I moved to a new state, lost my clientle, and had to work at a great clips for a few months until i found new barbershop to work out of.
They over work the staff. I asked about breaks at orientation and i was told by a manger “i dont give a fuck if your stomach is eating a hole through your back, if we're busy, you're not taking a break”. They would force us to work non stop when we were busy, and force us to clock out when we were slow. What sense does that make? I dont need a break if we're slow, but if we're busy all day, i need a damn break. Even telling us that we can't leave the shop on our UNPAID break, incase we get busy.
Most of the money you make goes to the owner. You're basically living off tips like a waitress. You get an hourly pay, but your checks every 2 weeks are only from anywhere between $300-$600, and the $600 is a good paycheck, that doesn't happen often. So if you do 20 cuts a day at say $20, 5 days a week that's grossing $2,000. So that's $4,000 for 2 weeks. And yes, i did average around 20 cuts a day, sometimes more. That's about 25% commission and that's bullshit. In a real barbershop you average 70 to 80% commission, unless you do booth rent.
They promote the most psycho, gullible sheep to management. My manager was a total bitch and would pick certain stylists to pick on and be mean to. If she was mad at you, you would be on your hands and knees scrubbing the floor.
A barbershop in town went out of business and a customer came in and said it was our fault that he has to come here now. I said “no, it's your fault. You're choosing to make us work here, we cant get jobs at real salons and barbershops because everyone is choosing to come to these places. You could have found a new barbershop but you chose to come here. I assure you, none of us want to work here”
God forbid you ask for a day off without giving 3 weeks notice and a good enough reason.
That's not even the half of it, but i got my point across.
Please support real salons and barbershops that are owned by licensed stylists and barbers. Great Clips franchise owners do not do hair, they are just using and abusing our industry for their own gain. Salons and barbershops are struggling to stay alive because of shit places like great clips.