The store is severely understaffed. You have one person working a job that at least two or three people should be working. You would think with Office Depot trying to build a reputation of being very customer friendly they would have sufficient staffing. Nope. Customers walk out of the store everyday because you have one cashier or CPD associate during a rush and they have to wait in line for 30 minutes! Not to mention if you want to get a sip of water (cause we can't keep it by our register) or go to the bathroom within your 6-9 hour shift you're SOL. Also, don't count on getting your 30 minute break. Make sure you are over hydrated before work because you will be working long nine hour shifts without stepping away from your department at all.
Don't work in the Copy Center if you find comfort in routine jobs. It's different every single day and you will literally have someone walk in at least a few times per week with requests for things you've never done or have no idea how to do. It's bad enough that you won't be thoroughly trained, but the fact that you offer literally hundreds of products and services of which are all done in different ways makes it that much more difficult.
The schedule is VERY inflexible. There are only two other people that work in my department, both go to school at night. I was literally vomiting before work with a fever and still had to go in, otherwise there would be no one working the Copy Center. If you need a day or two off, be prepared, everyone will hate you. Also, I've needed a specific day of the week off and I established this with management when I got hired. They still schedule me for that day anyway.
Two words: minimum wage. I definitely put in more than I receive. Only one raise per year which is 3% of your current pay. That comes out to about only 14¢ where I live.
The monthly rewards for Employee of the Month and Bravo Cards - management never keeps up with. It's been months since they've done it. If they actually did it like they are supposed to, the Employee of the Month would get a $100 bonus and the Bravo winner would get a $75 bonus.
Office Depot attracts the worst customers. They are impatient, ungrateful, and they expect you to hold their hand while they walk through the store. The world revolves around them and they don't care that there are other customers in the store that need your assistance as well. God forbid you help a customer that was there before them. Also, for some reason they think they should never have to pay full price for anything and they don't respect company policy. They will deny a protection plan for a product and call months later because their computer broke and expect us to do something. Customers are always conning the store as well.
There is no chance for advancement. I work with people who have been with the company for 5-30 years and they still have the same job they started with.
Customers are often left disappointed because we never have anything in stock.
I could go on infinitely. In essence, if you like feeling like you're a chicken running around with it's head chopped off - go for it!
