Vantaggi
- Very inclusive, casual, and fun culture at Gap. As far as retail jobs go this is probably one of the best ones to have. - At my store, the vast majority of the managers were kind, understanding, and always willing to help if you needed anything. They always worked directly with us on the sales floor to help customers and really tried to help keep us motivated. - 99% of my co-workers were friendly, helpful, and fun to work with. Everyone really works together as a team and although it can be competitive with sales goals and credit cards, everyone got along well for the most part. Not a lot of company "drama" that I personally saw. - The pay isn't great, but it isn't terrible. It's probably better than what you would get at most other retail stores. - Relaxed dress code - good for people with many tattoos (even face/neck/hands) or piercings. - 50% off everything in the store, and amazing discounts at Old Navy, Banana Republic, and the outlets as well. - The company has a points system that they use to reward you. You can redeem the points for just about anything you want in an online store. Managers also ran contests very frequently to try to motivate you. Prizes could be gift cards, candy, points, or even cash. Managers also brought free food in for holidays, etc. - Pretty flexible schedule. They will work with you if you have school, a second job, children, etc. - GapCard or sales goals can be intimidating at first but it's really not hard once you try and get the hang of it. As long as managers see you are trying they will be understanding, and if you are really doing your best you will eventually get cards. - Despite all the cons, I learned A LOT. I gained a ton of experience, especially with customer interactions, that I honestly feel is so valuable to me both personally and professionally. You will really gain a lot of skills at this job.
Svantaggi
- The most important thing to be aware of: customers can be awful. I have seen customers scream at and personally insult associates for things as simple as a FIVE-MINUTE wait in line behind other customers. They will find ANY reason to complain, and complain they will. Expect to clean up after lazy people everyday. People throw clothes on the floor, leave trash around for you to pick up, and will generally make you lose faith in humanity overall. Some customers, especially regulars, can be very nice, but most are just mildly annoying at BEST. Christmas used to be my favorite holiday but after working three Black Fridays and holiday seasons, now I hate it. - There is often a LOT of micro-managing. Depending on the manager(s) or the newest BS policy, you can expect to be told what to do all day, everyday as if it's a difficult and complicated job, even if you've been there for years and clearly know what you're doing already. - Scheduling and hours are not consistent. If the store is not making enough sales, they will cut hours or avoid scheduling you. Your hours depend directly on the money coming into your store. If it isn't doing well, neither will you. - If hours are getting cut, you will most likely be by yourself or maybe with one other person in your whole department, even on a busy day. Meanwhile, you are expected to deal with long lines at the register, greeting customers, opening fitting rooms, cleaning them out, putting away the clothes and helping customers on the floor. You will be expected to do the work of five people at once just because the company is too cheap to schedule enough people to help. Then customers get angry because of the store being understaffed, and managers are annoyed because you can't be ten places at once, and you have to deal with that too. - CONSTANT policy change. Practically every day there's something brand new everyone has to do and follow religiously until the next thing comes along and it's forgotten. Some of the changes that are actually major, such as return policies, are never addressed and I would find out after the fact. - Speaking of the policies, they don't even stick to them most of the time. They tell you to NEVER let customers do X thing, so then when a customer comes to do X thing, you tell them it is against the store's policy. They ask to speak to a manager, then managers say X is fine right away and it makes you look like you are either stupid or just saying no for no reason. The rudest people who demand things will always get their way at Gap because the managers will ALWAYS give in, no matter how ridiculous the situation. I have seen it a million times. - Very high turnover rate for both associates and management. I only ever saw one person get promoted from within, all the others were brought in from other stores or other companies entirely. It seems that there is little chance for growth or raises. - GapCard rules everything at the end of the day. It's really important for the store to make its goals and if it doesn't it will suffer the wrath of higher management. Managers can be very aggressive about "encouraging" you to sell. The same ones that like to micro-manage you will stand next to you as you try to sell cards, then criticize you for not stopping at the 17th "no." - Lately the sales tactics they have wanted us to use are extremely aggressive. They literally want us to shove clothes that we "suggest" at the customers as they are going to try them on, clothes the customers never picked out or asked for. Management basically wants you to stalk the customers until they buy something. In my opinion this is going to backfire tremendously. It probably won't last, because as I said their policies change everyday. - You get your schedule like a month in advance. This may be preferable to some who need to work out childcare etc. but for someone who would just like to go visit family or friends for a couple days without planning it three weeks ahead of time, it's annoying.