sales associate

associé aux ventes

retail store supervisor

retail sales associate

cleaner

Forever 21

It's a really fun place to work at if most of the associates are around the same age group as you or you generally just enjoy their company. However, some managers have poor essential skills when conducting their employees and tend to miscommunicate. For starters, most of the racks are stuffed to the point where customers cannot even shop and the employees are yet to blame if their section is messy. Where I worked in the last couple months there, I was constantly given 0 hours per week, tried to pick up shifts but the manager would disapprove with the reason being, "I don't do my job right". Some of them think you're being lazy when you're the most productive person on the floor that day which leads to deep discouragement and amotivation. Some of the managers would also just walk around the store 'supervising' when they are just either bored or try to catch someone for talking to a fellow coworker. There is a difference between criticism and straight insults, there have also been accounts of discrimination, misjudgment of character, and a sense of very high superiority complex from some managers when it's simply a retail store, and not a parliament house. Most of the time, they have a playlist of about 20 songs that are on constant repeat throughout the day, week, month and year, which could potentially make someone question their purpose in entirety in that store as it can really dig deep into your nerves. With a management and a music playlist like this, customers are not even the problem and the only thing that keeps you sane are if you like your coworkers and are all or most (because some managers show favouritism) experiencing the same thing. I've been through two batches of management and I can definitely say that for a successful team, you need a management that don't come off malicious and have very honest and genuine intent for your success. Don't get me wrong though, it is definitely an experience. It's a good place to start working on your skills in retail, one just needs a little more will power and regular practice of meditation to handle the job, especially in that location. Sometimes it could even be a safe haven for you if you really enjoy the company of your coworkers and relatable managers (a huge shoutout to them because they quit due to the same circumstances).This is only one location however, this is not forwarded to any other location but the one I worked at.

You come in for work, say you work 5- 11 (Closing) at 5:05 ish the available manager will tell you the target or goal of the day (unrealistic goals), promotions going on in the store, what they want to see from you, e.g. CUSTOMER SERVICE and then they will put you in the section you'll be working in. Since you are working closing shift, most likely you'll have a lot of go-backs from the fitting room and cash, so you won't even have to time to maintain your section as much because of all the clothes needed to go back that the people working earlier shifts didn't do properly. At my location the co-workers are nice... a lot of thefts though, like stealing peoples $800+ jackets, jewelry from the store, peoples lunch in the fridge, etc. There are lockers but whats the point of putting your stuff in a locker without a lock? Some employees are dumb and set themselves up for theft of their things. The management at my location.... no words! Right now since "business is slow" employees are getting one to no shifts for WEEKS! It's always the same people getting actual shifts every week which is annoying! People are in university, living on their own, paying bills and need the money but F21 isn't giving those people shifts no matter how much times they change their availability or ask the manager straight in their face. I'm currently looking for another job because F21 is not cutting it. The most enjoyable part of the day is honestly going on break and going home, and I speak for the rest of Yorkdale's F21 staff. It's a new store with 3 floors going downstairs... that's their number one mistake, making it 3 floors with escalators that are not working and a slow elevator. One day it's like the Sahara Desert in the store and the next it's like Antarctica... -.- Customers are so overwhelmed by the clothes, the temperatures of store, and escalators that don't work that they don't even bother coming inside. Hardest part of the job is running up and down the stairs and dealing with not getting shifts for weeks.

Like any retail stores, there are going to be unpleasant customers, you're going to love your co-workers, and management will take advantage of you if you let them. 

I started as an associate and this was my first job so I was eager to impress which management liked. So I was promoted within 6 months and then again after 3 months. Then we got a new manager and business was less busy so they started giving associate  0-1 shift a week or you can get up to 4 shifts a week, if the managers likes you. Shifts are 4 hours long.  Luckily for me I was full-time so I got my hours 40 hours a week. But once new management came in they started hiring their incompetent friends who couldn't finish their work within their given hours so they took away my hours to give to them. And because I finish early I didn't care at first since I wanted to see the store succeed. But once we got into the busier season I need my hours back but by then it was too late. I fell behind and the whole store fell behind trying to help out the manager's friend. The friend was eventually fired but the damage was done. the district decided to hire a whole new team or something because they keep overlooking longtime staffs for promotion which, of course, made people mad so they left. I stayed for a year after new management but after being overlooked for promotion twice and finding out I was grossly underpaid for my position, I left. The promotion didn't bother me as much as finding out I was being under paid. But I should have known since when I asked for a job description they keep telling me they'll get it to me later.

