retail assistant manager

merchandise manager

customer experience manager

retail store manager

retail assistant store manager

Five Below

for the sake of your mental well-being please do not work here. the store seems so incredibly desperate for help they will hire anyone off the street but do not fall for it. the pay is incredibly low and you are expected to do so much work for nothing. they will tell you to do something then when you come in the next day your work will be all undone leaving you wondering why you were even asked to do it in the first place. you are hired on under the premise of only working 2 days a week but then out of nowhere become expected to work monday through friday (even though this is not your availability). be prepared to feel very micromanaged and feel like you are not trusted to do your job correctly. every little mistake is held against you and over analyzed. one day they will praise you and say oh you guys are great and hard workers and then the next they complain you did something wrong. Which is it? they won’t properly train you and then get mad when you do something incorrectly. they let issues persist for months and don’t bring them up until they decide it’s convenient for them. This job seems like it’s made for a teenager but I’m too old for all that. I’m too old to make almost nothing to basically do everything in the entire store and then get nitpicked when something isn’t the way it should be. They take advantage of people who either desperately need money and have nowhere else to work or people who are fresh into the workforce and don’t know any better. Be prepared for EVERYTHING to be questioned. You’re there for 5 seconds and immediately management is down your throat about what you did wrong the day before. How about showing some appreciation for your employees because we would rather hear positive reinforcement instead of feeling like we don’t know how to do our jobs. This *was* just a part time job for me but I felt so overworked and expected to make it my main commitment when it was such a waste. Your coworkers won’t do anything and will just watch you do all the hard work while management says nothing. Not to mention we got a new manager but nothing was ever communicated and she would go away for long periods of time without informing her team which in my opinion seems very lackluster. She would also just disappear for hours in the back while we were the ones who had to put up the freight. Some people just don’t belong in a management position. These people aren’t awful people per-say i just think they are not fit to be managers because they basically just want you to do all their work and they talk about you. Then the district manager comes into the store every single shift and acts like she’s doing something but in reality she’s just there to watch people and then critique everything and talk about how people aren’t doing their jobs correctly. What’s really funny is that instead of coaching people herself she will tell someone else so that they can tell us. I am someone who can take constructive criticism but not to the point where I can’t even focus on my job and to the point to where I can’t even feel trusted to do my job. I understand retail stores have a certain standard to follow but I feel Five Below’s days are numbered. After holidays they will drop your hours to only like 4 or 8 hours a week which isn’t sustainable at all. Granted I didn’t wanna be there anyways but they don’t care that people have bills and families to support. The store is incredibly messy which makes it very difficult to work and I think management knows this but there’s no accountability. All they do is complain and threaten write ups but it just gets worse. And then we as the freight team are expected to work around the mess and it’s near impossible. The store is almost fully stocked and we are STILL expected to put product on the shelf even when there is no room. Then, we get blamed for either the shelves being overloaded or product being in the wrong spot. There is no warm feeling within the store because almost never are you asked about your day and only half the time are you told good morning. you walk in and within 5 seconds you are hounded with tasks and it just seems very exploitative and tedious. They overwork 2 or 3 people instead of having a full team. I consider myself a decent worker but there just is not enough time in the day. Really? Only 3 freight members? Management is aware of the freight volume but refuses to hire more help. I understand the importance of meeting metrics but it seems very unrealistic when there’s little to no help with 4 or 5 freight pallets daily. I was promised a raise but never got it. The job started off fine but then we got a new manager who seemed very lazy to me and then the store started going downhill because they started putting so much stress on the freight team for the holiday season. It’s understandable, it’s part of retail. But there’s only so much 3 people can do (or really only 1 because half the time nobody else would be doing anything). Sometimes it felt like certain staff members would be talked down to on several occasions. That may be why so many people quit in such a short time frame. I think quite literally the only positive to this job is that you get a discount. A tiny discount, but a discount nonetheless. I think they do seem to be *decently* and i do want to emphasize decently, understanding of emergencies and sickness. But even then they seem pretty passive aggressive and only care about you coming back. I started this job in October and have not been the same since. I’ve been physically sick due to lack of sleep and overexertion. I’ve been depressed and mentally drained. It really took a big toll on my mental health, which is why I had to leave. I had no choice. I have never been so depressed in my entire life. The pay isn’t worth being miserable, I don’t care how badly you need the money. I don’t care if you’re broke, please save yourself and do not work here. I don’t know If I will ever mentally recover. It sounds dramatic, but it’s true. I quit in January and here it is March, and no one has said a single word to me. They don’t care. To be fair, I don’t really either but it really reinforces my opinion on them. I truly did not even have it in me to give a notice, I just simply left one day and never came back. Most liberating feeling. No regrets. My suggestion? Pay people what they’re worth and be more understanding of people and their mistakes. Train people. Respect people. Trust people to do their jobs. Stop micromanaging. Otherwise you will continue losing hard working people. I honestly do not know if Five Below can make a turnaround and become a more positive workplace but if they make the necessary changes both at the store and district levels and actually start trusting and appreciating their staff, maybe the stores would be ran better and people would be overall happier. PS- they will fire you after christmas or new years unless you’re part of management so unless you feel like being tossed to the wind out of nowhere, don’t even bother applying because they will fire you with 0 notice! They only care when it benefits them. So many loyal and hard working people let go because of “budget cuts” or “slow sales volume.” Yeah, alright. A multi billion dollar company can’t afford labor hours? Oh okay. management is only concerned about their labor metrics to increase their quarterly bonus. Because, you know, hourly workers (the ones who do all the work), don’t matter. I wanted to care about this company because that’s who I am but this company clearly does not care about me or any of its workers. It’s only a matter of time before Five Below is just a distant memory unless some SERIOUS changes are implemented.

