store manager

assistant store manager

retail assistant manager

sales associate

seasonal associate

Mastermind Toys

Right after my interview with the manager was completed, she gave me a chance to choose which days I worked and had the option of extending or shortening my hours on the day of. Since this was a seasonal job, I was only kept for the week leading up to Christmas, at which time I enjoyed the quick pace of the environment as it motivated me to work more efficiently. I was stationed mainly in the gift-wrapping, however I also had the opportunity to stock and organize products, assist customers who were in search of something in particular, and answer phone calls. I enjoyed the little benefits, such as being able to choose our hours and getting free pizza on the weekends that I was scheduled to work. Additionally, I enjoyed being around my coworkers who were all very welcoming and helpful, especially on the first day when I had limited time to get trained for gift-wrapping. I learned from this brief experience at mastermind toys how difficult it is to find specific products that customers are looking for, so it really is important to take the time to familiarize yourself with the surroundings and where everything is located. I appreciated the experience I received in communicating with customers in a friendly and approachable manner, which is something that I used to struggle with but now don't. I believe that the prior statement, in addition to getting to know the people I worked with were the most enjoyable parts of the job. 

I was not told on my first day, how to to log in my hours. That was probably the only issue I had, as I went the entire week, not knowing how to log in and out before and after my shifts. Luckily, the manager was patient and helpful, in ensuring that my hours were logged correctly in order for me to receive my full pay. 

Overall though, I am happy to say that this job has further influenced my abilities as an efficient individual, as well as a team player. It made me value the time and effort that other employees invest in order to satisfy a fellow customer's wishes.

This place was great at first, and I loved how lenient they were with schedules. However, things got worse fast. Mastermind is filthy, if you work there. We have a stupid sanitized water system that doesn't work to clean everything - meaning no lysol and no windex. We can't clean the cash screens at all and they took our Purell too! So our hands are always filthy. I always leave work with tingling lips because I tend to touch my face a lot. I feel so disgusting after work I have to take a shower immediately. A year into working there we were also suddenly reminded that we have a dress code besides aprons and nametags. Apparently shoulders and armpits are disruptive and forbidden in a place where 5 year olds run around in spaghetti straps. So they'd rather see my sweat stains on my shirt? I would be more okay with this if management told me on day 1, but I'd been wearing strappies and muscle shirts for a full year before they pressed down on this rule. Management  turned things upside-down at the store I worked in. They don't inform you about the things you need to know when you need to know them, and then they get frustrayed when you make a mistake because you weren't informed. They seem to care more about their inventory, bothering people to sign up for e-mails, and selling their book and toy of the week, rather than good customer service - helping the customers over anything else and helping find exactly what they are looking for. Aprons must always be worn with nametags, yet the managers now tell us we must take off our aprons if we are doing inventory. And if a customer still recognizes us and asks for help? Or if cash is swarmed? We'll apparently get in trouble if we stop inventory to help customers. Meanwhile, even when the floor is busy, the managers hide out in the back. This is not how things should be run and I was glaf to be leaving, along with 80% of the other staff that I worked with from day 1.

During my short time, the co workers were nice.

 Though Management would lack time for employees, be very rude and on multiple occasions employees cried. While working for Mastermind, there was basically no training or even any sit downs with Management. Every interaction with them was very cold and direct with lack of care or concern as they only cared about themselves. There would be times that they would leave early without telling anyone or have other workers talk instead of their bidding. So when you consider if you want to work for a wholesome Canadian company, just remember that those running this specific store may not give you the time of day or treat you like a actual person or co worker. While working, the company filed for CAA and during my entire time basically there was no perks for working there or discounts.

I also had many discussions with my fellow senior co workers and to my knowledge early on and midway, they were not happy with the environment and most likely here just for a paycheck. Also none to mention that asking for a break felt like a lot sometimes.

I hope someone with power can see this because this store sells some great items but desperately this location needs a culture change from the Management position.


I worked for Mastermind Toys for 4 years, I really enjoyed my job and all the toys and staff. This company does help you a lot if you want to advance and become shift lead or manager. I believe with the work that is involved and the negative comments you have to take from customers that the hourly wage should be higher than minimum wage. 

Management is good with training and showing staff the right way to do things, at times they can be very condescending and a bit rude but other wise very helpful. I recommend this job mostly for students and a first job place not as a lasting career as they don't offer benefits and the pay isn't much of an increase when you move up to a shift lead to deal with nasty customers and the responsibility that go with that title.

This was my first toy related career but I have noticed that customers are meaner and nastier when it comes to a toy for there kids, sad cause usually the kids are very laid back compared to there parents. I would say that the stress of negative customers really was hard to deal with for me and part of the reason I left, its not just at Christmas but year round. 

The fact to that after Christmas you are lucky if you even get one shift a week, which is very hard when this is your only source of income.

