retail sales associate

loss prevention director

customer service representative

sales associate

merchandising associate

Marshalls

A typical day of work starts with maintaining attendance.You are penalized for lateness with termination for up to 13 accounts of tardiness from your annual review date. This is the case if you're even a second late for your shift regardless of your circumstances, stated or otherwise (Traffic, family emergency, illness, etc.) unless deemed admissible by a member of management, which in most cases is reliant on which manager you speak to and their temperament which is a first indicator of a lack of solid infrastructure.

After clocking in you're required to perform your job tasks and assignments as per any other job. As a skeletal outline, job requirements are on a basic customer service level; attend to customers needs at the register, maintain fresh flow of merchandise from the front and stockroom to the main floor, assist associates with daily tasks and assignments, and push credit quotas. One thing that proves to be a major downfall as a company is the inability to properly push company policy and initiatives, partly due to the amount of managers and also due to the lack of dissemination of information to employees. In multiple instances you can go to multiple managers to ask about more effective ways to perform your job requirements and be met multiple different responses to your inquiry. And the ability to read actual documented guidelines is governed by management, basically meaning that if you wanted to read up on your title you're held to their schedule unless you call HR or go to their CSS website, which is a convoluted experience to say the least. The lack of appropriate information not only hinders job performance at a personal level but hinders employees from giving proper information to customers, oftentimes leading to escalations between the employees and customer base to management, which at times certain customers who notice this dysfunctional aspect to play to certain managers in certain ways to get what they want, regardless of what the policy might state. On several occasions rules that have been clearly stated above the front registers for everyone to see be blatantly ignored because of this.

Scheduling is also poorly handled. Schedule requests for time off require a two week notice which can be denied without providing a reason. Conversely, schedule posting for employee shifts is not held to the same standard. In a lot of cases the schedule for employee shifts for the next week will posted as late as the Saturday of that current week. For anyone with a family or outside priorities (which probably encompasses most people) this is a huge inconvenience.

Poor staffing also plagues the corporation. Due to the lack of employee retention due to less than acclimate conditions most employees are tasked to handle job titles outside of their own. pinch hitting in certain situations (i.e. holiday hours, inclement weather conditions) is one thing, but when employees can consistently expect to be ordered to work outside of their job title and then receive demerits for not fully doing their own responsibilities regardless of the fact that they were ordered to do so is a completely different discussion.

One good thing about the job is that it builds a sense of teamwork and baseline camaraderie between floor associates. The 'we're in this together' mentality helps to build a network between employees to make up for the gaps in infrastructure and task management in the company. Employees learn to cover for each others shifts, share information regarding sales floor protocol to compile a more concise idea of job performance, and better assist customers. In that sense the job also helps teach employees empathy, problem solving skills, and critical thinking which helps to give employees a sense of temperance.

Job advancement in the company is scarce as well. Without citing specific examples, during the 11 years of employment with the company I've only seen four people be promoted in store to the level of management, with multiple people attempting to do so but being halted due to less than professional reasons, with intermediate positions being about the same case. Anyone searching for full-time employment would be advised to look elsewhere.

Overall, I would not in good conscience recommend the TJX corporation to anyone unless you're already proficient in management or looking for temporary work to supplement your lifestyle. Otherwise its not a good locale for employment.

There are a lot of different roles you can fill at this company; I had primarily "backroom" jobs where you are processing stock, helping unload truck, etc. (Sometimes I would work as a cashier or fill in for breaks in other, "up front" departments such as the fitting room.)

This is fine if you're part time, because there are few expectations on you beyond showing up. When you do, it'll be 1-2 hours of unloading boxes full of random items that have quite literally been thrown into the box by the warehouse, (there would often be things like broken candles or other glass/ceramic items in a box with things like makeup, or dog toys.) then about another 45 minutes of ripping open plastic bags full of clothes and "laying them up" so they are laid out flat for the clothes hangers to put onto hangers. (This is usually your job after you lay them up.) You will then spend the next 3-4 hours standing at a table putting size nubs onto hangers and clothes onto the hangers, sorted by size and type. There will be a fifteen minute break in which you will all funnel into the breakroom and then the older women who work there start being flagrantly racist once the door is closed.

Once you go full time, you are expected to do this for 8 hours a day, as well as encouraging/cheerleading everyone into doing these tasks as fast as possible. TJX spends a lot of money researching how long it should take you to unload their boxes and process their clothing and take out the trash. If you're unable to meet these goals, you will be written up. If the people under you don't enjoy their job and lose focus, you will be written up. If you don't hit the moving targets management provides for you, you will be written up.

