Pros
The girls in the store are usually really nice to work with. There are some shift leads that I would excuse from the overall bad behavior by the company, and those individuals are really the only ones that seem to actually care about me more than just my potential to make them money. The clothes are cute, also. I like that they’re ethically made.
Cons
All of management tells the team that if you’re not “passionate about Albion,” then you don’t belong there. My first couple months I was really excited and I felt like I was being treated well, but really the front of positivity has a dark underbelly. They want you to do more work for them than they want to pay you for, but they tell you that they’re paying you really well (hint, they’re not, I could make the same or more as an entry-level McDonalds employee). They expect you to come to meetings and trainings outside of store hours, tell you they’re mandatory, regardless of anything you might have happening in your personal life outside of a part-time retail job. Honestly, I’ve never worked a retail job that was so demanding of me before, for the kind of work they require, they really ought to pay more. Overall, the whole place reeks of gaslighting, with a touch of “big brother”, since they’re always sending people into the store to spy on you to see if you’re doing your job to their standards. The culture is also heavily influenced by the LDS church, which isn’t a deal breaker for some, but it literally drove me insane. I sometimes even felt like I was at church while I was working just because of the kinds of weirdly restrictive rules they impose on you.
