To start this off, for my non-UK readers. PoundStretcher is the same thing as Dollartree in the US or any other stores which simply rely on even currencies (like the 2 euro store etc). Thought id clear this up since apparently not that many people outside of the UK even know this brand exists.
Lets get into it, this was in my first month coming out of sixth form aka college so i had a lot of free time. Applying for jobs to earn some money. And surprisingly i did get an interview at a PoundStretcher which happened to be down the road from my house. Sadly, at this time i had no context of shitty jobs so when i saw it posted on indeed with no salary posted i thought that would be a good things as it may have been “too high to post” how wrong i was.
On the actual interview day my first impressions of the staff team was the cashier saying “I didn't even realise we had applications open” and the manager coming out 35 MINUTES LATER saying “I forgot we even had an interview with you today”. Already HUGE red flags but I gave them the benefit of the doubt and went on. This manager clearly wasn't prepared at all and gave me a clipboard with a piece of paper and told me to “Go around the store and list 20 things I like AND dislike about the store”. This took me 20 mins and tbh it wasn't that bad since I have a keen eye for details but when i took the completed paper back to him he said “That was fast, go find another 10 of each”. This pissed me off.
Finally after 1 hour and 45 minutes of my supposed interview time and me walking around the store aimlessly, i finally get taken to what can only be described as a non-maintained storage cupboard where the manager sat on the freezer and there was a “co-manager” who looked no older than me and pregnant (i was 16 at the time). When the actual interview start he was giving really confusing questions such as “Why have you not had much experience in retail” and when I would respond “since i have only just become legal working age” he would say “that's not what i asked, I asked if you wanted to get experience in retail”. Towards the end i got standard “do you have any questions for us” so i mentioned the lack of pay-rate being posted with the job, he deflected saying “we have competetive salary and if you get accepted you will be notifed what it is”. That… doesnt answer me at all but thank you?
The interview went on for probably no longer than 10 minutes but i was in the store for a good 2 hours. On my way out he even had the balls to say “you probably didnt need to get dressed up, we dont look for smarts, just skills”, which confused me since the interview was supposed to be in smart-casual”. Out of all of this i was STILL WILLING TO WORK FOR THEM if i got the offer. But i got ghosted by them and never heard back from them…
Honestly i dont know if i lucked out or jesus himself was like “nah bro, not even satan would want you here”, has anyone from the UK had a similar experience with the brand? Let me know please.