Lesson learned, value yourself and know your rights.

Working at forever 21 involves a lot of teamwork because it is a big store and requires a lot of work to maintain its cleanliness and look of the store. The management is okay but could be a lot better, managers do communicate with each other but always have different ideas which tends to clash. The newer employees have not been trained properly because the managers have other employees train the new ones, and the the employees training the new workers have not been trained properly themselves. The hardest part of the job is maintaining the store throughout the day and especially closing. I respect the managers because of all the hard work they go through every night to keep the store in tip top shape for the next business day.If you don't have a good team working at night you will be looking at a long night and a stressful one at that.The only reason i have been there for so long is because of the people i work with. The people who i work with are very fun and very efficient at what they do. I would say the people you work with is the most enjoyable part of the day and the fact you're always doing something different everyday and the work environment is fast paced.All in all it is a retail job none the less,if you make friends and work efficiently you will definitely enjoy the job. If you really need a job, bring a resume and drop by. This is not a long term job! Keep in mind when you work here that it is temporary and unless you're looking to move up the ladder, do not stay as a sales associate.

Days at Forever XXI can vary from simply keeping on top of cleanliness and customer service to more in-depth tasks such as growing and developing the staff, making decisions on what will impact sales and how to take the business into the future.

I've learned to plan my days more effectively instead of being in the moment and to manage my time more effectively through delegating tasks and time budgeting.

My management team have grown alongside me and our communication is very open and honest. We have learned to utilize each others strengths and push each other to learn and adapt to a variety of situations.

I thoroughly enjoy the recruitment process and am personally responsible for the orientation of all staff members. I always teach them that the management team would never ask them to do something that we have not done ourselves.

The most difficult part of the job, I feel, is the time budgeting. I am what you would call the go-to person for all questions, issues and needs such as customer issues, staff inquiries and tech problems. This can make time budgeting difficult as I have to be realistic about these small queries taking time out of completing a project.

The most enjoyable part of my job is seeing my staff succeed alongside me. I push them in a positive manner to achieve all they can with the tools they are given. I work hard so they can see that if they work hard too, they can feel the satisfaction I feel when a project is complete or when they achieve their personal growth goals.

Pretty late but from the looks of it seems nothing much has changed operating wise.Management was sketchy from the beginning of the store opening, they end up leaving it was ridiculous they were notorious flirts too. These 2 males weren't professionally organized & their attitude was horrible either condescending or just refusing to care for their employee's well being. They threatened to take away our break room because other's refused to keep it neat & which is far too tiny to accommodate might I add. Constantly harassing us about meeting the sale target (how would F21 thrive in a high end mall?),clocking in & out for lunch system wasted time & generally not a positive environment. They don't rotate what section you work in also the bothersome bag checks. The hardest part was having to  staying till 11 to "clean up" the store but the most enjoyable was helping the customers. I wasn't granted the hours I asked for despite my solid performance as an employee forcing me to quit & when I was sick the main manager laughed in my face when I asked to leave. Excluding my experience here the Bramlea location is very nice but I no longer support this company; in addition to their overly stocked cheap merchandise the fitting rooms could also be bigger to reduce the line ups but in all honestly if they can't drastically change their ways shouldn't be allowed to stay in business!

