Don't Expect To Just Ring People Up
Pros
As a young musician, I applied to this job because it seemed like the perfect fit for someone who loves music. Cool, a music store, it's retail, just ringing people up and doing some other duties once and a while, get cool discounts too: NICE.––Jackpot. Well... Yes. It is all that + a lot more, more than an 18yr old would expect who's friends at other retail stores said retail was just running cashiers, putting things away, and helping customers find items put in plain view. The truth is, even as a part-timer, the amount of work required of you to successfully stay with the company is the equivalent of a late 40's individual at his serious job having trouble balancing life with work and work with life. I am possibly exaggerating, to make my point, but simply put, it is entirely rather intense. There are (at times ridiculously high) sales goals that must be met or else it is off with your head; constant check-ups with the higher-ups that will ask why is it that you haven't met your daily forecast (at moments, micro-managing-esque) and test you on product/store/marketing (aka, the current promos) and if you mess up, well get ready to hear it from your manager; monthly, sometimes bi-monthly, district meetings you HAVE to attend before the store opens (and mind you, probably not were you're located, but rather, at some 1hr long destination); bi-yearly big sales events that are super stressful you have to prepare weeks before the event or else it is off with your head; various financial contracts, the kind you'd do if you were taking out a mortgage loan or car loan (kidding, kinda, but yes, they're tough cookies), and if you mess up, well... it's off with your head; large truck unloading; managing and scheduling in-store lesson accounts, cold calling, and don't get me started on "rental season" (the busiest time of the year for the store). Oh oh oh, and, almost forgot, how could I have forgotten: you LITERALLY have to learn how to use some technical back-end database system the company spent bricks on that ended up being worse than the previous program they used that was much more intuitive and made for retail and not IT nerds, which, not to mention, only worked sometimes if the moon and the sun were aligned.
Cons
Even the full-timers I knew at this fine establishment thought the demands of the company were overwhelming (many contemplating offing themselves, having breakdowns, etc). All that has been said, aforementioned, is expected of part-timers––admittedly, to a lesser-degree... a slightly lesser-degree. So, where am I going with all this babble, burble, banter, bicker bicker bicker Brouhaha, boulder dash, ballyhoo ? For what is required of one: the pay should be better. It is okay, and one could have even said great back when the company was still a small non-franchise business; but by today's standards, where one could make more working as a cashier at Target or even at a posh upper-class grocery store (with WAYYYY fewer responsibilities) it is frankly sub-par. Raises you may ask? Often times, it does not even cover the US rate of inflation, so ironically, or peradventure, un-ironically, you actually get a yearly reduction, not a raise LOL. For the love of music, I implore you, I BESEECH YOU, to seriously consider all this and toss aside, discard, undo, your over-romanticized notions of working at a music store. Ah, yes, to be young again, I remember how in my salad days feeling with all my heart that working at a Music and Arts store was the best thing ever, however, that proved to be quite ephemeral and short-lasting, by month 3, being nothing more than the silly notions of a young school boy still in his salad days. To some, all that has been said, could be cons, but to others, pros! Cons, in that you'll be overworked and underpaid; pros, in that you'll gain valuable people and work skills. Oh, plus cool––not great–– discounts. It would be a gross understatement to say working here is like any other retail store.
