Pros
-If you open Macy credit cards, you are rewarded with Macy Money coupons, which can be used to pay for up to half of a purchase. These rock. -You can certainly scope out all of the deals, since you are there every day. -I happen to be blessed with an exceptionally kind and helpful manager, but not everyone in other departments seems to be as happy with their managers. -You get a week of PTO each year. -Depending on your area, you may get to walk around and haul merchandise, which I believe is tantamount to a workout! -Some coworkers are lovely people who will be lifelong friends. -Though it is stressful, you punch out and you can leave the stress at work. You do not have any work responsibilities outside of the hours you work. As a former teacher, I find this immensely refreshing!
Cons
-You truly get paid NOTHING. -And yet...the expectations are SKY HIGH. Every day, you have a sales goal--possibly up to $6,000 a day--and if you do not make your goal, your scorecard is affected. -As a result of these sales goals, employees get stressed about ringing enough and just sit at the register, ringing, while other hard-working employees bail out the fitting room and straighten merchandise. -This scenario leads to tons of gossip and in-house catfights amongst coworkers. -You have to greet and assist literally every customer who walks into your area, sometimes with many customers at once. It's called MAGIC selling...Meet and make a connection, Ask questions, Give options, Inspire to sell more, Celebrate the sale! This brand of MAGIC selling is actually very taxing on the employee, who (did i mention?) is getting paid 8 dollars an hour... -The store manager patrols the store to ensure that every employee is making *magic* selling happen on the floor, and if you are not with a customer (say if you are putting away fitting room or straightening your selling floor) then you are berated for not connecting with customers. -The merchandiser patrols the selling floor, complaining about how messy it is, if you don't have time to straighten due to all this MAGIC selling you are working. My particular merchant is extraordinarily unkind and speaks to me in the most demeaning, condescending manner imaginable. -You are interacting with the public nonstop, and some customers are wonderful and some are heinous. -Security cameras are everywhere monitoring every little transaction to check and see if you scan a coupon for a customer who forgets theirs...and if you refuse to scan the Macy card coupon, the customer will inevitably complain of your inflexibility to a manager who will tell you to scan the coupon, anyway. -You will work weekends--actually, EVERY weekend. You will work late hours. You will work early hours. You will work overnight. Your hours will vary like crazy.
