Let me admit that many of my complaints apply to retail in general. If you have sales skills and are relatively intelligent, I strongly recommend you search for a company that's looking to hire entry level Account Executives or Account Managers. Go into an 8-to-5 sales job where you can have a regular schedule, benefits, and earn a bit more respect.
Scheduling: Irregular and varies week to week, must work holidays, extreme pressure to work when ill or injured, unless you're management it's hard to get scheduled enough hours to live off of, frequent calls to come in early/ come in late/ not come in, crazy pressure to cover for people when they're out (for legitimate and illegitimate reasons)
Management: Store and senior management appear to have never read a career, management, or psychology book, ever. They use disrespect as a tool to 'motivate' people, and unfortunately, it just carries down the line. I was horrified once when reading an email the District Manager had sent to my boss, the Store Manager. I could not believe an adult would ever be so condescending to another adult, and then to put it in writing where others could see! That was the moment I knew I would be quitting soon. That is NOT a company culture I can tolerate. Oddly, when I read that email, suddenly, the way that the Store Manager was constantly talking down to and belittling those below her made sense - she was just passing on the management she was receiving. It's a very vicious cycle.
Lack The Tools To Do The Job: Chico's is a retail clothing store, and they have beautiful clothes (see Pros!). Every so often, there are extra shifts to "re-do" the setup of the store, and the clothes you're supposed to be displaying have never arrived at the right time, or they arrived weeks ago so they're already sold out. Management makes a **huge** deal about whether the displays match the guide they gave you, but 90% of the time, store associates have no way to control the turnout.
