sales associate

retail sales associate

retail assistant manager

store manager

team member

Platos Closet

A typical day at work includes greeting customers, helping direct them to what they're looking for, managing fitting rooms, checking out customers, and dealing with the clothes (which the store buys new or gently used from customers). Once the store buys the clothes, they are tagged and censored, and then sorted into storage totes depending on the season and type of garment. Once the totes at the front of the store get full, they are taken to the back storage room and replaced with an empty tote. In the back storage room, these plastic storage totes are stacked in rows from one wall to the other, piled almost ceiling high. The dangerous part is that they were not stacked straight and steady, they were always leaning because the weight of the clothing would dent and crush the totes on the bottom. Sometimes a whole row would collapse. We would each have to work back there every day stacking the totes or taking out totes to hang up the different types of clothing if we were running low on the floor. The totes were probably 30-50 pounds each once full of clothing. Yet, we were expected to lift them over our heads in order to place them (more like throw them) at the top of the stack. Many times I was afraid the totes would fall on top of me or that I would get hurt, but I knew management would not let us leave until this job was done, so I often compromised my safety in order to meet the demands of the job. Cleaning and organizing was also a major part of the job. About an hour before closing each day we would start straightening, sizing and colorizing each section of clothing. Every section had to be finished before we could start cleaning. The bathrooms had to be cleaned, the floor at the front of the store mopped, windows and mirrors cleaned, and the whole store had to be vacuumed, The managers would then get on the floor and look under every single rack for anything that may have been missed. If they found dust or a piece of plastic or anything whatsoever under one rack, we would have to vacuum the whole store again. Closing was a very strenuous process. On average, we would have to stay at least 1 hour, but sometimes 2 or more hours after the store closed. So, sometimes we wouldn't get to go home and eat dinner until 11 at night. Overall, the job had a very high work-load and stress level, but a very small pay-off and few benefits. The management was poor and they treated associates badly. There was only opportunity for advancement if you were friends with the store owners, who were extremely intimidating and at some times rude. I would not recommend this job to anyone.

The job itself isn't terrible, it's the owner of the store that makes it horrible. Everyday we are open to buy in and sell gently used clothing. When working my job is managing the other girls, buying clothing in, checking out customers, opening and/or closing the store and making sure the store is organized. We are open from 10-8 Monday through Saturday and stop buying in clothing at 7:30 those days and on Sunday we are open from 11-5; then stop buying at 4:30. All of us girls basically run the store with little to no help from the owner even though he wants complete control of everything.

In the store I have learned how to work better on my customer service and providing the customers with that customer service. I have also learned how to deal with customer issues and solving those issues in a matter of minutes if not faster. With an exception to some of the past girls I've worked with, we have a AWESOME staff! Everyone for the most part gets along, we all work together and help whoever needs help. It stinks though because most of these girls are planning on leaving the store in the coming months due to the owner and a ton of issues.

With most jobs some days dealing with people are harder than the other but I've never had that big of an issue. We have a small staff, only 13 girls to run the store 7 days a week and in doing so we all get run down. Besides that the absolute hardest part of the job is the owner.He is never willing to try new ideas because it's his way or the highway. He avoids confrontation even though he has stressed to us that we can come to him with any issue and he'll do his best to solve it. Right now we are losing our store manager due to his actions and he refuses to move anyone from the store up to the position! It's sad to know that some of the girls, including myself, have been there for a year performing the same position and just found out that no one will be given a promotion even though it was preached to us at our interviews we would receive them. By the owner not ever being there but making poor decisions with the store, his staff and budgets it makes the job terrible. I wouldn't recommend to anyone unless they enjoy not being appreciated, not receiving benefits for full time work and just being treated like a worthless person.

Platos is a great starter job for any young adult who is into current fashion trends and is open to having a clothing addiction for the rest of their life lol. I worked for the company for 7 years, taking on various roles at multiple locations. Starting as a basic sales associate moving to buyer, shift lead, trainer, inventory manager, making my way to assistant manager… then went back and forth between inventory manager + assistant manager each time I moved stores.

 It was a fun, interesting, and creatively challenging job, but could sometimes be very monotonous and overwhelming; especially when buys, tagging, and running would back up due to a busy day, lack of staff, or even slow employees. On those days the entire staff would be running on E, which would create tension and a not so great atmosphere, especially if even just one person was slacking or was in a bad mood, and that definitely reflected poorly to the customers. There was sometimes very obvious favoritism of employees from head managers, but for the most part each stores operated as a little family and the employees were all pretty close. Which of course opened the door to your normal teenage drama, because well, you’re mainly working around high schoolers. The drama and gossip could be very annoying and unprofessional. Especially if it came from a store manager. 

Outside of that, It was a fun place to work that offered room for very quick growth in the company, especially once your strong suits and goals were identified and made aware to those above you. Fashion wise, you could express yourself pretty much however you wanted. 

