technical support

salesperson

Universal Store

I was offered the job as I was a regular customer and at the time I was so excited. I loved all the girls in the store (there was not one male hired at the time ??) interview process was super easy but I knew everyone and shopped there a lot, my previous job was a store straight across from them so they were able to see how I work from that. 
Fast forward a few months to when I finally got my first shift, only took about 2 months to get my referrals done and for me to get my first shifts. I was screamed at during training and anytime I had asked a question to confirm I was doing it correctly I was again yelled at in front of customers. That manager has now left (I’ve been at universal for just under a year now and I’m on my third manager, there’s only 2 girls left from the team that I was hired with plus another two who were hired at the same time as me) 
Current manager loves to say rosters are performance based but that’s definitely not true, it’s personal preference and I’m not the only one who feels the same. 
My store is quite small and we don’t need too many casuals (currently have 8 and we are fighting for shifts as it is. Management has decided to hire 7 new comers (to my knowledge) and now I’m not making enough for fuel to even get to my job! 
Would definitely not recommend working here unless you enjoy being disrespected! 

The management team were slack with shifts and gave very limited hours of work. Despite being a Christmas Casual, I was barely sent any rosters and were usually forced to contact my manager asking when my shifts were scheduled for in which I would then be expected to work on roster which consisted of being contacted the day before shifts letting me know that I would be working. During these shifts I was expected to know what KPI's were *in detail* despite it being my first place of employment and them being fully aware that I had no prior experience in retail. Overall the job was poorly managed and hard to plan personal activities around, as well as draining from being forced to pester customers with sounding desperate and over-encouraging them to buy clothes. The only thing I gained was a few nice clothes with the generous staff discount. 

typically the day you start off for finding out what the budget is for the day and then you stress for the entire day because you haven’t made budget because it is sometimes impossible for you to make that budget because you aren’t in a busy area, you’ll them get calls from management, telling you to make more money even though again, it’s impossible, you get yelled at, and when you do make a sale other people will take the credit for you and you get no compensation, 

Management only care about making as much money as they can. The company do not respect nor care for their customers or employees. Especially casuals. 
If it was a quiet day and store was not busy its the casuals fault. 
If a customer only came to browse and you failed to pressure them into buying two items then you're in trouble. 
I found in my particular store my manager was extremely racist and would often tell me to 'keep a close eye' on any dark skinned shoppers.
Shifts were inconsistent and would depend on your ability to pressure pre teens into buying trash. If you were lucky enough to be rostered on you will be notified only a day or two before.. 
Would not recommend.

The management do not take mental health seriously. I was told to automatically fix my complex ptsd before they would give me any more shifts post covid... they send you home if your not getting enough sales, and this means even if there is 0 customer traffic, if your not performing they shame you infront of everyone. If your considered "good" at your job, they will take you for granted. They will make you e.g sign off at 6 and stay back unpaid till 8. I missed multiple appointments and gigs because of this. If you didn't stay back you were shunned and shifts were taken from you half an hour before you started. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working within such a well organised team, the support from co-workers and the overall teamwork

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Managing the team to divide the work evenly to produce the most efficiency possible 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment at Universal is bubbly, social and a great experience

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Serve customers, finding product orders, organisation and cleaning

Universal Store was a great place to learn and develop interpersonal skills with customers and members inside the store. It was my first official job I've received and I learned a lot going into the retail industry. The only downside of the job was that it was hard to fit in the expectations of the overall store as there is only one style and goes up to a certain size. A few of the members were being extremely fake and rude at some moments but I do not regret working there and getting to know the Ins and Outs of Universal Store. Overall good experience :)

My 2+ year long career at Universal was initially enjoyable, this feeling was fairly quickly overridden with negativity, staff on staff torment and the main focus diverting from fun, enjoyment and teamwork to statistics and financial positioning. I was reprimanded and lost all of my hours when I had a major personal [mental health] concern which was the last straw. The management throughout the company's entirety simmers down to biased manager views and often unethical expectations. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
the 40% discount, quite literally nothing else

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
everything. this job environment is always stressful, especially when nobody wants to help you and your hours are “performance based”. hours are cut without anybody talking to you about your performance or how you can improve, as well as the fact they keep hiring new staff while current employees barely get to work anyway. this company holds a toxic  and unprofessional work culture.

The company is pretty good in general, pay is really good, no job security as no part time, can go from 15 hours to 4 hours each week. The work load is pretty manageable, and the clothing is nice. Employees very poorly treated by higher authority however. No reward for commitment, and even as a casual if you ask for one day off they'll cut you down to 3 hours that week as "you need to be available full time". New casuals will get more hours than you straight away too.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Technical support 2 salaries reported	$82,500 per year
Salesperson 1 salary reported	$52,000 per year

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