Scheduling is flexible, in so much as you can work whatever days you like. Part time is considered 8-16 hours per week. Full time is considered 25-30. But, if management needs/wants you to work at a specific time/day you've said you can't, they will pressure you to change this. They will ask you why you can't work those days, or what you do on those days when you are not at work. It's unprofessional.

Workplace safety is also questionable. Employees are frequently asked to use broken equipment, unload stock with no gloves or protective gear, or even to take on janitorial tasks with no protective gear. Everyone is just used to this. The trash compactor jams frequently and the solution to this is using a 20+ foot metal pole to stab at things until it goes down the chute. There's no air filtration in the stock rooms; things like air conditioning are controlled remotely somewhere in Ohio so if you work in a state that has harsh summers, stock rooms can reach extreme temperatures. But you are expected to maintain dress code at all times, so no shorts or tank tops. Many store managers do not allow drinks in the back, so no water either.

You aren't eligible for any sort of benefits until you go full time; once you do this, you must work 30+ hours per week for a year before you can qualify for things like vacation or sick time. They use a points system for call-outs and, again, will write you up if you begin accumulating too many.

Overall, it can be a fine or even fun place to work if you are part time. It's good experience and will look good on your resume. Stay flexible, and don't rely on them for your paycheck. Once you do, the toxic cycle begins.

When I was first selected to work at this company, I was excited because it was my first time working in retail. The over-the-phone interview was quick and easy, and the interviewer seemed very nice. The next step was the in-person interview, which for me was strike one. Because the location I was working at was being renovated, my interview had to take place at a different Marshalls location, but that wasn't a problem for me. When I arrived for my interview I showed up 20 minutes early and I was instructed to sit in a waiting area as my interviewer would be with me shortly. I expected to wait, being that I was early, but the interviewer had completely forgotten that I was out there waiting. I sat there for almost an hour; I was sitting for so long that other employees who were actively working kept assuming I was a customer that needed help even though I had already spoken to them before about my being there for an interview. Because I was desperate for a job I went through with the interview and I was hired for the position to which I had applied, which was PART-TIME(This is an important detail). I started working a week after my interview, but I never received any training for the position. I did however receive orientation, but I still was supposed to receive some type of training. So when I started working, as expected I was confused and had to basically figure out how things worked around the store as I went along. I was informed during my in-person interview that every new hire would be trained on working the cash registers, but that didn't happen I was never trained on anything. After the store had its grand opening, I noticed that my hours were cut down drastically as well. I went from working 20+ hours a week to working only 10 hours due to pay cuts which was a huge inconvenience. After my hours were decreased I was called in less and less to work, but whenever I would go, all the department heads were overwhelmed due to the fact that they were understaffed...confusing right? Keep in mind this specific store had only been open for a little over a month. Eventually, they stopped putting me on the schedule to work at all so I had to sign up for volunteering hours, and even then, I still was never called back in. I didn't know if I had been fired or what because nobody called me to inform me of what was going on. I had to call the store myself to ask why I hadn't been called in for a whole week, and that was when I was informed that the position I was hired for, was a temporary one for the season and they decided to no longer use my services at their store. This was, again, a huge inconvenience to me because not only was I not informed about how they no longer wanted me to work there, but I also was not informed that I was hired for a TEMPORARY SEASONAL position. Also as mentioned earlier, I applied and was interviewed for a part-time position. Overall the experience working with this company was unprofessional and highly disappointing. The only good thing about working there was that my coworkers were super friendly and helpful when it came to me not knowing how to perform certain tasks due to a lack of training.

Your typical minimum-wage retail job. At times it could be really boring, like when hanging clothes or recovering. Once I was trained as a cashier and started on the registers it was more stimulating. Something that bothered me was they would schedule you to do the same thing for the whole day, e.g. recover your whole shift or cashier your whole shift. 

The scheduling was also a mess. The schedules are computer-generated two weeks ahead of time (if it's on time) and differ from week to week. Some of the time the schedule comes out and doesn't fit your availability or has too many or too few hours. Then the managers ask you to put up with it for at least two weeks until the new schedule comes out. My coworkers and I also had problems with managers not putting in our schedule requests so we would have to remind them to do it.

The culture between employees is pretty typical. You have friends and people you don't really talk to. There are managers you like and don't like. It was mostly students and retirement-age people. Sometimes there are spats among employees but nothing horrible. 

