Store staff in the same area help one another.

The company keeps the number of store employees very low, so every day someone has to go support another branch in the same area. This practically means that every store employee has to be familiar with all the stores and counters in the area. Also, many things that could be resolved quickly are made unnecessarily complicated. In addition, during employees’ meal breaks, we have to keep an eye on the surveillance monitors while eating and help retrieve the clothes customers request, so it is practically impossible to take a proper break.

Later, when I took bereavement leave because a family member passed away, the store manager asked me to take a photo of the obituary. I happened to have an electronic copy, so I sent it directly. However, the manager insisted that I provide a photo taken of the physical obituary. After taking the photo, I was also required to bring the physical obituary to the company. (At first, I thought it was only needed for the leave request.) After I brought it in, the area manager immediately told me that because I had not yet completed my assessment, I was not eligible for the bereavement allowance, so I did not need to submit it and should take it home. It was not about the money, but traveling between cities during the funeral period was already exhausting, and I still had to deal with this. However, because of other family-related factors at the time, I resigned after working there for almost two months. The area manager also kept using emotional pressure on me, saying that two other branches in the same area had employees resign that month and that including me would leave two stores understaffed. When that emotional manipulation did not work, the manager started making sarcastic remarks.