assistant manager

store manager

assistant store manager

customer service representative

warehouse worker

Family Dollar

Serves as a Store Manager for Family Dollar Corporation with major responsibility for the overall store operations. Performs clerical duties related to parts room operations and warehousing.  The purpose of the position is to perform a variety of work that includes ensuring the storage, replenishment, and surveillance of supply line items: maintaining an equipment inventory listing; purchasing office supplies; ordering forms, receiving supply forms and supplies, providing informal training for employees, and performing record keeping. Typically performs the following duties:

 I determine daily requirements of items, Receives, stocks and issues a variety of items normally procured from vendors and warehouse. I make continuous checks of shelved items to insure quality, quantity, adequacy, correct pricing and neatness. Stocks shelves and display racks in accordance with an established plan. I unload large incoming shipments. I alter stocking shelves to add new items or to accommodate extra quantities.  I attend the service counter and assists employees with routine and non-routine purchases, resolving problems which may occur. Participates in inventories store merchandise.

I perform housekeeping functions in the storage areas. I maintain store cleanliness such as moping and dusting.  I ensure the store and storage areas are maintained in accordance with fire and safety regulations. I remove damaged or abandoned items from the supply area by making sure items are placed in the proper stowage bins. I maintain accountability for all store materiel and makes updates. I make periodic adjustments, credits returned materiel, and totals costs of items purchased. 
Inventory Management Support: I perform continuous maintenance of assigned perpetual inventory accounts for nonexpendable equipment in a fully computerized and integrated data base system.  Completes and periodically updates the appropriate cycle count. Maintains store inventory by cycle counts. I forward property turn-in documentation and assists in property disposal for proper disposition of unserviceable or outdated materiel. Verifies all issues and sales.  I verify all invoice receipts to maintain an accurate inventory in the automated system.
 
Supply Storage Room Operations: I operate supply storage rooms during schedule time periods.  My tasks include inventorying, stocking and using bar code devices to ensure that all stocks levels are maintained at levels needed to support the organization’ mission.
Disputed orders: I review and validate bills received for items under control. This responsibility includes reviewing invoices for authenticity, appropriateness, and pricing.  In cases, where inappropriate charges are included. I contact vendors and rectifies the incorrect billing.  In cases where the vendor refuses to cooperate, I initiate a dispute action by informing my District manager until such time discrepancies are remedied. 
Record keeping: I maintain accurate records and files of all permanent transactions, purchases, receiving reports and other records to facilitate in the management of my duties in an updated information system. All records are retained and maintained for the period in conformance with company policies.
Supply Management Support: I ensure the storage, replenishment and surveillance of store items.  I decreased theft by 50% and awarded recognition.  I monitor and review reports, history distribution, inactive items, usage demand analysis and stock status.  I ensure that supplies are maintained at the established user requirement levels.
I use bar code and scanning equipment to print and reproduce stored electronic forms, to check for scanner discrepancies, to make purchases and record supplies accurately 100%.  As the Store Manager/ Supervisor, I make assignments to my employees by defining objectives, priorities, and deadlines; and assists the employees in problem solving by verbal and written procedures. Contact with my District Manager is infrequent, although she is available by telephone and on-site visits.  My assignments are performed with considerable independence. I plan and carry out steps and handle problems in the work assignment in accordance with instructions, policies and accepted practices by issuing documentation to employees.
I am guided by a variety of directives and guidelines. While guidelines are generally applicable, I may make minor deviations to adapt guidelines in specific cases and determine which of the several established alternatives to use.  Situations to which the existing guidelines cannot be applied or require significant proposed deviations are referred to the District Manager.
My responsibilities encompass the performance of work related to the supply and inventory management, perpetual inventory accounts require that accurate and timely information be placed into the database and reconciliation with the responsible party.  My work involves difficult non-standardized duties; include new or changing situations and specialized procedures; require the formulation of decisions based on experience, precedent actions, and priorities. I am responsible for the storage, replenishment and surveillance of store merchandise; and completion of schedule inventories; review and processing of all requests for supplies, orders and receiving reports. I accurately copy files, prepare reports and distribute supplies. I am responsible for the labeling, issuing, storing, shipping, receiving, and inventorying of various store assets. I inspect the proper packages are designated to the proper location and facility. The results of the work affect the adequacy of store merchandise.  The purpose of my contacts is to plan, coordinate or advise on work efforts or resolve problems by clarifying discrepancies in information submitted to my District Manager. 
My job demands physical labor, lifting 50lbs, assembling and reassembling shelving units for display.  I offload and onload merchandise from the truck to uboats weekly. Store weekly volume ranges from 800 to 1, 500 packages. I regularly handle lifting 50lbs unassisted up to 25 feet.  I am constantly kneeling, crouching, stooping, walking and multi-tasking.  I segregate and inspect materials from hazardous to nonhazardous items.  I evaluate employee’s performance and references in onboarding and firing of employees.  I open crates, boxes, cartons, or bags as necessary and removes material for storage.  I place material in bins or assigned storage space in storage room. I check that tag are attached on items and that the item corresponds in identity and quantity.  I detect damaged items and place items in the proper disposition location.
My job demands the ability to gather, analyze, evaluate, and coordinate information and to organize the work in a professional organizational manner.  Throughout, my education I gained the ability to prepare written documents and communicate information to support procurement action this includes that knowledge of grammar, spelling, punctuation and formatting. I am skilled in the use of computer software and programs electronic mail, the Internet and Microsoft Office.
As the Store Manager/Supervisor I assign daily assignments by defining objectives, responsibilities, priorities, and training as defined by corporate. I display independent initiative to accomplish the necessary controls for receipting, issuing, shipping, cataloging and warehousing materiel and supplies. In all circumstances, I work independently in delivering supply items to consumers and picking up supply items from Central Receiving. I’m in continuous contact with my District Manager. My work is subject to spot checks for accuracy and compliance with verbal and written instructions.

