customer service representative

financial representative

représentant de commerce en services financiers

store manager

retail sales associate

Money Mart

Let me start off by saying I was with NMM for many years as a CSR later manager. At no point in my long employment did I feel as though my job even approached secure or that I was valued as a person. Or even for my skills and experience. I worked with many fantastic people and made the best of my job to earn a wage, but in NO WAY can I recommend that anyone work for this company. That should be enough to steer you AWAY from this place, but if you want specifics, read on. I've tried to be objective, for the most part.

- Salary / Benefits

This is a joke; the company's policies are geared towards paying their employees as little as possible while blowing smoke about how wonderful their wages are and how lucky they are to be employed. The company does have a decent health / dental package as well as life insurance, but it costs. Plan on using the additional medical benefits such as counseling and massage therapy for stress early on. Bonuses are dangled in front of staff and managers but are usually very difficult to attain as the targets seem arbitrary. There are a lot of intelligent people working for HO at this company but they can't seem to figure out how to grow their business through new ventures instead of trying to milk their shrinking current product lines. Wages are less than a bank pays for tellers with any experience and the manager wage is laughable when compared to positions in similar companies with comparable workloads.

- Culture / Values

The worst kind of corporate behaviors flourish here. There is no support from Head Office for retail, as they have their own problems. Having liasoned with HO on and off for years, I can say quite honestly that NONE of the initiatives I tried to implement found any support. Simple things to improve working conditions and staff safety were met with indifference at best and derision at worst. There are NO values inside NMM apart from those that make the shareholders money and allow the top brass to keep their jobs. ALL else is transitory and nothing improved in the decade I was there. Not a thing; it was incredible to see how hard NMM resisted the efforts of their employees to better the company as a place to work. They espouse the value of their training programs, yet for all their in-house development they cannot develop and implement policies to improve the company in any measurable way for their workers.

- Job Security / Advancement

There is no job security; employees can be let go with the flimsiest of excuses, as long as Legal says NMM can make a case. At one point, most of a Western Canada district, dozens of employees, were fired en masse due to 'regular minor breaches' of company policy. There was NO thought given as to how to keep the stores operating with the remaining staff, who dropped like flies from stress - and with no thanks from HO and no apologies. Advancement is usually made from the typical corporate ladder-climbing, consisting of stepping on the efforts of others and claiming credit first. People are usually promoted as much for their ability to manipulate others as their ability to survive the winnowing process that constantly results in new staff replacing the 'old' burned out ones after a year or so. NMM is never supportive of it's staff when it came to customer complaints and usually sided with the customer in a situation to 'keep them satisfied' - leaving the employee hanging with the constant feeling that they would be let go after EVERY complaint. HR writeups were common and affected promotions, as well as wage increases. Given that so much of their job was affected by the backwards and punitive NMM policies as well as chronic staff shortages, customer complaints were inevitable and constant, as was staff turnover. The incredible lack of staff is considered 'normal' by HO who know that NMM would rather work one staffer to the bone than to pay for the three necessary to properly take care of customers and reduce wait times in line from the average of fifteen minutes and more on busy days.

- Management

The best managers usually lasted the shortest amount of time, as people who care about their employees don't have much of a future at NMM. The unrealistic targets set down by HO each quarter are usually impossible to attain with stores constantly understaffed and it always falls to the manager to make up the difference - hence the rapid burnout of the ones who care. Upper management rotates regularly as they fail to hit their targets and leave the company as soon as their contracts are up, making far more money than the longer-serving DM's. There never was and never will be any upper management who do more than pay lip service to caring about the needs of the 'peons' in the lower ranks - again, just what I have overheard in my time dealing with these corporate sharks who play the game very, very well. It is incredible to think that so many good lower level management potential is wasted from NMM's policies of squeezing every last erg of effort out of a person and discarding them instead of creating an environment where they can succeed and flourish. Don't let anyone tell you different; the smiling assurances they will tell you about how wonderful and progressive a place NMM is to work are

- Work / Life Balance

Most managers live with a phone that never, ever stops ringing, as staff at all levels of NMM don't believe in time off. I have personally seen emails from upper management to district managers that belittle and berate the DM's for not answering emails at 2am. The job was 24/7 and staff at all levels were constantly called in to fill in for all manner of reasons; the smarter ones refused after a while. Never have I heard of a company less concerned with allowing it's employees to have a life outside of work, or that care so little about making their work contributions feel valued. Constant, unending stress, unrealistic expectations and a massive daily workload were the norm. Burnout was common and the nature of the business was such that it always compounded the stress levels for everyone - employee and customer both.

I will end there, as I am hoping by now that you have a better grasp of why NMM should be crossed off your list of potential employers as well as that of anyone you like or even respect a tiny bit. It is a place for those who worship the worst of the corporate mandate and who have no problem in advancing based on those selfish precepts.