This company is the poster child for precarious employment
and also  an organization that believes in a "bad job strategy." The store operates with a lean labor model, and they treat most employees as disposable. The company’s main concern is growth and opening new stores. Nothing in my experience leads me to believe that FB employees are a high priority at the company. There was no attempt at providing wages that people can live on, affordable health insurance so they can access health care or work-family policies such as scheduling regular hours so employees can meet their non-work obligations. Five below works best as a stop-gap job for part-timers and a resume builder for people who want to add assistant manager on their resume. If you are not the store manager, the position can be equated to either a cashier or warehouse associate.

The company operates with chaotic operations, and The labor strategy leaves you in a downward spiral.

Vicious cycle:
Small labor budget >; Low quantity and quality of Labor >; Poor operational execution>; Low Sales.

Small labor budget (exacerbated by the GM and DM hoarding of hours to achieve quarterly bonuses )
>; Low quantity and quality of Labor ( Store only offers part-timers from 0-10 hours a week; as a result most high performing employees either leave  or become disengaged within 2 to 3 months) 
 >; Poor operational execution ( the company has unrealistic expectations especially when it comes to the  store nightly recovery; decent store recovery is too difficult to perform reliably every time with only two people) 
>; Low Sales.

 While vacation and personal time are competitive, nothing else really is. The pay is not competitive, the health benefits are pretty weak, and low-level employees average around 10 or fewer hours a week. FB does not invest in employee wages. The Employees raises are far and in between. You may get a 25 cent increase every other year.
There are only two full-time positions in the store: Store Manager and Assistant Manager and both are pretty much stock boys or girls and cashiers.

My experience at Five Below.  

The management’s behaviors and actions created a toxic store culture, in the workplace, Organizational trust for me did not exist because while the upper management seemed to be nice, they never seemed to be committed to resolving major work environment issues. Coworker relationships suffered because of the Managements lack of commitment to the people and production in the store they refused to follow policies that would create a more fair and equitable environment. The work at FB was not meaningful work or rewarding the best part of the day was engaging with a happy child and/or clocking out to go home. Recognition happened occasionally, but feedback and growth were nonexistent. The staff under management lacked empowerment and a voice; management ignored most requests and input on processes and procedures. When you insisted on a topic no matter how diplomatic or eloquently you made your point, the Manager would become strangely frustrated and erupt in anger, using unprofessional sarcasm or condescension, I suppose this was a strategy to maintain unquestioned authority and preserve the status quo. 

Overall the management displayed all the characteristics of an indifferent or impoverish manager they demonstrated little or no concern for their management team or general staff, and they also seemed to care very little about delivering operational results. Overall most of their time was spent securing a “golden schedule,” CYA activities and doing just enough work to keep their job. 
 
