The Container Store reviews

Pretty much going in the order in which I realized all of these: -the interview process is insanely lengthy, I had five interviews, I had to write several short essays, I had to pass a drug test... etc. The whole process took forever and was extremely taxing in terms of time, travel time, etc. they're painfully thorough and clearly want to see if you will even make it through the process, but as it turns out once you're hired it's just the beginning... -they are VERY anti-union, a point that quickly comes across in great detail in the new employee handbook. I thought it was weird to drill that in right away, but it didn't really bother me until I realized why they feel that way after starting working there -they make you show up very early before each shift. it is made very clear that you are supposed to be ready to hit the sales floor or wherever 15 minutes before your shift is scheduled to start. In order to be "ready" by their standards, aka wearing a mic/headset/beltpack/in uniform/etc, you need to arrive probably 10-15 minutes before that in order to get parked, get into the break room, put your stuff away, all that. Do the math and that means you are essentially required by management to show up roughly a half hour BEFORE you shift is actually scheduled, but of course you cannot clock in until it is five minutes before you shift is scheduled. It's wage theft and it is essentially illegal. -you have to wear a walkie talkie/mic/headset earpiece thing during your entire shift, and it's like listening to a constant stream of useless comments and questions that don't apply to you, might seem minor but it really gets to your day after day. -The training is ridiculously lengthy and overwhelming. They train you in EVERYTHING EVER and it takes weeks to even get through basic training, full of extremely detailed unnecessary info that you will never remember or ever need, and does nothing except completely terrify you and bore you senseless. -After reading a lot of the comments in other reviews about full time vs part time, I can see what they're all talking about. I got lucky and was an outside hire for a full time role, of which there are clearly very few to be had and it is very difficult to advance into one from part time. I feel like that's completely unfair and I feel a little guilty in my role. I do feel though like they put an insane amount of pressure on their few full time people to be amazing leaders from day one. It's all they've talked to me about basically and it's pretty strange the way they structure the store management in basically making full time sales associates almost like keyholders or team leaders, doing everything from counting the register money to having keys to the store, company email addresses, etc. -You WILL have to clean the bathrooms (thoroughly), or the break room, or some other similarly gross and demeaning chore. No, they don't have any cleaning staff or anything, it's all on the regular retail team, and it sucks. Totally unexpected in such a large store. -Any "meetings" you are forced to attend are basically pointless and they force you to overshare and get into really awkward interactions with coworkers about who you respect and who you value etc -The scheduling/hours in general are terrible, no two days off in a row for full time, 9 hour days are standard and required, unpaid lunch hour, no other breaks at all, early mornings and late nights -No phones on the floor at all, no breaks (even very short) to check or get a drink or eat a snack or anything like that -To wear anything to work other than the two standard issue Container Store short sleeve polos they give you, you have to buy it yourself, kind of unfortunate when the store is usually freezing but you have to spend $25 just to get a container store black fleece when you already own probably 20 or so jackets at home that you can't wear. -Their whole sales strategy is centered around selling Elfa. This is a very key point that drives everything they do and I had no idea of this when I was hired. At the container store the store is about 10% Elfa and 90% everything else. Elfa is the container store's main store brand custom shelving/storage solution product. Every sale is supposed to be an Elfa sale. If someone is looking at a $20 shoe rack you are supposed to eventually talk them into a $2000 custom Elfa closet. However, 90% of the customers only want the other 90% of products in the store and will never want Elfa installed in their home. This makes their whole sales structure completely unrealistic and frustrating because you're trying to make someone spend thousands on a custom closet when all they want is a shoe rack. The reason they do this is that Elfa is where the big money is, and therefore they make a lot off of it, even though relatively few customers buy it. I had no idea of any of this though when I decided to work for them. -My last but most important point to share is this. MY JOB DESCRIPTION HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT I HAVE BEEN FORCED TO DO. I was hired as a sales associate. Instead, I have been using heavy machinery such as electric saws and pneumatic bolt cutters that I can barely lift to cut through metal shelving units with literally next to zero training, I have been forced to work a weekly truck shift starting at 6:30 am including lifting heavy boxes, constant bending and kneeling, stocking shelves until I am dizzy, and more. None of these tasks were in my job description and they are not the exception, they're the norm. I am constantly strained and exhausting from all the hard physical labor, I literally feel like I work in a warehouse. and the whole time you are expected to be happy to be working for such an "amazing" company... In conclusion, I'm not saying don't work at the container store, but be very aware of what you're getting yourself into when you sign on.