So I was interviewing for the role of merchandising assistant store manager at Lowe’s. The recruiter told me it’s $65k annually (salaried) plus 30% bonus paid out in two installments every year. Decent pay for retail management, I have the experience, I hate my current job, why not!
Anyway, we are about halfway through the Teams virtual interview and the General Manager says:
“This is a 24/7/365 job. You are salaried. You are expected to crawl out of bed if you’re sick and show up anyway. If you have to do office work or something then so be it but you don’t have the luxury of calling out sick when you’re a manager. If you aren’t here, no one can cover for you. The expectation for this position is zero time missed no matter what unless it’s an approved vacation. Are you okay with these expectations?”
I was pretty flabbergasted to be honest, I’ve never had such an r/AntiWork moment in my life. I answered him by saying “My current role is salaried as well (also retail management, not much difference in pay) and I’m working about 45 hours per week, what is the realistic expectation for average hours worked in this role?” And he says, deadpan, “at LEAST 55”.
I told him I’m looking for something with more work-life balance, thanked him for his time, and said I was not interested in moving forward.
I hate corporate America.