The worst part of the job by far is the managers put a lot of emphasis on the TJX credit card. As a cashier, they listen to you to see if you are encouraging customers to sign up exactly how they trained you. They always set goals for the day and say if the store was on track, how well other stores were doing, and just constantly reminding us in general. If anyone got a card it was super celebrated. I even had managers say things like "if you guys (the cashiers) don't get enough cards my boss is going to get angry, my job might be in danger". I was trained to not use the terminology "credit card" so people aren't scared off. I actually signed up for one by accident soon after I started because I thought it was a rewards card. Once I realized, the cashier convinced me to just finish the application. 

They track the ratio of transactions you have to the amount of credit card applications. If your ratio is not good enough average they have a "talk" with you asking why you didn't get that many and what you are going to do to get more. In one of these "talks" I was grilled and felt under so much pressure, I cried in front of my manager. At least I was allowed to go on a break and was asked if I wanted to go home (I had about an hour left).

 I could go on and on about how toxic the credit card thing is. I think the managers secretly hated it too because the store manager and a few other high-ranking managers left while I was there. I would not recommend cashiering here because of the card.

The only good things are that you get decent breaks (one 15 min unpaid for a less than 6 hour shift, and two 15 minute paid plus one 45 minute unpaid meal break if more than 6 hours), they are understanding if you call out or have to leave early, free snacks and occasionally free meals in the breakroom, and a 10% discount (every few months they have a 20% discount weekend). Most of the good times here were from my coworkers or nice customers. Luckily I didn't have to deal with many bad customers.

Every one in the store from my point of view get along and are nice to each other. But the customers and the staff always end up making the store overflow with so much stuff being put in different places or overstocking. I used to hang clothes at first and than I got into working in the truck making sure we got at least 6 pallets done. Sometimes we’ll most of the time we never had more than 3 workers in there so the process wasn’t the fastest. We usually end up having the totes and the canvas full from 2-3 pallets and during the busy hours we had to go to the floor and do price checks I didn’t mind but it took so much time and ruined our momentum eventually I requested to be a backup cashier because we were low on staff and o wanted to help out the store as much as I could. That leads to now I am not the fastest or the most cleanest cashier but I do try to make people smile or laugh when I’m up there because it’s stressful for both the customer and the front end associates. I got the nickname the workaholic because I love to work weirdly as that might sound I love it everyone greets welcome and I start as soon as I can. But the managers are really really nice but they don’t like to work. Let me explain some managers don’t like to be up as cashiers so they just call for back up and then wonder why their section isn’t clean. Especially home that place itself is overstocked the kitchen side is super over stocked from the mugs, cups, wine cups, kitchen towels, gadgets and food goods it’s a mess when I’m off I ask if I could come in and fix but they usually make me do something like cashier or be in the fitting room. That reminds me sometimes when we do have an associate in the fitting room they don’t even get asked if they took their breaks or not I always ask they say they don’t know and either I cover it or look at the schedule and tell them but it’s not my job to ask and do. I care about the associates because personally I love everyone there and professionally we can’t afford to lose associates. My biggest deal with the store is that only two phones around the store work. Which isn’t safe because we never know if there will be a code Adams and the phone is a mile away. Two registers don’t work one register that works it’s censor remover is jammed. In the backroom the boxes or goods are stacked higher than the store policy. The floors in the bathrooms and the floor in general are all marked and nasty looking I got at least 5 complaints about the floor being nasty. But what made me write this was my manager I was in the wrong I’ll admit that I said a cuss word out loud as cashier and my manager got all angry at me and of course that affected my mood and my work ethic later after that but what fueled me with annoyance was that we were getting complains about the store she brushed it off like it was nothing to deal with but it’s a mess we didn’t have anyone in mens and kids and in home today 12/08/21 and she expects 2 associates to clean the store with her after they close at 11:00 lm tonight. 

TJX is a great company to work for as a first job or even a side job to earn extra money. Coworkers are great and some of the friendliest people I've met working in retail. Most customers are great too and are grateful for your service. 

I'm primarily a cashier working at a dual Marshalls/Homegoods location. While cashiering isn't as physically demanding as working the floor, it's been more stressful emotionally. You have to constantly watch for fraudulent returns, switched tickets, correct form of payment and worst of all, advertising the instore credit card.

Most customers don't try to steal but it happens often enough to be a concern. Every single day, I awkwardly try to tell a customer that a swapped ticket is incorrect and it's very nerve racking. One time a customer took items off the shelf and returned them to me, loss prevention and the managers watched it all, did nothing about it.

Not only that but I really have to sell the TJX Rewards card. Not just sell it but pour my heart and soul into it, even to customers who clearly aren't interested. I can tell that it sometimes annoys the customers too and it feels degrading to keep trying to persuade them after they've already said no.