There's too much to get into in a simple review. The bottom line is that you're paid BARELY above minimum wage, and the raises, bonuses, contest prizes, etc were never given to me because I wasn't going to harass or beg them for it (doesn't amount to hardly anything, anyway). WAY too many responsibilities (credit cards, Western Union, payday loans, installment loans, bill payments and quick collects, to name a few), and horrible treatment by everyone for the money you make.

The job is largely making collection and reminder calls to customers, as they expect you to do that every second that you don't have customers, and most are abusive if they owe you money, or bcuz they've already been called a number of times. If you are busy all night and don't even have a chance to eat your supper, you will still get talked to for not making your outrageous amount of required calls.

Co-workers aren't that great and they definitely play favorites. Rules don't apply to everyone (eg. some people can talk a lot without working, when others who ARE working and try to say something between calls/customers are told to get back to calls. Favorites can take a drama filled phone call outside for an hour, no penalty. Smokers can have tons of 5-10 minute smoke breaks, but non-smokers can't take a single minute to just drink some of their tea without being told to go make calls). It's very inconsistent. 

There's quite a bit of pressure bcuz there's so many criminals out there passing off legit-looking fake cheques, fake ID, fake documents, and you are held responsible in a way for it. The training you get to detect these things are minimal at best, yet they act like you should have known when you have no real training and so much to do that you can't take half an hour each new customer to study each item, go compare it to others. I mean, come on, a lot of pay stubs look very different from each other, so you don't always have something to compare it to. 

It's pretty hard for them to keep employees, as they are constantly making new rules and new responsibilities for employees as it is. They also make you say very cheesy lines to greet customers and when on the phone that make you sound so foolish. I made it almost a year, but I was miserable the last half. They moved me to another store against my wishes, even though a new hire had already trained at that other store (so why not have her just stay there??). She was hired when she shouldn't have been, obviously, as they told me afterwards that I had to go bcuz there were now too many staff and if I refused to go, they would have to cut *MY* hours to 5 hrs per week (why not the new girl who never should've been hired if we now had too many staff??). Answer: bcuz she was a favorite and fit in with them better than I did. They basically do whatever they want, even when it makes no sense. So there is no security in your job, as you could be moved to any location at any time. I never missed a day, still had sick days left, ALWAYS took extra shifts, etc. But I didn't fit in as I didn't cuss, give attitude to customers, drink, have tattoos, smoke weed, etc, so that kind of made me a target, in my opinion. I left to get a job at a real bank though, so I couldn't have been happier to leave!

Opportunities to learn and grow:
- You'll learn how to handle difficult social situations.
- You'll get much better at multi-tasking, especially if you work at a busy store.
- You can go from CSR to Assistant Manager to Manager to District Manager to Regional Manager and so on. You are only limited by your ambition
- However, you don't have to climb the ladder step by step. You can use education and outside experience to jump levels.

The CSR position is NOT a right fit for you IF:
- You want evenings and weekends off;
- You don't have a flexible schedule;
- You don't want to work too hard;
- You are prone to losing your temper;
- You are not conscious about security (Remember that you'll be working with money. You MUST follow security procedures 100%);
- You are not able to stand on your feet for a few hours at a time;
- You are unable to handle a fast-paced environment; or
- You are expecting to be paid for sitting around.

Keep In Mind:
- The higher turnover means that the jobs are not the right "fit" for everyone. Within 6 months you should learn whether the job is right for you or not, and that's pretty normal, I think.
- If you go to a busy store, you can expect to work VERY hard, but due to the higher store revenue, you might get better bonuses.
- If you go to a slow store, you might be sitting around for hours on your own, so bring a book/MP3 player/etc.
- Your co-workers and manager may be great or not, but it's like that with ALL workplaces. Sometimes, personalities clash and that's normal. You'll have the option to move to other stores.
- You'll get a lot of training so it's great for your development.
- Don't expect to get Friday/Saturday/Sunday off. This is not a regular 9am-5pm. Some stores are open late. Many are open on the weekend. Sometimes your co-workers call in sick. That's life. It happens.
- If you like to be challenged and grow as a person, give it a shot.

My Personal Experience:
- I learned a lot about myself and developed confidence in my skill.
- I was not very good with people when I started but this job taught me how to be great!
- I learned that I can handle a LOT of work with pinpoint accuracy.
- I learned that people who are irate are usually angry at something else.
- I learned how to be a good listener and learned to make people smile.
- I learned how to, literally, turn people's frowns upside-down.
- I learned that there's always something to do around the store. Don't waste time.
- I learned that, although I worked very hard, the company expected more. That was a bit saddening. :[
- The co-workers and managers were awesome people. We worked as a team and we helped each other all the time.
- The benefits are GREAT. Good coverage for dental/physio/optical/etc.
- Why I left? Had to move away, and also decided to follow a dream by changing careers completely.
- Still, it was a good experience, and now I'll always have a backup plan if I ever lose my job or need some extra part-time work.

