Worst job i ever had - Sales Associate/Cashier Bath & Body Works Employee Review

1.0
18 Mar 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

It smelled amazing but sometimes the smell was too strong. Loved seeing new products/unboxing inventory was fun. merchandise out of stock sales - employees are allowed to fill a small bag with product for $5, the product is typically old design or overstock, maybe holiday items as well

Cons

I could go on and on about the bad things at this place. First of all only management gets full time hours Second, i was only given 3 or 6 hours per week sometimes. The management at the store i worked in was hiring people nonstop when there wasnt enough hours to go around, which usually all go to the full time higher ups. Terrible training, sit in front of a computer in the back of the store and when it came time to "walk around the floor and learn about the scents" they just threw me out on the floor and told me to go look around. Nobody is on the same page there- one manager told me i had to have a higher up take my temp before clocking in.. then when i asked one of the managers to come take my temp she said "you can do it yourself you arent a baby." So i did it myself and the other higher up asked me if i had someone take my temp and i replied no, she reminded me again of how i cant do it myself. The management checks your bag at the front counter when you are clocking in, going to break or coming back from break, and clocking out. Its rather embarrassing to have your personal stuff rummaged through in front of customers at the counter like youre some sort of thief. I was really excited to work at this place in the beginning but I realized its a revolving door for a reason. The whole management team needs to be fired. One day the managers were laughing about how one of them wanted a day off for her birthday and she was sure she could get someone to cover because everyone wanted hours at the time. Management was demeaning and mentally abusive. It was a slow day and i was cleaning behind the registers for almost a half an hour. Finally i stopped and was standing at the register and the manager told me i needed to find something to do. I asked what i should do and she said to stock the soap shelf. The soap shelf had clearly already been stocked recently when someone else had nothing to do so i went to fiddle with the soaps like she suggested. Later in the day i was supposed to rearrange the soaps to match the pictured display in the drawer. I saw multiple soaps that were pictured as having 3 rows yet the display we had only had 2 rows with a random soap that shouldnt have been there. I decided to ask the higher up if i was supposed to correct the rows to make them match and she snapped "dont you think someone else already made that decision?" Another day i was pulled aside and told i was "over sanitizing" the counter in between customers. She said i could be irritating the customers by taking too long and that i only needed to sanitize where the person touched the counter, which went against what i was told before which was to sanitize EVERYTHING after each customer including the pin pad and counter. The best decision i ever made was to no call no show. I felt mentally broken by the time i decided not to go back. Oh and lastly, i had my phone in my back pocket and one of the higher ups came up to me to tell me only management can have their phones on the floor. I said oh ok. She said you can actually go put it away right now. I wasnt even on my phone, it was in my pocket. Apparently having a child at home is no excuse to carry a phone at work.

Explore other reviews about Bath & Body Works

5.0
3 Jun 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I previously worked in the field (for a different brand) and we were always so weary of corporate teams coming into the stores. However, the corporate team at Bath & Body Works is absolutely incredible, supportive, and does everything they can to advocate for the stores. The entire Store Ops team is full of people who care deeply about the brand, the store associates, and the customer.

Cons

A lot of meetings. But being remote, it was nice to see faces throughout the day!

1.0
7 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good discounts on merchandise, easy work.

Cons

I would have loved to purchase some of their products conisdering the 40% off discount for employees, but they failed to pay me enough to sustain myself let alone buy from their store! I was getting paid about $150 every two weeks! They never notified me about how little I'd be working or about what my schedule would be like, my shifts were completely random. If you want a set schedule each week. this job isn't for you, you're lucky to get 1 shift a week that only lasts about 3-4 hours. Once again, my supervisors failed to mention this, thinking it was more important that I know how to sell products than whether or not I get paid enough to survive. I don't know why there was so much emphasis on selling merchandise to customers anyway, these products practically sell themselves. I had a lot of questions starting out since I was a NEW EMPLOYEE and all and had never worked a job like this in my life, but for some reason my supervisors failed to see this and instead made me feel ashamed and embarassed for asking the simplest of questions. They'd actually get mad and a little sassy at me for asking a question, like where a specific item was or how to do a return. I have to remind you, I had just started and my shifts were so sporadic it was difficult to retain all the info, so I HAD to ask questions.

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