Poorly managed company, selfish store managers, good holidays if you are willing to give up your social life - Sales Associate Burberry Employee Review

Long hours - you will work a 9 hour shift 4 days a week, and 1 day a shorter shift meaning you will not have a social life unless you are a manager so you can cater the rota to your needs. Don't even think about changing shifts with someone without a year’s notice, you'll probably receive a letter of concern about your conduct. You will be a security guard 95% of the time. If you do not wish to be an unpaid, untrained, uninsured security guard for a company that has no budget for security but has endless funds for conferences at the Rosewood and the V&A, and a ‘Chief Design Officer’ that resides in Claridges and takes unlimited holidays then STAY AWAY. The store has part time security (the only luxury store like it) and you are responsible for security when the guard isn’t working. The managers will tell you that you should confront a ‘thief’ yet they will never do that themselves. The store is an easy target with expensive bags on either side of the door and an open door policy meaning you can just run out. Youths love it. Run in, clear a shelf and back out. But that’s your fault. You must be in work before your shift and you don't leave until after your shift has finished. The managers do not care that they are wasting your unpaid time as they have nothing else to do and they can take time back as and when they please. However, don't let this think that if you are 5 minutes late due to transport, a death of a family member or even a major incident that shuts the city down will they care. They'll give you a late form because they enjoy filling out paperwork, that wastes longer than the 5 minutes that you could have made up from your lunch, to fill out and file with HR. You get endless amount of hideous uniform that is not 'free' - you are taxed on the extortionate 'cost' Burberry claim for the uniform. You will NEVER want to wear this uniform out of work but it’s fun to see your income tax go up to pay for it. Also you will need to clean this yourself as the managers like to make up their own rules on the complimentary dry-cleaning service for uniform that they then limit when it suits them. There is absolutely no option to progress in the company. They would rather have a position empty for months on end than let someone progress into the position, however they will make you believe you have a chance of progression. They'll dangle it on a shoe string until you finally break. The managers are on a power trip. It's the old give someone a bit of power and they become a tyrant. They love to make guidelines and rules but have absolutely no common sense whatsoever. For example they receive a ‘guideline’ that ladies hair should be in a low ponytail. Having nothing else better to do with their time, they will then enquire to what measurements from the ear should this ponytail be? Surely there’s other things in the store that require more urgent ‘managerial’ attention than this. The managers will remind you at least 30 times in a day that you a simply a sales associate. You are nothing more, you are at the bottom of the ladder. Don’t let them fool you into believing you have more power to ‘drive your own sales’ because if you are not a member of ‘management’ you are not allowed to do anything except roll scarves. Nothing ever gets done. These managerial tasks that you are not allowed to do under any circumstances, get ignored by the managers. If you don’t ask them at least 3 times it will be forgotten but you will suffer the consequences, not them.