Pros
-The management is very respectful to all employees and regularly provides job feedback, which always focuses on the positive rather than the negative. In fact, store managers are often criticized by the their superiors for not giving recognition when it is due. - The hours are very flexible. If you need a day off or have a problem with the schedule, the manager is always willing to help you out, if you let him/her know a couple of days in advance. Additionally, if your availability ever changes, managment is normally willing to keep you on staff for whenever you are able to work (even if you can only work a day or two a week). - Unless you make a habit of calling in (more than once or twice a month, I would say), management usually does not have a problem with it, providing that there is someone available to work your shift (and most Ross Stores are well-staffed, so it usually won't be a huge deal).
Cons
-The pay. Sales associates get minimum wage, and depending on where you work, this may not be nearly worth the amount of work that you are actually doing--especially on weekends when the stores are swamped and not enough people are scheduled. Many times in the year that I've worked with Ross, I've felt like just walking out and going to work as a waitress--where at least I would get tips on busy weekends, rather than flat rate minimum wage. -The hours. Unless your store has a rare opening in a full-time position, all hires start out as part-time sales associates. This means that you could work anywhere from 8-35 hours a week (depending on the needs of your store), with 16-20 being the average. There are times when I've been extremely overjoyed to look at my schedule and see that I'm getting 25 hours. I typically bring home $215-$250 every two weeks, and $320+ is considered to be really good. Because I am a college student who lives at home, this isn't bad pay for me. But if you are a single mother or solely responsible for paying for rent, utilites, a car, gas, etc, this job alone won't cut it. -The motivation of your coworkers, brought on by low expectations of management. Though everyone that I work with is really nice, they have very little motivation. I blame this on the low expectations of management. Because most Ross associates are between the ages of 18-25 and either have another job or are going to college, none of them expect to make a long-term career out of Ross. Management is aware of this, so they have extremely low expectations. Basically, as long as you show up for your shift and do the bare minimum that is require of your job description, you are pretty much golden. You don't even have to show up on time.Ross is probably the only company in which you can clock in 10 minutes late every couple of shifts and still be employed. In fact, a few employees at my Ross have been an hour late a couple of times every month and call in once every couple of weeks and still have a job. So you can pretty much be late/sick a couple of times a month and still be good, as long as you notify your manager ahead of time. -The customers are very disrespectful, even when compared with other stores. Everyone who's worked retail knows what I mean when I say that the customers can be rude, disrespectful, and downright hostile--but Ross is the worst. I work in a middle class area, so it's not that the customers are either rich and snobby or poor and uneducated--but they behave like the latter. Customers often let their children run wild, messing up store displays and heckling other shoppers. At least once a week, a customer asks me to "keep an eye" on their kid while they shop, and then gets huffy when I refuse-given that babysitting is not in my job description. Shoppers have no regard whatsoever for the neatness of the store and will look you right in the eye and throw stuff to the ground. We have several occasions a month in which a customer will allow their child to spill a drink, vomit, or use the restroom on the store floor; and they will simply chuckle about it and walk away. They are just very unpleasant to work with in general.