entry level maintenance technician

dairy manager

entry level technical support

accounting clerk

graphic design intern

BellStores

I live within walking distance from my location. I've been coming to my Bellstores since I was a toddler before it was even converted into a Bellstores. I can remember being 6-7, running over with a handful of crumpled dollars to buy candy. When I was 9-10, I: would sometimes go over and move out-of-place products into their correct location and pretend that I was working there. It was almost a dream of mine to work at the store.

Working here has been as great as 9-year-old me anticipated.

I'm a night-shifter at my location, and it's great work for me being an introvert who's already nocturnal. Typical work day includes two hours of serving customers, restocking shelves, and cleaning up bits and pieces of the store in between customers. After midnight, we lock up for four hours and I get time to be by myself and clean the store. There's a laundry list of chores to do. Honestly, I really don't mind the chores and even make little games out of the work, it's just standard sweeping, mopping, scrubbing, etc. We also do audits on cigarette and lottery inventory during the time where they're not being sold as often. After 4 AM, we open back up, where I make breakfast for the early morning customers, serve them at the counter, and finish any extra chores if I have time. It's a simple gig that I have found a routine in.

My manager is exceptional and really cares about his employees, enough so that he's offered to lend me money when I've had financial issues regarding doctor bills and other payments. I actively try to improve as an employee as a way to show my respect for him. He acts more like a close family friend rather than my superior, being very genuine and asking about how I'm feeling or what's going on if he sees me in a bad mood, and he's always willing to hear me out and give me advice. He's offered me extra hours when I need money, he gives time off when needed, and he puts honest trust in his employees to do their job and do it well. He doesn't helicopter us or yell at us at all, and he's extremely neutral and calm even in stressful situations. Not to say that he's never gotten angry or yelled before, but it's rare and often completely justified based on the behavior of whoever he's yelled at. I can't say this for all stores, but the management at my store is outright superb.

Working with my coworkers is great. I'm well-liked by them, I like them in return, and it's one of the few times where I've been able to say that I feel like part of a family. I've even bought some of them gifts out of the blue to give thanks to them.

The worst part about the job, easily, is the customers--as with most retail jobs. Combining rude customers along with my social phobia is messy to say the least. I remain calm and polite in every interaction, but MAN do some employees make my blood boil. Being cursed off and flipped off at for refusing to sell cigarettes to a person without an ID, having a woman scream that I need to "pray that I can keep my job after your manager hears about this" for not being at the window for five minutes (I was cleaning the bathroom), etc. It's nerve wracking, but it's just part of the job.

On the other hand, being alone for an entire shift and being trusted by my manager to run the store and complete all of my tasks is EASILY the best part of the job. Knowing that my manager has that much faith in me is refreshing, but having the whole place to myself is like Heaven.

I honestly don't know about the work/life balance because I don't have much of a life and assure my manager that I'm 100% willing to work any shift and any hours that he needs me for. He gives other employees plenty of time off when they need it and has always let me leave early for appointments. Also, there are only employee discounts for Bellstores branded sandwiches, small fountain drinks/coffee's, bread, eggs, and milk. I'm grateful to even have discounts for these things, but having a discount for any Bellstores branded items and for fountain drinks would be really nice. 

Great manager, great coworkers, okay customers (from an introvert's viewpoint), and I honestly can't say that I don't like it here. I love it here, honestly. 

If you're alright dealing with a manager who has zero respect for her employees, then this is the job for you. However, if you have an ounce of self-respect then I would recommend searching elsewhere. Nothing I did was ever good enough. The double standards between each worker was ridiculous.
For example, I was told I would be fired if I didn't follow the proper call-off procedure, which is to notify the manager or assistant manager two hours prior to your shift by phone call if you need to call off. Even following this procedure, the third time I had to call off I was told if I did so again within a certain time period, I would be fired. However, another of my co-workers not only texted the manager that she wasn't coming in, she did it five minutes before her shift which in turn forced me to work two hours over in order to cover until the next person came in. Not long after this, the same co-worker walked out on her shift two hours into it because she "didn't feel like working that day." She still has a job.
I get scheduled on a day my manager knows I cannot work due to religious reasons, and when I remind my manager of this three days before the scheduled day and express that I simply am unable to come in, she freaks out at me before going over to another one of my co-workers and loudly expressing how I'm such a terrible person for expecting that day off.
The worst one happened when my manager asked me to start mopping underneath the rugs in the main area on my next midnight shift, and if I didn't, she would take me off midnights. I agree to this request because, while she was unnecessarily aggressive when asking, it wasn't that big of a deal and something I can easily do. However, before I can even get to my next midnight shift to fulfill this request, she takes me off midnights, which is the shift I was hired on for.
Customer-wise, if you take a break when the customers think you should be working, you are in the wrong. If you ask another co-worker how much to charge a customer for something instead of the customer, you are in the wrong. If you tell a customer who is being aggressive towards you, your co-workers, or other customers to leave the property, you are in the wrong.
I won't be wasting any more time there and neither should you.

