I wanted to love working here so much. The company has so much potential, the store is absolutely beautiful, and the customers are wonderful, but it is truly being ruined by poor management in the grossest ways possible.
The employer/employee relationship is best described similarly to an abusive relationship. When it was good, it was so good. The work environment was, on rare occasion, a fun one to be in (solely due to the quality of coworkers, not the actual management). When it was bad, it was soul-crushingly hard to drag myself into work due to the following reasons:
The job descriptions that you agree to when accepting the position are grossly lacking in what the company/owner actually expects you to do. The last minute additions to your workload, impossible deadlines, travel and out-of-area-work without compensation are just a few examples of how you are not compensated or appreciated appropriately as an employee.
As far as the actual work went - the company could really soar if it were structured and organized properly. There were many attempts at organization and structure, but they all faltered.
-Systems (spreadsheets, google programs, etc) would be put into place on a whim to monitor employee work, but the system would always come crashing to a halt soon after implementation because the owner would not participate, or would change the system when it came down to holding herself accountable for the tasks she was responsible for.
-Scheduled meetings with leadership would regularly be postponed or cancelled (often very last minute) with no apology or acknowledgment.
-Projects that should be spread across multiple employees in a team setting were given to one person, and projects that only required one person's work would be given to multiple people without proper communication. All of this lead to subpar work flow, event production, and new product integration. To top all of these issues off, all were accompanied by extreme micro-management and hysterical outbursts on the owner's part when things didn't go perfectly (largely due to her own poor participation in the task).
Our checks were supposed to be direct deposit, but with increasing regularity, they were given as a paper check on our shift that was closest to actual payday (sometimes even a day or two after payday). This caused our personal deposit of the physical check to be late due to the given delay of using a paper check.
The owner is emotionally manipulative - if anyone expressed a concern or issue with her, she would change her physical posture to appear meek. She would put a fake, purposeful waver in her voice, and she would "cry" without real tears. As if that wasn't enough, she was horrifyingly two-faced. She would laugh and chat with you, then turn around and gossip about you to her other employees as soon as your back was turned.
The owner's husband was the company's version of HR, and it was apparent that there was never going to be true accountability when she behaved poorly, or if a staff member needed to address an issue. She would bring her husband into any conversation that was not going her way, and he would take over the narrative. He would placate her, and turn concerns that employees brought up back on them. It was always a true team-effort gaslight.
The owner speaks so poorly about so many businesses in the immediate area, and she is physically barred from entering a couple of the establishments around the downtown McKinney area due to her behavior and attitude. It's a tight-knit community where everyone goes out of their way to help others, so this definitely makes a difference in the quality of relationships that her employees could have with other businesses and owners.
As a personal patron of most establishments in the area, I immediately noticed a difference in people's demeanor when they found out where I was employed. I had to make up for her poor behavior in many local businesses so that I was not seen in the same light.
In summation, I could not possibly recommend employment at Ettiene Market. The cons are truly everything you'd hate to experience as an employee of a business. If, after reading these reviews, you continue on with an interview/employment - ask to see their turnover rate. If they say they have a low turnover rate, they're lying - which is wholly on brand for them.