A day at mastermind toys consisted of majority of customer interactions and constant maintenance and reorganizing of the stock shelves by adjusting the products to be visually appealing to customers. There was always a high regard for assuring that certain products were placed strategically around the store to appeal to customers as they walked in. The management team were a group of hard working individuals that showed they cared about their qualiy of work when it came to interactions with customers and employees. However, work became more mentally bearing than normal when the management team would bring their personal lives into the workplace, making it difficult to deal with internal conflict and  customer service at the same time. The most enjoyable part of the job was the fact that almost all the employees were easygoing and weren't too serious when it camqe to work. Being that we were a toy store, we would constantly see parents looking for gifts for their kids or see children tagging along with their parents. It makes it so much easierand enjoyable when you have coworkers that share the same excitement and attitude that you want to portray to the customers and the attitude the customers are expecting  from Employees who work at a toy store.

Mastermind Toys is a great place for a first job, because they hire ages 16+, and as long as you love toys and are somewhat responsible they'll probably hire you. You get paid pretty much the same as every other sales associate even if they've worked there longer than you! They're also pretty flexible for hours as long as you don't expect to work a lot. Hours get very slim during certain times of the year.

Work environment is great and fun, you get to see new toys and product come in along with the new generation of children and see what they're into. 

Management is pretty decent, but be ready for them to expect a lot from you if you're a hard worker. Don't forget to expect customer complaints and situations, and when you follow policy, you get to watch as management deals with the situation by giving them what they want and allow you to be treated poorly.

Don't expect a high chance of moving up in the company either, because the positions show up only every once in a while and even if you're good they'll probably pick someone else!

Unfortunately the company does nothing for employee loyalty, if you've worked there for years you still get paid min wage as an associate. 

If you live at home and don't have bills to pay, this is the job for you. It's the only way you'll profit.

Pre-pandemic, Mastermind was an amazing place to work. Post-pandemic, like many places, things changed and not for the better. The culture of consumer attitudes changed drastically, meaning that every customer feels that they are the most important person in the world and that they are entitled to every thing ever. The customer service module changed to us having to bow down to every person lest they heaven-forbid call the customer service line and complain. Mastermind was trying to recover from a huge blow of having to shut down over sixty stores across the country during lockdowns, and made the poor choice of hiring a very under qualified individual to become CEO. Understandably, they needed to do what they could to recover all the lost income, however, they made very poor decisions, their marketing and buying teams were lacking, and it all trickled down to the poor lowest of the lows, the sales associates. All of us poor buggers were left to deal with cutbacks in hours, being defecated on by customers daily, and the pressures of the managers to push the sales of useless fecal matter.

My coworkers were very friendly and inviting, and I very much enjoyed recommending gifts and talking with customers, but we were encouraged to get as many upsells and sign ups as we could and had to keep track of our numbers. The only times we were praised were when we hit a certain number of sales, not if we gave good customer service. I couldn't help but feel like this company was trying to squeeze their customers of all the money that they could, and we, the "sales associates" were the ones responsible to ensure that.

The 30% discount was nice, but the focus on making extra sales really was not something that motivated me to do a better job. I only felt like I was tricking people into buying the overstocked garbage (which is true). 

Also the manager seemed like he didn't trust me and was generally an unpleasant person, but that unfortunately is not unique to this company or store.

- HR was constantly throwing lengthy tasks onto stores in very short notice.
- Constantly cutting or adding hours, so very unsteady schedule.
- Not enough employees due to them just not wanting to pay more people, started working and there were 4-5 supervisors, finished with only 2.
- Constant pressure to hit difficult percentages, you had to sell a set amount of random items at checkout and sign up a fixed percentage of customers up for their perks program, or else your numbers would flunk and your hours could be cut to only 4 hours a week.
- The thing that was most emphasized in the job was selling checkout offers to customers and signing them up for perks. Daily pressure to be on the top percentage.
- Personally, my manager was fantastic and good days were amazing. Lots of team bonding outside of work. But the HR was just nasty. They also got rid of assistant managers and replaced them with "store leads" which do the same work, except without benefits or salary.

Honestly once upon a time this place was amazing, but between the pandemic and the online pressures they didn't make the best choices for future success.
Play HQ (home office) was happy to glad along stores, but shared very little when the company went into free fall.
Not a competitive employer and often home officers used pressure or bully tactics to avoid tough conversations about incidents that were affecting store employees.
Overall anyone above or outside of stores was hugely out of touch with the day to day needs and struggles of the business.
Questions often went unanswered and conference calls became deserts of tense silence where employees were told they 'could ask anything's but we're often snapped at when questions were asked.
Answers were always coming 'later' and frequently never came or when they did come they were 'non negotiable' and the folks delivering the info were 'just the messengers.'
Some recently promoted DMs we're under qualified and had no official policies and procedures to back them up.
Just a wildly devolving shell of a business that was once so great.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Store manager 4 salaries reported	$18.77 per hour
Assistant store manager 3 salaries reported	$43,243 per year
Retail assistant manager 8 salaries reported	$17.60 per hour
Sales associate 4 salaries reported	$16.81 per hour
Seasonal associate 6 salaries reported	$17.03 per hour

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