Pros
Inclusive and safe environment (but let's not praise the bare minimum)
Cons
Think of those tik toks about toxic workplaces...that's REI. I've worked retail/customer service on and off since I was 15 (so for 10 years now) and this was my only bad experience with an employer. This was the weirdest, most rigorous interview process, and once hired we were told things like "be proud of yourself! This is harder to get into than Yale!" 🙄🚩 The training was inadequate given the knowledge needed of products and complexity of the sales system (which has hopefully been updated to a better interface by now). You were told to arrive 15 minutes early to get on your vest, headset, etc., but to NOT clock in yet. There was 0 trust in employees. Every retailer handles the cash drawer differently, but this is the only place I've had to walk the cash drawer to the office with the supervision of a partner! At the end of your shift bags/pockets were checked. The pay was very near minimum wage, which hurt even more considering the upscale nature of the retailer. The list goes on, but these were my biggest issues. Full disclaimer, I was terminated, but I hold no ill will from that. I believe they could see it wasn't a good fit and that was the best move for everyone. Perhaps with time some of these wrinkles would have ironed out, but I do not recommend finding out.