sales associate

assistant manager

store manager

retail assistant manager

seasonal associate

Banter-By-Piercing-Pagoda

Banter is part of a company that owns several other jewelry brands. There's a lot to the company that just doesn't work. For starters, the title of "Store" Manager is very misleading. Every location is a Kiosk. Not all Kiosks are created equal or the same. Some are newer and larger, others are older and smaller. All Kiosks are mall based. If you're in a slow mall, goals seem impossible to make. If you're in busy mall, you'll feel like a trapped zoo animal when people swarm around you with demands. Some malls even have multiple Banter Kiosks within seeing distance of each other which makes things extremely competitive and produces high school drama. The company saw huge sales and revenue increases post-COVID where most locations surpassed sales greatly. While that was good for the time, it has made current expectations extremely unrealistic to meet to the point where the company has lowered goals and stores still won't make the month to bonus.

Banter is not just retail and jewelry; it's a sales job in every sense of the word. The common misconception being a Kiosk is that you'll be working single coverage shifts because it's a slower cashiering job. If you're applying because you're looking for a job where you'll be sitting on your phone most of the day burning through your shift, think again. If you aren't driven to succeed this is NOT the job for you. The company has nonnegotiable "3 for 3 + payment options" metrics you are responsible for meeting EVERY shift. Every single shift you work you are to meet a personal sales goal, piercing goal, ESA, (damage protection) goal, and payment options goal. Failure to be "3 for 3 + PO" is grounds for termination. You won't always be the only one working which can make sales extremely competitive. If you don't think you'll like piercing you need not apply. Even SMs are required to do daily piercings starting on infants 2 months old. Every single piece of jewelry you sale, you are pressured to attach the ESA fee. An ESA is damage protection that will cover any damage (outside of lost) for a single year as long as the customer still has the item. For every 10 transactions you do, you are required to obtain at least a credit card sign up or a lease sign up.

The longer you work here, the more you'll realize it's just not the best structured of a company. You are told to get customers to pay the extra for a single year ESA, just don't tell them it doesn't cover lost. The ESA is only suppose to be valid for a year, but you'll be forced to honor it to obtain more sales and ESA metrics. The biggest issue with this is customers will treat the ESA as leverage that allows them to exchange items for life which is NOT the purpose at all. Banter pushes and pushes for you to get credit card sign ups yet no one ever gets approved. While you still get credit for the app, you're not seeing any sales for the sometimes hard work of getting the customer to sign up in the first place. Pagoda also has a leasing option which is way more trouble than what it's worth. A customer could get approved and max out which is great for sales, but leasing opens up a huge can of worms that can result in huge customer service issues. The biggest issue is no items bought on a lease are eligible for ESAs which means any damage is on the customer to deal with. If a customer buys 10 items, and want's to return 1, you'll need to call and return the full lease and open up a new one. Not only is this very time consuming, but it can result in the customer not getting reapproved and you've now taken the return for items they still have.

The company has started hiring professional Body Piercers. Body Piercers are the most protected assets (even more than SMs) but can also be the most lazy because they feel they shouldn't have to also sale even though they are apart of your payroll. None of it was really thought out as most locations still do not have a BP because the company will expect you, the SM, to recruit for your Kiosk. Finding a BP is like finding a needle in a haystack. BPs will REFUSE to pierce with the gun, so you'll still be expected to pierce ear lopes, cartilages, and noses. (Cartilages and noses are NOT to be pierced with the gun and can cause huge customer service and piercing issues, but you won't have a choice.)

