assistant store manager

process lead

department manager

retail sales associate

stocking associate

Big Lots

Typical day at work, for me; I come in a few minutes early, clock in, count my registers money to be sure it is at its correct amount, open the register, let the other cashier leave. In between checking peoples items out I clean the counter off, wipe the screen, de-germ the phone, and sweep the floor in the service area. I also walk around the service area but keeping it in sight for any customers, and re stock and straighten any areas I can.
While I scan and bag I also try to offer people our rewards cards to avoid any write ups. I be sure to scan everything correct, make sure all is bagged in an organized fashion with nothing crushing anything else. I attempt to make small talk while keeping the customers needs in mind ( such as if they have their own bag or wish to get only $1.00 bills back ). Since I am the level of cashier that I am, I also am able to do returns for customers, where I have been able to keep customers happy with their experience even if they are not happy with the product.

Again in between these encounters, I count the sodas in the machine that need to be re -stocked, I try to empty and re bag the trash if it is full to save time at the end of the night, I take my breaks when needed, I write off anything broken or returned if need be. Some days, I also help create sticker prices for marked down items or items recently shipped. There are also occasional times I answer a phone call for Biglots.
At the end of the night, I count down the register to the correct amounts in a quick and efficient fashion, then finish the trash for the two restrooms and employee break room if needed. Then I also go to the back of the store and fill a cart of the drinks needed and re-fill the soda machine keeping it organized and in the correct order of dates and be sure to write off any expired drinks to be sure customers avoid a bad experience.

I then gather my things and be sure to check the store to be sure the recovery crew has done a good job at putting everything away and keeping everything aesthetically pleasing. I write myself down for any purchases made then I clock out and have assistance leaving the building at the end of the night. If there is time between the duties assigned and clocking out, I assist the recovery crew or sweep the walk ways of the doors.

During Holidays or Discount days, the duties stay the same although I may have a helping hand with another cashier and the pass is much more up-beat with less time in between to straighten up. Especially from November - December.

**What I have learned ; The most helpful would be how to pull apart shopping carts when they are stuck together. I enjoy teaching my customers this because it keeps them from getting too frustrated before the shopping even begins.
In my years of customers service, I learned how to keep a calm and logical tone with customers and find a way to hopefully please them and not hurt the company in the same moment.
I have learned to multitask and time manage while keeping everything organized for myself, the customers and fellow employees. You would never know how much strength it takes to be on a phone, scanning a customers items, being asked a question by another irritated customer, keeping correct change and trying to sell something in mind, and having to re-stock my bags after running out mid-bagging.....all at the same time, while keeping a very friendly attitude and making your customers smile on the way out.

**Management does what management has to. They are governed by a higher power just as I am. They help when they can, they trained me to who I am now in turns, and they also keep a level head when it comes to customers. They have never done me wrong.

**Co-workers. Everyone has their part ; there are days that some go above and beyond. There are also days that I feel I make up the slack for others. I usually keep to myself and do my day to day either way. We all are in the same bucket and do pretty good as a team especially during the holidays when we are all tossed in a frying pan. After being put to the test you can see who can stand up to the teamwork challenge.

**Hardest part of the job is the contradiction of corporate. When they say " do not take a return if they do NOT have a receipt " then I shouldn't get in trouble for not doing a return for the irate customer who doesn't have a receipt for the $90.00 item in perfect condition they demand cash for back for. It is hard to keep a customer happy with the certain rules that Im "supposed" to break? After that, there is nothing "hard" about the job.

**The most enjoyable part of my job. This is my favorite thing to answer in surveys. My customers are the worst and best thing in the day to day. I have my regular customers and the understanding, high spirited people I get to interact with. I love the customer, who in good or bad moments, will enjoy our quick meeting and understand I did everything I could for them, and keep a light heart during any situation.
I really enjoy the times around Christmas time when I get to be a "secretive little elf". I will have parents or spouses try to hide a gift from their loved one standing only a few feet away. The customer will quietly beg me not to scan it out in the open and bag it in secret. When I do, my thank you is a sigh of relief that their surprise is still safe. It makes me feel good, to be as proficient as I am at my job to help a customer out in a time of need.

