assistant buyer

truck driver

distribution specialist

store manager

customer service associate / cashier

Variety Wholesalers

The department I worked in had management that was very disconnected from the needs and actual day to day work of their handful of employees. Very toxic work environment with no repercussions for bullying and harrassment, despite touting that they have respurces to report and orevent such things. HR puts keeping a position filled over a healthy work environment/ protecting their employees. Pay is poor and work is stressful- too much for any one person (at least in the fee departments I've dealt with). The company has grown over the years but refuses to expand their work force to accommodate. They also have not updated their wages to reflect the current cost of living (or the high work load/skill for the jobs they provide). Not a disability-friendly work place; very selective about who they allow to work from home even if medically necessary. Anyone paid hourly is put below their salaried employees. The office is old and needs repairs and updates and struggles to keep comfortable temperatures. There is way too much drama within Departments and the overall vibe feels more like high-school than a corporate office. Turnover rate is sky high throughout due to lack of pay and job difficulty. A few fun people made this job bearable for the years I was there. Would not reccomend working here under any circumstances. Take the fact that they do not post pay on their job advertisements as the first of many red flags.

Typical day started at 1 pm for me, ended at around 10 to 11 p.m. I checked computer for any stock that needed to be ordered, checked for any stock deliveries that day. I checked in with cashier to see if anything was needed. I checked over emails for any new planograms. I counted down petty cash, safe and register draws to make sure everything was correct. I would put out stock, cashier if needed, redesign end caps, change pricing signs if needed, assist cashier with refunds, returns, etc. I closed the store. I counted down again petty cash, safe and all cashier drawers. I worked Point of Sale system on computer, entered all totals to send to corporate. I prepared nightly bank deposits, and transported to bank. I learned the Point of Sale system, I learned to remotely order stock. Management during my employment could have improved. Upper management put their work load onto lower management, expected lower management to take care of everything while they left, while on the clock, for the entire day. I didn't mind the work, but I didn't find it very professional for them to put their work load onto others who already had so much to do, and onto those that were not qualified nor trained to do their position. Both managers were later terminated, The workplace culture was relaxed, but could at times be fast paced, and a bit stressful .The hardest part of the job was dealing with shoplifters. The most enjoyable part of the job was taking pride in my store being clean and organized, and helping and taking care of my customers.

I would review the daily task listing and cover these needs with the lead persons and associates.  Next I would check new E-Mails to see if any Hot Topics were down loaded overnight and make plans to implement these based on the priority of the tasks.  

Payroll would be daily verified and adjusted up or down based on Sales and Truck needs.  Assorted cashier reports would be checked and disciplines written if needed.

A morning store walk would be performed with all available leads to ensure the store was ready to open.  Front End would review register areas for register operation, supplies, corporate action bulletins, full register end caps and cleanliness. Soft Lines would review rack presentation, fullness, signage, sizing and pricing. Receiving was checked for readiness to receive trucks, u-boats empty, roller racks up and ready, associate schedules checked to verify enough bodies are available to complete the unloading, sorting and pricing.
Hardline areas are checked for fullness, Ad support, recovery, correct plan-o-grams and associates will be assigned as needed.

A morning meeting is held for all associates prior to opening and in the evening to clearly communicate what the companies expectations and needs are.Great customer service was stressed daily.

When I worked at Roses', the first few days were actually pretty enjoyable, but that's before I knew there were employees doing cocaine in the bathroom. I informed the manager and no action was ever taken. No safety precautions were ever taken either, here's an example. One day we were organizing Christmas stock and the assistant manager had me climb a ladder with a huge heavy box in my hands, and wanted me to reach across a 3 foot gap from the ladder to the shelf with the box in my hands, even after I insisted we try other options, long story short I almost fell off and cracked my skull. I worked in hard lines as a stocker but still had to do soft line work. The soft line employees spoke very little English and didn't understand the directions given to them...people also formed alliances against other employees to try and ensure the other employees termination. I worked with an African American fellow and everyone talked trash about him because he was older, but he kept a steady 30-40 box/hr pace (Only required to do 17/hr). They ended up firing him for being "too slow", which was the farthest thing from the truth. They then claimed he was taking advantage of unemployment checks. The moral of the story is, don't work for Rose's unless you want a cracked skull, you enjoy doing cocaine and you can't speak English.

I have worked in one of variety stores roses locations for a couple of months now and from what I have seen my employers and the other employees are cooperative and well mannered, most of the time, sometimes there are instances of this not being the case. However this just might be a personal issue on my end because my definition of well mannered is different from other people’s. There are times where things are not communicated very well, but this happens very infrequently. A couple not so good things are the pay, the amount of hours, and the way that people are hired. The pay is not very good at $8.50 an hour where as if you were to go down to McDonalds you would be payed just about double. The hours are not the best either especially if your schedule is already tight. Because of the way that people are hired there is barely anyone to take shifts so you might be working 4 days a week which can be hard for some people. The management team will most likely end up calling you to come in once or twice extra a week which also add another day to that four day work week. However this would be an easy fix if they were to hire more people. As to get more people to apply or for management to hire more is left up to management and corporate. This is a great first job as long as you don't mind the pay and the hours, but I wouldn’t make a career out of it.