If you are expecting any training or development, or for any policies and procedures to be upheld especially any policies that we contribute to a fair and equitable workplace you will be thoroughly disappointed. The management did not communicate expectations they didn’t even bother discussing ASM yearly reviews with either of their assistant managers before or after submitting them. Overall the Management had a stunning ability to be ineffective as a boss and a leader. The people who benefited the most were all the toxic personalities who knew how to benefit from a complete lack of leadership. Honest employees were left to fend for themselves. I was extremely disappointed in my experience at five below. From my vantage point, Five Below is an example of what work life is like when companies are engaged in a race to the bottom and externalize cost to both their customers and employees by, both understaffing stores causing services to suffer, and neglecting the employee experience.

I first started at this company as a cashier and then was promoted to PTSL a few months after I graduated high school. I really did enjoy this job in the beginning. I loved the management (minus one exception) and I loved the environment and my cashiers. Sadly, my mind was slowly changed after I got promoted and discovered a lot of issues within the company.
This company is an absolute MESS of a company. They don't care about their employees at all and pay their workers pennies while expecting them to spin gold. 
The job is not necessarily hard by any means, but the expectations the company puts on you is what makes the job not worth it (for what you're getting paid). 
There is no sense of loyalty with Five Below. Despite 'Build a Career' being one of their 'fundamentals' they by no means encourage or enforce that in any way. Not only did I hear numerous stories or know numerous people who were cheated out of a promotion, it also happened to me. Despite being more than ready and qualified for a higher position, I was instead passed up for an outside hire who had never worked in bigger retail like this and was in no way prepared for the job or what it entailed-even more ironic, I was expected to train them for the position, despite technically being under them. My SM and the DM also lied to me about the position availability and led me on and wasted my time making me believe that I had a fighting chance at the position despite having already promised it to the outside hire. This, of course, was unacceptable to me-someone who had always gone above and beyond from the moment I started working there by taking initiative, training all new employees, covering shifts, working 15-20 hour shifts when things were tight, working full-time hours despite getting NO benefits. Unfortunately, this is extremely common within the company. They don't value their workers and have no care or loyalty for those working under them busting their butt for them.
(Specific examples of this happening would be: An SM who was promised a promotion to DM-but it was instead given to an outside hire who was no good at the job, as well as a CEM who was led on about being promoted to SM but then that role, was instead given to a different manager who was...well, an a** kisser tbh).
Another huge problem this company has is they are...spineless. They will avoid taking disciplinary measures with employees simply because they don't want to or because the employee is 'good at their job.' During my time working there, we had a manager who was easily one of the most toxic and unpleasant people I have ever had the displeasure of meeting and despite numerous numerous complaints and people quitting directly because of them, this manager still had not had so much as a slap on the wrist over the course of their 6 years there. The excuses I heard constantly were "But they're good at their job" which frankly is just not a good enough reason when said manager has caused upwards of (at least) 10 people to quit - just during my time there. I was also directly underneath an SM who was also rather spineless and two face. Hated confrontation and refused to confront things head-on, directly resulting in the downward spin of employee morale as well as his entire management team quitting within the span of a month.
Another issue I discovered is that they also don't give benefits to their full-time support leads. So, they work their FTSL 35-40 hrs but they don't get any sick days or vacation or personal time. I figure there must be some kind of legal loophole they've found, but this is wrong and just another example of corporations exploiting their employees. 
They are constantly cutting corners and 'holding the penny hostage' (another one of their key sayings) and because of this are compromising good workers just so they 