I verify all items are accounted for. I assure items are properly marked and tagged. I am responsible for checking for evidence of damage or missing parts when items are received from vendors and prepares reports of discrepancies as required. Checks stock against documentation or contract for compliance. Signs receipt documentation. Participates in inventories.
I have the knowledge, skills and ability of the related software programs, regulations, policies, procedures and instructions applicable to the receipts, inventory, transfer, storage, issues replenishment of a wide variety of materiel and supplies.

I have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to research, investigate and reconcile routine discrepancies relating to actions such as receipt control, stock control and adjustments. 

I have the knowledge, skills, and abilities of stock control procedures to input and check computer listings, procurement and movement documents to determine and maintain stocks. 

I have knowledge, skills, and abilities of warehousing to include the warehousing of stock materiel and supplies; selection of items for issue and delivery; completion of supply documents; inventory procedures, identification and proper storage procedures and locations and the ability to input information into the local supply systems.
I perform work using established guidelines in the form of supply regulations, policies and procedures. I am required to exercise judgment in identifying and selecting the most appropriate guidelines, references, and verbal guidance with the ability to, determine and establish alternatives to use and make deviations if required.
My work involves the performance of a variety of supply duties to support the Business Supply function. The purpose is to ensure proper accountability, receipt, inventory, issue and restock of general supplies and materiel. I work independently much of the time dealing with customers and supply accountability issues that may require extensive research and problem-solving techniques.

My contacts are on a regular basis with customers and employees. I have contact with employees and item managers from other businesses.

