After training, very much sink or swim environment. Very little room for advancement. Although they do not use seniority to determine eligibility for promotions, promotions almost always go to those in the after-hours drinking buddy clique. HR is clueless regarding gossip, bullying and harassment issues. You must provide a list of available hours and days when you start and except for school hours, which they will grudgingly accommodate for, you are threatened with termination if you ask to change hours of availability. If you are a new hire you will definitely work every holiday; they are open 365. Management, including Front End Manager are hardly ever out on the sales floor. Every building I worked at was extremely under-staffed, and it was not uncommon to have one person working three departments.The contractors who come in first thing in the morning are often extremely rude. Of course that could be because there is only ONE! register open. Self-check is a joke, as there are many, many items which do not scan correctly and must be looked up and scanned at the main terminal.
Cashiers and Head Cashiers are required to up-sell Extended Warranties and Home Depot credit cards at every sale, with ridiculous quotas to meet. Metrics are used against older Cashiers as a way to get them out before retirement age.
The Corporate culture as far as buildings go is that everyone is out to steal whatever they can, and during secret shops they are very sneaky about hiding merchandise in order to "test" the Cashier. Another way to get people who are not as popular with the clique out, especially if they are due for a raise.
Pay is low for the industry and turnover is very high. There is a sort of High School mentality throughout the company. Discipline is lax. There is a point system used to determine corrective consultations, but if you play politics and are in with the right people, you will never be questioned about lates, out sicks, etc. Buildings are dirty, loud, and are either very cold or very hot depending on the season. Point of sale system is horribly out of date. Table scanners and wireless scanners break down. frequently and so do check printers. Credit/debit card readers also break down frequently. Morale is very low as we wait for the next, and then the next, and then the next CEO to actually do something to improve working conditions and staffing needs. If I wasn't in school I would definitely be looking for other employment.
