Loved work, hated the management
Pros
I loved the customers (most) and the actual work. The layouts and seasonal kept you very busy and time flew by. Did a couple store sets/moves too out of town that were fun and very profitable even with the long hours. I was a dept head of jewelry and wearable arts. Had a lot of customers who were frequently in every week and who became like friends after 10 years.
Cons
When the company started to raise pay things changed. We were all happy about the money. But we could hire less people to do things like check on a register...stockman, etc. Which left tge dept heads to do this. When we had so much responsibility anyway to our customers and to our departments, having to spend all day on a register because our manager couldnt schedule right meant our work wad not getting done. Hours were cut and if you didnt complete department tasks like ordering and layouts, even though you were stuck checking all day, you were blamed for these things not getting done. This left every one stressed out and work not getting completed. The manager was only worried about himself. Many employees began bullying eachother with a cruelty I have never seen outside a high school drama movie. The manager did nothing about this and let it go on unless it was forcibly brought to his attention. Even still..he brushed ot off. When I went on a couple store resets and talked to other people from other stores I found this was company wide. The "good Christian values" that everyone is so fond of are only there to make customers want to shop there. The company itslef has no morals or care for the employees. I saw new hires get shoved onto the floor, no training, and saw other employees blame them for everything wrong, with management allowing this to go on, or even joining in. They allow bullying, racism, and discrimination to go on. Our black coworkers did not get as many chances as our white ones. I am white but saw much discrimination going on. To gay, black, and Hispanics i worked with. Time off was awarded too, but saw people get fired for attendance even though they had time off, but someone the manager liked take off once a week because of "their kids are sick, their kid this, theirbkid that". I saw at least 2 coworkers who wanted to go back to college and scheduled it around work, only to be told they would have to quit because their first responsibility was to their job. This company reels you in with the pay and the so-called "Christian values" but takes over your whole life, even when you try and work around your scedule. The pay isnt worth the stress, bullying, and management.