Depending on your store managers and coworkers the job can be quite laidback and enjoyable with little stress, Not to be mistaken for being an easy job. what i mean is if you have management that doesn't ask where you are or what you're doing every couple minutes and coworkers that constantly depend on you for lifting or doing their job. 
depending on your taste the sporadic atmosphere of juggling customers needs and performing store task may or may not be a favorable position. 

The customers range anywhere from pleasant to downright infuriating and for multiple different reasons, they will constantly ask you questions you've already answered expecting a different result and will call for a manager or ask other employees behind your back, and try to haggle you on prices like they're on a TV show.

stocking and unloading truck is a bittersweet experience, you get away from customers and spend a few hours unloading freight which is pretty satisfying work that keeps you occupied, unloading furniture and water pallets can be a nightmare however and requires good balance of strength and technique at times. 

Working furniture is pretty straightforward but requires lots of time to familiarize with common questions, where stock is kept, which stock is which, and working with/loading up said stock. depending on the situation you may be left by yourself to load up dining tables and heavy recling sofa's but usually if the schedule is done correctly another physically adequate coworker can help you if a task seems too daunting. Doing financing for customers is pretty easy, they apply for a credit card and they either get it or they don't, they apply for leasing and you do a small process on a laptop to complete the purchase.

working there gives you two type of discounts as of this review, a 20% discount on general merchandise and 30% off furniture (including mattresses) and occasionally special deals managers will give you on products that can't be sold, like out of date items or broken/open products. However with the discounts you're better off waiting until the furniture you want is on sale as pricing at biglots is outrageous for certain items.

working the front registers is definitely a headache at times, you're required to check out customers quickly, answer the phone and beckon people for stupid rewards cards all at once. the rewards card process is pretty annoying, you have to type in manually 5-6 boxes of info (name, number, zip, etc) and many people already have one and forgot they had it. management will desperately want you to get as many as possible and many stores have been caught signing up cards and throwing them away just to get numbers up (wonder how much money that cost them yearly) some employees have become so incessant on getting sign ups that multiple customers refuse to shop at the location or refuse to purchase anything when said employee is working register.

scheduling hours. you're payed fairly for retail worker well above minimum wage but not as good as some other part time options in my area at least. hours and scheduling is a absolute joke, you'd think they took everyone's name and put them on darts and threw it at the schedule on the wall. they'll constantly having you working mornings and evenings randomly and sometimes you'll work till 11pm in on the holidays and have to be back at 6am to unload a truck, doesn't happen all the time but very irritating. unless you request specific days off you'll never know when you'll be working during the week it's all random. hours are horrible unless it's holiday season which doesn't last very long , on average you can hope for 20 or more but when you first start you'll be lucky to get more than 15. during holidays you can make up to almost 40 which is satisfying if you can handle it, as you'll be dealing with the most heated customers all year and running around more than usual and dealing with the random junkies and high school kids they hire for no good reason that leave after a couple weeks at most.
note however that the schedule is flexible so they will let you take days off and leave on short notice so long as you don't abuse it.

moving up is a joke, it doesn't matter if you're knowledgeable of store operations or not you will not be hired full time as management unless you re locate to another store or someone steps down, and even then they'll hire someone else because they're a lot better at kissing butts and using a silver tongue to get their way in even if you have more years of experience than them. Even if you could work full time as management here why would you? from what I've seen and heard the management have it just as bad as the associates do so just stay away.

in summary don't work here unless you have no better options, it's not as bad as flipping burgers but leaves a lot to be desired and is most certainly a dead end job that'll drain you.

