Hours were constantly fluctuating and were usually cut. To me, being a college student, that was just less discretionary spending money for me, but I could only imagine how much that would hurt the employees who had the misfortune of relying on this job for an actual living. Employee recognition wasn't sincere or well-thought out--if you can get your name drawn out of a hat, you're a good employee, nevermind actually evaluating who would be fit for employee of the month. Check-out area was not designed for optimum transaction processing, which employees are evaluated on (e.g., clothes hangers were in a cubby and you had to bend and stoop to put them away; register computers were from the late 90's and were clunky to work with and slowed everything down). There was a lot of micromanaging from a few of the Front-End Supervisors...one even threw a sort of a fit in front of me and a customer because I removed a perfume from a security case to let a customer smell at least something from the box to get an idea of the scent. Instead of pulling me aside and informing me of the "perfume policy" I have never heard of, she puts me on the spot in front of a customer and acted like I killed her puppy. As far as the actual managers, I've had no problems with them.
You may have an official title, e.g. "Cashier" or "Fitting Room Attendant" but you wear all hats throughout your shift. Your official duties, PLUS restocking, store organization, being a Loss Prevention stand-in (LP's get paid $1-3 more, but do nothing other than stand at the door to greet people and walk around the store once an hour. They do no actual store functions whatsoever, and we still had people stealing right from under our noses...). Ross is known for disorganization, and because of that, my good work ethic of doing a job well done got the best of me, because I would put SO MUCH effort into getting things organized, such as the shoes--which are not in boxes like 99% of other stores but instead freely placed on a shelf--only to have the area look like an F5 tornado hit it an hour later.
After almost a year, I gave up the job and moved on. I was annoyed that my hours would fluctuate radically (e.g. 16 hours one week, four hours the next). I did too much for little pay and there was no room for advancement (if you worked there long enough, you COULD get promo'ed to FES for like a dollar above minimum, but take on EVEN MORE responsibilities. Maybe that's why they were so jumpy.). I am just a college student who will eventually move on to a salaried CAREER in a field I enjoy...I am not going to be a wage slave like most other Ross employees and even managers are, unfortunately. I'm sure other retailers are the same way...
