delivery driver

retail sales associate

retail experience supervisor

gérant de commerce de détail

educator

Fire & Flower Inc

I used to love my job. The pay wasn't great (a bit over minimum wage) and the hours are far from consistent or enough to live off of, but for a part time gig it wasn't bad. I learned a lot about cannabis and really cool products that I wouldn't have had a clue about otherwise. 

Management was all over the place. Trying to schedule my shifts around my other two jobs was a massive headache. They (and by they I mean managers and above) don't want their employees to have other jobs but they won't pay you enough to only have one job. Not great but what can you do. The upside was the sales floor people, meeting likeminded cool individuals was nice and not something I've found in other gigs.

As sweet as the gig was in the beginning it quickly became a nightmare. I was always behind and always being told I could do a little better, sell a little more. No matter how much I sold or did there was no incentive to actually do better because raises were off the table. The guys showing up late and doing half as much work get paid the same and are given the same hours as the people who work the hardest. I didn't feel appreciated and it wore on me.

At first Fire & Flower pushes "values" that make you feel like you're a part of something, but the company doesn't practice them. It's empty words. You might see lingo like "FIRE" used by the company which references these and is a giant red flag. They repeat and push these corporate branded "values" so often that you start to forget what you're own values are. Truly its almost like a religion the way the psychological manipulation gets to you. 

Over two years I spent countless hours learning about strains and accessories, doing all extra training, showing up early and staying late, volunteering for inventory, encouraging my friends to shop and apply at Fire & Flower. Then the way I was let go left me in tears. After being talked down to by management constantly and completely ignored by district managers and above when I brought issues up, I was fired with no notice because they "didn't need me any more," exact words. I curled up on my bed over how it was my fault for days, but now I know better and I know that I didn't do anything wrong and it was silly to get so worked up over a part time gig. That left me to wonder why I was so worked up.

Looking back I see now that the way I always felt after coming home from the shop every day wasn't healthy. The "values" "culture" and constant pressure about things that were totally out of my control was not worth the mediocre pay and I can't believe I put myself through it for that. It truly feels like I've left a cult.

Was totally mislead during the interview process with big talk about bonuses and opportunity to lure us in.  Never saw a sign of any of that.  Was given the impression the company was far more stable than it was internally.  Company was constantly changing hours for the stores, policies and procedures. Many decisions made no sense whatsoever.

Leadership was lacking and unapproachable.  They acted like they were better than everyone and could never speak to anyone and was told, "sorry, that's not in your pay grade" and given the impression that senior leaders were not accessible or approachable.  My ideas were often stolen and credit taken by leadership as I was not allowed to reach above my direct district manager. 

Handling of the Covid-19 epidemic was confusing.  Formal protocols issued by the company about accepting cash stated we were to not take cash, but mid-range district leadership verbally stating we should ignore that formal directive and take cash anyways to improve sales potential.  They were unwilling to put that in writing when they got push back from retail store staff on the front lines.  Decisions about retail front line exposure to Covid-19 being made by people working safely from home.

Like most legal cannabis retailers, they didn't seem to understand how to compete against the black market, with pricing through the roof in the chase for profitability.  Store staff had no input into anything, were just told what to do.  Difficult to feel you are part of anything or have any input.

Would give a 4 on a scale of 10 for leadership, support and guidance for the role.  TBH, with Covid-19 changing the face of retail, I would be surprised if they survive in their current state in the end.  They have already had to close 9 stores, mine being one of them.  Glad to be free of this environment!!

For some reason (money) they expect to run their entire company off the backs of part timers. Benefits are only available to full time workers, and each store has MAYBE two full timers. The rest are part time, including a huge chunk of their management team. Team Leads get paid a dollar more than cannistas, to do all of the same work, while also being pseudo managers in the absence of their heavily overworked GMs. Management will often lie to the team to cover up their true intentions and push employees out because getting fired here is actually rather difficult. The stewardship team is also corrupt and nothing you report is kept confidential. There's no work-life balance and your schedules are forever inconsistent. Management has NO scheduling experience and it shows. Due to this, there's also a High turnover rate. When people quit, the team gets overworked to cover the open shifts, but somehow you still never seen full time benefits when working full time hours while they find replacements. I've been working full time for the past 2+ months due to short staffing, but when I asked for benefits I was reminded that this is temporary and I'm a part time employee. They also filled the full time position for the same job that I've been doing, with someone else. Apparently I'm only good enough for full time as a lead while they find a full time lead. Funny how that works.

