The Container Store reviews

Seasonal employment for the container store is definitely not worth the pay at all, you spend most of your time training which is really just watching the CEO talk about his great success in TCS its literally like just watching a cult leader on tv once a week of 3 hour training classes are done you are thrown into the merchandising shifts depending on your store you might start at 5 or 6 very high pace theres not one moment you have to yourself its a constant running back and forth until you get your 10 minute break. Other shifts include Visual and sales which is just doing your usual retail like work filling in shelves down stocking and talking to customers. Managers are always in the breakroom drinking coffee and talking literally do nothing but hold a key and huddle you in. full-timers are doing the same job as you, you clean bathrooms in closing shifts and the breakroom for the pay its not bad but seasonal hours are horrible, you have to be available for them 24/7 and they just end up giving you 10 hours a week. This was nothing like what you read on Forbes, Selling elfa is the only thing that matters in the long run if you can suck up to your managers show up for 3 hours shifts and persuade someone from buying a spice rack to a whole new pantry than this is the job for you.

1 = 3! Communication = Leadership! Ignorance = Strength! Well it's been a long time since they sat us down in that little room and made all those promises they just couldn't keep. If you believe their hype, The Container Store is not only the greatest company to work for-- it is the savior of the world using the Excalibur called Conscious Capitalism! Well Conscious Capitalism is the same as old Capitalism: Profits before People, sell as much as you can, and could you not come in to your scheduled shift tomorrow? We really need to keep our cost of labor down, thanks for understanding. This is a workplace all about politics. This is a company all about 'favorites,' You can work as hard as you possibly can, sell effectively, and make customers feel welcome and happy. Yet you will consistently get less hours, fewer promotion opportunities, and less recognition than someone who kisses up to the right people at the right times (always). Inscribed into the gates of the Container Store is the phrase "Communication is Leadership," but you would be amazed at what is not communicated. Full time positions are announced and filled in the same breath, leaving hungry employees nothing to do except clap for the outside hire that management considered more fit for the job. Hours change constantly, but you can except the 'favorites' to get consistently more hours, in spite of everything. Sadly, the Container Store's positive attitude is often just skin-deep. Like any company, people complain about customers and co-workers behind closed doors, which creates a very confusing atmosphere to work. They encourage you to 'be yourself,' as long as it is within the strict confines of what they deem appropriate, So really, they want you to be 'who they want you to be,' which is not necessarily yourself. The most pervasive ideal you will hear is the 'man in the desert' selling philosophy. Candidly, this is a re-stating of a much older selling philosophy called Always Be Selling. It's cute at first but quite annoying to be expected to go up to each customer and try to fill their basket with things they don't need, but will help the company's bottom line. You learn about them as a person, only to sell to them as a consumer. It reduces people to numbers on a scoreboard, and whether the score is positive or negative we're cutting back, because winter is always coming. That's my greatest strife with the company: They want us to share this collective hallucination that we're improving people's lives, when we're often just putting our hands in their pockets. Don't get me wrong, there are some products in the store I genuinely think help people out, and I'm happy to sell them. But at lot of the time, I feel like I'm just check-stuffing for the benefit of our faceless stock holders. I'll end it with a story: When I started with the Container Store, I was like a puppy, all excited and energetic and loved. We played together all the time, and there were some great memories. Slowly, as I got older, TCS got more puppies that were younger and cuter, and I slowly got nudged to the side to make room for newer things although I tried my best. When I realized what had happened, they put me outside and all I could do is look in and yelp for attention, which I got rarely and begrudgingly. Now I'm an old dog, looking wistfully at the back gate, thinking of running away to find someone else who will appreciate me. Forgive my sentimentality-- I'm very capable of finding a new job I just feel that this story represents my time at TCS.