retail sales associate

retail store manager

responsable de magasin

associé aux ventes

store manager

M&M Food Market

I worked there for a year and a half and at first I was so in love with the company and the owners. I thought hands down this is the best place I have ever worked in my life! Hours were decent, pay was minimum wage but the job was fun! I loved being able to get to know our regular customers and working in the freezer was my favourite part of my job! My coworkers were fun and welcoming and we all got along so well! 

 However I kept hearing about some negative feedback from previous employees or employees still there. I thought that was all non sense. When I was asked to be the Assistant Manager I received little to no training on what I was supposed to do and basically had to train myself with a lot of things. I didn’t mind that too too much because I figured this was a chance for me to prove myself and all that I had to offer. Boy was I wrong. 

The owners were not very organized and were not In the store very much (which I didn’t really mind but since I was being promoted it would have been nice if I got more than 5 minutes of training a few times a week).

 There were some unclear policies regarding the office and such and instead of being confronted in the office where I could have had a private conversation with the owners, she yelled at me saying that I would be fired if i allowed anyone into the back office. And this all happened in front of my customers. I wouldn’t have been so mad if she had been the bigger person and pulled me aside and spoke to me, but to yell at your employees in the middle of the store with customers present is totally uncalled for and unacceptable and extremely unprofessional. I understand her point of it being a liability but the way she did it was not okay. 

i was absolutely humiliated and that shot my anxiety through the roof. This then caused me to have a severe mental breakdown and had to get hospitalized.  

If anyone plans on working there, you better make sure you’re an absolutely perfect person who makes no mistakes Unless you too would like to be humiliated in public and feel their wrath if you make any type of mistake. 

Good luck.

Clock in, open till, temperature checks, inventory, customer service, cash out customers, prepare online customer orders, close till, all this done alone for 95% of shift. 

I learned a lot about the products offered and different ways customers like to enjoy them. 

Management was friendly but ultimately spread too thin as they own other businesses and expect the store to run well on a skeleton crew with no managerial direction present most of the time. Red flags began to show when no employment contract or job description was provided in writing, didn't ask for things like emergency contact info, no uniform was provided even though the policy said a short would be provided, many things wrong with management operations and I would expect many policies displayed to be outdated or not revised annually.

Culture is non existent since you work alone the majority of the time, staff with the same job title as you who have been there many years boss you around and complain/gossip about other employees behind their backs any time you're working together and do the same to you with others. 

There isn't really any hard part to thos job it was actually quite boring, but the lack of direction and accountability from management was probably the most difficult aspect of the job which can degrade employee relations and ultimately be detrimental to the success of the business unfortunately. 

The food was the most enjoyable part of course and hearing from customers how they like their products. If something is on sale you get the sale price, but employees get 15% off regular-priced items. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
At the one I worked at exceptional transparency and honesty with management, no micromanaging. They trained me on everything too: cash experience, stock rotation and some marketing (product recommendations), answering phone calls, food handling (sampling). Not super fast paced except around holidays. Really good  first job for students or if you want variety in the tasks you do each day.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
It is very people oriented,  approaching (almost) every customer that walks through the door and there is a heavy emphasis on promoting products and email signup. For some that might be a turn-off.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very much the type of place where if you don't know how to do something they will teach you or offer tips. There is a push to market and to get customer information but they also recognize that its about making the experience pleasant for the customer so there is a balance. Coworkers are usually friendly but usually there are only 1 or 2 people working the floor at a time.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Usually mornings and evenings are quiet, you're stocking shelves and product facing, completing online orders, documenting freezer temperatures, and doing cleaning to make sure the store looks its best.
Meal times are the most busy so you'll usually focus more on customer, making product suggestions and ringing them through.

I enjoyed my time with m&m for the first year, but it basically went downhill from there. If the owners don't like you, they REALLY don't like you. you're left to fend for yourself more often than not. You don't get to sit down for your entire lunch break, because you are expected to go running as soon as that buzzer goes off. don't make mistakes cause they'll be held over your head for the entirety of your employment there. Owners have little to no knowledge of how the inside of the store works. You get degraded and questioned if your sale incentives for the week are low. understaffed but they refuse to do anything about that, you are expected to take any shift your co-workers can't. There is no back up. I did enjoy the customers though, they were probably my favorite part of this employment. Customers get to know and love you, ask for you when you're gone, sometimes you even get cute little gifts!! Freezer work is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. You're expected to spend your entire shift (when not with customers) in there. They don't view office work (training, monthly "discover" sheets and more) as work. Co-workers are lovely, work is always 10x better when there's people there. You spend an average of 3-4 hours alone in the store everyday. 

You want my honest opinion? 

