design consultant

retail store manager

interior designer

customer service representative

warehouse/driver

Bassett-Furniture

If you’re looking to work in furniture you’d be better off and one of the other higher end stores. The Bassett Austin store is crumbling and business suffers because of the location and lack of proper resources. Coworkers are gossipy and cut throat, manager seems to lack the ability to think critically and get things done in a timely manner. They say they don’t like to micromanage but you are in fact micromanaged at every step of your job. Customer care representatives and the manager make mistakes that cost you sales and client relationships. You have to work every weekend, you’re only required to work 9-8pm every other Saturday but if you’d like to make money you end up staying till 8 more often than not. If you take off a weekend it is financial suicide since 90% of your sales are made on Saturday and Sunday, other than that it is painstakingly slow on the week days. If you don’t make commission, which happens many months, you end up bringing home around $11.25 an hour if you work 40 hours a week. But, you are commissioned and you don’t get paid for the actual hours you work and considering that you will work at least 45 hours a week you actually end up bringing home $8.40 an hour on non commission earning months! If you write 50k in sales that month you’ll end up bringing home a total of about $2500 which is basically nothing when you consider how hard you actually have to work to sell that 50k and how many hours you have to put in. A lot of other furniture stores have a much higher guaranteed draw (Bassett’s is $1850 before taxes) so that you are actually able to live and not have to worry about your sales as much. At Bassett if you don’t sell because of a slow month you might not be buying groceries the next month. Sales goals are unrealistic and you are penalized if you do not meet them even if other designers were in the same boat. You are called a designer but really you’re a glorified furniture salesman. The furniture is a great quality, expensive but they are coming out with better styles which makes it easier to sell. But, the work life balance, constant stress and back stabby coworkers just don’t make it worth it, especially when you consider that many people there make less than 40k a year, even people with actual interior design degrees. Bottom line, there are better options out there, places that will treat you like a professional adult and value your skills instead of just treating you like a warm body to fill up schedule gaps. Good luck.

Working at Bassett as a Design Consultant (Sales Consultant) began as a very positive experience. Management is very flattering, while giving the impression of being blunt yet polite. The design program is great for those without experience, because it allows you to (slowly) gain knowledge in client interaction. I feel like the design part of the job was oversold. In actuality the interior design aspect of the job is minimal. There just simply are not enough serious clients who want partial to full room "makeovers."
There is a fairly large range of clientele. (mostly middle class though) It is very difficult to get a returning client base, as the company encourages competition and "the sale" above relationship and design. 
The location I worked at (Annapolis, Maryland) was simply not busy enough to support the design staff. While traffic might be as high as high-performance stores, most traffic was casual, waiting for dinner reservations, just done shopping at Target, walking the dog, etc. 
Schedules are given at the last minute. My impression is that upper management takes a long time to approve the schedules already delegated to store and district management. You work 10 hour shifts half of the weekends each month. (a regular shift is 8 hours) That being said, store management is very reasonable and flexible if necessary. 
My coworkers were all personally wonderful, from customer service to management. However, because of the bleak sales outlook (month after month) there is an overall dreary workplace attitude. 

Hardest parts of the job:
The kick-the-dog-while-they're-down corporate mentality (yes, it's a combination saying that I view as very fitting). If the store was doing well, it was because of "great new designs, programs, and promotions Bassett implemented." If the store was doing poorly, it was because the sales associates are lazy. 
Draw against commission in a difficult location (and economy).

Best parts of the job:
Annapolis has an amazing location. There are so many great places to eat and shop nearby. 
The store staff were very friendly and genuine people.

Worked for Bassett nearly 8 years.  Loved them the first 4, then watched a decline begin and continue.  The company would not give product enough time or support to prove itself.  A standard model for every store across the country does not work when you are placing yourself in extremely varied sociological and stylistic markets.  The company became ever more interested in its shareholders and stopped listening to what the "boots on the ground" were saying with consequences that caused huge disruptions on a local level.  Could not take constructive criticisms and then threatened your job with it.  Poor decisions in product assortment and development made life as a designer incredibly difficult.  Also, they tout a digital world and that you should be able to do your entire job on a laptop, but do not provide you with renderings of more than half of your product.  They cannot compete with Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware, so they need to pick their own lane and stay in it.  Also their benefits will screw you over should you get a disability or major health crisis.  

I was working for Bassett La Jolla location. I was under trained. I continuously reached out for help, but didn't receive what I needed to succeed. When I would ask questions, my manager would clearly get frustrated, roll her eyes, and basically show her frustration. I was only scheduled to work three days per week, which didn't allow much time for repetition.  Upon returning to work, after my four days off, I noticed my computer home screen was an image of a butter finger, bag of hot cheetos, and a pepsi! I am the only plus size person at the job. I asked my manager, why was this on my computer. She stated, oh the other manager was teasing her about her weight. She is very thin might I add. My question was why would he put this image on my computer, and save it as my screen saver, and not put it on her computer. I took a picture of my computer screen and sent it to my husband. Days later, I took a picture of her screen, which still had no images of junk food, however the junk food image was still on my computer. For two weeks, I would be distracted, and not able to fully function due to staring at this picture of junk food and feeling body shamed, as if I didn't fit in because I am the only one on the entire team that's this size, and constantly dealing with rolling of eyes, and deep frustration when I asked for help. Today, I decided enough was enough, and I QUIT!!!