Let me start of by saying this review is for my store only, and i can see why people enjoy this job. Let me first talk about the way the managers treat the sales associates. The will talk to us like trash, always put us down. I've been constantly insulted by my managers, and i have heard them talking about sA in the back room. One time i called my manager out on it and she told me thats not what they were talking about. I was appalled. The management calls us 'replaceable' and 'useless' when ive never seen any harder workers that the f21 girls. We work out butts off to have all the go backs under control, and to help customers. The fits at my store are so terrible to work in. They are the worst place to be on a busy day because there is no help for you what so ever. The managemtient doesn't do their figure 8's so we have constant customers comming into fits asking for us to do things for them. Another thing is cutting hours. I under stand places need to do this, but when it's a game of favorites... its a different story. If youre not favored, cutting will not be fair. They will cut 1 girls whole shift, and some other girls shifts in half, but some girls never get cut. It's totally unfair, like why not cut everyones shifts by a few hours.. Minus all these problems the sA's are wonderful, and everyone is nice. One last thing is when we have a lot stolen from us at one time, they blame everyone, and i menan call you out infront of customers. The management at f21 sucks.. Very unproffesional. I would really think twice before getting a job here.

This is by far the worst retail job I have ever had. They hire so many people but only schedule a few people at a time. Closing is the worst because during the day there are hardly any employees working so the store becomes a disaster so when you come in at 6 for s closing shift the store is a nightmare because it hasn't been cleaned at all and no go backs have been done. They make you stay way past your scheduled hours when closing and show no appreciation for you doing so. 

I only worked here for about 6 months and that was too long. In my 6 months I had 2 different store managers and saw 15-20 people quit. The management is horrible. The new store manager did absolutely nothing yet demanded so much from us. One night it was 11:30 (way past our supposed 10 pm scheduled time) and the store was still very messy and instead of helping us clean she stood behind the cash with her purse ready to go and played on her phone the entire time while we worked so hard and didn't end up leaving until after midnight. She didn't even say thank you. 

The store was so messy it was nearly impossible to actually provide good customer service. There is no incentive to work hard here as you only get a measly 10% discount and no one ever tells you that your work is appreciated. 

I could not be happier to have gotten a new job and quit f21. I would not recommend working here to anyone it is a horrible company.

I absolutely love this job - the management team is great and super understanding: they follow your availability and allowed me to work 0 hours some weeks when I needed (for school), or to work "full time" hours others. Super kind and all the coworkers are great, we have fun together and I personally love closing shifts just for the conversations and banter. Was initially afraid of the job as there were so many negative reviews - but I'm sure ones experience is largely based on management. A simple look at my day:

- clock in, have a 5 minute meeting with coworkers & managers
- "clean" (fold, fix displays, etc) & greet customers
- hand customers bags, go around making sure everyones doing alright
- do "go backs" (clearing stuff from the fitting room)

For me, the hardest part of the job has been, for lack of a better word, "pushing" sales on customers - i.e bringing them clothing suggestions without them asking, or going up to them when they clearly don't want you to. One thing you have to prepare for is having LOTS of customers flat out ignore or reject you. Then again, I think that's based on personality - and I'm quite shy. 

All in all, I love it here, and am only temporarily leaving while I'm away for university. 

My pay also went from $11.25 to $11.55 within a few months of working there, and wages are expected to rise again in October (per new laws, I believe).

MANAGEMENT IS HORRIBLE. The store manager is a nightmare. She does not respects employees at all. She picks her favorites and does not acknowledge other employees at all. She will cancel your shifts and not tell you, so you will show up for your shift and someone will tell you that you are not working. Horrible communication between managers. She truly does not know how to run a store. She will tell you that you have a day off, and then schedule you the day she said you will get off, and leave you to get the shift covered when it is clearly her mistake.I think she does not care about her employee's feelings. If you try to express your concerns about the way she runs things she threatens to fire you or will fire you. Terrible experience here. She does not take responsibility for her actions. This job caused me so much emotional distress. I handed in me 2 WEEK notice, and they terminated me the next day, when I clearly said my resignation is not until 2 weeks. When I called in to ask about this, my calls were ignored and the store manager hung up on me. Most unprofessional manager I have ever met. When I went into the store AS A CUSTOMER, I asked to speak to one of the employees standing next to her. She said No I could not speak to her for no reason. She has made this job very frustrating and does not acknowledge what she does.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Sales associate 1 salary reported	$21.53 per hour
Associé aux ventes 1 salary reported	$16.30 per hour
Retail store supervisor 1 salary reported	$21.00 per hour
Retail sales associate 1 salary reported	$21.00 per hour
Cleaner 1 salary reported	$23.75 per hour

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