The owner favours certain employees and grooms them. Promises full time hours. Then cuts your hours if they don’t like certain things you’ve done or said. Owners will Jip customers out of their $7 dollar off coupons if they haven’t loaded them. They use sauces for donations to the Barrie food bank only because it drives up their margins for sales. They work you to the bone, never appreciate anything you do. The owners talk about you behind your back to the other employees, roll their eyes at you, and they will definitely scream at you if they get a chance. Beware of new hires they WILL be favoured, and groomed and put on a pedestal. The people that actually work hard get the —- end of the stick. Constantly having to walk on eggshells. Maybe their stores would do better if they treated people with respect, dignity and didn’t harass people constantly. There is no management. Wouldn’t surprise me if they go under in the near future. Sales are down from last year, and they think they need a stronger team. In my personal opinion, those stores need new owners. 

Other than these challenges that almost everyone in these stores face, it was a laid back job if you got your work done. Being alone was the best part. 

If you are a student looking for a part time job, taking a gap year to earn money, or someone who just wants a job to pay for an apartment, then M&M is worth an application. 

You are expected to talk with the customers and purpose new meal ideas. You need to keep the shelves stocked and to put away the delivery. You are expected to be able to work independently and with your co-workers to solve problems. This is not a job where you are randomly fired so the only time you will be let go is if you were perpetually not getting along or interacting with the customers, if you were disrespecting the managers or your co-workers, or if you were simply sitting on your butt staring at your phone all day. Basically, if you are actually putting in any effort then you are good. 

Be warned, you will probably never get a raise and though there are some employee incentives M&M and there are really nice people, you are never going to afford that mansion or Ferrari. This is a good dead-end-job-minimum-wage-job but it is still a dead-end-minimum-wage-job.

A typical day at work would start with opening the store, followed by counting and balancing the previous day's till. If the store is busy I would immediately begin greeting customers and giving them suggestions and options on our products. Apart from serving customers, daily tasks include, stocking, cleaning, taking inventory, receiving orders and taking freezer temperatures. At the end of the day I would be responsible for all the duties involved with closing the store.

Working for M&M Meat Shops has been an amazing experience. I've learned invaluable lessons on responsibility, commitment and customer service. At the age of nineteen I have successfully been able to put five years of work experience behind me with this company, and am lucky to have had such a positive experience. I have nothing but good words to say about my former boss, my co-workers and the customers I have come to know well. As my University journey begins I am well prepared to handle new career opportunities because of my experience with such a phenomenal company.

It is what you expect to work at a typical retail job. The team I work with currently are awesome along with the manager.

However, beyond instore management, I feel the team/employees are undervalued for the efforts and dedication they put into the store. There is no room for growth, and the "competitive wages" are only a hook for my personal experience, minimum wage and your locked in at that. Their reward system choice of method I personally do not find appropriate, mainly because my concern of how it will be viewed, typically for those that are underaged. As well it not being a truly fair way of earning those said rewards, random luck that is computer generated.  Lastly, the team I work with feel like we are working with bare minimum of teamwork.  Example, if the majority of fellow employee have a strict schedule, where there is not a spare employee to cover, there are no breaks for those longer shifts of the one that has the flexibility. 

It does not feel like a career building job in the long term, again no room of growth within the job. Perfect for those that are needing experience.

A day in the life of a manger is always go go go. There is always something to do and never any down time.
Store managers are 100% not payed enough for the amount of work that is expected of them. Not only do you run the store and employees yourself but you're also expected to be on-call 24/7 but... you're not payed extra for that extra time you put in.
No overtime is given and you pretty much go over your max hours almost every other week.
The good part about being a manager is that you make your own schedule. As long as you work a min of 40 hours every week, you don't have any issues with head office.
Head office is always coming out with some new plan or process and it gets to be a lot for you to learn and teach but it also is a lot for the part time employees that are only in store 2-3 times a week. I don't think head office thinks about this.
If you msg anyone from head office they always reply like you're bothering them and you're not worth their time.

during the day you would service customers, stock shelves inside the freezer as well as outside in the store area. Cleaning and handling cash, sampling products and cleaning of kitchen area. I learned many differnt things about cuts of meats, proper was of cooking different products, best ways to thaw food quickly and proper internal temperatures for cooked food. The manager was helpful and knowledgeable with all the training on products and so were the co-workers, we all got along great. The hardest part of the job would have had to have been working in the cold for long periods of time, there was also a lot of lifting on order days. The part I enjoyed the most was being able to work at your own pace and meeting all kinds of people and getting to know many customers on a first name basis, whene you suggest many foods you knew would be exactly what they were looking for and would enjoy.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Retail sales associate 25 salaries reported	$18.19 per hour
Retail store manager 4 salaries reported	$56,875 per year
Responsable de magasin 10 salaries reported	$40,400 per year
Associé aux ventes 1 salary reported	$22.50 per hour
Store manager 1 salary reported	$18.69 per hour

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