I have been with this company for 3 years as a part-time sales associate. I requested a raise a few weeks back and was declined. Let me say this, I have truly went beyond what is required of me as an employee. I often will deliver shoes for customers to another store about 50 miles away because my college is in close proximity of the store. Also, if someone goes on vacation at this other store, or calls off sick... I will travel to work there so they aren't short handed. I have requested I get paid mileage for my travel to this store, yet was declined. Also, at my regular store we have had 4 full-time people quit because of the unprofessional atmosphere our manager promotes. Guess who was there to fill there hours... I did... I was working 35-39.75 a week (God forbid an employee goes over 40 hours). I have always been the type of person to go above and beyond, and have ALWAYS been rewarded in some way.. whether it be a "thank you", or a little incentive. I was declined my raise, and was told that my raise is built in to my "sales commission". Folks, let me tell you... there commission system is a complete joke. Let's put it this way... I have to sell $200.00 worth of shoes every hour for 20-30 hours to even make an extra .50 cents on the hour (my pay is minimum wage). So basically for every $1,000 dollars they put in their pocket they will "generously" give you $1.00.
If you get a job here you also will not get any breaks whatsoever. Also, we close at 9:00, and get paid until 9:30 (to perform all closing duties..Vacuum the store, Balance the drawer, Complete all their paper work, and transport the deposit to the bank). If we happen to get a lingering customer, and we stay past 9:30 we are NOT allowed to take any extra payable time. Where's the bank where we drop off our nightly deposits you ask? Well... it use to be the bank inside Walmart which is right beside our store, makes since right? For some reason our store decided to switch banks and we now have to travel to a bank that is 5 miles away from our store, and personally I have to backtrack because of where I live.. so it is about 10 miles round trip extra travel for us, and about 15-20 minutes in time that we donate, yes DONATE to the company. You think this company would pay us the extra 15 minutes, or reimburse us for the gas it takes to get to the bank... NOPE. On top of all this our store has the lowest payroll % in the district... it is required to be between 13%-14%.. ours is at a steady 7%-8%. It's not like our store is struggling to keep its head above water. I understand that there are all kinds of cost involved with running a business... but come on...
If you are a part-time associate your hands will be tied behind your back.. you will not be allowed to do anything unless someone is babysitting you, even at that you still may not be allowed to do certain things. For instance a simple return comes to the store, I'm not allowed to do returns... Now here is the funny part... I have literally trained 3 full time "key holders" on how to carry out there duties.... Oh yeah, they get paid a dollar on the hour more than I. If I'm working with them and a problem arises guess who figures out the situation... that part-timer that isn't allowed to do anything.
Employee Discount you ask? Well you get a whopping 10% off of anything that is not already marked down msrp. About 80% of our merchandise is marked down before it even hits the sales floor.. If it's not marked down directly out of the box, then it will be in about 1 month. So basically, if you are an employee here don't expect a discount.
This company also promotes a VERY VERY unprofessional atmosphere... I will not even go into details on this one because many of you would not believe the things this company does that are unethical.
I know I have griped a lot, and I'm sorry for the negativity... I wish I could find good things to say about my employer. I would love to brag about them and tell you how great of a place it is to work.
Over the past few years I have generated a lot of return business for them and have met many new people. I am open to our customers how this company treats us, and a lot of them see the unprofessional atmosphere that is promoted by our manager.. Remember Shoe Show... The customers sign your pay check... the Sales associates keep the customers coming back.
All in all folks... I understand the power is in my hands... If you don't like how you are being treated by an employee than the simple fix is to move on and get another job... I will be graduating college in one year, and trust me... I'm already looking for another employer...
