If the store wasn't making payroll managers would be forced to work 6 days a week. As an asst. dept manager I was working 45-50 hours a week. Many days I would be working til close than opening the store the next day. The company overworks their people. It would take 6 plus years to get into the corporate level. The culture and management place too large of an emphasis on sales and not enough attention is paid to the customers.
As a college graduate I only made 29k last year and that was working 45-50 hours a week. (Hardly enough to live on with student loans). We were constantly being micro-managed from the other managers in the store. I had 4 bosses telling me 4 different things.
Also, you can't think for yourself and make your own decisions. Everything needs approval from HDQ 's. If you do something new and unexpected you will told to follow the plan. The Plan-O-Grams rarely make sense and most of the time you don't have the product to fill the shelf.
I was "volunteered" several times to work store remodels that would take several weeks or months depending on the situation. That will happen when the GM is pressured to come up with their required number of "volunteers" per store for the project.
