Pros
- Good experience of what hard work is like - In-store career progression is okay for CV building - Teammates and (some) fellow managers can be really nice, I've made some lifelong friends here - Benefits scheme is quite good - Shifts can be enjoyable if you have the right number and calibre of staff, however...
Cons
- Stupidly unrealistic labour and sales targets meaning we are forced to send staff home even when there's cleaning etc. to be done - we can't even afford to pay someone to clean the dining area on a Friday night - Stores get filthy really quickly due to no investment in time for cleaning, yet they still expect everything to look brand new - Hours and shifts are horrendous, absolutely no form of routine except for store managers who decide their own shifts meaning everyone else's social life goes down the toilet - No overtime pay yet expected to stay on - base hours for salaried managers are 45/week which is tough in itself, expect to do 50+ every week and not be compensated or get the time back - Salary for what you're expected to do is ridiculous, assistant managers get about 20p more per hour than team leaders yet have quadruple the workload - Breaks? Ha. You'll be lucky if you get a break one shift a week due to the understaffing and constant pressure. 9+ hour shifts without sitting down are torture on the body