more ludicrous abuse and requests.