You get to know the family of owners who are pretty involved with each of their stores and I  must say, when you’re personally recognized by a person higher up for good work you did, it definitely gave you a sense of pride and achievement. If you were a manager of any sort the bonus incentives made the job very worth it.

 I loved getting to know the repeat customers and helping to personal shop while being out on the sales floor, but that was just a  small part of the job. I had a goal to work my way up and wanted to eventually work nationally for their head company, Winkmark, but eventually I got very very burnt out and took another job.  

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part about working here…. I guess dressing the mannequins and helping customers. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
OMG! The most stressful part, at least at my location, you’re surrounded by high schoolers, who’d rather gossip than work. I was really displeased every time, because I was stuck doing a good majority of the work, hanging clothes, straightening clothes, vacuuming the floor, all while the other girls sat there and chatted and scrolled through their phones. They didn’t step in until there was at least three clothing items left to hang up. Need I say, this was during closing shift and most of the time during day shift. Disappointing. Also, when I was first learning to work on the cash register, the girl in charge practically stood there and didn’t help me. She kind of threw me up there and LITERALLY rapidly sped through the instructions and just walked away to mingle and laugh about it with her friends, in the back. She didn’t seem too happy when I asked her questions or seeked guidance on rather I was doing cash exchanges right. The actual manager eventually helped me learn how to operate a cash register. Also, most of them easily got promoted to position, but they barely worked/ did anything, which didn’t make any sense to me. All in all, everyone’s experience is different. Anyone can work there, but I’d say tread lightly. It may be suitable for high schoolers, but not for people who are not in high school lol. I will say there were good times, like when we decorated the store to match the holidays or seasons of the year. And when EVERYONE ACTUALLY DECIDES TO WORK TOGETHER, it makes the job easier, but ngl that’s hit or miss. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
It was the same old, same old. The moment I walk in the store, if I’m closing that night, I can already feel the other girls “plot” to just sit around, while I do ALL the work…. in which I was right. So, a typical day for me, if I’m opening, it’s great, depending on which manager was there. If I closed, it was terrible and exhausting.

Plato's Closet is a great place to work if you just need to make some extra cash, but don't expect to put too much career expectations on it. Great for high schoolers and college students, not so much someone who needs to pay for rent and groceries, unless you make about 30+ hours. Despite all this, my particular location is a great place to work at, as everyone has a pretty positive attitude. It can get pretty hectic when busy, as there's typically a max of 3 staff--Manager, Buyer, and Sales. Every once in a while a mid-shift will be scheduled to help with the workload; sometimes all of the daily tasks can be overwhelming!

The hardest part of the job in my opinion is backstocking and replenishing, mostly because the backstock bins are quite heavy and lifting 40+ lb bins, while not impossible, is not easy. After a while, you can work up a sweat carrying bins around and I hate sweating.

My favorite part of this job is designing displays--because many of the items are one-of-a-kind, it can be a challenge to create a cute outfit, but that's what makes it fun! I enjoy puzzles and utilizing my creativity to work around a problem, so while others may be off-put by having to create a display, I openly embrace it. Part of why I was interested in joining the Plato's Closet team is because I love wearing cute clothes and putting together fashionable outfits!

Pretty much every person I have worked with here is a great team player with a positive attitude, and the managers are on such terms that they don't feel like they're so much a higher authority, but rather a Team Leader, if that makes sense? There's no need to feel like you have to walk on eggshells around them, as they're rather forgiving for minor mistakes and allow team members room to learn and grow.

A typical workday is highly stressful: expected to be smiling with a positive attitude at all times, even when faced with harassment (which is worryingly frequent yet goes unaddressed) or plain old stress. Generally very busy and overwhelming, especially for $9 an hour. Very customer focused. The tasks themselves are usually very easy but the speed in which you are expected to complete them whilst juggling customers' needs creates a lot of stress. You are expected to give your all to the company. Management (as of current) is all incredibly young (below 25) and unprofessional. Lots of gossip, broken policy, inappropriate language and relationships, and favoritism. Quick to punish employees for small mistakes (while never following policy themselves) and frequently avoid actually doing their job. Culture is toxic and unhealthy, they are known to openly complain about former employees at staff meetings, avoid caring for the mental health of their teenage employees (especially regarding harassment by customers), encourage overworking and an unhealthy work/life balance, and favor employees who kiss-up to management over hard work. The hardest part of the job is by far handling management and the environment behind the scenes. It often results in employees having partial breakdowns and quitting very quickly. The most enjoyable part of the job is getting to help people. There are a lot of families that come in, often being dragged along by their tweenage girls, and it is lovely getting to put a smile on their faces. 