I worked at the Big Lots in Round Rock, Texas. A typical day at work can range from being hectic to relaxed. It depends on the amount of customers in the store. Generally, the work environment is relaxed. At this job, I learned how to use the cash register with an electronic Point Of Sales system. I also learned how to handle stress in a quickly paced environment due to the days that we had a lot of customers. The days go by quickly when there are lots of customers. Generally, the management will know if the day is going to have heavy foot traffic because of holidays or the 20% off days for buzz club members, so they'll put in more hours for other people so that you aren't the only cashier available in times of a busy store. Even if there's a randomly busy time during the week, there's always a second till open so that someone else can hop on a help manage the crowd. The management I worked with was mostly friendly. There was one manager that was kind of a pain. She got there after me and had a problem with giving people their breaks. If you tell the store manager about problems with other management (obviously don't complain just to complain), he'll get right on top of that. I did, and I had no problems with getting my 15 minute break after that. The co-workers are pretty great there. They include everyone and they like meeting new co-workers. Most of the workers there are teenage-college age kids. the furniture manager and the assistant managers are a bit older, late 20's to late 30's. The store manager is pretty great. I worked hard at this job, so they gave me the time I needed off to go see my family in another state. They were quite generous with that. The hardest physical part of the job was either standing all day or cleaning the bathrooms because generally only one person does both of the bathrooms at the end of the day. We have to sweep and mop both bathrooms, do the toilets, sinks and mirrors. The bathrooms are about mid-size, so they aren't small, one person bathrooms. If you do the job right, your back will hurt afterwards. The pain doesn't last long though. Also, if you work all day, your feet will hurt afterwards. Get good shoes. The hardest non-physical part of the job is the stress that comes with mass amounts of customers lining up all at once. If you're nice, though, most of the customers will appreciate it. Most customers are nice. Unfortunately, there are a few who don't read the hours on the door and end up staying until after we're closed. This leads to the last cashier, which was generally me, to have to close their till late, then have to make up for lost time while cleaning the store after they're gone. It kind of sucks when customers stay after hours, but it doesn't happen often and they generally get the hint when the lights start turning off. The most enjoyable parts of the job were the friendly co-workers and management, I also really enjoyed having the time off that I needed. I mean, there was a summer that I went to visit my dad and they let me have like 2 months off. They even let me have a month off around Christmas to see my dad in a different year. They probably won't do that with just anybody though. I worked quite hard at that job. Honestly, I gave them my best because I felt like they deserved it (and because that's just what I do, why do anything if you aren't going to do it the best you possibly can?). They paid me 8.25, so above minimum wage, and they gave me great amounts of time off. If I didn't do my best at that point, I deserved to get fired, right? Well, I had to quit after a year and a half after working there because I moved to Virginia. Otherwise, I probably would've stayed. It was a pretty great place to work.

Big Lots was not a bad place to work or a bad employer.  As with any retail store setting, pressure could be high, you are perpetually understaffed and the only thing consistent about the shift hours is that they are erratic.  It is not conducive to a regular M-F banker's hours lifestyle.  It can make it very hard if you have school age children.

The fact that the stores are open 364 days a year (Christmas Day is the ONLY observed holiday) makes having any kind of social life very difficult. Vacation times with family are very difficult to obtain as most holidays are big sales event times and taking time off during these times is blacked out. A manager can not take off ANY vacation time between October and January... period. Again, that is the nature of big box retail.

Benefits are normal.  Full-time and management have access to decent and reasonably priced health insurance.  Full-time and management receive 2 weeks of vacation time per year, with one week added for every 5 years, capped at 4 weeks.  The employee discount, which is available for nearly all merchandise, including sales and clearance, is a surprisingly large 20%.  This, coupled with the wide variety of household items, food and furniture sold at already low prices, make it a very nice and well-used discount. 

All positions except store manager are hourly with all management being full-time.  Assistant managers are 40 regular hours and 5 hours of overtime, guaranteed and mandatory.  Associate managers and furniture managers are 40 hours weekly with very little overtime allowed, typically no more than 5 hours a week when available.  During the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, all managers may find themselves working 50+ hour weeks as the only exception. I would say pay is on the slightly low side of middle for retail.  You are going to make more than managing at  a Family Dollar or Dollar General, but less than managing at Walmart, Target or Kohls.