In conclusion: This job is seriously no good. Unless you're a 16-18-year-old still in high school or just looking for a simple cashiering job, stay far away from this company and also, don't feel bad about not going above and beyond for them when they're not even going to pay you well for it. 
I'm going to end by saying this: There's a very simple way to ensure employee loyalty, morale, and work ethic - Compensate them fairly for their work and give them the benefits they deserve. We are human beings. Not robots.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The pay is very low I am now considering de promoting myself down to a sales lead, part time so that I can have another job that makes more money. I like working here it’s a fast paced environment which is what I love but the pay is one of the lowest I’ve received working  Retail. I am doing store manager work with it the pay I was told in order for me to be promoted up I would have to have worked as a cem and also a mm before I would be considered.. sadly this is probably why they loose awesome hard working Employees.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part is the tote selling they want you to sell a massive quantity of reusable totes a day to make sales plans.. in the beginning it was easy to sell them but everyone here now doesn’t want them because they already bought several and they are bringing them back to the store with them when they shop. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is extremely focused on customer service … they want to constantly greeting constantly asking customers do they need help while also finishing g several tasks threw out the day that has to be checked off in the computer. Sometimes it’s a struggle to do that while also chucking in vendors and the truck.  While being several under staffed because they don’t have enough hours to give anyone so mostly your time is working with other managers and sometimes sales associates if the hours are there to give. They want you to work five days a week but not even they 40 hours. Lots of six hour shifts five days a week, which doesn’t leave any wiggle room for a second job. You definitely have to be able to triple multi task and be okay with the low amount of pay you get for doing three employees jobs plus your own job. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Come in front door, open the store immediately and turn off the alarm to the store. Clock in computer , do a walk around the store to see if recovery was finished from the night before. Then Go to the office and check emails then go to connect 5 and print off tasks. Log into system for aco count money from the safe put in bags count legacy drawer take money out to the machines load machines put legacy in take the money back to office and reconcile the safe. Write the daily tasks sheet for everyone and what they need to do for the day, put up front in tasks folder. Then try to do some of the tasks before the store opens if all tasks aren’t completed by openings time, hold off on those and unlock doors let customers in and immediately start greeting and engaging with customers hold blue totes in arms to sell as customers come in. Stay up front help customers checkout and sell totes til the opening associate arrives have a talk with associates go over the daily tasks paper and give walkie talkies and zebras so that your able to answer the phone when customers calls and talk to the associate while on the floor helping customers and finishing up tasks. If there’s a meeting for store make sure everyone is aware that you will be gone for a certain amount of time regulate rest of task work out for it to be finished if so.. if a truck comes while tasking make sure to check the truck in on zebra for each pallet and make sure the trash is outside for pick up and back room has clear path way for pallets to set in back for the early morning shift which, I am usually the one to come in at 4 am to start the truck the next morning. Depending on the season we are in depends the amount of time on the floor I have, in between tasks and also doing planograms which I also have to do.

Five Below is one of the strongest, and most successful up and coming retailers, in a tough economy. It's new, it's fresh, and it's fun. However, with the "newness" comes lack of leadership. Although executives are business savvy, and constantly praise store teams, they do little in the way of assisting the stores. Minimal pay for staffs (not just Managers) is the toughest burden. Store teams suffer very high turnover rates because the company does not invest in there associates. As they grow as a company, with phenomenal new unit growth, they specifically target large shopping center complexes. This makes it very tough for Store Manager's to retain good help, as all the neighboring retailers, and restaurants pay extremely better, and offer more "hours". It is hard to get strong commitment from individuals to work with passion for your store's success when they are marginalized to working 15hrs or less per week for minimum wage. The company even notates this struggle with Seasonal Temp staffing for Grand Openings, and Holidays as they promote constantly hiring, and having extremely large staffs (up to 5x the size of your typical staff), when studies have shown it is better to invest in better talent up front, so that you have a team that "cares". The company recently restructured the Management Team at store level this past Spring, but all it did was transfer the issue, instead of achieving a solution. They added a second "ASM" to each location, with more defined roles for each, to help offset the talent level of store teams. This was to provide Store Managers an extra team member that was "more vested" in the success of the stores, however it shrunk store staffs even smaller,as operational hours were not provided for the influx in full-time associates; making scheduling a home-life balance, and being able to schedule for larger workloads on peak-weeks that much more difficult, as the store teams shrunk. In regards to the Organizational depth, the company seems so wrapped up in expansion, and growing store count to maximize profits, and top line sales they are forgetting the basics to successful business which is simply sound Management. Labor hours are kept under wraps until the beginning of each month, when your DM emails you specifically what your base hours are for that month. Then, depending on your workload, you may get additional hours via email with less than a weeks notice. This makes it very difficult to schedule your store staff in a typical 2 week strategy, which is not fair to store teams. Up until recently, sales budgets were the same way. Emailed out on a monthly basis. Ordering basic supplies to maintain the store is difficult as well, with access to items such as toilet paper, printer paper, and other cleaning supplies only available for order once, every other month. This forces Managers to come out of pocket to have to supply their stores/customers with basic necessities (with reimbursement if submitted properly). It is also a struggle to receive help from "Corporate" when needed. Technical Support for computer systems, Human Resources, etc. are not available 7 days a week during business hours, so if an issue arises at store level outside of a typical M-F 9-5 (EST) even though there are now stores in every time zone open outside of that window, you are not going to get an immediate resolution, which causes issues.  I do believe with the atmosphere, and the philosophy they speak of, and what they are striving for, the company has a very bright future. However, as it stands, there are a lot of growing pains, as they learn along the way.

