Abt runs its ship, and primarily sales staff in a very old school, traditionalist way. If you want any opportunities of moving up into higher positions, you either have to put in some hard time (at least 1-2 years) and build a reputation with others in the store. Otherwise, you can expect to stay where you're at for quite some time. The whole store, and its individual departments all have their own internal socio-political quirks as well. Because of the way things like paychecks are taboo to be discussed within your department, and the fragility of the bonus system (you can often lose your whole bonus at once for things you are not even at fault for), no matter the department, expect it to be HIGHLY competitive. To a degree this is healthy, but you will definitely see it get toxic at times as well. If you're someone who prefers to keep their head down, clock into work, and not engage in internal conversations around politics or otherwise personal conversations, expect to leave that idea at the door entirely. During my experience working at Abt, I've been thrown into these conversations at random and unwanted times - even by one of the CEO brothers. Additionally, in the day to day, I've overheard countless sexist, racist, transphobic, xenophobic comments made about both customers and other employees. While most of the time intended as a joke, the non-stop exposure to this behavior made my motivation to come in each day lower and lower throughout my time. I would liken my own department's specific behavior to a high school experience: everyone is talking about everyone else behind their backs, while nice face to face. Primarily, I think the competitive and relational constructs this company bases its employees on contribute to this most. Managers will many times turn the other cheek towards their own department's toxicity because the drama and competition generates more money, making they themselves more favorable to upper management. Overall, everybody is looking out for their own best interests, which makes sense and is also healthy in a sense - but where this becomes unhealthy is how this naturally dissuade's teamwork. As a whole, this was not an employment experience I walked away from with many positive memories, depending on who you are, you may feel differently and enjoy your time here. But this job was certainly not for me at the end of the day.
