Pros
I am grateful for the overall leadership experience, and I made some great life-long mentors that have played a big part in my development. The pay is good and when you're hourly you can make overtime (and you WILL be working overtime!). I got to do a little traveling for EDP Development Days and got a very well-rounded experience with running a retail store.
Cons
As an employee you are viewed as just another number, and individual employees are not valued. Colleagues are pushed to the brim, causing high turnover, and as leaders we were expected to coach in an inhumane way. The whole "coaching them out" method is their favorite, so if they don't like you they give you a ridiculous amount of work and are never happy with what you give back. I saw this happen to coworkers way too many times to count. Hard work and success is rewarded with more work... they completely burn you out. It really shows how much the company is struggling and the CEO and board members would rather get their paychecks than make their employees a priority. On top of that I was a COVID layoff, and all I got was an automated message thanking me for my hard work (I averaged 60 hours a week btw...). Then they started hiring more EDP's right away, and still did the fireworks and the Thanksgiving Day Parade?? I loved seeing my salary being put to good use...