Whenever you start everything seams fine and dandy and like it’s gonna be a fun place to work but the higher up you get the not so good it gets. When you get up to a buyer you are expected to know a good amount about how to run the store and to be comfortable to be left alone up front to deal with cashiering and dealing with the buy counter as well and also take care of the floor as well. Being a buyer is so mentally draining you are constantly having to make quick decisions and detail orientated and don’t really get brakes bc there is never enough other buyers so you will be going a full 6-7 hour shift up there with only a 30 minute lunch brake if your lucky to have time to take it. The worst part about being a buyer is having to deal with the customers that come in sometimes, I understand there is no controlling that but management could help a little bit more then just making us deal with them. It is common to be cussed out , threatened , have stuff thrown at you , belittled and not just that we’ve had customers make inappropriate comments to us and make us feel very uncomfortable to be there. Management was ok for the most part but if you don’t have thick skin it’s gonna be tough. I had customers come up to my face and apologize for how we were treated by management after they witnessed how management was talking to us like we were not smart enough to do the tasks correctly. Minus the negatives I can say I enjoyed my job some of the time you will make good friends that’ll stick with you and you have some cool regulars that come in and always find a way to make the day better and of course the first picks on the cheap clothing that you get a discount, you can find some good hidden gems there but it’s all about the learning experience you’ll get from it. 


It was an alright job to have as a highschooler, but I wouldn't suggest working there beyond highschool (as almost all of the employees are highschoolers and they behave as you would expect highschoolers to behave). 
Had good fun some days and felt really frustrated and upset other days. Some coworkers were great, others were pretty mean, and the managers at my store were unbelievably immature, rude, and unprofessional. Yelled at employees IN FRONT OF CUSTOMERS over small mistakes very frequently. They often would explain how to complete a task, and then later scold you for "doing it wrong" and proceed to show you a completely new and different way to do it. Managers also played favorites and would give the most tedious and unpleasant closing tasks to whoever was unlucky enough not to be a favorite. The owner of the store was nicer and it was easy to get time off. 
Many customers were normal people, but just about as many of them were unbelievably rude. Sales associates often end up taking the hit for things that were entirely the fault of the managers. 
Also, the same playlist of popular tiktok songs playing all day every day drove me insane. 
Overall, not completely awful. Ended up stepping away because I was not compatible with the personality type of the general clientele and other employees. Wish they paid more. Good for a first job, but won't pay the bills.

I really enjoyed working at Plato’s Closet for a while. At my first location, management was nice, coworkers were upbeat and the work wasn’t super hard. Although the busiest store in the area, things felt balanced for the most part. There were definitely issues with gossip, but that ended up being dealt with. 
This all changed when I switched to a different location. The main manager was new, and put on a facade of being kind. Once I got to know them a bit more, they constantly talked about how horrible the job was, how much they hated it and how much life sucked. They would put notes on the schedule when they had a meeting saying “Stupid HR s***” and whatnot. Alongside this, there were obvious favorites. They would take certain people outside to seemingly just talk for a long time, even when it was busy. It all came to a head when I was written up for a couple of valid reasons, but mostly for being neurodivergent and having physical issues. I had offered doctor’s notes several times, all declined. They also said that no one liked me at work due to my neurodivergence, despite me having good relationships with everyone. I decided to quit after this. After talking to my coworkers, I learned that I was being obviously targeted by this person, when our age difference was about 20 years. 
Long story short, I wish I had never switched locations. There were warning signs, such as the self-deprecation, negativity and general happiness of the coworkers. With Plato’s, it is a huge gamble whether you will get good management, or bad management. I would recommend reaching out to people who currently work there/have worked there in order to gauge wether the location is good with management.

I was initially very excited to work at Plato's but overtime, I started to dread going in. There are a few pros to this job such as the discount, cute clothing finds, and being able to make friends with your coworkers. The downfall of this company is management. While the owner isn't super involved in the company, he also seems to ignore the treatment of his employees. Management will talk badly about their employees and pick favorites amongst all of the people that they hire. They have meetings specifically to talk about who they want to fire next. They enjoy riding a power high by making up rules about the smallest things. Such as, no water bottles up front, no calling out unless you find a cover (and even if you do they'll be upset), no phones unless you're on a break, etc. They claim to have "flexible scheduling" but in all reality there were multiple times that I was scheduled outside of my availability. They don't really care about anything besides meeting the sales goal. It's supposed to be a "positive work environment" but management makes it hard to be positive because they get upset and nitpick everything that their employees are doing "wrong". They don't respect the employees that are in school outside of work and basically want you to bend over backwards to work at their establishment every single day. They don't allow time off for the entire month of August. The hardest part of this job is honestly dealing with management and trying to reach their high expectations every single day in order to not get written up for tiny things or fired. The most enjoyable part is honestly the friendships you make while working here. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales associate 72 salaries reported	$11.60 per hour
Retail sales associate 57 salaries reported	$14.19 per hour
Retail assistant manager 18 salaries reported	$14.43 per hour
Store manager 15 salaries reported	$52,133 per year
Team member 4 salaries reported	$13.95 per hour

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