Management is expected to physically work and work hard:  Unloading freight, stocking, maintenance.  Typically, management works harder than the employees, doing as much, if not more, of the physical labor. 

Big Lots does make an effort to promote from within, with higher level job openings typically posted first within store for a period, then within company, before being advertised to the general public. Training is about as good as the quality of your management team and district manager.  An effort is made to adhere to company policies and practices and the company does take its image fairly seriously. District managers tend to visit and evaluate their stores every 2-3 weeks and there is a weekly district conference call with the store manager and the furniture manager. Occasionally other management will be asked to sit in. These calls tend to last an hour on average. They tend to focus mainly on the weekly ads, special event sales and are an opportunity to pass along any other company new practices or concerns. You can expect a Regional Vice President to drop in about once a year.

I would say working at Big Lots for a reasonable period of time will impart a lot of decent retail skills. The smaller management team size of a store forces all members to become proficient in all the different aspects of running a retail store. Formal company training could better.  The degree of autonomy at store level has diminished over the years as Big Lots strives for a very uniform experience for its customers.  This can lead to some frustration for management when dealing with the particulars of their location needs and local customer base.

I spent nearly 2 years at Big Lots from the time that I was 17 and still in high school until I finished my first semester of college. I then moved on to another job and double the pay. It was a no brainier!

The job itself involved a lot of variety for me personally. I started off running the cash register. That was probably my least favorite job at Big Lots. I was given an opportunity to do store recovery and quickly excelled. Since I did a good job at recovery, I was taken off of the registers completely until the holiday rush came. I also spent time with the furniture department, helping them with assembly and loading furniture for customers.

At the end of the night, since I worked until close, I ran the dustmop and sweeper on the floor and stocked the soft drink coolers.

My favorite job there was working with the stockroom staff, labeling products, reboxing them and stocking the shelves. Many hours spent listening to Big Lots Soft Hits Radio and talking to my co-workers. The day flew by in the stockroom. I loved it.

I knew that it was time to leave when management wanted to promote me to being a janitor. One night at closing, a manager came to me asking if I'd be willing to tackle a "situation" in the women's rest room. I opened the door and saw feces sprayed everywhere. No joke. So, I went and grabbed a bottle of Clorox from the stock room and a mop and bucket. I dumped some Clorox to kill the smell for a few minutes while I grabbed the pine sol. I cleaned the dirty woman's mess up and management was thrilled! The next day that I showed up at work I was summoned to the office to meet with the store manager who told me that they wanted to promote me to janitor! They wanted to train me for my promotion right away! I would get to have a 75 year old man show me how to clean bathrooms! Yeah, I really made the big time! ....how do people settle for jobs like this for a career? I realized that I had reached my peak at "The Lots" and out performed people over twice my age with very little ambition or drive.

Long story short, I received a call from my current employer a week later offering me a job. I gave my notice and left. I would make double my Big Lots pay then, and now make over 5 times that much. Thank God.

My favorite part of the job was getting to know my co-workers. I worked with a lot of good (though, quite honestly "loser") people and the experience definitely helped me to understand that I needed to work hard and not be like my co-workers...still working at Big Lots making little over minimum wage at the age of 40! 

An exception to this were two of the managers there who turned into great friends. They gave me great advice and encouraged me to work hard and excel in life. Both have also since moved on past Big Lots, by the way. 

I would definitely recommend Big Lots to high school kids looking for a good place to get work experience and a taste of retail. The great part about a Big Lots is that it's not an extremely busy place until the Holiday season, so you can take your time and learn how to do things right and get experience with minimal stress.

The only con as a high school kid was that the hours were very inconsistent. I had 10 hour weeks, 30 hour weeks and 4 hour weeks. I'm sure it's even worse now with Obamacare hours in effect.

The store employee discount and friends and family discount shopping nights were decent perks for a "bad pay" job.

This past Christmas season, nearly 10 years after my Big Lots career ended, I saw one of my former co-workers, a man in his 40's corralling carts and I said to myself, "Thank God for that experience, but thank God I'm Not Him!"

