Payless ShoeSource

A typical day at work includes helping customers, keeping the store tidy and the shoes looking nice, filling up shelves, tagging boxes and putting out shipment. Usually you work with one or two other people. The work day depends on who you are working with. It can be a fun, productive day, or it can be an "I just want to go home" day. But like most things, you do get what you put in.

I have learned a lot about fashion and about shoes (of course) in this job. I've learned how to persuade customers, tricks of the trade on selling, patience (like in any retail job) and how to work both alone and in a team. 

Management can be good or bad depending on who you have as a manager, but I'll be blunt and say that it can be a mess. Hours aren't great and I have found that the higher ups (Higher up than manager/Assistant manager) do not care about the associates. Sales associates get no benefits and no sympathy so if you're looking for a job with good security do not take this one. If you want overtime you won't get it. You want stat pay? Better work the previous bunch of  weeks. Specifically the day that stat lands on. (ex. thanksgiving on a monday? You have to had worked the last bunch of mondays in a row to get the pay for that if you work that stat. And good luck with that.)

Hardest part of the job is putting up with awful customers or awful co workers/bosses. I have been lucky to work with an awesome team but of course every now and then the... not awesome person will come in. 
Most enjoyable part goes with this. Working with your team can be a lot of fun. So don't get too discouraged at first. Give it a chance!

A typical day at Payless consists of vamping - which is making sure the stock that people buy is in the right place, looking neat and tidy - cleaning, dusting, customer service, using communication skills, using the cash, making calls to customers or answering the phone, and basically having fun. I've never had a job that was more enjoyable than Payless. 

I learned how things work in a huge chain store such as this one, where shipments don't always come in even though you need them, and sometimes when you get them, it isn't what the store needs. I learned that there are different words for the same jobs in different companies - for example, vamping is called zoning in Walmart. And I also learned that co-workers are everything when it comes to having an enjoyable work place.

Management was amazing here, and you could get no better. They made sure everything was suitable for you as well as the store, and always took into consideration any obstacles that you needed to overcome. 

Co-workers were the absolute best. Like I said above, they are everything when it comes to an enjoyable work place. Being able to connect and become friends with your co-workers is a great feeling.

The hardest part of the job is probably not being able to find what a customer wants. You feel disappointed in yourself because you weren't able to complete your job. 

The most enjoyable part of the job is making the sale and getting the points up for the store, but also knowing you did your job extremely well.

If you're looking for a full-time job, you won't get a true one at this company unless you work at a high volume store. Minimum hours for full-time is 32. 

Management varies by store, some are good, some like to play by their own rules. 

If you're a lower volume store you get less hours, which makes it difficult to balance customers and tasks sometimes. Especially when they want both to be perfectly done.

One of the hardest parts of the job is trying to meet sales goals when the traffic in your location is lower then normal and you get constant reminders that you need to be on top off everyone, to the point of being one of those "annoying pushy sales people". There is also minimal security in stores, so they rely on the staff to be watching everyone which isn't always the easiest thing to do.

When you have a good team around you, the job can be enjoyable. 

I've learned that just because someone tells you, you can't/shouldn't do something it doesn't mean they are right. There is always someone else you can talk to.

A typical day at work could be described in two ways. Either it was a shipment day or a regular day, a shipment day would entail opening shipment and putting out on the sales floor then breaking down shipment boxes. A non shipment day would mean doing household chores such as fixing the racks or displays or reorganizing jewelry and handbag fixtures. However, whatever type of day it was we would always always have to focus on customers and sales. Customer satisfaction was always our number one priority. I worked at two different locations and both, luckily, had the most amazing associates. My coworkers were always kind and helpful. I absolutely adored them all. The hardest part of the job, as with any job I would assume, was definitely the hard headed customers. However, I quickly learned how to appease them while still being firm on our company policy. One thing Payless has taught me was to be very patient and quick on my feet to come up with solutions.