A typical day as Store Manager will be acting as a GM, ensuring your Kiosk is running fully operationally, while juggling your own "3 for 3 + PO" metrics. The set up for the SM position doesn't currently make a lot of sense. The company wants you leading by example in metrics, but you have a whole location and team you are responsible for overseeing and developing. Not only that, while no one gets commission, any metrics you get is only taking opportunity away from your team that NEEDS those metrics to perform for the job. The company wants you in store selling and overseeing, yet you'll be on video call after video call after video call either out of the Kiosk or from home. The SM is an hourly position, but overtime is allowed, so expect to be working and bothered even on your days off. SMs are to work at least the first Sunday of every month to start off strong, every Monday (morning) for Manager calls and full store counts, every Wednesday for shipment, and every Friday and Saturday, (Closing at least the last Saturday of every month) and 2 out of your 5 shifts MUST be closing shifts. Your two days off are not suppose to be in a row and store schedules MUST be approved by your DM before being posted. DMs will not approve your schedule if it seems "set" or "recurring" or does not meet SM requirements. Even though you know what's best for your store, your DM will ultimately have final say in your locations schedule and hiring.

There are many operational tasks such as jewelry counts (for LP), BOPIS/SFS, and Clienteling. You will be pushed to obtain every customers information to store it and use later for outreach purposes. Online appointments are now a thing, but shouldn't be. It could be a busy sales Saturday and suddenly you'll have a customer approach telling you that they are there for their piercing appointment. Not only may the appointment not be shown in your booking system, it easily could be a 30 min wait until someone is actually available to pierce which defeats the purpose of booking in the first place and only causes customer complaints.

The hardest part of the job will depend on your team. Banter seems to attract lazy, broken, people who assume they will be a cashier rather than a sales person/piercer. If you don't have a strong ASM and supportive DM, you'll drowned trying to maintain expectations by yourself. Banter will expect YOU to work open-close 7 days a week if needed. There is no work/life balance at the SM level. You will feel pressured to come in on your days off, even with your children, because your store needs you. While the pay seems good at first, it won't take you long to realize there are other company's that offer the Assistant Manager level more. The SM should be salaried and offered more a year to make the expectations worth it. Make sure to negotiate a higher wage as you'll find not all SMs are paid equally. Currently, I would only recommend Banter to a first time SM for the experience, or someone that wants to return to the SM level after taking a step back. While many have started out part time and turned this into a full time career, even going onto a DM, if you have extensive external credentials, this isn't the company you'll wanna be at long term. The company tries to come off as a professional jewelry store, but in reality operates and attracts those that treat it like a laid back piercing shop. (Both employees and customer base)

The company that owns Banter recently purchased another company to its brand. To save on costs, Banter laid off ALL Associates who weren't 3 for 3 + PO. This has resulted in most Kiosks being extremely short staffed and the SM required to work alone 12 hour days, almost 7 days a week. DMs either get fired or quit before they learn enough to truly assist you. This is a very disorganized and unprofessional company. Corporate Management is out of touch with a day in the life of working at Store Level. 

For the specific location I worked at it was very dependent on which manager you were scheduled with in terms of how good the day was, in particular the days were at times depressing and repetitive when working with the Assistant Manager specifically. Although I have no personal qualms with the Assistant Manager to a majour degree I had a lot of criticism for them which I spoke towards them such as their negative attitude towards work and generally mood that affected the team. When working with the Assistant Manager if their number had barely gone under what they wanted they work constantly obsess over every small negative detail going on in that particular day, very easily falling into a spiral effect no matter how much I tried to encourage or listen to what they had to say, it felt like it kept spiralling to that of an unhealthy degree within a workplace all I have to say is they were a hard worker and pushed their self too hard for any negative detail. However with contrast the Manager of my specific store was wonderful to work with no matter how their day went and kept a positive attitude that kept the team together and made everyone excited to work it felt like every moment was building up towards a greater reward and even if you did bad that eventually you'd be up and able to work at getting better. My only criticism towards the Manager is that they weren't scheduled enough compared to the Assistant Manager which definitely impacted the life of the Assistant Manager to that of a negative degree due to how hard they pushed their self especially when the Manager had hone on break leaving the assistant manager in a position of keeping the store together which really helped show how inept the Assistant manager was at actually managing daily and working in a schedule. All in all I loved the 3 months I worked and regret none of it, I only regret not asking to be transferred over to working for Kays I was too afraid of being seen as a traitor to the team, I also regret how much time I spent trying to help the assistant manager feel better only for them to end up being so bitter towards me.