I rarely make my goal, so a manager watches over me like a hawk to make sure I get the paragraph of information out. I'll list all the benefits but I'll still get pulled off to the side and micro managed over every word I say. Dealing with a long line of anxious customers is stressful enough, having a manager watch you from behind to make sure you advertise the card right makes it worse. There's dozens of different ways to advertise it, none I've tried pleases the manager or gets a lot of people to sign up for it. It's really hard to advertize a credit card to somebody buying a soda. I can guarantee there are others who don't make their goal and they don't have a manager micro managing them. I've thought about quitting because of this, by far the worst part about this job for me.

I've worked the Homegoods side too and it's much more physical. Carrying heavy furniture, taking fast paced calls, placing items back on the shelf and helping customers out on the floor all make the day go by fast and it's great exercise. Probably my favorite area to work but I'm primarily a cashier so it doesn't happen that often.

I've said a lot of negative things but there's a lot of positives too. It encourages confidence and to be outgoing, which helped me since I'm sort of introverted. Coworkers are great and we can talk about anything with eachother. Lunches are 45 min but you can spend an extra few minutes after that if you need them. Stability is good, I've gotten at least 25 hours a week as a part time worker and often I get more than 30 hours. At least at this location, there's plenty of hours to go around if you need them.

Overall decent place to work but can be highly stressful for cashiers.

There is little structure for new employees, they tell you to come in not where to go, or what you are doing each day so you have to hunt for a supervisor in the morning to figure out what they want you doing and what area to head to. Some of the supervisors are incompetent others are rude and unprofessional, and a few have a sort of attitude that you should know exactly what to do when you have, and I'm not exaggerating here, less than 30 seconds of training. I was told to go to a new area, I went and explained I had not been trained for this area yet, they told me to open boxes and put clothes on a hanger. That was it. The boxes are filled with a variety of different items not just clothes. So co-workers were getting upset at what they perceived to be laziness when I would open a box see no clothes and send it down the line. My supervisor was getting angry because I wasn't doing anything else and I had to remind them that they in fact did not tell me how to do anything else or where to put different items. They were shoving boxes, slamming things and practically throwing a temper tantrum. Any time I tried asking for help or clarification on how to do certain things I was met with a glare and an annoyed sigh and then ignored no help at all. I had to rely on a coworker who had about a days worth more training than me. By the way to open boxes you use a box cutter with a razor, razors are sharp, when someone is throwing a tantrum and shoving boxes down the line and the boxes slam together hitting the razorblade towards me and out of my hand, you'd think it'd be a sign that they need to stop doing that but they continued to throw a fit because they were understaffed and left to train me and 3 other new people. It's not our fault but we paid the price. It was dangerous I could have been hurt along with others. It was a disgusting display of leader ship and a large indicator of how things are run around there. Terrible environment not to mention that they are predatory of anyone who speaks up about what's going on. 

And to top it all off they silently fired me. No formal firing no message to let me know they wanted to let me go, they simply stopped giving me hours and pretty much left me no choice but to leave because I'm a human being who needs to pay for food and shelter so I had to find a new source of income. DISGUSTING ethics from them. I signed on for a seasonal position so I knew it would end soon but the time frame said the work would be going for at least another month. If I had worked that other month and they did this I'd be less upset but still upset about not getting a formal message saying my seasonal position is ending. But it was an entire month early and I had no communication whatsoever. I was left in a position where I didn't know if I was going to get hours or not, I didn't know if work would pick back up or what because again I had no communication. 

A typical day at work for an associate would be to first check to see if their was changed without notice, then find out what area they will be working in. A cashier will spend the shift ringing out or making returns of the customer's items. Other duties include; sorting returned items into their area's box, clean registers section organized and assisting customers with questions. A sales associate will be responsible for assisting customer with finding items, stocking merchandise, clearing the fitting room and return's box of products, and maintain a clean and organized store floor.
At the end of a closing shift, associates must clean the store and clock out when the schedule manager tells them to, however, no is permitted to leave until the manager closes the registers, locks-up the money, and has everyone together. This may take 10-15 minutes after clocking out, and must wait to go home.

The experience of working as as an associate has taught me the responsibilities of trying to provide exceptional customer care. Team work and communication are important keys to reaching goals in business.

The managers work to motivate work performance, great customer service, sales, and team work with in store. The managers try to make the work environment enjoyable, fair, open for associates to express their concerns, though some managers are much more considerate than others. It is difficult to deal with poor scheduling, low payroll, yet new people are still hired, low security of the store.

Most co-workers complete their duties to the best of their abilities and are friendly to work with. Other co-workers slack on their duties and do not care they are done correctly, which makes things harder for associate that are doing their jobs.

