Pros
Everyone I've worked with hates their job, but I really don't mind it. The main pros are flexibility and getting time off. I've had some weird availabilities as a student, and they always listen - and when they forget, I just remind them and they fix my schedule. Trading hours with other associates isn't usually a problem either. You can quit and change your mind a few months later and come back, usually. Once you've worked there a good bit of time, you're pretty set for life. I'm pretty sure I could quit for a few years and just call up and come back, no problem. I've seen people do it. Job stability is pretty good. Unless you're caught stealing or something extreme, you're pretty unlikely to be fired, even if you're a horrible employee. Other pros are that there isn't much skill required, you usually keep pretty busy and the day goes by fast, and you are able to work pretty independently. I've worked at a couple of stores, and the atmosphere varies, but for the most part, if you're being productive, you can pretty much manage yourself. It's a team effort to get the store cleaned every night, and if you're clearly working hard to get it clean, you probably won't be assigned annoying tasks. You can't take it too seriously though. Remember, it's only retail. It will get busy and stressful at times, but you have to just remember that even if everything doesn't get done tonight, it's all going to get messed up again tomorrow anyway. Don't have a poor attitude towards customers. Sure, they're messing up all the work you just did, but in the end, they're the reason you have a job.
Cons
Pretty low pay rate, depending on your geographical location. I'm pretty sure (from this site) that coordinators don't make much more either, which seems odd, because they really are working a lot harder than I am. They are the ones enforcing rules, delegating tasks, managing everyone - I just clean the store. They honestly should be paid more than me. If their pay rates when up, they'd be more likely to be efficient and supervise everyone effectively, which is definitely a current issue. The major con is communication though. Because so many people can work in a single store at varying times of day, important messages sometimes don't get through. Oftentimes I hear different things from different people, even from different managers. Working at a few different stores, even some stores have different rules that they claim are correct. I've heard so many varying return policies in the time I've worked there it's ridiculous. Just how long can you return something after for store credit? Or without a receipt? What about those broken items being returned? How much do you take off for a shirt missing a button? A damaged painting? Should you perform an exchange in two separate transactions or hit the "exchange" button? Do you give the customer 10% for applying for a credit card even when they're not approved? I could give you answers for all those questions, but depending on which store and which managers, I could be right or wrong, which gets really really frustrating. I worked at Marshalls for years before anyone realized I hadn't take the "required" cashier test, fitting room test, etc. There are just a lot of inconsistencies. Organization and delegation of tasks can be another issue. They give you a lot of freedom - which is a good thing, about which departments you work in, and what exactly you're doing at any given moment. Management could probably be more careful in delegating tasks at the beginning of shifts - and sticking to them. When everyone has an assigned task to complete, everything always works out better. Obviously sometimes the store gets busy out of nowhere and things have to change, but it really helps when everyone does their best to keep each associate in one place. Another problem is the lack of training. When you attend orientation, all you do is watch pointless videos you'll never remember from the company. They're mostly about irrelevant policies. You'll learn that when you walk by an item laying on the floor you should pick it up (duh), but you won't learn how to work a cash register, or make a ticket, or effectively clean the store, or sort clothes in the dressing room, or anything you'll actually be doing. So then you come to your first day of work, and you pretty much learn as you go, most likely from people without any authority. When you have the person who was hired two weeks ago training you one minute, and another high school kid training you ten minutes later, you're not going to learn effectively. And oftentimes the rules actually change and nobody tells you, so you're doing things according to company policy two years ago and completely unaware that things are supposed to be done differently now. There are a lot of nitpicky rules the company sets about how to perform transactions, which sizes to keep on hangers and which to remove, how to do things at the front end. These things change a lot, and there is nobody effectively telling us when or how (or why). Store set up also changes a lot, and I'm not sure who makes those decisions. So you'll go to put some clothes away and suddenly you realize you're standing in the juniors department - when yesterday it was plus sizes! This is probably a bigger problem for part-timers who aren't there every day. That sounds like a lot of cons, but honest to god, I enjoy my job. I'm never bored, and it's really not that hard. Busy and can be a lot of work, but nothing difficult. There isn't a whole lot of room for growth, and I wouldn't recommend retail as a career choice, but if you need a job, it's not too bad.