You are expected to put up with a lot at this job. For example, you are always needing to be on your A game which is reasonable but hard when dealing with rude or upset customers and the manager is too busy to support you when you need it. You are also looked at as not contributing much to the business if only 2 or less customers a month open up a credit card with the store or decide to do a payment option with the store. Customer service and selling are the main aspects you need to be good at to progress is what I would have thought, but honestly including that you have to have a good manager and fellow employees. If the don’t help you with your training or judge you for asking questions that are important or you want to clarify after the first month of working there then it is hard to succeed. They expected you to be completely proficient and not need any help with almost anything after the first month at the specific place I worked and if we did ask we were looked down on or questioned if we were competent or not very rudely. This all meaning that management can make the job enjoyable or terrible. Even though you may be progressing if your manager sees something they don’t like and/or other employees tell on things you have done (just asking for help too much can be the reason) then you will be written up or sent an email that you must respond to saying you are committed to doing better. Good pay but too little to put up with an unkind and rude fellow employees and management (not that they all were but where I worked most were).

What is the best part of working at the company?
awful management, horrible communication, and exorbitant sales goals in remote locations. does not value its store operators in any position, and puts insane amounts of pressure on managers to meet goals while keeping morale up with labor cuts and additional services needing to be pushed as an extreme pressure on customers. not accessible to people with disabilities, and resistant to giving accomidations to those who need it and are already employed. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
everything. store management, inventory supplementation and tracking, customer outreach, communication between stores and upper management, and labor expectations within limited available hours for employees.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
hostile between upper management (district managers and above) and on site employees. has the possibility to be somewhat pleasant at an in-store level, but depends heavily on managerial staff to nurture a plesant working environment.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
at my location, there was very little foot traffic, leading to lots of down time. that time was spent keeping the kiosk clean, but tasks were completed very quickly and early on in the shift. maintains a "time to lean, time to clean" mentality that doesn't have the work to fascilitate. managers needed to be in constant communication with upper management over redundant projects and unreasonable goals.

Loved the job while I was there, only thing was I was in management. When you’re within management, you have a lot of responsibility on you, whether a general manager or assistant so know that you’re 100% committed before taking on the position and make sure you’re within/around managers who actually CARE about development and not just using you; and a team that wants you to grow……I had nothing but a team worth of drama at the location I was in, the store manager couldn’t keep a consistent team, high turnover, nothing but drama and rumors regarding management that will make you feel uncomfortable …at one point no team at all! then you can’t trust other management teams because of alliances (worked in more than one location so I’ve seen it ALL) …got so bad for me personally, I had to leave with a same day notice after my shift for the fear of my well being, contacted HR/informed all of higher management about my situation (I’m talking regional manager, VP, HR) and no response or follow up to see if I was ok at least…..if I were rehirable, I’d definitely would only do part time, making a career out of this company will take you time to really find the right location where you can focus on upgrading and ensuring management has the right intentions for you….everybody is friends with everyone etc and has connections to where things can be covered up in a negative light so you really have to be aware.

The job itself is simple, Show up, interact with the customers, promote the products and payment plans, and make sales. However, they have quotas that do not match the volume of customers and they will pressure you about not making sales goals every week. Even if there were not enough customers to possibly meet the goals for that day, week, or month. 

If you have social anxiety to any degree and blunder into a social complication you don't know/understand how to navigate with regards to your teammates or leadership, do not expect rational or level-headed responses, professionalism, or a logical process to handle it, and get you through it. 

At least where I was stationed, there was a strong Highschool "in crowd" click mentality, not an Adult leadership and team-building/strengthing mentality. 

If an issue arises, they will jump to conclusions first and aggressively try pressuring you into accepting you are the problem before they will consider reviewing the situation and looking at the whole picture to find the truth. 