I worked here 6.5 years and can honestly say I loved 90% of the people I worked with.  I would happily work with most of them again.   I even liked the majority of my customers.   Head Office tries really hard to create Job Culture and Teamwork.  I left as they were making some awesome improvements in this area, actually.   5 stars for that stuff.

...HOWEVER... I caution those with any sense of Integrity to stay FAR, FAR AWAY!!!  I don't recommend this to anyone with a big heart, or anyone who enjoys working "by the book".  The stress level, if you are not willing to give up your integrity...is incredibly harsh, and not worth your health.

Unfortunately, the biggest issue is an extremely low level of ethics and integrity when it comes to District Management and communication... and a total breakdown of how business is done from one district to the next.  Head Office is constantly drilling out emails and reminders to do-this or don't-do-this because it's against policy, or will prevent losses... but there is not enough PROPER communication between head office and district-level, to enforce that integrity and correct it.  Head Office thinks things are being done, because reports say they are -- but they're not.  Employees are "warned" a million times, yet don't get reprimanded or fired if they don't comply, or worse, get hired back when they leave --- so there's no improvement whatsoever.

This, of course, causes nothing but an endless stream of angry customers --- getting irate over rather obvious requirements such as needing CURRENT contact info before loaning them hundreds of dollars!  All because some districts or stores will throw caution to the wind and haven't asked for or updated a customer's information since 2001.  Now the store following the rules is the one getting customer complaints.  See the issue?

Lastly... It's extremely hard to advance to management, unless you're willing to throw all the Policies & Procedures out the window for your DM ...and kiss their feet while you're at it.  Don't get me wrong, I very much liked the few DM's I had the pleasure of working with... but it's an ugly truth: if you're not willing to help them reach their targets (read: break all the rules), then they're not willing to promote you.  

They would never tell you that.  I'm telling you that, because a little bird thankfully warned me - so I finally took everyone's advice, took what was left of my morals with me, and quit.  On good terms, with an invite from at least 3 people in management, to call if I needed a job.  Never been happier.  Never gonna call them, because I really don't think these problems will ever change.

Don't say I didn't warn you!  ;)

I was hired virtually on the spot at a high wage after one interview with a district manager - should have been flag number one - as a manager trainee to have my own store. I was told I'd be trained for 8 to 12 weeks or so (can't recall exactly, but several weeks in any case) and then placed in my own store. I did receive very hands-on and thorough training (in most areas, but not all), and quickly found out that it wasn't just "people who need some cash to pay bills" as the DM stated in my interview - the clientele, often, seemed (or were!) very shifty.

After some weeks of training, I was parachuted into my own store. Unprepared. Insufficiently trained. Not asked if I was ready to take it on, just "ok, you're starting in your own store next week" type of thing - huh!?

Working alone from 8 something AM to 5 PM and the occasional weekend was terrible. If it was busy, I had no time to eat lunch in peace. If something came up, I had to call another store for support because there was nobody there to back me up, leaving the customer at the window wondering what the heck was taking so long, leading to their becoming irritated.

Handling such high amounts of cash and worrying about every single cheque being presented being fraudulent or the potential for fraud, and having to call clients who owed money was incredibly stressful. As well, closing up at night, having to balance all the money taken in, and having to do so on a deadline, just lead to panic on my part.

Some people may thrive in such a demanding environment but I certainly did not. The bottom line: if you want stress, if you want to worry about counterfeit cash, phony cheques, and people doing suspicious Western Union transactions, and no time for breaks if you are working alone: this is the place to work. I couldn't even finish my two weeks' notice. I just had to get out. My tenure there? About 7 weeks.

I was hired virtually on the spot at a high wage after one interview with a district manager - should have been flag number one - as a manager trainee to have my own store. I was told I'd be trained for 8 to 12 weeks or so (can't recall exactly, but several weeks in any case) and then placed in my own store. I did receive very hands-on and thorough training (in most areas, but not all), and quickly found out that it wasn't just "people who need some cash to pay bills" as the DM stated in my interview - the clientele, often, seemed (or were!) very shifty. 

After some weeks of training, I was parachuted into my own store. Unprepared. Insufficiently trained. Not asked if I was ready to take it on, just "ok, you're starting in your own store next week" type of thing - huh!?

Working alone from 8 something AM to 5 PM and the occasional weekend was terrible. If it was busy, I had no time to eat lunch in peace. If something came up, I had to call another store for support because there was nobody there to back me up, leaving the customer at the window wondering what the heck was taking so long, leading to their becoming irritated.