From a Furniture Associate- then Furniture Manager's perspective:

   If you would like to work during the day and get cross trained enough to become part of the furniture team, your job, by the book, is supposed to only be to clean up furniture, keeping it well organized and spotless; while talking about and selling furniture to customers. In a lot of cases this has made my day enjoyable. 
   Unfortunately, the company now (in the last half of 2015) relies on the overnight team to build your displays. Due to lack of hours and pay it is hard for a store to maintain an overnight team. The team that the store does have will spend all of its time on freight, and in most cases forget about furniture. Displays then are left to be built by a furniture associate during what little time they have. The company's inventory system is horrid - leaving a lot of customers                     unhappy with our "Take home today - but it's out of stock" motto.   Depending on where you live and work, the district level and up managers may or may not be great to work with. When there are problems they try to fix a bad situation in a constructive way. They are, however, constantly overridden by the higher corporate heads; those of which who believe in a fire, then replace to retrain model. In most cases a decent day in work depends on the overall team. If the store has a bad team, it will become nothing but problems indefinitely. Note that my specific store had management fired due to a lower employee stealing. We went for about 8 months without a store manager and I was eventually promoted to the lower level  Furniture Manager to do damage control. The majority of the time I have served the store more as a makeshift what do I need today manager and only started doing my true job over the summer (after 2 years). The worst problem is that when a customer calls the care line, instead of customer care carefully following guidelines and procedures and helping the customer in the best positive way, they will often tell the customer whatever it is that the customer wants to hear to make them happy; even at the cost of breaking policies and  sometimes even belittling the store. The company now follows a new sales guideline. In the past a Big Lots Furniture employee was similar to the electronics associate in Walmart. They have a desk to organize orders and sell furniture. They have various stock to maintain and gain knowledge of to assist customers to the best of their abilities. The job was to make sure that everyone was happy with their environment and had the knowledge they needed to responsibly buy products so that they can decorate their home. Furniture employees are now forced to shove product down customers' throats to, as put by a regional officer at the last meeting, "empty out their pockets" and meet higher sales quotas. It is important to note that Furniture Associates, Management or otherwise, are department employees. They are not commissioned salesman and make the same as everyone else in the store - minimum wage.

In short, I love the customer service end of my job. I get to meet new people and see returning customers every day. The social experience is great - as the vast majority that leave the store after being helped by me are more than appreciative of my service. The back end portion of the business, however, needs a lot more fine-tuning and discipline before it will be a truly reputable retailer to work for.

I began cashiering as temporay during holidays. My original store manager allowed me yo pick up hours and I showed him I was reliable and hard working. He put me up for advancement very quickly. I began in the furniture area and excelled at signing up rewards members and selling protection plans for furniture. I was rewarded with gift cards to Big Lots. When he decided to venture elsewhere once he felt was wrongly over looked in advancenent, he pushed for my advancement. I enjoyed the customer interactions daily, and the commodity of fellow employees. I also enjoyed being able to assemble furniture and being heard and my ideas being considered and weighed. Unfortunately in some areas my personality and standards of behavior clashed with others as well as fellow management, that cliques became obvious and favoritism. I tried to maintain best I could but being pulled away from my duties to finish or completely do others made me fall behind, and then the attitudes toward me and snide comments boiled me that I on 2 occasions exploded and stood up for myself and the facts at hand whether it was up against multiple managers and the new store manager. I was very embarrassed and even though I had the controversial conversations in appropriate area away from customers, I still felt embarrassed and as if I were in the wrong. The manager i replaced went on maternity leave and  ig Lots had me in a temporary status as furniture lead. I was made to wait for longer than originally defined and agreed upon when I took the job. Once it was finally in process I then got told that corporate was now in the process of considering pulling from a different store or someone not working for but was more qualified and that I would now need to put in a new application again but the avenue I had to do so had to have either the store manager or assistant manager had to get on computer and put me onto because they had only access and password access to but uncortunately I was unable to get accomplished the abilty to  get them to do so and then to have the knowledge on e there how to proceed and was told on multiple occassions occasions they'd call speak with the regional manager for guidance but never did so until I took it upon myself to address the matter when I had the good fortune of answering when he called. The very next week I got put onto leave because I applied a coupon multiple customers transactions that they needed to look into if I followed correct procedure and didnt violate anything. After the week was up if i were not to call and inform them that I still wanted my job and to ask if a conclusion had been drawn then I'd forfiet my job as abandonment ncns. I had to call numerous times and over the corse of almost the whole next week before i finally had my manager tell me he had finally spoken of the matter and that I could be placed back on schedule. Yet again even though previously being informed of how many hours I'd be back paid if "by chance I win my job back" which nit ever been done I'm told but I was yet again made disappointed and not to be given it. The second time I blew up was the last of all I could take. I left the store and never looked back. I'm one who places alot of weight and feel it impacts alot towards everything giving 2 week notice and I've been known to stay on when asked past my 2 weeks so I understand how it is very poor to leave everyone high and dry and how much that influences so much.