They weren't bad people, but they were definitely quick to jump to conclusions and cast shade onto others faster than blinking or thinking.

The first thing they tell you, is how the company is a "Peoples First" company ( not only for customers but for the employees), but they truly are not. No one in this company beyond the Store Managers actually cares about the employees. The bonuses are 'promised' though only ever made in the winter, they don't offer raises to those who pull heavy weight in the stores, they ask for help in cities multiple hours away, offer to join in on that bonus as well as to get paid for mileage + hourly while driving there, yet they dont include you in said store bonus, and wont actually pay you mileage. I mightve been just lucky to at least get paid the hourly. Theres random downsizes in the company, They do NOT care about the safety of employees in regards to robberies / grab and runs etc. They dont offer working cameras in kiosks that REGULARLY get burglarized, or panic buttons either. Multiple of my near coworkers have had weapons pulled and pointed at them for jewelry, though we still dont have cameras to deter or threaten robbers in a sense of getting caught? This company is not worth it at all, and I dont only mean Banter, I mean Signet as a whole. Kays, Zales, and  Jareds too. The pay is okay to begin, but theyll string you along, and mess with your pay stubs until you leave. Many of us have an overtime rate of $1.30. NOT OKAY! And higher ups just say 'its a glitch' and never forward it to HR or payroll services, they only ever brush you off. DONT GET STUCK HERE!!

Just like anywhere else, you have busy days and you have slow days. At banter you have to be ready to go from doing nothing to piercing 6 people at once. You have to be ready to get up and move at any given moment. It's important to not be distracted. When you're distracted you lose business. I learned how to pierce ears and noses, handle cash, handle registers, supervise employees, train new people, and exceptional customer service. Management here needs some tweaking. There's not a good work-life balance. You have to be all about work 24/7. As a manager its weird to believe that you have any true days off. If one employee calls off you have to cover, regardless of what you're doing. Hardest part of the job is trying to help customers when you have a piercing or a permanent jewelry customer. The space is small, you have to wait or try to get the item they are looking at. The most enjoyable part of the job is when you piercing customer smiles ear to ear and are super excited and happy about their new piercing. 

Banter looks good on the outside, but once you’re in, it’s a completely different story. They care more about Google reviews and metrics than their own employees. You’re expected to do the work of multiple departments alone — including recruiting, marketing, outreach, jewelry operations, cleaning, storage, and more — all without proper help or support.

The company thrives on micromanagement, intimidation, and zero communication. Even if you meet 80% of their unrealistic metrics, they still hold the remaining 20% against you and refuse to give you a fair raise. You are treated like a machine, not a person.

Upper management constantly gossips about employees, talks about your personal business on calls, and judges how you run your location — all without ever speaking to you directly. They keep adding more tasks, more Smartsheets, more tracking — but never more support.

This place is mentally exhausting and completely unsustainable. If you care about your mental health and want to be respected at work, do not apply here.
There are better places that respect their staff and invest in people, not just numbers.


I see management is extremely stressed dealing with pressure from the company that expects very unreasonable numbers and sales goals on the daily basis. Said stress/pressure is then taken out on sales associates who are constantly being told new and different ways to attempt better sales rates with ridiculous weekly virtual meetings and constant virtual training that seems extremely outdated. Many people don’t stay long at this store and if you as a sales associate or manager don’t make your goals, you are written up. It just seems unfair to punish sales associates and managers for not forcing customers to sign up for a ridiculous credit card or not wanting to pay a warranty thar is sometimes unnecessary and almost as much as the item itself. Hours are long and tiring, and you catch yourself speaking with customers who make you question your own sanity. Really only consider working here if you have the patience and will power. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales associate 4 salaries reported	$13.78 per hour
Assistant manager 3 salaries reported	$16.83 per hour
Store manager 1 salary reported	$25.00 per hour
Retail assistant manager 4 salaries reported	$15.55 per hour
Seasonal associate 1 salary reported	$15.00 per hour

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