Training is minimal, rushed, and is often skipped to cut corners to save time and money. Independent vendors and retail refreshers arrive every other day, D.C. trucks arrive once a week with a load that is expected to be fully worked within three, but often management pushes for two, days; and Family Dollar trucks arrive at different times once a week. As a manager, expect a lot of theft, internal and external, expect to finish your C.S.R.'s tasks for them (with the exception of a few extraordinary employees,) signage is updated, or supposed to be updated, often; also expect upper management to come in often and which usually entails consuming almost all of your viable productive time to complete projects. Also expect to have management undermine your direct orders, even if your directions are administered by company guidelines and standards of procedure. C.S.R.s have it the worst since they are in charge of ringing up customer's purchases while unloading freight and refreshing multiple areas in the front (Usually four to six aisles) which as I mentioned before, management often expects stock (freight) to be finished and complete by 7 P.M. or at most within three days. The stockrooms are unorganized, unhygienic, and generally unsanitary. Once after traveling to work at a local store, with only an hour's notice, as a temp for a manager that was sick, during my work in the back room unloading materials to be stocked I encountered a rat and multiple droppings (fecal matter,) I developed a staph infection from cleaning the end caps. The toilets did not work nor did the sinks have adequate water pressure or heat to allow proper and adequate hand washing. A few things that Family Dollar does not tell you is that you are EXPECTED to travel, in a range from 25 to 75 miles from your home store, on very short notice. The skeleton crew remark is very real, there are only two people per shift unless it is a D.C. truck day which may require calling in up to two additional associates. That's right, at most expect four associates on the floor and back room on a busy day. Numerous cash handling issues are abound with this company, there is very little record keeping other than a petty cash slip and a deposit log, and if you or a cashier is +/-$3.00 then that is grounds for automatic termination. Lastly during my tenure, one of the most deplorable acts I ever encountered happened at the direction from a store manager : During a promotion to sell Family Dollar brand cookies, the store manager told assistant managers and C.S.R.s to inform the customers that we would be donating the cookies to charity, since we were expected to sell 50 packages a day. Well, the cookies were not donated to charity and when I informed our district manager about what was happening he simply replied : "Well, your store is making your numbers so tell them whatever you need to keep selling those cookies!" I got so fed up with it that when I had a police officer come in to write an incident report about a shoplifter that I gave him the box of about 30-40 packages of cookies and told him to either distribute them to charity or to hand them out at his station. The pay is low for what you are expected to do and in conclusion as my last remark, in regard to the working environment for Family Dollar to anyone looking at this company as a prospect for employment, is that if you are a manager, even though it is state and federal law, you will not get a break or breaks, PERIOD. C.S.R.s can get a break or breaks but are often penalized for it. Trust me, you will find out when the schedule is made and your hours are drastically cut. Another point of consideration is that if you give your C.S.R. a break, 15 minute break means they have to stay on the premises and a 30 minute break means that you can be called back in before your break is up, you, as a manager, are alone in the store for the duration of that employee's break. The two person crew is ineffective, dangerous, and are when most stores are robbed; and Family Dollar stores are robbed OFTEN. Also noteworthy, check your time and check it often. Do yourself a favor, keep record of your hours and print tangible records of proof. At my store I frequently had supervisors, even District Managers, short my hours, refuse to pay overtime, promise to pay it on next week's paycheck but to no avail, and trying to get back pay through H.R. can sometimes take up to two to three months. All in all, if you NEED a job then this is an occupation that will help pay your bills, barely, but beware that Family Dollar's interest is in the bottom line and not the welfare as a priority of its employees.

As an IT Specialist at Family Dollar Corporate, I received inbound IT calls from stores, distribution centers, contracted vendors, field users, regional offices and corporate offices.

Most would have high expectations working at a call center within a corporate office - sharing space with very important people. This is not the case at all. This is comparable to an average call center elsewhere. 

Management didn't particular care who filled positions. There were several different tiers of positions... Contractor, IT Specialist I, IT Specialist II, IT Specialist III, Lead, Supervisor and Manager. That's because management often pushed workers who they think may be overqualified, at risk of quitting or transferring to a different department or simply to create diversity.

To explain the diversity of the department, there's about 40-50 workers, most male, most black or white. To enhance the image of the department, managements pushes non-black and white employees and females. Even worse, manage doesn't find importance in making sure they are capable of performing their duties efficiently.

Lets just say, we have people in the corporate office composing emails (As a special assignment) who have either requested or need assistance with run on sentences, grammar and punctuation.

Instead of promoting someone who is capable of performing next level duties, management will promote people who have zero experience performing the duties and train them after the fact.

Sometimes when positions become available, management will select someone and other times, they will make everyone apply. After complaints to HR by many workers, they have began to make announcements as much as possible.

A brief story, three workers interview for a position - They all get the same questions wrong and none are really qualified for the promotion but they select the person who's friends with most members of management.

Unfortunately, I went to college for IT and I did not want to be the agent that remained in the same position at $15 per hour for 8 years. Sadly, it's very common there. It's really a place for people to come work and leave, you really have to have low expectations. If you have high expectations, you will be heavily disappointed. This is a backwards company. This is a general response to most things at Family Dollar - "If something can go wrong, it will" and it does... Literally! 

As a whole, the company needs to have a company with an alternative way of thinking. Family Dollar's success can be attributed to trying to compete with Dollar General. Seriously, the revenue comes from opening up stores in a convenient store fashion (in some markets) every few miles you will find a Family Dollar store. In South West Charlotte, there's four. It would take me 10 minutes to drive by all four.

