retail sales associate

retail store manager

store manager

sales associate

seasonal associate

Pepper-Palace,-Inc

When I first started at Pepper Palace the experience was phenomenal. Training was simple and I was given great patience, hours were extremely flexible (and remained that way to be fair) and there was an overall lax and respectful nature to the job. I made some friends with the staff, and quickly grew my ability to sell. It didn’t take me long to become the best performing Part-Time salesman there, and the gap between my performance and that of the other workers only continued to grow. The the generous commissions were the cherry on top.

However, every aspect of the job culture instantly took a nosedive when one change was made, they installed a counter at the door to closely monitor the performance of every store far more closely than before.

In a vacuum this doesn’t sound like a horrible change, but they also changed the way our commissions worked. Rather than making commissions based on hitting and surpassing sales goal, they were now based on arbitrary metrics that were largely out of our control to maintain. We began guarding the doors to make sure no kids, teens, or anyone who seemed like they wouldn’t make a purchase in without being questioned. We were forced to become far more mean with our sales tactics, often making customers feel unwelcome and uneasy. Without these tactics our metrics would flop no matter how well we sold.

Most importantly the nature of management within the store went from fun, relaxed, and caring, to intimating, threatening, and stressful. Falling short of the metrics resulted in often threats of termination. Mistreatment of employees with uncomfortable health conditions were abundant, and there was a nonstop culture of bullying and intimidation. You would be constantly watched on the cameras, your phone would explode with messages from the managers. You would get yelled at and reprimanded for things completely out of your control, or for things you weren’t properly trained for. The manager and the higher management have nothing to do but endlessly watching the cameras and fill your phone with messages.

At one point I was so desperate for sales to maintain my metrics that I offered a minor discount on some expensive items. No one ever took these offers, but I offered them nonetheless. I casually mentioned this to management and as a result they called to scream at me, insult me, and the next day write me up. They claimed to the higher ups that I was giving discounts to people, despite never giving one and it being easy to check if I did. I was pressured and coerced into signing the write up form, and threatened me by implying termination if I wrote a clarification that I never gave any discounts to upper management. They lied about the nature of situation to the upper management and threatened me when I suggested that they would be honest about the situation.

On top of this, management often restricted the access to chairs to me and one of my coworkers with severe health problems that required them to sit every now and then, I have some knee pain that can pop up and I need to sit every now and then. Despite this being allowed before, after the counter was installed this was no longer allowed. Despite my hearing problems I was made to turn the music up to an absurd level and made it impossible to hear the customers, and I was reprimanded every time I even thought about turning it down.

There are far more stories to tell about my experiences here, but they all revolve around the same core problems. Threatening and abusive management, lack of care for employees with health problems, and overall nightmarish work culture. 

Working here was a miserable nightmare and I strongly recommend that NO ONE work here.

I've been with Pepper Palace well over a year now and this is one of the best companies I have ever worked for. Unlike some retailers, the bonus payout is attainable and consistent (no complicated matrices to decipher in order to tell if you are going to hit bonus or not.) Everything is very transparent. You can see your store's sales daily, monthly, etc. so there is no mystery as to how you are doing, especially when measuring yourself against your fellow stores (which we like to do for fun.)

As of the writing of this review, we do have healthcare, vision, dental, life insurance benefits, a generous employee discount, etc. There will be more forthcoming as the company continues to grow. Part time employees are also eligible for these benefits.

This is a growing company, which in spite of the pandemic last year, we doubled our size and continue to grow exponentially across the US. So yes, there IS room for advancement, but the key is you have to work hard and you have to be flexible and in some cases, willing to relocate. With new stores popping up all over the country, new opportunities are abound.

To that end, Pepper Palace is not a dead end job, even for those at the Sales Associate level. I have helped one of my Sales Associates get promoted to a Store Manager and I plan on promoting many others, giving them their own stores. Also - regarding hours for Sales Associates, 2020 presented some tough challenges with scheduling due to many malls either closing completely or shrinking their hours. As of the writing of this review, many malls have revisited their operating hours and as such, my staff as well as the staff of many stores, are receiving much more in the way of hours.

The corporate culture is very receptive to feedback, ideas, and truly cares about their employees. It is like one big family (as it truly is a family owned business.) As with any growing company, there are hiccups that happen, and their have been some growing pains, but nothing that has detracted from my experience nor the experiences of my employees (as I always keep open communication with them.)

Again, Pepper Palace is an excellent company to work for. Your experience here will greatly depend on what you make of it. If you are looking for fun, flexibility, growth, and a healthy work-life balance, this is the company for you.

A typical day at work was spent getting berated by upper management over stuff you personally can't control or, over stuff they did not offer you training for.
You won't learn anything beneficial to any other career from this company. 
The upper management is hands down the worst I have ever seen or, worked under in my professional career. They don't offer training, they constantly badger employees, They literally sit all day watching security camera's (which grosses me out) and they like to set-up other managers to be the fall guy when they forget to do their jobs (this isn't immediate store management I'm talking about). 
There isn't a culture in this company...it's just overall bad.
The hardest part of this job is dealing with the stress that upper management causes through their shady practices, and constant blaming of everyone except themselves. This causes employees to quit mid shift (I don't blame them for leaving).
The best part of this job is your immediate co-workers. They are hilarious and fun to work with; when you're allowed to work with someone. Which is extremely rare.  We would often leave notes for each other like kids in detention because upper management doesn't really allow you to work overlapping shifts. 

Bad upper management, No breaks, being surveilled by upper management all day, and harassment is what to expect. I would Not recommend this company to anyone.

