Pros
Within 2 weeks of being hired, I began training for the Assistant Manager position. Since the store I was at already had an assistant manager, the manager would train me on his duties, as well. I loved it! There were no positions available for AM in any store near us, so I stayed as CSR, got better raises because of doing AM and SM tasks.
Cons
Once I was relocated, I worked with one manager for a few months before he quit. It was unexpected. I was now "Acting Manager" for this store. I was fine with that, because it got me more experience. Once they hired a new manager, he quit, unexpectedly, after a few months. I talked to the Area Manager about training me to be a Manager for this store. He humored me for a bit. Then, the last SM came in. I ran the store for about 7 months total. When she ran the store, she started upsetting our regulars because she wasn't ordering correctly. I had worked with her multiple times trying to explain what our customers like. She told me "I was brought in here to make this store better, because the girl running it couldn't cut it, so I'm going to do this my way." That was a direct attack at me. They only pay $7.35 when you are hired, and every 3 months you get a review done. The pay raises were: $0.05 for unsatisfactory (which required another review after 30 days. If it was still the same, you were let go), $0.10 for satisfactory, and $0.25 for above satisfactory (which was not to be given out unless you were doing what I did, which is be an AM without the AM pay and benefits). Once I did finally get my AM title, I got a $0.51 raise. Woo....$8.76 to be an assistant manager to a manager that refused to respond to employee's urgent calls, and refused to respond on the 2 occasions our store was broken into. I had to go up there, instead. I wouldn't have minded, but the whole time we are there, we have to be on the clock. Well, that put me into overtime, so I got yelled at for it. I got yelled at because the manager couldn't do her job, so I had to. Then, after finally getting that store in some sort of order, talking to customers and letting them know we were going through a change, basically begging them not to stop shopping with us, and doing everything I could to keep are customer base up; I get accused of stealing. I told them I was not stealing and I asked them to put a camera out where the theft was happening, so they could clear me, and they said it would cost too much. They refused to look at the fact that the theft began as soon as our new manager came in, and just kept saying I did it. For weeks, I fought with them on this. I finally gave up one day, though. I was having constant panic attacks before I worked here, but with everything they were saying about me and the fact that they wouldn't listen to me, it just made everything worse. I finally just walked in and tossed my keys over the counter and let the manager know I wouldn't be returning. I figure, there's no more room for advancement for me here. They think I'm a thief, and even though, I've done everything possible to show them that it wasn't me, they refused to look at anyone else.