There's no problem with the mass opening of stores but employees are underpaid and stores are understaffed. The equipment in the stores constantly needed replacement or service. Stores were regularly Cash Only - Due to Server or Network Issues. Family Dollar can't even take care of what it has. The company is concerned with quantity not quality and workers are simply employee numbers in the game.

Even the Help Desk was understaffed. We are so understaffed, that I was allowed to get overtime from October 2012 until my departure in August 2013. One week, I worked 93 hours. Over time was encouraged. That was one great benefit to working there. If you need maintenance done to your car, you could easily work over time to pay it. If you were going on leave in 30 days, simply work over time every day until then.

Lastly, there's NO HR. HR works for management. Ultimately, the resolution to any problem is in the hands of management. If management is unable or unwilling to resolve your issue, expect to be terminated. Management is only interested in protecting its practices. Unless you are an important employee, don't expect any kind of support here. By the way, the HR Help Desk and IT Help Desk are only slightly above Store Managers. In the event of budget cuts, we are next in line!

A year ago, 10 people were let go due to the stock falling in January 2013.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Best part? The people! 

Now that depends heavily on which store you're in, but I worked in quite a few. I really did meet a lot of coworkers and customers who I enjoyed spending my time with, and even after I left people recognize me just out somewhere all the time. 

I know this sounds dumb but I mean it, I really did have some fun times here. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I wrote this as an overall review before I saw the first question was "what's the best part" and I think I'll just leave it here. 

I worked at family dollar from cashier to store manager. The best position is assistant manager in my opinion, which I held for the majority of my time with the company. 

As a cashier, you are not likely to get many hours unless your store is understaffed. Think 10-20 hours, closer to 10. You don't get benefits either. You can easily get 40+ hours if you lose other cashiers or asms,  or if you are willing to help understaffed stores in your district. In my experience a store is staffed by 5 to 6 people, so when it drops to 3 or 4 there's a big swing. 

Cashiers also stock and recover at all times, which remains true as you advance. 

ASMs also cashier, stock, and recover. They are more responsible for knowing how to set schematics, endcaps, displays etc. Also, it is more important to know store policy to deal with customers who have issues with returns, arguments about pricing or sales, and general conflict management skills. Also observing coworkers and making your SM aware of issues, but there isn't much need to really manage yet. Expect 32-40 hours and a little more than minimum wage. You do get benefits, and you build vacation. I think it caps at 3 weeks, not bad for this kind of job but not amazing. 

As a store manager, you continue to do everything from earlier roles. You also handle billing, hiring, firing, scheduling, ordering building maintenance, and ordering product. You are responsible for training everyone, and for making sure everything in the store is up to date. Expect your DM to text you every couple hours throughout the day (I'd say about 6am to 11 pm are hours you are expected to respond, Thursday is 4am) whether you are at work or not, and expect to be made to come in on your days off. Expect at least 3 rows per month to have schematic resets, and 8-12 endcap resets. Seasonal schematics are vague and I found them somewhat enjoyable. Pay can be decent here, I made about 50k/yr in a rural area. You can make bonuses on top of it, they are largely based on controlling shrink. The hours are 48/wk minimum, no maximum as you are salaried. 

This can realistically be 60+ hours, and occasionally more. Especially if, like me, you have a remodel in your store. In that case, you may push 80+ not counting sleeping in your car or office to allow people to work on your store's floors overnight. In fairness, I had no district manager during my remodel (or for a few months around it) which made things harder. 

You have to remember that Family Dollar operates by keeping its operating costs low, mostly by not allowing budget hours for employees and having SMs make up the difference. 

As an ASM or SM you are very likely to be the only person in the store. If you aren't, there is likely one other person with you. 

I didn't mean to sound negative, these are simply things that happen. 



What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Most of the time, pretty relaxed. Most customers are cool, and during normal operation goals are attainable. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Depends on which position, but overall it's stocking and ringing up or helping customers.

Family Dollar is a perfect example of a nonprofessional workplace. Every store I've been to has a district manager that wont give the store managers what they need. Adleast two of the current employees are involved in drama that overflows occasionally to others, including customers and little to nothing besides a stern talking to is done. Store managers are run ragged and when they complain they are often punished in a round about way. Such as their budgets being cut to lessen employee hours acrossed the board, talked down to like they are in high school and in general treated very badly by the upper management.