Starting out it seemed like a great place to work for. Honestly your experience depends on the management team for your specific store. My stores management team was extremely selfish and only looking out for their reputation and not treating employees fairly. Very very two faced. I got to train at another store and that manager at the other location had a very strict system of how to run her store and it was great and her employees were consistent and steady as to my store they would secretly find ways to legally terminate People they didn't particularly care for. Why hire people if you don't like them, its ran like a high school so again it all depends on whose running each store. I tried to complain about my situation to corporate and never returned my phone call. The write up policy sucks too. If you get wrote up you should be notified of your write up and sign it. All of my previous employers did that but bellstores did not. I was unaware I had ever been written up.

I liked this job because once you knew what you were doing, the process was simple. But I ended up not even being trained, and had to learn by myself and ended up even training others on things that no one taught them how to do. The main manager liked me, but didn't like a lot of the other workers and would make it awkwardly obvious. The assistant manager and another coworker both made inappropriate comments, especially when we were the only two working. I do believe both have been transferred to other stores because of this, but transferring doesn't change bad behavior. I also noticed that a lot of work would always get thrown onto one individual's shoulders, since most shifts were scheduled with one lazy person and one person who would do the work. The whole experience was frustrating, but it was a great learning opportunity.

Gender questionable children got picked on daily, management fired people over unfair practices, and mentally challenged people got fired because management lacks the ability to train effectively, management was lazy, complacent, and carried themselves with middle school level behavior daily, the harder you worked and the more truthful you were the more likely you were to be targeted for rash and needless reactions to the point you won't want to work there simply because they dont want to be "shown up". And the one thing that can actually give you a raise is something they take from you by messing it up intentionally. Over all, this is a great company with all of its benefits and opportunities but its ran by jokes masquerading as leaders that "have your back".

While the work can be fast-paced and a bit stressful at times, generally it will be a bit relaxed. You can keep yourself busy for the majority of your day, but there will be lulls. If you pay attention and learn when you can, you can develop great people skills, as well as self-motivated work ethic. Management is typically fair, depending on the store you work. In my experience, my manager was outstanding, and I learned a great ethic from them. The people you deal with at a customer level are both the hardest part, and most enjoyable part of the experience. People can be nasty and rude, taking their problems and bad days out on you because they believe that's acceptable. People can also be sweet, caring, funny, and genuine. Those are the people you see day in day out that will save your psyche after dealing with the former.

a typical day at work was usually very busy it started out as collecting money from safe ,starting paperwork , helping out on register if csr was busy ,checking coffee area making sure coffee
was full and cups , counting money and getting it ready to go the 
bank, checking in vendors in between all of that.
I learned how to deal with managing my time wisely dealing with 
issues like pumps breaking down ,register ,etc. 
If issues arised that I could not figured out I would call my district 
manager and he would either talk me through it over the phone or 
he would stop in 
co workers were very helpful , the hardest part of the job was the 
stress level that was daily , the most enjoyable part of my day was 
the customers I really enjoyed dealing with people every day.

This I would have to say was one of my most favorite and exciting jobs. All kinds of people came into the store that you would come into contact with. It was thrilling to see the different minds of society. We have customers who came in regularly. These people you knew on a first name basis and were able to know on a more personal level. I enjoyed being shift leader. I was respected and was shown respect from my co-workers. Even though not eveyr customer who walked in was in a good mood. We all learned to understand some people will have bad days and it might get taken out on you. You learned to smile and nod and maintain composure . The hardest part was leaving this job, I could have kept moving up in the company, but sadly the pay and health benefits were not ideal.

A typical day at work would include going outside and doing trash, wiping the pumps, sweeping the lot and wiping the windows seals as well as windows. Or it would being doing the cooler around 6 p.m. but up until that point I would have to make coffee and go around and make sure the stock was looking good and in the right place.  Being a clerk at the gas station was a lot of times stressful because the people wanted to complain about gas prices or challenge the price on things in the store. The stress was the hardest part of the job, but the best part of the job were my regular customers that came in everyday. I loved being able to have a nice conversation with someone when my day was going bad and they helped my job and day a lot.

Bellstores gives you good work experience in customer service, and helps one to understand diversity between people. Management is slow to respond to issues that arise, and problems at hand usually are not properly fixed. The most frustrating part of the job is the lack of communication between shifts, and the lack of work of others, that causes work to pile up on those who do work well. Also, the rules in place are made to incriminate employees in a false sense of "customer friendliness". The most enjoyable part of the job is making a place in the community where you know everyone, and their families. Customer relations are amazing!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Entry level maintenance technician 3 salaries reported	$16.50 per hour
Dairy manager 1 salary reported	$17.25 per hour
Entry level technical support 7 salaries reported	$42,500 per year
Accounting clerk 1 salary reported	$18.00 per hour
Graphic design intern 2 salaries reported	$15.50 per hour

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