Took this job as a temporary stop while pursuing a professional career. I did not go in expecting to make a fortune, but I quickly discovered I was not even going to make enough to live on. They start employees at minimum wage, but only around 10 hours per week. Shortly after starting I was asked to take on the additional responsibilities of cash office associate, which only benefited me by increasing my hours slightly. It seemed like the more an employee would do, the more they would get yelled at for what they did not do and by the time I quit my nightly activity consisted of straightening and re-stocking 75% of the store, cleaning, dusting, and balancing the cash office safe, on top of the typical customer service responsibilities, all within 4 hours. Admittedly I did not mind the task load all too much, it kept me busy and made the night go quicker, but soon management began complaining about small things, such as one section not being perfectly straightened or finding dust on a few of the shelves, or other things which simply were passed over due to the time constraints. Management should have done a better job at staffing to allow everything to be completed properly, rather than throwing it on a few individuals at night time.

When I first started at Roses I thought it was a great place to work, then the manager that hired me quit and they promoted the wicked witch of the south to the management position. I initially interviewed for keyholder or assistant manager but was told that I locked the necessary retail sales experience for the job, even though my resume reflected that I was indeed a member of management at my previous job. Working there was the worst. There was all sorts of favoritism amongst the manager and certain employees, if the manager "didn't care for you" only expect a minimum of 16-20 hours on the schedule. The store itself is a mess, so much overstock in the stock room that boxes were spilling out into the store area. The stockroom itself looked like an episode of hoarders buried alive, be careful walking back there you can crushed by toppling boxes. There is nothing good about Variety Wholesalers and if you turn in a resignation letter don't expect them to give you a reference they'll tell whoever wants to know about you that they'll have to call the cooperate office. How would the cooperate office know about an employee and their work attendance of a store in another state. It's all around bad. And they only pay 7.25 an hour. I wouldn't even recommend this job for a high school kid.

The managers were horrible, if you had an emergency they didn’t care and they made the schedule to were their favorites got almost 40 hours a week even though they were part-time, and everyone else would be on the schedule 1-2 days a week. Then if you were off they would call you in a hour before they needed you then get upset when you couldn’t make it in. Also if you worked closing and was supposed to get off at 9, you could not leave until the managers were ready to leave, so some days I would be there almost to midnight but not getting paid for it because they make you clock out at the time you was scheduled for even though you are still working. So I you work closing have a reliable ride because they would cause people to miss the last bus and they wouldn’t have a way home and the managers didn’t care, they would say it’s not their responsibility. Imagine all this happening in the 3 weeks that I was there and the pay is horrible for how they would you if you are on the schedule. I almost forgot if you are on your break and they need help at the register they will make you cut your break short, but they let the favorites go on hour long breaks and not care if you need help with the lines. But I can only talk about the location that I was at, so I’m not really sure about the other locations. 

Where do I begin.  I started as a assistant manager and within about three months I was promoted to store manager. I should have known something was up when the store manager who was being trained quit and then the assistant manager who trained me quit. Then the new District manager they hired talked a big game and promised this and that. I got my increase and went from 35,000 a year to 45,000 a year and was suppose to get bonuses. Well never seen a bonus but me and my team took the store from a 900,000 store to a 3 million dollar store and went from a 3.69 shrink to a 2.01 shrink store. I began strong and built a great team where we lead the district in sales for a year and a half. But yet it was never good enough. Employees who I tried to get promoted for hard work and helping build this store up.  But yet the district manager knit picked them and was just down right mean to them causing them to want to quit. Freight was always put away within 24 hours and backstock done in 48 hours. Sales were kept up but nothing was never good enough. Then I was made to work seven days a week open to close or if I did get a day off I was told that I needed to come in for five hours or I would get phone calls asking why I was not there.

They were not intentionally bad management, but there were some serious issues with them. There is little to no chance for promotional opportunities unless you are a male. No matter how much educational advancements you may have, promotional chances are slim. The hours are great and vary depending on your availability. However, the pay is horrible and may never exceed $7.50 unless you are promoted to an Assistant Manager. The position you apply for is likely not what you will receive if hired and you are likely to not be properly and fully trained. If you apply to be a cashier you may be trained to stock and have to stock. Then one day have to work on a cash register with no training and knowledge of how to use it. Which renders you helpless to customer’s anger. I was trained for 5 hour and it only depended on what the person I shadowed was doing. Once fully on my own I had no idea how to do many things. I was given task I had no training for. Also managers lack respect for employees.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Assistant buyer 10 salaries reported	$14.25 per hour
Truck driver 9 salaries reported	$20.28 per hour
Distribution specialist 5 salaries reported	$14.50 per hour
Store manager 1 salary reported	$16.00 per hour
Customer service associate / cashier 8 salaries reported	$16.46 per hour

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