I started working as a seasonal sales associate during Christmas, and I worked hard so I was able to stay after the season was over. I have enjoyed this job a lot. Training was a quick rundown of everything, and then you call for help with whatever as needed, whichever manager was on duty had no problem helping. Eventually you start to get the hang of things and don’t need to call for help so often. 

I am a high school student, I was able to maintain school life, good grades, and good work performance. My work schedule was flexible, allowing me to stay after school for a club I am in. This schedule was discussed during my hiring process, so make sure you say something regarding availability if not asked! My only complaint with school and work is that you only get a few hours to do homework, and then get to work till 9/10pm. So make sure your time management is on point. You could do homework after work but then you’d be losing much needed sleep. 

Regarding co-workers and managers, I have had an overall good experience. I believe hard work definitely plays a role in my treatment at work. I feel a lot of pressure to make sure my performance is near perfect because I have made some schedule mistakes in the past, my SM definitely did not appreciate it and it made me feel horrible. There are managers that you will feel on edge around because they always want you doing something(high expectations), and then there are some that are more laid back that you’re more comfortable working with. Just make sure you are doing your best and what you’re supposed to. Keep mistakes to a minimum. But being real, this job pays $11/hr—It’s not necessarily worth all the hard work, I just don’t want to reap the repercussions of not doing my best. I am also very competitive and a perfectionist so that also plays a role. 

Regarding my schedule, during Christmas I worked TONSSSS, which was great I loved the paychecks! I usually got worked 4-3 days a week after Christmas, but the past week I was only worked 2 days. Not sure the reasoning behind this but I don’t like the change in schedule. One thing that has always stayed consistent is that I work night/closing shift during the week! which is great, I love that consistency. 

In the past we had to do surveys and we were pressed to get every single customer to answer it, and if we weren’t able to get a certain % of customers to answer then the SM would be disappointed. I’m not sure who in the company proposed this idea but it stresses the workers and the customers, we haven’t had the survey at my store in a while, and I am GLAD because of how troublesome it was. 

This is retail so you will be standing the whole time except for breaks, if you are not used to it your legs will hurt a lot! But, over time your body gets used to it. 

There is one more thing, the work app we use. It is super convenient and you can see your work schedule online and access it super easily. You can also set your work preferences and availability, The only con is when it crashes, in the past it stopped working for a while and caused issues with me keeping track of my schedule and stressed me out a lot! 

From this job I definitely have learned a lot, and have improved in my work performance lots.  
I’m glad I got to work here because I haven’t had to deal with super disrespectful co-workers. I would like to think I got lucky, I feel like I am treated well, and hearing work experiences from other people I do think I have it good here. 

 

Starting out, Five Below seemed to be a great place of work. It was upbeat and seemed very organized. Overtime, management got very unorganized. There was a new store manager almost every other week. Schedules also were flipped around. There is no set schedule unless you request it, and if you do, there's no guarantee you'll be put on the schedule at all. Personally, I was taken off the schedule for an entire month after I changed my availability from open to having set days and times (M/W/F - morning or mid-day shifts). I ended up transferring from my university to my local community college because I could no longer keep up with paying my tuition anymore. Being taken off the schedule was a huge set back. Communication between some managers is also terrible. Around the time I was taken off the schedule, we got a new store manager who was in charge of creating the schedule. I contacted him twice and heard nothing back.

I eventually got put back on the schedule, but that was only after half of the Associates had to return to college. Everything was going well until they started hiring new Sales Associates and I got a second job. They hired 3 new people and everyone's hours were cut. I went from having roughly 14+ hours a week to having 9 hours a week, which then got reduced to 5 hours a week. The crazy part is, even with my second job, I am available to work 3 days (Sun, Wed, Sat) out of the week and get put on the schedule for one day and gain only 5 hours a week.

