Pros
Family environment No real pressure to meet goals and deadlines (within reason) Fun associates Good customers overall Associate discount with opportunity to add more coupons Recognition for a great job (I've seen this vary store to store but thankfully mine is pretty good at it) Higher-ups actually know and listen to store associates and recognize them
Cons
The pay. This is definitely not a job where you can make a comfortable living, even in the area supervisor role. I feel like my pay is not reflected through my work. Honestly, I feel as if I don't get paid what I'm worth; if I didn't have a great team and my store wasn't a fun place to be, I'd have left a long time ago. The raises we receive are minimal. I've been full-time for almost ten years and with insurance and taxes, I practically take home the exact same amount I did eight years ago. We need to do better with sticking to our policies especially regarding customers. There are a LOT of customers who get away with bending the rules and they KNOW who will do it for them. Customers don't seem to get how lenient we actually are compared to other stores. Slightly unrelated, but there should be a requirement for associates in online customer service or the corporate sector to have worked in a store location for at least two years. Communication from/to the stores from those areas don't seem to be rooted in customer service from a store perspective. While taking time off isn't generally a pain, full-time associates should be able to have at least one holiday off maybe every other year or something. I'm not from where I live so I would love to go home for Christmas or Thanksgiving one year. I've not been home for either in ten years. Granted, I know this is retail, but that would be a great perk as an associate to get to go home when everyone knows you have no family here.