1. The products they give you free to try monthly are generally NOT VERY GOOD PRODUCTS ! Still they are almost always Items Of The Month which you will need to push (up-sale) to your customers at the register. Be ready to have bins full of hair color and product you never use but for some reason horde.
2. Many of my Co-workers and one Manager at the first location I worked at where there just to stand and get a pay check, these women and one male manager had no interest in helping the customers with there hair questions or helping me with day to day work. There laziness was treated with no disciplinary action. They where crude and would use foul language and unprofessional slang. Most of the sales associates did not ever know the proper terminology for the hair processes and products. I was left to open a store alone when a fellow co-worker decided she was going to resign from her job the morning she was scheduled to open the store, leaving me to show up to a unopened store with out keys. I had to drive to another co-workers home to retrieve the keys which where taken to her by the resigning employee the night before, rather then to me the other person who worked that day. I worked the day alone with no help from my manager. I was also threatened by one employee who was later fired but not for that incident. Also was racially and sexually degraded by that same manager.
At the second location I worked with a 64 year old woman who was giving the only title of full time available in the store. Everyone else was part time due to limited hours available to schedule employees. This woman was unorganized. she would leave paper work, signage, products and other things covering the cash register area. She was inconsiderate of customers time while assisting them and ringing in there purchases at the cash register, sometimes taking 20 minutes on one transaction when there was a line of other customer that needed to purchase item or just needed help. She could not complete a task before leaving it aside for someone else to finish or clean up before she would move to another task, so would go on all day till her shift was done and the store would be a mess with all her unfinished work. She caused panic by telling the staff untrue procedures, notices, and many other white lies for no reason at all. She was also very maniacal and would makes things up, or tell someone something that she wanted to get back to the manager all in order to benefit someway herself. This woman was a manager before I worked with her. shes was asked to step down but for some reason never fired for all the the things mentioned above. She receives the most hours of any employee in her store all while causing the most problems for the staff and manager. She was worked there over 10 years. Be prepared to work aside PEOPLE LIKE THIS !
3. Sallys Customers (not all but many) use the help they get from associates like myself to gain as much knowledge they can squeeze out of you so they can save money and do they're own hair. That means lighten it, color it, relax it, perm it ( yes people still perm there hair...without knowing the first thing about it !) remove the color, keratin smoothing treatments, waxing, acrylic nails, gel polish, curling, straightening ect. BE PREPARED to have customers that will DEMAND over an hour of your time asking your questions that you are not required to answer ( because you may not be a licensed cosmetologist ). However you could be written up if that customer calls and files a complaint against you for not assisting her in the store. Perhaps don't make the mistake of being too helpful, because you will surely be taken advantage of. YOUR TIME MEANS NOTHING TO THESE CUSTOMERS ! They will ask you loads of questions down to every last detail ( and no they wont even bother turning the package around and reading the instructions first) , they will insist you show them ever step in the process they are trying to attempt. If your lucky they know what they are doing for the most part and need only a refresher. unfortunately this is not usually the case. Usually its someone that has destroyed there hair with a drug store boxed hair color and wants to go from black to platinum blonde, but doesn't want to use bleach ( lighter ). anyone that knows anything about hair know how funny that is.... wait its not a bit funny its just SAD ! okay jokes aside. these types of customers will pick your brain for hours a week with their attempts to not go to a professional and most of the times they wont take your advice in the end, so you've basically waisted time and energy on them, when you could have been straightening the store or helping someone who needed help, or watching for shoplifters. There are many things you could be doing but you will be stuck helping someone that should be seeking the help of a professional.
4) The stores are under staffed so requesting off or a vacation causes stress and usually is not an option. Don't even dream of calling off sick ! Unless there is someone willing to work you shift, Because your manager is already working on average 5-10 hours a week they are not being paid for and will not be working your shift with out writing you up. It's every difficult to make a living off the 15 - 27 hours a part time employee will be given. You will also be scheduled possibly 5 days a week to receive these 25 hours making it difficult to have a second job. I never worked more then 30 hours in one week and that was when the full time person was on vacation.
Other problems that arise are not enough hours for the store to operate safely and properly. District managers pressure store managers to cut the already insufficient hours. My store of 4 sales associates and one manager worked off of anywhere from 80-95 hours a week. This caused shifts such as this: one person would open the store at 9am along and remain alone until 12:30 pm. ALOT OF THINGS ARE STOLEN DURING THIS UNDERSTAFFED TIME !!!! You will also be on the floor alone when someone goes to the rest room, takes a smoke break, a 10 min break, and a 30 min lunch break in which they are not on the floor or clocked in. YOUR TIME TO SHINE ! If you don't feel incredibly overwhelmed ! You'll being greeting customers, answering questions and the phones, up-selling, running the cash register sales, returns, exchanges, expected to sell Beauty club cards and inform customers of its benefits and don't forget to sell protection plans with all electronics ! seriously after working at Sally you will be able to handle any terrible retail job with ease ! Hey lookie theres a positive from a negative !
There are so many Cons to this job that to list them all would only mean less people will read this review and I feel the truth needs to be known ! Do not let this company suck you in for years ! You will not benefit, there is very little room for advancement very few stores actually have assistant managers, which is the only advancement worth the effort, because it pays hourly still not salary.
Alot of the customers are very ungrateful. Ive never worked anywhere that had such self entitled customers. They want you to bend over backwards to please them, to find there Beauty club card number, to give them a discount, to combine a discount that clearly states a limitation. They act this way because the customer service folks give in to any complaint or demand the customer makes ! You will get calls from Customer service telling you to return products past the 60 day return policy, to give a customer %15 off of a sale because they "forgot their coupon" which states must be present at time of sale. its endless truly. Its unfair to the customers that follow procedure, and it takes time away from your work and they other customers time. Sallys rewards trouble making customers with results !
