Pros
I worked at Michaels Stores Inc. for 9 years and loved my job before 2008. They were great about working with my student schedule and supporting the employees as real people.
Cons
After they were bought in about 07/08 it became a nightmare place to work, which showed drastically in their declining sales. They instituted computer-only scheduling software which consistently made mistakes (no supervisors to open, or too few people to close on a weekend, not honoring availability schedules, etc). Employees were treated like criminals. Uniforms were instituted (which is fine), but changed every few months, leaving min wage individuals to be responsible for buying an entire new wardrobe. They started a "point system" where 6 points got you fired immediately. You got points for clocking in early, or clocking out late. Yet you HAD to leave your apron on and assist customers while walking back to the timeclock, which would then cause you to be punished for clocking out late. Not to mention uncontrollable reasons. A worker once got a point because there was a tornado which caused him to be late. You also got points for calling in sick EVEN with a doctor's note, and EVEN if you were full-time with sick day pay (though I've since heard that's been changed). If you were sick for two days, you got a point for EACH day! The Store Manager at my store left when the company got bought out because he hated all the changes. The new Store Manager they put in after him didn't talk to anyone beyond his Assistant Managers and didn't know anyone else's names. He sat in the office all day and only came out for smoke breaks. He once called my dept, got me, then asked for my manager so he could tell HER something to tell ME. He's still the manager there. I'm glad I got out when I did. The company that now owns Michaels only bought it to flip it. They put in a new CEO ever so often who "shakes things up" rips out what the previous (and now fired) guy did, and enacts his own inane, useless rules trying to pick up the bottom line for his own bonuses. Employee morale is at a ridiculous low. They've been put through so much crap with no benefit to themselves that they just don't care anymore. I once heard someone say they sat on a conference call where the big boss told all the barely above minimum wage workers to bring him more sales because "I want a good bonus this year!" Just recently they made all the stores "fire" and "re-interview/hire" all their employees in a sort of employment musical chairs. Don't take a job here unless you have absolutely no choice.