Long hours, shift work, management, short breaks, weekends, and holidays.
A typical workday was highly structured and regimented. Cycle Counts (Inventory checks) were preformed daily from 9am to 9:45am before store opening. Opening prep (vacuuming, straightening, facing, inventory replenishment, kitchen duties) were performed every evening. Great deal of training available; the more ambitious you were, the more training you received.
Hardware/software training was extensive: vendor new product training, technical training, Micro Center University training, sales training, customer service training, amongst other trainings.
Management was horrible. Management was only interested in building their careers on your back. It was like being in the Army.
Micro Center's Credo in brief:
Take care of the customer.
Take care of the merchandise.
Take care of the store.
Grow yourself and those around you.
Anytime you stepped outside of the regimented policies and procedures (which you had to know inside out to protect yourself), if you could defend your choices and actions by referring to one of the aforementioned statements in the credo, you would survive. If not you would be brought in front of a Management Tribunal/Hearing consisting of all store management with no representative other than yourself to present your case.
Co-workers for the most part were great. There were many levels of expertise and knowledge and so long as you were trying to help yourself, co-workers were willing to share and exchange information to bring you up to their level of expertise.
Hardest part of the job was getting caught between 2 "A" types: the customer and the management. Think of it as a knife in the chest and a knife in the back.
Most enjoyable parts of the jobs was the sharing of knowledge, teamwork, vendor discounts, employee discounts, and training/knowledge base.