Pros
Love seeing new product before other people get a chance! It definitely gives me some time for pre-shopping. We're encouraged to use fragrance testers throughout work, so I always go home smelling nice and fresh! If you are scheduled to work at open, you can come early and use testers to apply your makeup. Maybe not the most sanitary, but it helps you familiarize yourself with the product you're selling others. A lot of young, friendly staff.
Cons
Incredibly incompetent management. Had a manager who loved to leave passive aggressive notes everywhere instead of taking up the issue with people herself. Would post online reviews of the site on the board in the break room and when someone would criticize her, she'd make sure to defend herself. There is absolutely no training whatsoever! I've been called to the register multiple times when the line is too long and I have to tell the manager sorry, but I haven't been trained on that yet. They just walk away and find someone else. Nobody finds it necessary to educate you on products, either, so when people have questions (What is a BB cream? Why should I use a toner?) you will get completely different responses, and often times they'll be completely wrong. Upper management is cutting hours in all stores! Often times there will only be one cashier on shift, along with one, maybe two? Prestige team members! I was originally getting 20+ hours a week when I started working, but as of recently, I'm lucky if I can pull together 8 on a paycheck! However, the 6+ managers per store will definitely make sure that their full 40 hours are taken care of. I was under the hopeful impression that maybe by working at a beauty store, I might get some product out of it. Maybe manufacturers would send us free samples or.. something! It's not really unheard of. I've seen people in Prestige go home with $50 Bare Minerals palettes, but I haven't seen anyone else receive the same treatment. I've actually been told to throw out over $1,000 worth of unopened product because they were being replaced with new things. They weren't offered to anybody at all. A personal anecdote that appropriately sums up my whole experience: For our Christmas presents, we were given a little goodie bag! I was super excited.. until I opened it. They gave me used testers for Christmas. Cream blushes that looked melted, face powder 4 shades darker than anyone even working in the store, a half empty eye shadow trio, a couple old GWPs and about 3/4s a bottle of what I can only politely describe as "granny perfume." It's the thought that counts.. but in this case, the thought was "I don't really care about you, take this off my hands." I've been discouraged from facing product (making everything nice and neat, lining product up with SKUs, etc.) and told to "hurry up and just get it out." Never before this job have I ever actually been told that making the store nice and neat should not be at a top priority. We actually have a note in the warehouse telling us about how "sloppy" our front facings are and that we need to clean them up a bit! (Written by the same manager who told me that as long as product is on the floor, people will buy it, so it doesn't need to be clean....)