After working for this company in various roles in many different stores I would tell perspective employees to look elsewhere for work.   After half of our store was forced to relinquish our fulltime position or be fired, we were then treated as though we were useless, worthless and easily replaceable. Even though all of us at this particular location were very long standing staff members, it appears that higher management would much rather train new-comers than keep and advance "senior" employees.  
Threats made towards employees or an assault situation are not taken seriously by head office. Most of the days are spent alone in a free-standing store[meaning not in mall] and at one point (in an effort to cut hours even more) district managers suggested closing the stores with 1 employee.  If our manager had been stupid enough to impliment this it would have left us alone and defenceless openly handling cash after sundown.  Employee safety and security is of VERY low importance!

I have been working at Payless for four years. For a retail store, it has had very little turnover of it's employees. The manager has been working at the company for years and is very fair in assigning shifts, working around schedules and resolving in-store conflicts. I have been able to improve my confidence by learning how to approach customers, improve my communication skills and develop my inter-professional skills. I work with a great team who have been working at the store a while and are well versed in their jobs. My typical day at work would include working with customers, dealing with transactions, cleaning the store, handling paperwork, bringing the deposit to the bank and closing the store. The hardest part of the job is dealing with frustrated customers, however conflicts are resolved easily through the stores policy and are supported by our manager. The most enjoyable part is the team I work with who are excellent workers and help me become a better employee.

When I first started working at Payless Shoesource, I enjoyed it. I had a lot of good training hours and a lot of good trainers. A typical day at work would be greeting customers, telling them about all the deals and to help them find a pair of shoes that best suites them and what they want. 
I love working with customers, but the people that I had worked with at the beginning all left, and new management came in. 
After a couple months, my shifts started getting short and newer employees were starting to work more often then I was. 
I looked into it and apparently there was not anything wrong with my work ethic, or anything about me at work. 
I am in school right now, and I believe thats why they have not been scheduling me. 
I need to find a job that offers me part-time hours and actually follows up on their promises made to me about hours during the week. 
They also did not follow along with my availability sheet.

Not the greatest place I have worked at.

A typical day at work consists of running whatever shipment has been left over from previous days, ensuring the store remains neat and tidy, and servicing all customers along with any tasks the manager has requested to be done. Tasks such as promo tagging, sale change set up, rack representation, and a weekly "huddle". The most enjoyable part of the job is the people I work with. The store associates are extremely friendly and easy to get along with. The hardest part of the job is trying to keep up with everything the manager and assistant manager expect from us. The amount of work that is expected to be done by associates each shift while maintaining the store numbers and servicing all customers is nearly impossible. The management is constantly changing and extremely inconsistent. In the past year alone our store has had 6 different managers/assistant managers. The constant change adds stress and pressure on the associates to adjust to a new style of management.

Working at Payless has been a wonderful experience for me. I learned what it was like to work retail and gained sales experience. My day would consist of communicating with customers with different needs and I would cater to their needs with the best of my ability. My co-workers were amazing, outgoing and very friendly with one another. We were able to exchange shifts when needed, and would send each other work schedules so we all knew our timings for the week. The most enjoyable part of job was getting together with managers after closing, to look at our sales of the day and being recognized for doing a great job after a long days shift. The hardest part of the job was dealing with customers who were not able to find what they were looking for. Although, I would always do my best to find alternatives for them which resulted in a more positive outcome.

I've enjoyed working here; it's not my dream job but it's been pleasant for what it's worth. My coworkers and I get along and my managers have been agreeable and understanding. There can be some inconsistency and lack of communication among management but it hasn't been a hinderance to our work ethic or routine for the most part. I don't exactly agree with the company's security and loss prevention protocol either; it is very easy for customers to walk out with our products undetected and shoplifting is inevitable, even with multiple people on the floor. Like every job in the service industry you'll run into some pretty lousy customers, but every now and then you'll find yourself working with some folks who are an absolute delight to be serving. There is almost no existing toxicity in our work environment and I haven't felt the desire to resign, which I find in and of itself to be a blessing.

Working at Payless ShoeSource: company overview and reviews

Payless ShoeSource

Payless ShoeSource ratings

Salary satisfaction

Job seeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected