Although I never worked at B&B, I worked at Express which is owned by the same company. I've heard that B&B and Express have many of the same policies regarding employees.
What I didn't like about working at Express was that management basically told their employees to hound the customers. The second they walked into the store, we were supposed to run over to them, ask them what they were looking for, explain our Fast Cash policies (a coupon of sorts), and ask them if we could help them. No big deal but then you were told walk over to them about every 5 minutes and ask one of these questions: "Can I find that in your size?", "Is there any event in particular that you're shopping for?", or "Can I start a fitting room for you?" By the time the customer walked out of the store, the customer would have had 5 different Express associates asking them a zillion times if they needed any help. When you put them in the dressing room, you were required to throw another item over the door and say, "This would look great with what you've chosen. By the way, if you open an Express card, you can save 15% on all your purchases today!" God forbid you accidently throw the wrong size over the dressing room door.
When they get to the register, you ask them again to open an Express card. When they answer no, you ask, "Why not? You don't want to save 15%?" I hated doing that because that customer could be having an embarrassing credit problem and it's not in your right to question their reasoning behind not opening a card.
From a marketing prospective, I always felt that their customer service was poor. Their idea is to basically pressure their customers into buying something...almost like a car salesman. Our store ended up with a lot of returns because of that.
I'm the type of customer who wants to shop on my own (and I know that MANY people are like that). I walk into the store, say hello to the associates, and then shop on my own. If I need help, I'll ask for it myself. This is the reason that I never felt comfortable basically attacking my customers; I knew that I would have hated to be in their shoes. I love the clothing at Express but I always make it my goal to try to remain inconspicuous while shopping so that the salesgirls will hopefully not come over to me and ask me a zillion questions about some plain old tank top that I'm just looking at. ("We have those in all different colors! They're 2 for $20. I can start you a fitting room!!!!!!!"......errrr, dude, I'm just looking at it)
I lasted for about 3 weeks before the low pay and 3-hour shifts got to me.
Although I'm sure not all stores owned by the Limited Company are like this (my friend worked at Structure, now Express Men, and had a very positive experience), I just wanted to share my experience just in case you are one of those people, like myself, who is uncomfortable with performing high-pressure sales tactics. From my understanding, Express and B&B tend to be the most like this out of all the Limited Company stores.
Hybrid Mode