Managers also are aren't reliable help when it comes to working in the store. They think because they are managers, they aren't supposed to help with keeping the line down. There is only one manager (who is leaving very soon) that willing goes up to the register to help a customer if the associate is unavailable due to taking care of things on the floor. The other managers would see the customer(s) and yell for the associate saying, "You have a customer!” instead of taking care of it themselves. I was told by one of the new freight managers to put some items away on the shelves that happen to be in the back. Mind you, I am the only associate working and there are 2 managers. As I am putting things away, another manager calls me and tells me that I have some customers. The manager is right at the front of the store where the customer is, and I am in the very back. Why couldn't they help out take care of it?

Another downside of Five Below is the way they have the schedules set up. There would be a bout 2-3 managers together on a shift and one associate. That one associate is told to handle the register, keep the front of the store clean, behind the registers clean, and also put whatever items the manager gives them away. All associates have talked to the managers and even called corporate to get them to have 2 associates on a shift so the work can be divided equally, but nothing has been done. It's like everything goes in one ear and out the other.

All of this goes on and you're only paid $11.50/hr. In my opinion, the amount of work that is done along with your needs and other associates' needs being ignored and you're hours being cut at random times is not worth only $11.50. If you're in high school, great. Go for it if you want. Or even if you're looking for a little side job, go for it. If you looking to make some actual money to pay tuition or pay rent or any utility bills, I don't recommend it unless you're applying for a manager position. Maybe a stocker/freight position too, but highly unlikely.

Basically: Five Below lives and dies by its freight...and if you don't have a strong MM/freight team with exceptional attendance, you're royally screwed. The Merchandising Movement and goal that the company wants management to follow looks good on paper. MM training consists of  at least 1 week of truck shifts to learn the process. SMs just have to put their trust in MMs to follow the process, every truck shift. Most MMs are too stubborn and fail to follow to a tee/don't use all the tools that are given, then give excuses as to why truck wasn't completed. MMs that deserve to be promoted to SMs are ones that follow the process and succeed at it, but that is very rare. The rest THINK they can be SMs and deserve a promotion, but make the same mistakes or do things "their way" and not the company's way. The SM can sound like a broken record, reminding them to price items correctly, look at company communication daily, pull pallets onto the sales floor, show the Merch Movement training video, "this doesn't go there, it really goes here" and STILL, it can go in one ear and out the other. A MM may see 50 boxes of the same item and think, "Only 1 box of these items are going to fit on the floor, so I'll have to backstock 49 boxes," unless they have equal merchandising creativity as the SM or they just could have checked an updated plan to see they may go in a bulk area. As the SM, it's extremely frustrating to go back and fix something, instead of getting things right, the first time. If MM doesn't show/calls in a truck shift, the store completely suffers. By the way: I wouldn't call myself a "lazy SM." I never missed a day of work and I have pulled my weight, if freight needed to get done. I also tried to find the balance of giving my management the answers & letting them figure things out on their own, depending on the situation. 

Don't get me wrong, MMs have a tough job! And it doesn't help when the company throws a monkey wrench into the freight process: last-minute additional freight deliveries, getting freight for a set mixed in with regular freight so there's extra "sorting" time, pallets that don't fit through the door when the company wants them to scan/sort on the salesfloor and not the back room, updating store fixture sets constantly, etc. MMs are also expected to know floor plans/planograms/merchandising standards like the back of their hand, which can change at the drop of a dime. Sometimes it's even too much for a SM to keep track of. When DM catches a merchandising mishap on their visits, the SM is, ultimately, to blame...even when the MM has poor attendance.

Besides freight, management is expected to trust associates to run registers/give good customer service/always give them something to do (otherwise, they'll just play on their phone), scan adjustments weekly (which I hated), Daily World Recovery (really does help, IF you have the time...but take away doing "adjustments"), get ready for big-deal corporate visits, complete store sets, packaway, clearance, price changes, conference calls, clean, make sure policies are signed by everyone, daily walk-throughs, loss prevention, interview/recruit, check daily communication from corporate, customer service...the list goes on and on because anything can happen, in retail.

I loved this job when I first started, but after they got rid of performance reviews - and the associated yearly raises - a couple years into my working there, I should've seen it as the red flag it was. Worked here for nine years, moved into lower management, and still only made $11.50 an hour. A cashier they hired yesterday makes $11.25. Yeah, 50 cents and an unlivable wage (even at part time) for all the responsibility of a manager with none of the pay! Upper management at my store BEGGED corporate to give me a raise, they wouldn't do it and strung me along for months. Finally getting out because there are companies that hire you on the spot for way more money.

