Abercrombie & Fitch reviews

There is too heavy focus on recruiting!!! Also we have this diversity scorecard to make sure we are hiring enough minorities for front room associates and management... but the biggest thing was don't just hire and minority you have to hire "great looking" minority - they have to be "cast of" meaning so freaking hot we would actually ever consider letting them breathe the same air we breathe. We can hire A FEW of "us" if we're average looking but if the are minorities they better be "cast of". So... in response of the lawsuits, managers must take on the additional tasks of - on top of all the other stuff they already have us doing - having meetings around who's "hot" and where are we going to find "hot" people, taking a valuable asset off sales floor, a fully trained manager, and having them search the streets or local college campuses for more "hot" people, and spending our off time thinking about and actually looking for "hot" young looking people! The music is SO loud and the fragrance is strong that some days you will walk in and get headaches (if you don't like that sort of thing). Plus customers will complain about it which will only make you feel worse. They trick you during your training period thinking things will be a little less stressful - the first three months they have you following the store manager's schedule and you really only work 5 days and really have two full days off. Then I switched to my schedule... I have to go to an 8AM management meeting every Tuesday. I only get one full day off! (Friday) and I wake up at 6/7AM on my other off day (Tuesday) to go to a management meeting when I closed the night before and didn't get off until 11PM. I'm trying to do everything I just learned the past three months except I'm trying to do it sleep deprived - especially since it's nearly impossible to balance work/personal life - even with their two full days a week off, my coworkers barely do it. Irresponsible Employees Most employees are really young, naive, and others are just annoying - there are really only a few that are truly wonderful. I had one employee today who complained about how tired HE was.. he was tired of standing or something, Not to mention, this employee is NEW... he works 1 to 2 times a week for 4 or 5 hours. Are you serious kid? Grow up! Extremely rude customer base, then we get "disciplined" because we're not showing enough customer service. If a customer were to spit in our face they would want us to wipe it off and keep smiling. Some people list the employee discount as a con but it's really not. The redlines/clearance items are generally much cheaper than anything that's full price using our discount, since we can't used our discount on clearance prices. They generally treat the customers better than employees. (Which is why they focus much more heavily on internal loss prevention versus external loss prevention). Also these people have such lenient return policies that I have to return merchandise from 2008 - I'm not kidding. You have to be the manager, the janitor, the maintenance man, the merchandiser while being the loss prevention agent, the loss prevention agent, the model, the impacter, and a recruiter. The models and impacters will always complain to you about their minimum wage salary although there is NOTHING you can do about it. They don't even begin to understand that you don't even make 2 times more than they do yet you're expected to do 3 or 4 times more work, meaning the work of 3 or 4 associates at 1 time. We don't want to not tell you our salary because we're afraid you'll get mad at us..we don't want to tell you because it's embarrassing. A manager does the work of many people. Phone sales employees at cable and phone companies make the same amount of money as we do, if not more - and they get paid to do one thing: sale (plus they get to do it sitting down, not wearing flip flops that are bad for your feet - at least that's what the chiropractor said). Standing for 8/9 hours a day. 9 hours: if you stand the whole time you're there. 8 hours: if you sit on the office floor, on a box full of receipt paper, or on a step ladder because there isn't a break room and there isn't any chairs. (One of the higher managers actually asked what we needed chairs for.) After months of working here I was sooo afraid that this is how all jobs were or how all jobs would be. I was SO relieved when my aunt told me that this is far from the truth.

While they offer some great packages, it is like working in a fraternity or sorority. If you do not act or look a certain way, you tend to be out casted. It is not this way in every department just some of the more brand image departments such as merchandising, allocation and brand senses. You also have to understand that you are working for a single person's vision. While they try to emphasis team work, it's not really true. This company will be made or broken depending on what one person believes in. It's kind of hard to get on board and follow a company like that. Promotions are based on who you know and who you can suck up to as well. Unfortunately I was stuck in a department that ostracized you if you did not fit the correct mold. Myself being married, older (28), living in a suburb and not going out to drink every night, did not bode well in my department. Everybody lived in either downtown, short north or German village and with other A&F roommates. Everybody goes out with each other including senior management, if you don't get in with this crowd you will be out for the remaining time you're in the department. This crowd also tends to get favoritism. A slap on the wrist for someone means termination for a different person. This company is a huge clique. It is honestly like high school all over again, except it lasts the length of your career. You are also expected to work incredibly long hours. For people who want a life outside of A&F without other A&F associates in it, don't work here. You also aren't thanked for your long hours, and in fact if you actually do leave on time (between 530 and 6) it is severely frowned upon. Don't expect to have much of a home life.