Pros
Maurices is an excellent place to work for young college girls (or guys, if you don't mind selling women's fashion and can do it well). You have to reach above your minimum sales goals every day/week as a part of your expected job performance (not commission, you are payed hourly still). Amazing customer service is number one priority, so leave your bad day at the door so you sell, sell, sell, and help your customers find that next great outfit! I call this a pro: You are *never* bored at Maurices, because the company sends two to three giant shipment of freight (aka boxes and boxes of clothes) that need to be sorted, censored, hung, put out, etc. If freight is done, which it rarely is for long, and you happen to have a slow day, then mannequins usually need to be dressed (Which I find fun!) or older clothes need to be marked down and put into clearance. It's a pretty casual atmosphere, which I love, and the managers have weekly meetings where they have an open discussion with each other - so make sure you're on your best behavior, no matter who the manager is, because they'll compare notes on each individual person, including each other, every week. Over all, it is a casual, fun atmosphere, you get to work with some great girls, the customers aren't too bad, some of them are really great, and you get an amazing discount on the most adorable clothes ever! Oh, and make sure you sell, sell, sell the Maurices Credit Card. A lot of the times the company will reward you by loading store credit dollars onto your employee card.
Cons
Unless you are an assistant manager, your hours are very limited. Usually 12 to 20. Also, most stores have around only 7 people on staff total, including the managers. So it can be hard to find someone to take your shift last minute.And you can't call out sick unless someone takes your shift - if you can't find anyone, or unless you're in like, the emergency room, then you HAVE to come to work. One time one of my assistant managers was forced to come to work with a debilitating migraine because none of the other three managers would/could take her shift, and I had to go to work with one of the worst flus I've ever had. The only other thing that I can think of is that it *can* get a bit catty at times. In order to get a sale, the moment someone walks through the door you have to 'stake your claim' on them, so to speak, by greeting them, and then as soon as you see them with two or more items in their hand, (and you have to keep an eye out), offer to get them a fitting room. Otherwise, another associate might get them a fitting room or help them get something off of the mannequin or answer a question they had, and can "steal" your sale. In that scenario, the best thing to do is, once the associate is alone, politely thank them for helping your customer. That kind of nicely says "Back up, chick, I had that customer first". But after that you need to stick EXTRA close to your customer (with out being over bearing or annoying or clingy). Because at some point, if the other associate really is helping that customer more than you, then they really do have a right to that sale at that point, regardless of who greeted them first (and vice versa). If you are caught up helping another customer, and so the other associate has to check your customer out at the register, try and work in a (genuinely) polite "Thank you, (associate name)" to reiterate that that customer is yours (so they can type in your number so that you get credit for the sale) or try to remember the customers name (you have to ask so you can put it on their fitting room door), so that, when the customer approaches the counter and you cannot check them out, so the other associate has to, then you can say "Hey, (customer name)! Did you find some cute stuff?" or "Did anything work, (customer name)?" or "I see you found some cute stuff, (customer name). Did those silver jeans fit well?" - which, again, subliminally says "I helped this customer". Please keep in mind that the majority of the time, none of your co workers are intentionally trying to steal your sale. They just might genuinely not know that you were helping them. And if nobody was helping the customer, then whoever checks them out has the right to the sale. We are just not allowed to ask "who was helping you?" to the customer.