They're super accepting of all kinds of and encourage neuro-diversity acceptance too, which is great. But it's definitely not enough and more could be improved upon with this company.

The corporate office is infamous for having departments that are a revolving door. The company has existed for just over 2 years and in that time I know of at least 3 departments in the office that have a handful of employees at any given time, but that have gone through close to 30 people each. 

The reason is simple: if someone is hired at the corporate office who doesn't believe in the mandate of money first, they are promptly let go, or bullied into quitting. A prime of example of this was in HR and Loss Prevention, where employees miserably fought for better working conditions for front-line retail staff only to be iced out of meetings and disciplined. Everyone at the office will recall the time a widely loved and respected HR took their annual vacation and was fired THE DAY they returned from vacation. They were very vocal about advocating for retail staff, and so didn't quite fit into the mold. The company let them take weeks of vacation and then fired them with no notice.  

Another time, someone I worked near in the office was reported to their manager by another team member in their department for questioning a safety SOP (between the two of them) that clearly wasn't in the best interest of employees. 

Someone actually reported someone else in the office for being concerned about safety. I hope that paints a picture as to why only a certain kind of person can remain in that environment for longer than a few months. 

The managers at shops ask team members to leave good re views to boost the company's image. This job is not enjoyable, don't apply here if you can avoid it. 

This company could have been great in Lethbridge, but it’s become nothing but garbage and COVID really put that further into perspective for the employees that were there since day one. We recognized that we were the corporate store in town, but did our best to minimize the feeling by creating an educational and friendly environment that was inviting to our customers. However, this quickly was diminished by the hiring of a lousy manager that over took both stores. Staff barely got the hours they were promised and constantly struggled to make ends meet while this manager would laugh how she didn’t need the job and could be reliant on her partner. She often hides in the back and avoids work whenever possible. Her knowledge of cannabis is poor and an embarrassment too. The dedicated employees who cared for the store challenged this manager for not being a united front and as they posed a threat to her they were quickly disposed of through COVID layoffs. The so called “Support Shop Centre” was also a useless support system for the shop as the district manager rarely came to support as well too. F&F entered late in the Lethbridge market so the sales struggled and were not par with other stores that opened around legalization so we were often forgotten about. Overall, don’t waste your time applying for this company. They will make you false promises and do nothing but get your hopes up which just leaves you feeling crushed. Stick with local, and find a small business that treats their employees as actual human beings and not just a number.

This company has probably the weakest management team I've ever seen in a company. They are practically bottoming out at almost every location in the GTA because they refuse to actual hire properly and are too budget focused. If you work at some locations, assistant managers are expected to take over for GMs that don't bother to show up months after being open or you could be stationed outside in winter at Yonge/Gerrard checking ids of literally everyone (including seniors). They've acquired tons of stores through the GTA and fired the entire staff immediately after promising to keep people but mismanage the store because they literally don't know anything about the stores they're taking over. They literally ignore the OHSA and if you speak up about any issues, you will be at best ignored, at worst terminated. Middle management is constantly frustrated because there's more communication between upper management and team members than there is between actual management teams, so directives are never clear whatsoever. They have literally hundreds of roadmaps and managers quote them like the word of god, despite the fact they're just manager meetings/minutes and they only follow them when it affirms their current belief. Otherwise, things are just done by whatever they happen to call SOP since their SOP is just written by a random GM. 

Since the start of 2020, I started this new career, in a new field, with stiff regulations and add just a sprinkle of a global pandemic. And I can confidently say that I have never felt as supported as I do now with Fire & Flower. My direct leadership supports me just as much as they drive and challenge me. My team is a well crafted group of people with unique experience and strengths that are willing and able to step up and drive whatever focus we need.

