Pros
Flexible scheduling-they always worked around my school schedule Employee discount Ability to make commission on top of hourly wage-ONLY during busy season Co-workers are generally friendly and easy to work with ONE of my managers is amazing!
Cons
Commission scale is VERY low-you are required to make at least $140 an hour to even make commission and in bridal it runs in seasons. You generally won't make commission during May-December. The commission percentage ranged from .5-4%..when you bring in $10,000 in sales for a pay period..that's not a lot of commission and you expect to make more bringing in that much business. This might be different for larger scale stores but for smaller scale stores, the sales just aren't there year round. Other stores will steal sales if they have the opportunity, yet we stress the importance of teamwork..that's not very team oriented. If you don't meet sales goals on a consistent basis, you will be written up. You always have numbers to meet and it's hard to reach every single one(they have tons of different categories) on a consistent basis. We are often talked to about what we need to do better, and rarely given praise for a job well done..it can become very defeating. You are required to make a certain number of calls every day and you don't always have time to do that. Making calls is frustrating because, in general, people don't appreciate it and we get treated rudely because of it. You can only call so many times asking how the wedding planning is going before it becomes pointless, robotic, and annoying. They don't offer any pay raises or merit increases even if you get excellent annual reviews because you are "commission based and therefore control your paycheck". Forget having weekends off, especially during busy "bridal season". Hours can be long and the bulk of your hours will come from working weekends. This is hard if you have family/kids and work elsewhere or go to school. Breaks are NOT given, my store is very good at giving lunch breaks but any other breaks are ignored because it simply gets too busy. Job is physically and mentally demanding. You are expected to work with large parties, usually more than one at a time and sometimes the bride/bridesmaids/moms/friends are completely bitchy and rude. Lifting and straightening the dresses will eventually start to hurt your neck, shoulders and back. Your feet will be killing you during and after your shift. You will get questions and negativity if you don't sell a bride or schedule a come back appointment. In general, you don't feel appreciated for all the hard work and service you provide.
