- 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.
