The pay was horrendous. Not nearly enough for living wage, and cashiers are lucky to get more than 25 hours a week. The management staff could be very demeaning. I was hired as a cashier but soon they started giving me bagging shifts. I did not mind and never questioned why, until I saw a note left by a CSM for another cashier, saying that he was being given bagging shifts as punishment for poor performance. They never told me I was being punished, so I felt very used. I guess what I learned is that if you're a pushover at Ingles, the management team will take advantage of you.
Eventually though, I got promoted to department lead of non-food grocery. After just a month however, the old lead came back and they gave her back her job, and made me a stocker. I got to keep my raise (which wasn't much) but I worked under the old lead now, and she was very mean. So mean in fact, that she had driven out 7 stockers before me. I even saw the girl I was replacing crying about things this lead said to her. I consider myself a fairly thick skinned person, but the things the lead said pierced like knives. She really knew how to push peoples buttons, and everyone in the store knew she was a bully. I talked with HR about it and they were actually very helpful. We arranged some meetings in the store and had a couple somewhat-productive talk. The old lead was given a new set of rules to keep her from bullying her coworkers, but she found a way around them and continued to bully us. After that, I couldn't get anyone to help me, so I had to quit. It was just too much for me.