Handling such high amounts of cash and worrying about every single cheque being presented being fraudulent or the potential for fraud, and having to call clients who owed money was incredibly stressful. As well, closing up at night, having to balance all the money taken in, and having to do so on a deadline, just lead to panic on my part.

Some people may thrive in such a demanding environment but I certainly did not. The bottom line: if you want stress, if you want to worry about counterfeit cash, phony cheques, and people doing suspicious Western Union transactions, and no time for breaks if you are working alone: this is the place to work. I couldn't even finish my two weeks' notice. I just had to get out. My tenure there? About 7 weeks.

I loved working at the head office when I started.  I met some amazingly great people, and learned a lot.  However, the programs they use frequently have outages, customers are usually already unhappy when they call in, and there isn't a whole lot of product knowledge given to the people manning the phones in the call centre.  

As your job tasks and expected responsibilities multiply, your pay remains the same.  You burn out very quickly.  You get to listen to endless gossip and see your higher ups wasting a whole lot of time talking/doing homework/playing on their phones (yet there is a policy against cell phones and people will and have gotten fired for violating said policy - just not the higher ups)... lots of hypocrisy.  Longer term employees being told they are valued, yet being denied promotion opportunities time and again.

There is such high turnover there, they are constantly hiring.  It's a revolving door.  Everyone at level 1 is replaceable, they don't seem to care much about being direct and honest, and helping you along.  Just come along and blindside you with negative feedback once a month, then push you out the door.  Despite almost 2 hour wait times for customers to get through to a human being, and no one to replace those being terminated.

Then those left behind are increasingly more stressed out as call times increase, staff decreases, and those who are not terminated, want to quit.  Many go and apply at various temp agencies and other, higher paying, call centres.

There is no consistency.  You need days off just to decompress and get ready to face another week there.  People are constantly "sick" because no one wants to be there.

  Usually you have a variety of shift that varies with different hours not very common that you have a normal schedule because the locations varies from 24 hours to opening as late as 11pm. Upon arriving to shift a typical day you would clock in on your time sheet, then check emails about any updates about any new services company offers or alerts about anything very important to allow us to handle our job efficiently. You work like a bank teller providing banking advices, selling credit cards, doing collection calls, and cashing cheques, but  there is much more services they offer as well, but we have to make sure to determine what type of services the client needs and provide them with that, but making sure to promote new services too. I learned in an environment like that attention to detail is a must, and you need to always update yourself with new information everyday. Working with the people was great, you meet all kinds of people that are trying to further their career but need a job that is willing to be flexible with their schedule. People that work there for a long time are very knowledgeable and you learn a lot in this type of work place. The hardest part in this field is having to deal with aggressive clients. Some times when things don't go according to their likes they try to make you feel intimidated and a little less of a person, but you manage all this with time. The best part about working for this company was meeting all kinds of different people from different walks of life and being able to make a difference for someone.

So many targets that if you reach one you lose another. Making target wasn’t rewarded everything not met was focused on instead. Walked in to every shift knowing something bad was to occur. Tone deaf company trying to switch to digital payouts when customers come to the company for cash. My immediate coworkers were lovely, but the constant emails telling me that me and my store weren’t doing well enough all the time even if we were close to targets was tiring. Take this job if you’re desperate to get away from minimum wage but use this job as a starting point to get something better from here. You will see things with this job that you would have never seen otherwise. The actual job itself isn’t the worst if you can get past the constant talking down to from the above store level management. They change their policies and procedures twice a week it seems. Customers can be good and bad but the security measures are there for good reason, you will be glad that the yelling and violence is behind bulletproof glass. You will need to call the police at least once if you work there long enough. Collection calling can be tough. You will see people’s lives be turned to shambles. 

A typical Money Mart day starts off with preparing to open the store. All money is counted and balanced the night before so that leaves printing the appropriate documents, verifying the closing envelope and ordering anything needed for the follow day. Once the doors open your day is filled with transactions ranging from, cheque cashing, bill paying, money loaning, preparing tax files, wiring money, loading and withdrawing money and everything in between. Although this may sound a little intimidating having a friendly supportive hard working staff makes the job very enjoyable and rewarding. The hardest part of my job has to be handling the large volume of customers in a timely but informative and helpful fashion at peak times. But the most enjoyable part of my job happens to be when its a crazy busy day and things seem like there falling apart but we hold on and keep pushing and everyone gets served and is satisfied and feels like they accomplished what they came to do, especially after standing in line for what probably seems like a life time to them. I learned that people will wait on great service. Just to get greeted with that welcoming smile and served without a flaw. Helping someone solve a problem is rewarding and humbling.That's what keeps them coming back and makes them tell a friend who will tell a friend.

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