Pros
It's a job. The employee discount is pretty good - 30% off regular price and clearance items plus 50% off of one item per month.
Cons
Pay is not great (normally $8 range, which is reduced to $6 after taxes). "Bonuses" are typically very small and rare. With gas at $4 a gallon this is simply not enough. Management is very political and practices favoritism in almost every store I have been to. The store is set up very illogically and forces employees to keep things in "order" even though to customers everything appears to be arranged strictly by size. Long story short: expect to constantly fight with the racks and get blamed for shoes that customers misplaced. You will work alone a lot. Expect to unpack shipment, help customers, scan and tag shoes, and ring people up at the register for 4-5 hours by yourself. Also expect to get yelled at if you do not complete these tasks, regardless of how busy the store is. Most customers know what they want or would like to be left alone, but associates are still forced to hound them by going through the "customer journey". I don't see why I should be required to show a second shoe, try to sell socks, hair accessories, and shoe care to an old man who just wants a pair of slippers. This is annoying to the customer and awkward for the associate. Associates are punished for doing returns, even though it's company wide policy to accept returns for any reason. My manager frequently asked me to discuss my personal life with her and would become offended and irritable when I didn't share information or tell her what she wanted to hear. Gossip was big in that store.