First off the pay was bad..... Not $400.00 every two weeks bad but worst. I got paid $45 to $150.00 dollars a week. that's about 350.00 a month correct me if I'm wrong and that's if I was lucky enough to get all $150.00 for every week. I got paid nothing! I was unable to buy anything or pay any bills to be honest my money went to paying bills. When I first started working there I thought the low pay was how we started off then it would pick up. I was worng! When I first started working there they had me on the register. They didn't train me properly (This was my first job) So I wasn't sure how things worked or what I was suppose to do. I was put on stock for awhile but I was taken off soon after. Then I was thrown on fronting and faceing. They were trying to find the best fit for me. So I worked 3 hours a day. I asked for more hours but I was denided. Me and the other people who worked the same amount of hours I did all got denided the same as me... so I thought anyways till I found out they were working the register for some of the cashiers and working stock some nights. That was when I realized I was getting paid the least out of all my coworkers. So I asked for more hours. This did not sit well with the hiring manager who was never there. When he was there he threaten to give me even less hours if I didn't liked what I got. So I told him I'll just find a new job and he was ok with that. Out side of the bad pay the managers were like bullies and held grudges. One of my cowokers who wasn't a manager but she was a valuable atset to the managers was a bully as well. She would taunt you like a child and treated people with disrespect we couldn't say anything about it because the managers just went back and told what we would say thus making us a target. If you had an issue with someone it was told throughout the store the managers were very unprofessional. One of my managers yelled at me in front of customers becuase I forgot to clock in. When I got into work I would just start working not thinking about clocking in (This was my first job) He could have pulled me aside and told me how he felt vs yelling at me. He just kept yelling "YOU DON'T THINK I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO DO!!!!!! I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!!!!!!!! He looked so crazy and I still don't know what he mean't by what he was saying. My coworker came up to me that night and was like what was that about. I was just as lost as she was. There was so much gossip and lie's being spreaded about people you can legit write a book. You got more work put on you but no extra hours to get it done. They bullied me into becoming the best worker they had. When I took too long doing my job they would stand to the front of the store and talk about you out loud for you to hear and laugh and joke about vs going to help you. I was a great worker for them but got treated no better then a dog. When I realized they're not going to give me any more hours I started to find a new job. I don't recamend this job to anyone not even good enough for a first time job.. they need to be shut down if you ask me! I worked from 7:30pm and got off at 9:30pm depending on who ever the closing manager was for that night. Some got us out at 9:30pm and some got us out at 10pm. or a little after 10pm.

Store managers and employees were awesome people. My coworkers were good spirited. The store itself was well kept and had a hard-working team unless they were new. The new employees tended to slack off and drag the team down by calling out and since there is only one person in each section (floor, register, and furniture) plus management so if anyone calls our everyone is in disarray with no back up when needed. 

I learned that the company doesn't care about its workers and they just want the bottom dollar. I also learned people will get very creative, obsessive, and spend hours taking up your time just to steal from your store. And how to identify fake money.

The largest complaint I have is the schedule is downright unfair. See the schedule is Saturday to Sunday and one week at a time. You never know if you are free so you can never make plans. Which is why people call out so often. The schedule updates a day or two at most before the start of a new work week. People call out because people don't live to work, they work to live but the company acts like your life is your job. Which by the way provides no benefits and will not hire full time.

 Responsibility is one thing, you have to have a job. You have to work hard, work with people you don't like, accept rules you don't want to obey, and in general be an adult but that does not mean you should feel guilty for wanting to do more than pray you get the day off. And for those who say "Oh just request the day off". Life doesn't tell you in advance about emergencies or happy little surprises that occur. The managers don't have much control over the schedule and will be dinged for editing it too much. This makes them a little irritable when changes have to be made. You should have a better idea of your work schedule so you can plan around it. Thus being a responsible person and normal human being who wants to make plans with friends and family and not be guilted for once in a blue moon having to call off from illness or something that cannot be missed. Such as relative getting in an accident or having a surgery and you need to be there to support them.

The hours are not stable, one week you can have twenty, and the next four. The managers seem to have little to no control over who goes where at what time. To be frank, it's a random generator or at least that was what management told me. 

I got lucky with my coworkers, they were the most enjoyable part of the job because they understood the stress the environment could bring on a person. The hardest part is the lack of knowing how to have a life/not being able to plan anything out and having to choose between getting more hours by agreeing to come in when someone calls off and sends everyone into panic mode or sticking with the plans you already have because God only knows when you will be able to make another. Oh and the constantly changing rules because cooperate doesn't know what to do as a company and rather be counterproductive and controlling than working with its employees and other people in management.

I started with Big Lots as their Furniture Sales Lead, and after about 8 months, I was promoted to the Assistant Team Lead (Assistant Manager). The pay was so-so, but not nearly enough for all of the tasks that Big Lots expects you to perform. 

If you expect to work in a healthy environment where your leaders are supportive and provide you with all the tools necessary to do your job, then this is not the job for you. I would like to say that I learn fairly quickly, so I was able to figure out some of the things that were not readily available to me by the Store Manager; however, it truly depends on how you learn best if learning on your own will work or if you really need that one on one at first. 

My work/life balance was completely destroyed during the COVID-19 pandemic, as people were quitting left and right, and there is no hiring solution to get people into the company. Big Lots does not pay their cashiers well, and they aren't allowed to accrue more than 29 hours in a week. This makes hiring extremely difficult because no one can live on those hourly wages, and its hard to compete when companies everywhere are giving sign-on bonuses and higher pay rates starting out. McDonalds pays more on the hour and offers more hours per week, and its hard to compete with other companies around you for employees when there is such a gap in potential earnings. Because of the shortage of leads and cashiers in the store, I worked for 22 days straight with no day off to speak of. During that time I was lucky enough to find and be offered a new position at another company. This job is not for those who are raising children, going to college, or needing a set schedule. Once you move into Assistant Manager and beyond, you'll be stuck at the store way more than should legally be allowable. 

You will not get any support from your District Manager pertaining to your Store Manager, so if there is a problem, you might as well grin and bear it. I hate to say that this is the way, but it truly is. There's no accountability for Store Managers, and they pretty much get away with anything (at least in the district I was in; this may prove to be untrue in other districts). 

The last thing that I feel the need to include here is that if you are looking to be appreciated, this unfortunately, is not the job for you. This company will ask you to do things that are morally wrong, go against their own policies, and could cause you a lot of mental distress. Examples include, making fake rewards cards to hit your quota for the week, bending the rules for customer service and later being questioned about it, and applying an unnaturally heavy workload to a team that is more than 50% understaffed. If you still wish to work for this employer, I wish you the best of luck. 

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Assistant store manager 15 salaries reported	$21.02 per hour
Process lead 8 salaries reported	$17.87 per hour
Department manager 2 salaries reported	$17.88 per hour
Retail sales associate 2 salaries reported	$17.25 per hour
Stocking associate 11 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour

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