Before the Pandemic of 2020 Bassett was a decent place to work. Made 40 hours had Fridays off and pay was fair. Now after the Pandemic they work you nonstop every weekend and expect you to be there. I caught Covid and was asked if I could still work because I would throw them in a bind. I got wrote up  had doctors notes showing where I was at the doctor’s office and bills showing where my car broke down as well. Management has always sucked they let line leaders walk all over employees and treat them anyway they want. They will move you from position to position without any extra pay, whenever they’re supposed to pay you per skill point (with every position that you know). I personally went to school on my own dollar to learn how to upholster I have been asking for years to be moved to upholstery and I’ve done every job except upholster. This is by far the worst job I’ve ever had in my life at first it was a a decent job with long hours but you had three day weekends now you don’t have no life working every weekend with non-competitive wages they expect more out of you than what you can give them and then complain when you can’t give them everything they expect out of you would not recommend to anybody if I could this would be a zero out of five stars.

The company itself is a reputable, and in general a good company to work for.   I expanded my knowledge of sales, and cultivated a large clientele base.  The customers in general are wonderful to work with.  Developing your customer base is important to success.  

Bassett  provides online tools to train and update product knowledge.
The enjoyable aspect of this job, is crafting a good design, and helping the customer receive a wonderful experience.

The hardest part of this job is tolerating a stagnant boss who fails  to provide motivating, respectful and productive communication with her staff.  The store manager has a long history of gossiping about upper management and staff, and pitting staff against each other, which makes for a very toxic workplace.  Voicing  a complaint about any concerns, issues, or mis-treatments, results in being spoken down to, and dismissed.   It's a shame to see so many potentially good employees leave due to this toxic treatment at store level.

Upper management encourages, and acknowledges success with intention to motivate the sales teams.    I recommend Bassett as an employer in general.  

Great furniture made in the US. Many fabrics, leathers and different styles of furniture designs to choose from. 4 to 6 weeks from order to delivery. Great customer service. 
Following through with clients from design, ordering to delivery is important.
I increased my furniture design, information and  knowledge of various products by taking classes offered to improve my design style.
New fabrics and leathers arrive every 6 months.
The management supports my efforts. I have freedom to create.
The team of designers assist each other when working on projects. 
Sometimes I must work over time to finish a project or work with a client. It is OK as it shows the clients that I am willing to make sure they have the design, furniture, fabrics choices and products for a comprehensive and complete style they desire.
I enjoy the various pieces of furniture available that enables me to present a complete room design. Art, rugs, plants and mirrors add to the over all look.
Bringing together a room(s) which blends design, harmony, style and color.
The accolades I receive after a room(s) are complete and installed gives me a deep sense of satisfaction.
I am passionate about my work.

The good: amazing team at the store level. Great coworkers and managers. Always a clean and comfortable working environment. Publicly traded company that is family-owned and has been in business for over 100 years. Most Bassett products are made in America. Corporate leaders perform frequent visits to the stores. Within my first 90 days I met the regional manager, the Vice President of retail operations, the Vice President of Corporate Retail, and the CEO, and they all treated the store teams as family. Excellent health insurance benefit package, 401k matching.

The bad: incredibly complicated commission structure that is quite outdated. It seems like it hasn’t changed since the 1950’s. Commissions are earned based on minimum sales volume of $50,000 per month. Commission percentages increase with sales volume. Less customer traffic off the door means you might struggle to make commission, or not make it at all. If you don’t make commission, you get paid hourly starting at minimum wage. Hourly wage increases are possible but also based upon 5-month rolling average of volume, so again, fewer sales = less pay.

The training, coworkers, and manager were great!  Everyone was helpful and welcoming.  It is a good job to gain experience.  The clients are usually very understanding and easygoing. I wasn’t told about working every weekend until after I already accepted the job and was waiting for my schedule.  I remember, I kept asking about my start date/ schedule and then finally after I already gave notice to my other job I was told, “Ok, so you will work some evenings and weekends, is that ok?” But once I received the schedule, I realized it’s every weekend, not “some”.  And it’s because more people are out shopping in the weekends but it makes it difficult for employee’s life.  I have noticed that a few of my coworkers are taking vacations so they are getting approved for weekends off.  I did ok with sales my first few months, but when you don’t make it, the pay is awful.  Which isn’t acceptable for a mother of two. Someone informed me that they never seen anyone go over 70,000 in sales a month.  Oh yea, and it was only a one time occasion. Which is not what was told to me during the interview.  The manager painted a very pretty picture, but it didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t real.

The experience truly varies on which floor you are on and in which role you are placed. In the service center as an agent (which is no longer up and running) a typical day consisted of taking calls, working customer cases, watching the microsoft teams screen fill up with notifications, etc. Managment was inconsistant. Our supervisor lacked professionalism, knowledge, and experience. Often knowing far less than their team, they were mostly present for customer escalations and to pass along orders like an accessory. The workplace culture was very strange, it was very segmented almost like a school cafeteria. One of the supervisors often engaged in harsh or inappropriate discussions at random (regarding topics such as race, sexuality, women’s rights, etc) creating an uncomfortable enviroment for anyone who fit a certain description. overall, the most enjoyable part of the job was leaving at the end of the day. Our jobs were cut early august of 2024 to which many of us only received 2 weeks severance. Our customer service task is now handled by stores many of which are understaffed and underexperienced. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Design consultant 8 salaries reported	$65,563 per year
Retail store manager 1 salary reported	$70,000 per year
Interior designer 4 salaries reported	$88,125 per year
Customer service representative 2 salaries reported	$23.75 per hour
Warehouse/driver 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour

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