Pros
Pay was pretty solid for the job. Started out as a baker at $9.50, then $11 as a shift leader, and even had three 50 cent raises with another one due in September. Free cookie per shift and half off all products. Benefits are offered to certain employees. Some of these include health, vision, and dental insurance, along with 401k. Some of the employees were great to work with.
Cons
Some of the employees were bad to work with, and management didn't seem to care about the repeated complaints from customers and fellow employees. As long as the store opened and cookies were sold they could not have cared less about our store. Very corporate. Security system is installed and monitored at all times, with the excuse being for the safety of the employees. 99% of the time this led to documentation of a worker doing something the company didn't want them to do, such as checking the schedule not in uniform. I personally don't see an issue with this but I guess it is an issue to them. Honestly, it felt like we were set up to fail. Example: our freezer could barely hold the minimum number of supplies we were required to order, so on truck days we always had to do something we weren't supposed to do, such as putting boxes on the ground in the freezer. When we asked management what to do in that situation, we were told, "You need to find a way to make it all fit." Speaking of truck days, we had to carry each box by hand from outside into the store, while somehow watching the store. I have no idea how we were expected to reasonably do this, since the truck always showed up almost two hours before the second employee got to the store. Anytime the company can cut hours, they will. They actually tried to implement a new policy for each September that states any employee may only work three shifts a week. This was made to counteract the high turnover rate of employees that each store goes through every fall, but all it would really end up doing is punish the long-time employees. Thankfully, they ended up changing this policy before it went live, but it's a very recent example of how this company only cares about their money. As a shift leader, you'd think I was in a supervisor position, but I held no actual authority to really do anything. It felt like if anything went wrong, I was there to take the blame, and that's the purpose of having designated shift leaders. It felt like a fancy job title where they pay you more because you may get documented for something you have no control over. Also, if other employees repeatedly break rules and you ask them to stop (such as not wearing a uniform, leaving their bike in the store lobby, etc.) they usually times do not because you don't have any actual authority. However, if upper management finds out they're breaking these rules, the shift leader also gets reprimanded. I was literally laughed at by a biker once when I informed him we are not allowed to keep our bikes in the store lobby. Thanks for having my back, management!