Good and bad - Sales Associate Maurices Employee Review

- This company is flat-out ridiculous when it comes to pushing their store credit card. Employees, associates and managers alike, are punished by upper management for not meeting credit card goals, which is about 30 new applications a week (this is impossible to reach, especially in smaller towns with a lot of regular customers.) You can be written up for not reaching your individual credit card goal (three write-ups and you're fired.) - While the company does like to promote from within, this takes a very long time. Also, depending on the size of your store, moving from part-time employment to full-time can be non-existent, and transfering stores is also quite the process and not very time efficient. - The pay is lacking for associates at around $8 - 8.50 an hour and you're only eligible for a raise once a year in the spring/summer; these can be good or bad (they're based on your sales numbers - for a low seller the raise can be nothing to about 10 cents.) Always ask for a quarter more when you're given the job. - The return policy is also ridiculous; the company is only hurting itself here. For example, I had a customer that returned a pair of jeans that she bought more than a YEAR ago, returning them because they "wore out." My manager said I had to do it. There are plenty of fraudulent returns as well, ones without receipts and from other stores, and you can be punished if you're the employee doing that return transaction. - The company's anti-shoplifting policies are also terrible - they basically make it impossible to apprehend shoplifters, and this can make for a stressful work enviroment during busier times. There can also be terrible communication (as was the case for me) between associates and upper management, and also bad communication between store managers and district managers. - While the company has an anti-gossiping policy, this is still a major issue that goes unaddressed (I heard many, many unprofessional comments made by both the store manager and DM) and can encourage cattiness in some situations. Cattiness also ensues if your store has individual sales goals and "games" to get larger sales. - Full timers are expected to make several thousand a week, which can be hard, and even part-time associates are expected to make up to $1200 individually, sometimes even on week days! Hours are drastically cut if sales numbers are not being made; sometimes I'd get cut after two hours of being on my shift. - Our DM would tell our store manager that some of our girls were "sloppy" and "unfashionable" for not wearing all Maurices and not wearing "enough" makeup. - Company policy is against telling customers the store is closed, so you can be there up to two to three hours after closing time. This wasn't as hard for me (single, no kiddos) but one of our girls was a mother of three and this was really hard for her to stay after hours (as late as 11 pm.) The worst part of this is the company then turns around and says you went over on hours so due to being open for customers after closing your hours are then cut the following week. This is contradictory and unfair. - If you are a "positive net producer" your hours are increased, but if you're a "negative net producer" your hours are drastically cut (sometimes down to four hours a week!) and you will be lectured by the managers on what you're doing wrong. My experience with Maurices is that they focus way too much on what you DIDN'T do, what sales you DIDN'T get and are constantly lecturing and punishing their employees. A little deserved praise and positivity would do wonders for employee morale.