The hardest part of the job is having to deal with customers that are rude, snobbish, and inconsiderate. The are several 'regulars' that come in to the store and expect to be an exception to the store policies because they are always shop at our store. Other customers spend their shopping trashing the store or allowing their children to open merchandise.

The most enjoyable part of the job is getting to meet people that kind, funny, and respectful. These are the customer that having a lovable, sunshine personality and make the job feel worth having.

Management varies from store to store even though it's all the same company each store runs completely different, this review is based on a comparison from a single Marshall's location to two other company stores I worked at (TJ Maxx and HomeGoods).
 
There is absolutely no work-life balance you have to be available at all times, if you are a student they promise to work with your schedule but majority of the time they will still schedule you on days you previously told management you are not available - basically they don't respect personal schedules. Get ready for clopening shifts.

OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID. Here is the thing about retail in general, you will be expected to do the job of about three people at minimum wage, reason being at this particular company, THERE'S NEVER ANY PAYROLL. They give priority to the full time employees, so if you're  a part timer you might only work one or two four hour shifts on bad weeks, the only way they will schedule you more is if you get customers to sign up for credit cards. 
This company cares more about selling their credit cards than the overall well being of their employees, if you don't have enough credit card sign ups within a certain time you WILL BE REPRIMANDED, you will get LESS SHIFTS, and under their new policies if you under-perform you can get written up under the pretense of insubordination. 
Their absences policy was also combined with their tardy policy so if you are late a certain amount of times and it just so happens that you are sick but have no sick time and you call out you can get terminated on the spot. This company will rather have you work sick than call out, you have the choice of showing up and leaving early but you will get reprimanded for not being a "team player". 
This is based on personal experience as well as fellow coworkers that would always tell me they were scared to call out or ask for days off because they were scared of getting in trouble with management.
Generally if you are a younger staff they will try intimidation tactics to hold control over you.      

Regarding the work drama, no matter the store location there will be some. There is a hierarchy and some peers will take advantage of their position and will act superior to you. Managers and key carriers never meet eye to eye so management overall is always sloppy and miscommunication is inevitable, one will tell you one thing and another will tell you something else. 

Final thoughts: work here at your own discretion it's a good place to start as a first job but not a place to make a career out of, leave when you get the chance, there is a high turnover rate for a reason. You might make some long time friends but majority of the time you just trauma bond with your coworkers.   


Whan I get to the job the first thing I do is to register my entry and continue to the assigned department of the day which can be from the backroom to the front of the store as a cashier. On the way I greet everyone.

   I have learned and been able to work in many  departments of the store. In the Backroom: preparing merchandise on hangers, taking the merchandise on moving racks to the store. 

   In the Layaway Department: recieve the selected merchandise from the customers, count each article, make all the paper work and evidence of the layaways, recieve money and put the merchandise away in the room in a specific organization following the company's rules and when the customer returns for his or her layaway I have to bring the merchandise to the customer, count all again, make the paper work, recieve the final payment and pack all up again following all the rules and policies.
   
   In the Dressing Rooms (Men and Women): I have to count all the merchandise that goes in and comes out, give the number as the pieces the customer has, clean the dressing rooms and sometimes even  give my opinion when asked by the customer. I also have to be aware of possible stolen pieces. I have to follow the company's rules.

   As a Cashier I have to be careful with the money and the merchandise, offer the stores credit card and be kind so the customer will come back. Company's policies have to be followed.

   As a general store worker I have to organize, pick up merchandise from the floor, put everything where it goes, help the customers, smile and be kind, clean and make the store look nice.

   The managers as all of us work folowing the policies of the store, they want production and we try to fullfill the production, some days less, other days more and other days more than expected. Co-workers are nice, all trying to do their best so as to keep customers coming and of course assure our jobs. If cutomers keep coming the store keeps opening.

  The hardest part of the job is the hours of work assigned.  It's not easy to live with only 12 hours of work a week. That's not a part time, that's part of a part time. Co-workers and I feel very unhappy when we recieve a check that doesn't reach even $100.00 a week.  Most have other jobs to be able to pay all the bills and thats why I'm tying to find another job. Sorry that the pay isn't enough. I like my job, but I really need to work more hours and that means another job.

  The most enjoyable part of the job are the customers. Each has his or her personality that make them special. Most make us feel good especially when they say that our store is the best and thats why they keep coming back. That means that we are doing our job, thats my best evaluation.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail sales associate 23 salaries reported	$14.26 per hour
Loss prevention director 24 salaries reported	$18.37 per hour
Customer service representative 12 salaries reported	$15.63 per hour
Sales associate 3 salaries reported	$15.17 per hour
Merchandising associate 12 salaries reported	$14.38 per hour

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