Pros
You'll learn retail, as much as you're willing to put the effort in to learn--and it may take real effort, so don't take this job unless you are willing Met some fun, nice colleagues--caring and concerned and kind and willing to teach Fun to make women feel good about themselves Physically active Easy to accomodate to personal schedule; you can make the part-time work Some of the clothes are really nice, and you can build a great wadrobe at reduced prices Mistakes were taken in stride. Management understood they were not intentional. Learned and mastered a rather complex set of tasks Diversified tasks
Cons
Cut commissions (incentive) as an (incentive)--an odd strategy to motivate! The culture of giving employees something, and then taking it away (e.g. discount reduction) is troubling. If you have a 4-hour/5-hour shift, you may find a good 1/2 of it allocated to non-commissionable tasks such as ambassador (i.e., greeter), locate order fulfillment, making calls, straightening up, signage, mark-downs--your proportion of tasks to hours is not weighted to the hours you work! As such, many pt employees "blow-off" tasks, leaving 2x as much work for other employees who view this as part of the job. Sadly, no real down-side to doing this. Some associates are clearly at Chico's for themselves, not for the team The cash register system does not always function in terms of taking POS discounts, which causes havoc at the register Great training on paper but the delivery of that training is a bit up in the air (if the store isn't busy and a manager is available, you'll get trained). Better trained associates are often put into the position of correcting mistakes of lesser trained associates. The training is over-simplified and does not address the many real-life issues--particularly coupons and returns Commission structure and scheduling often create a tense, competitive environment Management often does not know what's going on with promotions and coupons, again creating havoc at register. Deep couponing makes earning commission very difficult Employees are called upon to re-stage the store, about once a month; again, these are non-commissionable hours that, due to scheduling, often replace commissionable hours. NOT FAIR. Employees Required to build and maintain customer base, by making many phone-calls, but rarely allocated the hours to do that, unless there is an upcoming promotion. Employees required to clean bathrooms, without adequate materials, instruction or safety protocol Good work never recognized. Bad work always recognized. Corporate often does not support stores in terms of adequate supplies needed to deliver either MAPS or make tasks doable in a more efficient manner Scheduling and size of store often make it impossible to deliver MAPS to all customers, at all times Deep discounting has created a bargain basement mentality. Overall "vibe" of no real concern for PT employees. All are viewed as expendable and replacable, and temporary. No one seems to really care about the "revolving door" of PT employees No vehicle for employees to discuss with management issues and problems they are having, in order to reach consistent resolution. For example, the handling of many transactions is truly discretionary--different associates handle differently--and it would be good for everyone to discuss and reach consensus, and a consitent way of handling. The product quality is getting worse and worse, particularly the jewelry, which breaks or turns pink