Pros
The majority of the team were friendly and helpful, although all were clearly jaded and depressed after having worked an average of 8 years each with the company. The staff discount was a bonus, however, it took 3 months of employment before this was granted. I loved the uniform, although some of the clothing didn't last very well and the uniform allowance is quite small considering the cost of the clothes and the poor quality. I found myself spending more than I could afford to on my uniform. Good break system that is spread out evenly throughout the day; a 15 minute morning break, 1 hour lunch break and a 15 minute afternoon break. One of the managers was one of the best I've ever had - very understanding of staff needs, extremely friendly - even buying cakes for the staff to enjoy on their breaks on a Sunday, always a joy to work with.
Cons
Insufficient training - despite the online training system which included working through the company booklet and completing small tests on each aspect of the role, as this mode of learning involved sitting in a dark office for 2 to 3 hours at a time reading page after page, this high volume of information was difficult to retain. More on-the-job training would have been far more useful. I was often criticised by one of the managers for not knowing the name and details of every single fabric, wallpaper, furniture design, etc, and my level of product knowledge was compared to other members of staff who had worked for 8+ years full time, whereas I had worked for only a couple of months at an average of 8 hours per week. This seemed an unrealistic and unfair expectation. One of the managers was an out right bully, who would deliberately go out of their way to make life difficult for the rest of the staff. A number of staff complained of their unhappiness with this manager, although all the staff were too scared to make an official complaint about their behaviour. Even customers complained on a regular basis about this individual's rude behaviour, to head office, but as I understand, this person still continues to work for the company. Inflexible attitude towards hours and holiday - this made it particularly difficult for me when sitting university exams.
