Staff at stores in the same area help one another.

The company keeps staffing levels at its stores very low, so every day someone has to go support another branch in the same area. It is almost as if 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, they have to keep an eye on the surveillance monitors while eating and help retrieve clothes requested by customers, so it is basically impossible to get 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, they insisted that I take a photo of the physical obituary and send it to them. After I did so, they also required me to bring the physical obituary to the company. (At first, I thought it was only needed for the leave application.) After I brought it in, the area manager immediately told me that because I had not yet passed the assessment, I was not eligible for the bereavement allowance, so I did not need to bring it and should take it back home. It was not about the money, but traveling between counties during the funeral period was already exhausting, and I still had to deal with this. However, due to other family-related factors at the time, I resigned after staying for nearly two months. I was also repeatedly emotionally blackmailed by the area manager, who said that two other stores in the same area had also had employees resign that month and that my resignation would leave two stores understaffed. When the emotional pressure did not work, they started making sarcastic remarks.