Sales Assistant at Zara Oxford Street
Pros
As a part time position the money is ok. However, I would not recommend for a full time position as I do not believe the money is enough to sustain yourself. The schedule was ok, mostly in the afternoons and evenings which allowed me to study as well. However, due to the fact that that it was so busy and that we were almost always required to work over time, it was physically and mentally exhausting, therefore making it very difficult to balance working with studying. The managers were always very pleasant, encouraging and helpful. They always to took the time to speak to me and answer any of my questions.
Cons
The worst part however are the coworkers. They are extremely rude, inconsiderate and manipulative. I have been given a brief introduction of my duties however nobody bothered to answer my questions along the way, despite the fact that they were always castigating me to ask for help more often. The staff did not posses a good command of the English language and it was very hard for me to maintain communication with them. In addition to this, I have noticed that they liked to put other people down and often publicly humiliate them in order to perhaps feel that they are better in a way (I mean a bunch of sales assistants a started laughing at me within my earshot because I did not fold some jeans "their way", when nobody has ever told me how they want me to do it exactly) . Keep in mind that this was coming from other sales assistants, and not from the managers who understandably did not have the time or any incentive to engage in such petty acts. Overall, I left like I had been bullied, ignored and often talked about behind my back for no good reason other than the entertainment of the other sales assistants. The girls especially seemed to be very unfriendly towards me (as a girl) from the start, very catty and very deceitful. Also, and this is a big point, as most of them were from Spain they were always speaking in Spanish during work and if you were not speaking their language more often than not they simply could not be bothered to speak with you, to help you or to engage with you in any way. I would not recommend to anyone unless you are willing to tolerate / engage with such behaviour.
