- Terrible pay. Sales associates started at a quarter above minimum wage, and that was in 2009. Few if any benefits for part timers.
- Register policies changed frequently and abruptly, with no notification to cashiers. I often didn't find out about a new policy until I was written up for not following it.
- Terrible communication standards overall. Policies would have been in affect for weeks before management got me the sign-off sheet, and then it was usually placed on my register near the end of my shift and I was told I needed to sign it before I left. Not a lot of time to read the thing or decide I genuinely wanted to sign off on it.
- Customers frequently felt betrayed by coupon policies, and the saturation of coupons meant that there was a big sense of entitlement around discounts. I think some of the discounting damaged the image of our products and store in the minds of our guests, too. Everything became cheap and inferior, including the staff.
- Cashiering physically and psychologically difficult. Full carts, long lines, angry guests and an endlessly ringing telephone. No communication about the whereabouts of management or backup cashiers. No hope of a station change during the day, either--even if you had eight carts full of merchandise that needed to be returned to the sales floor.
- Cashiers need manager approval for most functions besides ringing basic sales and line voids. We have no way to get help besides paging specific staff members by name over the store intercom. If that staff member was unavailable, you were left waiting at the register, sometimes for five or more minutes, with an increasingly irate guest and no key.
- At my store, most associates hated cashiering. Even when we had more than one cashier on duty, no one would respond to pages for backup.
- A lot of the new hires were insubordinate. They'd be texting out on the floor, hiding in the break room, being really rude to customers. Department heads in our store were getting fired over not exceeding sales goals, but these staff members never even got disciplined unless they weren't obeying the dress code or clocked in 6 minutes late.
- Shrinking payroll meant that, by the time I left, we were often closing with a shift manager, a front end supervisor, a cashier, and one person in framing. FES position was eliminated this spring. I wonder what they're closing with, now.
- Last year, hours could vary from 4 to 34 one week to the next. This year, hours increasingly on the low side, and every shift was an understaffed nightmare. Messy store, messy bathrooms, no 15 minute breaks, and you couldn't get anyone to take your drawer down until your shift was scheduled to end.
- It's said elsewhere, but let me reiterate: CHRISTMAS IS INTOLERABLE. In 2009, at least, we had enough staff to handle the crowds, but not in 2010. We were staffed like SO season, though at least 15 people were hired. Under scheduled store meant you were always getting called in, too. Manager who'd call me in didn't seem to look at availability sheets before calling, either, as I often got called on days I wasn't available to work.
- Summer last year, as an environmental incentive, the air conditioning was nearly shut off. Lots of guest complaints, sick staff members, terrible shifts. I left before it started getting hot this year.
- Increasingly micromanaged the appearance of employees; uniform standards got increasingly stringent as starting wage lowered--in my store, "unnatural" hair colors or unusual/visible piercings or tattoos weren't okay.
- Point system is too unforgiving, even as someone who rarely called out.
- It sure seemed to me like the most controversial policies and restructuring efforts were rolled out shortly after our annual employee satisfaction surveys. Gee, I wonder why.