Also, because the pay is so bad and the store is geared toward teens, almost every new hire is a teenager, and the ones who work hard and have a good work ethic can get hired at better places, so we only get the irresponsible ones that call off all the time and then the few good employees/management have to constantly cover shifts. Sometimes I'd be scheduled outside my listed availability just because they knew I'd actually show up for shifts and they had no one else. Unless you have a good store crew - and until FB starts actually paying for quality and rewarding loyalty, you won't find one - expect to be constantly called in on your days off.

That said, almost all the issues are with corporate and its terrible decisions. Store management and fellow employees were usually pretty good. Until the pressure of increasingly bad employees and having to cover for constant call-offs/no-shows, plus some personal issues, turned our store manager so stressed that they just kept lashing out at everyone all the time, they were one of the most considerate managers I've ever had. The core crew (aka, the good workers who've stayed on from better times) were like family. It could've stayed great if the pay stayed competitive and payroll was reasonable, so we could keep getting good people and not increasingly overworking and underpaying the few decent workers that have hung on. But FB's 'hold the penny hostage' core value now seems to include paying its workers half of what they should and giving them half the payroll hours they need while demanding each employee do twice the work they should. The only people who work here anymore are kids who don't know their worth (or whose work doesn't have much worth because they're so bad nowhere higher-paying will take them) or good, loyal workers grandfathered in from better times who are getting more and more screwed over because the company isn't taking care of us anymore. It's sad.

PROS: Good company values in terms of employing and backing minorities, can be a great work environment with the right team, very casual sort of workplace if that's your thing, advancement within the company is actually pretty easy and common

CONS: No performance reviews or raises to go with it, overworked and underpaid, newer employees either don't want to work or don't know how to because GOOD hires can get better pay elsewhere, extremely variable and constantly tight payroll so you never have enough help or coverage, no rewards or acknowledgment on a corporate level for loyalty or good work, stress and desperation turning even good managers into bad ones (not their fault, really, but it still hurts you in the end)

A lot of things at first seemed like a good place to work for , their mottos and telling customers to “let go and have fun” when leaving. But honestly this company runs on a lot of favoritism but realistically that’s many stores. I believe this is third store I’ve worked for in general and this is was the worse and to be frank. I genuinely wanted to see the positives but running the front end of this store is the worse .I've had my fair share of experiences in customer service and things happen ,that’s how it goes. I was noted of the format before getting hired . It’s called “associate checkout”. The physical look of it will deem to look like a self check out and I absolutely don’t blame folks for thinking so. It’s our job of course to initiate and control this ,checking everyone out. But humans are humans and let’s face it ,the typical person psychologically sees and will assume, we do have signs and there wasn’t before. But it still doesn’t help probably just a little but  personally a big banner would be more of use not a small sign. like folks are distracted shopping ,people of course will not care of a tiny sign there ,just human nature.  I try to be kind and let them know ,I still feel bad every time to be honest. I’m doing the job but I know people don’t wanna be close to you and I totally sympathize, I apologize for the format probably every shift.If you have adhd please do yourself a favor DONT WORK HERE. You know it’s typical for a job to put on multiples things on a person that’s just how things can be In the job market,name of the game,ride and do the thing and I do . But this one is not right.Honestly I feel bad for customers having to be near the employees and hollering at them how we don’t do self checkout. My heart jumps every shift ,you have to shut the registers and literally go back and forth like a mini run from registers and get the of course racial profiling and if you work here be so be very prepared for that. The company I guess doesn’t want to spend budget to put regular registers and perhaps doesn’t  trust their employees. Before working at the store I do recall it being regular registers,I was a frequent shopper prior but obviously not much now. Think that changed due to pandemic. On a positive note I learned a lot and dealing with confrontation after what I’ve been through , things I have to deal in other jobs now are a breeze. I’ve had items thrown in front of me ,cussed out and even pushed. One time I froze and of the leads jumped in,no one deserves that. If you’re willing to work here and will be doing front end ,be aware of that. The hourly is whatever and the location doesn’t have much hours anyways . I’d recommend this job for more of an 19 year old with no obligations much.If you have boundaries don’t work here. There are better stores to work for. I’ve done cashiering for years and honestly there’s better companies, don’t settle.

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