While working at Pepper Palace I learned how to open a cash register and a store. During the day I  would clean, answer questions guests had, up sell items, cashier, restock items, be friendly to co-workers no matter our differences, and always wear a smile. 

The management was wonderful, considering whenever I needed a day off for a doctors appointment I would be able to do so with out problems. I was able to work a decent amount of hours for the summer season. The workplace culture was very relaxed and I was able to listen to my own music. 

Often times I was managing the store on my own when the store was very busy. Even so I was able to provide guests with a high level of customer service. The most enjoyable part of the job was being able to work weekly steady scheduled hours. This allowed me to plan spending time with my family around my work schedule. 

The hardest part of the job was having to leave it to finish college. While working at Pepper Palace I had befriended my co-workers and grown accustomed to seeing them on a weekly bases which made it hard to say good bye. The position I had was only a summer time position and the summer had ended.

Job includes freight, stocking, and cashiering. You do need to memorize a longer intro for every time customers come in. Definitely wouldn't suggest for an introvert. If the store you're working at is sufficiently staffed it'll be okay, but if not you will absolutely be bombarded with hours. I applied and got hired on for part time and by the time I left 7 months later I was pulling 9-10 days in a row without a day off. The training is good. The pay is fair. There is definitely room to grow with the company if you stick around long enough. Best advice would be not to stray away from your schedule, if you're not supposed to work on Sundays don't pick up a Sunday to help out. In my experience if you give them an inch they'll go a mile. Scheduling should be posted a week in advance, usually Thursdays. In my experience it does change past then A LOT, though it's not supposed to. The people are great, the work isn't bad, but there are definitely issues with consistency and scheduling. It was not normalized to take breaks at all when I worked, though you are entitled to take one when working open to close. Don't let yourself get walked all over like I did. 

Hurry up and wait, that’s about what you get. HR doesn’t even know how to run a store and they wanna manage you on it. The turn over rate within upper management is more than the associates that’s definitely an issue. 

Communication skills from the top are very poor and at times you feel like you can’t rely on them. The work meetings they conducted through Zoom were rare and when they did have them they weren’t too informative. 

Pushy sales approach, you feel like every customer you don’t sell to can cost you your job instead of being able to give true customer service. Even the customers ask why associates are so pushy now and wondering If associates are commission based due to pushy customer service. (Can’t control the just looking customers) 

RM is never around or heard from, DM lives in another state so good luck trying to communicate or seek coverage. 

Enjoyable part of the job is the customers
Hardest part about the job is accountability & communication from HR. Also the warehouse being out of products that the customers truly want. 

3 years of employment and I seen 5 different district managers, a new CEO, & 3 RM’s. 

I worked for Pepper Palace for two years. I was hired the first summer the store opened and worked until they laid me and the other employees off with no warning. I was invited back to work for them the next summer and decided to give them a chance, only to be laid off again with absolutely no warning (after being promised & scheduled for OT that week) AND I was the one who had to break the news to my fellow coworker. 
I was prompted to share my views of the company after receiving a phone call from management simply to let us know that the store was hiring and we would not be eligible to apply because, and in their direct words, "They are looking to restructure the team, which means not having anyone from the old team." 
It was a fine job while it lasted, but overall this company does NOT care about their employees. They believe a discount on their overpriced products makes up for the terrible wages they pay sales associates. An easy job, but not worth it. I'm sorry to have wasted so much time with a company that cares so much about profits, and so little about their own people.

Perfect job if you want to work alone! Some people enjoy working alone and enjoy slow hours. The hours aren’t great, but you really just wait your entire shift for someone to come in. Weekends are a bit better because it gets busy!

I was hired on the spot, but I heard prior to getting the job from someone that almost worked there that a lot of people leave shortly after getting hired.

On the bright side, you get 75% off all products. The sauces are yummy and the schedule IS pretty flexible!  It was also a pleasure to interact with customers who came in looking for a particular taste. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for me to want to stay. Just not enough hours and I wanted something faster pace. 

This job may be good for someone who wants a slow pace job with not many tasks except for making sales really. Not a lot of stocking is done (at least for me). Not sure if anything I said is different in other locations, so check for other reviews of course! 

Went from family oriented to corporate. Used to be fun, exciting, inspiring, appreciative. Morality is now poor. All tiers of management is entitled and confused, 90% of which are all untrustworthy. Some benefits are worth while like PTO accumulates more over the years, no weekends, holiday pays, life insurance, pcertainly NOT the health care. Favoritism is heavy. No perks to learning new areas, or earning certifications, or being promoted. HR is useless towards employees, you are undermined and expressed how you don't have to be an employee. There's more things but the pay is just enough to survive if your not by yourself at home.



Working in the store gets boring and repetitive, but its easy to sell.  Its upper management thats really the problem.  They've been doing nothing but closing stores for the past two years, and kept promising me a promotion for over a year and a half (I was always at top of sales), but never delivered. Not a single raise either.   The hours suck, and there's no overlap because they are cheap, so you're working by yourself while they watch you all day from the cameras.  In the end, they closed our store with less than a weeks notice, told us it would be back up in two weeks, and never contacted us again.  Extremely unprofessional and unqualified people are running this business. Its a shame, but save yourself the problems and don't work here.  They've disrespected a lot of outstanding employees in the past 2 years.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail sales associate 38 salaries reported	$14.83 per hour
Retail store manager 6 salaries reported	$22.83 per hour
Store manager 15 salaries reported	$23.23 per hour
Sales associate 1 salary reported	$13.00 per hour
Seasonal associate 3 salaries reported	$14.33 per hour

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