In all fairness, this job can be tough. We are required to be as nimble as any other start up. Working in a heavily regulated industry that is new and still carries a stigma with many in the country can sometimes be frustrating. But like any job, you decide how you react to the things that are not in your control. Fire and Flower and the cannabis industry as a whole will challenge you. But it can also be incredibly rewarding as we refine our systems, our product selection becomes better and more in tune to our customers needs, and as you build the incredible relationships with your team and your customers.

In my experience, the betterment of our people have been at the forefront of every conversation and it is noticeable by the culture we are able to see in the stores. 

If you're hard working, are cannabis curious, and want to be in an industry that truly does not have a ceiling for your growth.. Fire & Flower is the place to be.

The pros: amazing branding, stores are gorgeous. Most of the in store managers and co workers are excellent people who truly care about the culture. 

The cons: constant broken promises. They haven't figured out their business model yet to adapt to the volatility of the market and staff bare the brunt of this. Cut hours (even for "managers") complete lack of coherence in sales, supply and managing customer expectations. 

Regional manager is one of the greasiest a-holes I have ever had the unpleasant fortune to meet, absolutely nobody in the company likes what he does and unfortunately a lot of people have left because of him. 

The training culture is a bit odd, you have a bunch of trainers who are managers at other stores, completely unprofessional people. Doling out knowledge that you see is not in place, in store, within your first week. 

Most startups have hiccups but this company seems fine in focusing on branding and not so much ensuring the culture is reflected in the workplace. It becomes clear most of these folks wouldn't last a month out in the regular work force and corporate culture is quite insulating. I do not even think they have any idea of how poorly they are running things. 

Wages are modest but if you can get more than 20 hours a week, good luck. 

oh and the "you will never work alone" model of staff safety goes out the door the moment the hours get cut. Totally unsafe work environment for female employees to be left alone like that and sadly it will take a major incident before they are forced to fix this.

I was very excited to start working here as I had for about a month before hand. They lied to me about a promotion  that last time so I gave them the benefit of the doubt this time. Worked there for 9 months this go. Covering shifts for the manager, taking on extra duties that was never a part of my job and going up and beyond for the team and customers. Decided to leave due to the company not giving the shop the necessary tools to sell their product, the management team in head office trying to demote people for every single issue they think is an issue, promising positions that never happen, not getting the necessary training needed to excel in the work place and disrespect behind people's backs, and head office not listening to the needs of the shops when it comes to products.Terrible place to work if you want to get ahead and climb the hierarchy of the business. Also the higher ups constantly make you worry about the ADS, UPT and CRR of their shop. They will straight up decided to not tell a customer about an awesome product if it won't make them the money they want that transaction. 

This was the first cannabis dispensary I worked at and I couldn't have asked for a better one. Everyone working there was kind and genuine. Management would work hard to ensure you had the tools you needed to succeed. The interview process was easy and stress free. The training in the beginning could use some work but that is understandable given the industry. It's hard to have a clear and perfect starting guide when the practices and rules of the business change frequently due to government guidelines and restrictions. None the less, in my time there I learned a massive amount of information about cannabis, how to make great sales, growing in comfort on working on a cash register (they use specifically Cova), and many other great resume builders. I frankly would still be working there if I could. The only downside to Fire and Flower is they only have the store manager, the assistant manager, and one other staff member that is scheduled above 20 hours. While I was working there they were a little more flexible with this rule but later it had to change. The manager I had was phenomenal. Works incredibly hard, is a friend to everyone, and cares deeply about the products and the people using them. Couldn't ask for a better environment. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Delivery driver 15 salaries reported	$19.11 per hour
Retail sales associate 19 salaries reported	$18.42 per hour
Retail experience supervisor 13 salaries reported	$18.71 per hour
Gérant de commerce de détail 5 salaries reported	$80,080 per year
Educator 3 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour

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