Despite this they are expected to do anything and everything for the company. Including drive to another store and work at a few minutes notice if they have the day off. Even when a SM does have a good year and their inventory reflects this they are given no bonuses and no rewards of any kind. Usually they are told what they could have done to have done better. This business is a pay check and as long as people need cheap commodities it will continue to function.

A typical day of work here is to begin with deciding who is working the register currently, then the person not doing so will throw freight. Restocking the store and making sure items are in their home spots for people to buy. If there is no more freight to be thrown then you are to check the projects manager and see if any signage or advertisements need to be taken down or put up. Then every so often go around the store and check on things for thief and shoplifting. Around 5pm you begin recovery, facing products, pulling them forward and cleaning up misplaced items and returning them to their home spots. Then general store cleaning, sweeping floors and dusting rugs and removing trash.

Finally, the manager will count out of their drawer and begin closing procedures. Turning down the lights, counting the safe and putting away paper work. After counting their own drawer the store closes about a half hour afterwards. Lock up and then the cashier counts out also, the manager then recounts all drawers and calculates tomorrows deposit to the bank based on that days sales.

I've learned how to duck my head in a hostile business environment when in need of money to survive. I'm not being sarcastic, its a requirement here. Making complaints about non professional behavior are treated as gossiping and nothing is done. The actual management work was rather rewarding to me personally. As i now understand how hard it is to make a schedule when your employees availability is very different from each other. I enjoyed being responsible for workers and directing how work was to be done. I would handle customer complaints and prevent people from insulting my workers without being insulting myself. Opening and closing the store is easy and being responsible for such simple yet vital operations makes me feel like a valuable member of the team.

The hardest part of the job is dealing with shop lifters and hostile customers who are determined to get their way. They try to return after being banned and often times don't care that they are banned. Calling the police is sometimes required to resolve this. Also sometimes stores call one another to give heads ups about a person or persons trying to return stolen merchandise at a nearby location. We do our best to catch this but it isn't always possible.

Overall, this is a decent place to work. First shift is 6am-2:30 pm with a 30 minute lunch around 11am and two 15 minute breaks, one at 8am and another at 1pm. The day often lasts until 3pm or 4pm with some weeks ending early on Friday. This may annoy people wanting to keep their chance of overtime for the week but can be a nice relief for those wanting to start the weekend. 

There's options to change departments within the company after the first 90 days although some management for labor intensive departments often borrow cross-trained employees from their current department to aid in other areas they know regardless of the employee's preference to reject once they've learned the other job. 

The Management is easygoing for the most part but stands their ground when they need to. There's a number of managers within the warehouse so there's going to be different personalities. Coworkers will complain that management doesn't know what they're doing half the time since there's miscommunication between areas every once in awhile. Management is usually quick to complete improvements in the building in order to make work life a little easier for the employees and sometimes they get a few BBQ's funded each year.

There is plenty of room to go up the ladder with the company growing at the rate it is currently in 2016, but be aware that promotions are not done by recognition. You must keep an eye out for job postings online and apply on your own. There's a job posting board in the building, but they don't post management or "higher-up" office positions, only the "Goal Program" to apply for a chance to impress during that and get into the Management In Training program.

The pay is decent for the area in Utah, but below that of comparable jobs at companies nearby, especially when considering the typical annual increases. Base pay for most positions in the warehouse starts between $10-$12.75 for first shift, 6am-2:30pm, and $10.75-$13.50 for second shift, 5pm-1:30am. For production jobs, there is incentive pay between $0.50-$3 additional per hour for your performance above 100% for the week and is also based on your utilization of your time.  Pay period is weekly.
Merit increases are below 50 cents and on average 40 cents. Annual bonuses have been lingering in discussion especially with how impresive the DC's cost per case has been, but rarely fulfilled by corporate for a handful of excuses. 

Health benefits and paid time off are quite good, though. United Health Care Insurance is the provider and cheaper plans with the merger of Dollar Tree. Paid time off is: 6 paid personal days, 6 paid sick days, and accrued paid vacation days that max out at different levels depending on time with the company. 1-4 years in the company gets 2 weeks vacation time annually before it goes up. 

Most enjoyable parts about working at the Family Dollar DC is the frendly coworkers of different ages, genders, ethnicities to relate with, fairly easygoing bosses, the BBQ's provided, a decent amount of paid time off, being paid every week, and having the weekends off.

Started as a temp with a large team doing a new store setup, worked closely with a manager of another store while doing setup, got suggested by him to be an assistant manager, although I didn't believe I was completely cut out for it (not good at managing others, small and young and female=disrespected by my temp peers who were mostly older women who saw me get the promotion instead of themselves)... Only a handful were selected to be a permanent part of the new store staff except for a manager who was apparently chosen from doing another store setup elsewhere... She ended up being a nightmare to deal with, always looked at me with suspicion as if she didn't like who was picked to be her assistant manager, then barely a month after grand opening she got some mystery rare illness and was hospitalized for a couple months during the winter holiday season. I was given very little training (which was mostly all on the computer and a bunch of nonsense really), felt very overwhelmed by myself even though other managers came to cover for when I wasn't there, sometimes felt like I was floating through shifts while receiving constant but subtle disrespect from employees, never felt comfortable in the store, was barely given any guidance or mentoring from other managers even though it was clearly needed at times. The pay was mediocre for what was required of the position even when the store manager came back from illness. I felt like she did very little compared to the mountain of overwhelming work she would purposefully leave for me to do so that she could be lazy. One time she pulled me into the tiny manager's office that houses the CCTV cameras and barely any space for 2 people to move around and got in my face and made me nearly cry from telling me that my personality is entirely wrong for managing people and that I need to grow a backbone, but other managers told me I was fine, wasn't being too lenient at all and needed to just stay firm, which I was doing all the time even though I knew intuitively I was being disrespected and looked down upon by the employees. She also constantly called me and asked for me to cover for her so that she could go do whatever non-work-related errand she could come up with. This happened sometimes once or twice a week or every other week. I ended up leaving after 5-6 months, because I couldn't handle the stress, pressure, degradation and disrespect any longer. I found out later that this manager had been stealing from the store and got fired. Now, 3 years later, the store has been taken over by Dollar Tree along with the other new locations here, which is funny, because it was being said how risk-taking the company was being to open up so many new stores all at once in this area and others. The only reason I give this 2 stars overall is because I actually enjoyed helping customers, maintaining stock, processing trucks and working with vendors, otherwise I would give it only 1, if that, for everything I mentioned above.

I was here for four years, and for the first year or so it was great. The store had an awesome manager who really cared for her employees. The pay was low, but working for someone that you truly got along well with made the job tolerable.

It's truly abhorrent how poorly myself, the associates, and the customers were treated once the original store manager left. The new manager was openly abusive toward employees. I would regularly get screamed at in front of customers about stocking, recovery (essentially just making sure the shelves were organized), or whatever little thing happened to not get done that day. Every Sunday, I would get a call from the store manager yelling at me for the previous reasons while I was on register helping customers. She was so loud that the customers across the counter could hear her through the phone. It was embarrassing and completely unnecessary.

Corporate was made aware of her actions by myself and several other associates, but did nothing. I never did find out why, but I can only assume this was because of the high sales our store produced (#1 in our district at the time). After all, why ruin a good thing for something as minuscule as employee happiness?

Corporate does not care about you. Their actions make that clear. Low payroll means that on truck day, you are the only one unloading a 900 piece truck. It means you're the only one stocking 900 boxes in the days after, because you're the only person scheduled from 7:30am to 3:00pm. We would receive so much freight that we could not physically navigate our stockroom, and it would pour out into the aisles from the stockroom doors, blocking customer movement. Boxes would be stacked so high that any slight bump could send a 45lb box of detergent crashing down onto the floor, an employee, or a customer. I'm astounded that so few people got injured in my time there.

At the time of my departure, the store had a great, hard-working team that was demoralized by their treatment from corporate and management. It's unreasonable to ask one person to have an entire truck stocked in 16 hours (two 8-hour shifts), and then when they can't do it, verbally berate them in front of customers. None of the associates I worked with are still there, but the store manager continues to bring the place down with her toxic aura. I suppose that's the definition of irony.

At one point, I expressed concern to our District Manager about the heavy workload. I received this in reply: "If you can't do the job, then maybe you need to find somewhere else to work." So I did.

