Pros
I enjoyed working with my direct team. there were other positives, but they were overwhelmingly overshadowed during the final year I was there.
Cons
I endured four months of nearly daily sexual harassment from my store leader. I finally reported him to HR, and was made by my DL to feel as though I had messed up. He spoke with colleagues saying I shouldn’t have reported (manager), that I should have gone to him so he could ‘have a talk’ with him. It ended up coming out during the investigation that this store lead had already been moved a few times for this exact reason, and when that was uncovered, our previous DL (who at that point was DL in another state) also ended up losing his job for covering the behavior. I was offered no support or counseling to process everything after my SL was fired. But my DL did continue to speak highly of him after he was fired, and would frequently bring him up around people who would then ask me why this man was still being spoken so highly of. In the last year that I worked for the company (which I worked at for 10 years), I became so depressed and suicidal. I was barely functioning, my family was being affected, and I felt like I was drowning every time I had to walk into the building. I requested a transfer to a different store THREE TIMES (twice while the abuse was happening, which were denied). The final request was shortly after my SL was fired and I was trying to avoid checking myself in to the hospital. My DL told the store manager communicating my transfer request and reasons why that “She just needs to get over it and deal with it. This is her store/manager, that’s that”. I had already put up with bonuses being cut, not getting a basic cost of living increase despite being underpaid in the district and having (at the time) one of the top performing salons in the company. But to be treated so awfully during a time when the company should have been providing follow up care to the dozen women who were all effected by the man who was fired was so hard after all the personal sacrifices I had made to further the success of our salon made me realize the job is not worth it.
