- No payroll. It's almost always you and a cashier except in higher volume stores.
- Must micro-manage using Appleseed program. Problem is unless you're a high volume store you're not micro-managing anyone but yourself. You're discouraged from doing anything except managing and pencil pushing. However you cannot expect your one cashier to cashier, stock your shelves, keep your store clean, and assist customers themselves, right? That means you have to do it all, plus your managerial duties.
- Heavy emphasis on freight processing. Must receive and process your truck within 48 hours, but there's no stock crew. Management is your stock crew, essentially your opening manager only because you're not supposed to stock in the evening. But remember you're discouraged from stocking yourself, but have no choice.
- Very difficult to train, coach, and develop your staff properly. It's all basically on the job training, learn as you go, if you make a mistake you're held accountable whether you've received adequate training or not. Not really fair, but it's how it's done.
- I'm embarrassed by the poor customer service we are forced to provide. Everything is just so fast-paced and short-staffed you cannot adequately fulfill the needs of the customers. Making a customer wait for assistance is unacceptable. Not because we don't want to but because we just physically cannot be three places at once.
- We are scheduled 50 hours per week, but only paid for 45, which means we are supposed to take an hour lunch. Try taking one. Try even going to the restroom for 2 minutes. Not happening. More often than not you end up working 60+ hours a week with no breaks.
- Turnover from sales associates right on up through regional management has been incredible. In my 7 years I have yet to have the same boss for more than a consecutive year.
- Fixed 2% annual raises for part-time employees, full-time assistants vary 1-3%, but 3% means you are the absolute perfect in every way, and store managers don't really get raises unless you've exceeded expectations in every metric and core competency. These are very rare. Simply meeting expectations isn't enough for an increase.
- Be very prepared to run around the store like a maniac all day long. Must have almost superhuman levels of energy, be able to prioritize on the fly, and execute as quickly and efficiently as possible. Be a machine running on all cylinders at all times. No breaking down, no wasting time. Definitely not for everyone, probably not for most.