That's how this company sees you. You are a robot. If for any reason you can't always perform at 100% efficiency, then you're not working hard enough. You don't deserve compassion or empathy.

I'm glad to be rid of the place.

An entry level position into the Buying office. The merger has clearly caused more problems than good. Too much on-the-fly training due to mass re-hiring. Out of nearly 30 Merch Assistants, only 3 have been promoted in the past year, yet many have already been eligible for a new position for over a year.

 As a Merch Assistant, you are caught in the middle and receive a lot of pushback from the Buyers when they don’t like a new process or rule. Managers do not intervene when the Buyers get uppity. You are often asked to complete things, but you’ll never get all of the required information you need to complete it. You’ll have to triple and quadruple check your work before processing it, as other departments are not checking their own work before it is sent to the next department.

 Too much “shooting the messenger.” If I said this department requires 3 days, then it’s three days. Don’t argue with me because I am not a manager and I do not run departments. Go ask whoever runs that department “why”. At only 15 per hour, certain things are not my responsibility i.e. finding out why a rule or process exists when each section has their own manager or VP. We are the lowest on the pole; we don’t always know why things are changing. How about asking the person who actually made the change and runs the department? 

There is only 5-6 people who set up SKUs and perform item maintenance for the whole company. The Data department often gets tasked to make hundreds of project SKUs, meaning our requests get pushed to the side. I once did a large Private Brand SKU setup during one of their mass setups. As I tried to explain in a meeting to the Brand Manager that the Data department was Tasked on a High Priority project(and that’s why we hadn’t received  the SKUs back) she rolled her eyes at me, in front of the Buyers and other managers. I had already done my part by making a high priority request and emailing the Data Manager about the request. So how is it MY fault that another department is backed up? Incredibly rude.

 The higher ups, they don’t speak to the MAs at all...hardly a hello. The ones that do speak favor the teacher’s pet, instead of the ones who consistently perform well. 

Operations wise, too reactive instead of being proactive, which causes deadlines to be missed, and simple tasks are done over and over before finalized. Whether it’s Global Sourcing, Pricing, Visual, or transportation, the MAs usually take the blame for THEIR shortcomings. The Buyers will not listen to us, and our Management refuses to step in and have our backs. POOR communication all around. 

It’d be better to deal with if the pay was higher.

I initially worked to open several stores in the immediate vicinity and got picked up permanently at the fourth. While I worked setting up stores (stocking and unloading trucks), there was a flurry of activity over a 7-10 day period after which was followed by a month without any work.

After I got picked up permanently, I worked less than 15 hours per week, later receiving less than four per week.

A typical workday after permanent hiring was comprised of working the cash register, stocking and straightening shelves and returning wayward merchandise to its proper home.

I learned how to use a scanning cash register. I learned how hard physical labor can be and how exercise is important in weight loss. I learned that shoplifting is a HUGE problem in retail establishments, and some businesses care little about it.

Upper management and store managers seemed unduly punitive and prone to deceptive techniques by allowing part time employees think they are hired on permanently when that doesn't happen until one works very, very hard. My store manager was snide toward many employees creating a fairly hostile work environment.

My coworkers were, for the most part, hard-working, good spirited people who needed work as badly as I did. Half or more were not offered regular work once the stores opened but were instead furloughed until the next store set-up. Nearly everyone worked hard. Some worked less hard but were offered positions, and personal appearance (i.e, general handsomeness or beauty) seemed to be a large factor.

The hardest part of the job was the injuries I sustained during routine work, injuries that persist even now, months after my final shift. I have some residual pain in my right foot, my left knee, my left elbow, etc. The lack of any kind of job stability or permanence was very disturbing to me. I was an employee for six months and didn't work a single day for the first month other than a two hour shift to fill out paperwork.

The most enjoyable part of the job was dealing with customers; I prided myself on helping each of them smile before they walked out the door.

I have two bachelor's degrees and have yet to find any reasonable work for about three years. I understand that such a situation is fairly common right now. It was never an ideal job for me, but I thought I surely could manage to make it last if I worked harder than I thought possible.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Assistant manager 147 salaries reported	$13.81 per hour
Store manager 75 salaries reported	$47,990 per year
Assistant store manager 92 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour
Customer service representative 54 salaries reported	$12.13 per hour
Warehouse worker 2 salaries reported	$18.75 per hour

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