Junior Graphic Designer | Oak Brook, IL | Nov 7, 2012
First Industry Job After College: Dilbert's World Finally Made Sense To Me
Ace Hardware Corporation is located in Oak Brook, IL, a Chicago area suburb. I relocated to Chicago for this job after college and the commute to work and back each day was brutal. It left little time to enjoy life outside of work in Chicago by the time I'd get back to the apartment and on weekends I'd visit family Rockford. Lots of car time with this job.
With regards to the environment: gray and red walls, gray cubicles and that's about it. It wasn't a professional creative environment and required khakis and a dress shirt to be worn to work each day. I learned to get used to it, but not an environment that spurred original thought, which is what drives advertising and marketing's best campaigns and most designers who excel in my profession.
I worked on an in-house ad team with six veteran production designers. We answered to one Creative Director who didn't know how to use her computer, or understood the software upgrades that we needed. She was honest with us and often needed us to explain to her why we needed Quark, Photoshop and Illustrator upgrades to do our work. She also had no knowledge of hardware issues and needs. Requesting more memory for our Macs to deal with hi-res photos for mass distribution in weekly circulars and store signage at quicker pace was denied by her superiors many times because she thought R.A.M. and Memory were two separate items to request for six computers. We had a hard time with her as our boss because she knew nothing about our professio
Prosad team members were awesome, good people, record hunting lunches, security of a job
Conscommute to work, creative director had no design, computer or software experience, terrible commute home, work i did there not beneficial to portfolio
1.0
Retail Assistant Manager | Middleton, MA | Mar 1, 2019
Cashier, Back up key holder, B2B, Middleton MA
Very easy and laid back interview process. I was interviewed for management but was passed over for someone with 2 years of cashier experience with the company and no management skills. I instead was offered the position of back up key holder and B2B Sales. The only good thing about the job was that the pay was above average at $13,00/hr for a full time position. Management was scary bad. I was brought in to improve the business to business sales and increase the store's profits. I presented a full notebook on standard ideas that I have seen other company's used as well as methods I had used my self to grow my own company that had a proven track record of increasing profitability. Every one of them was ignored. The company would send a max of 4 leads a week out to the store on average but most of the time it was the same 4 leads you had contacted the week before. The owners of those companies after three weeks of relentless calling stated that it was harassment. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I was treated more like a babysitter than a customer service professional responding to the needs of inept employees who didn't have the character to do the job that would constantly be yelling back at the customer and insulting them. The manager seemed to not care about growing the store or hiring people experienced in customer service instead opting to hire first time workers with no experience in the field. The
Prospay
Consway too many to make it worth working here.
3.0
Retail Sales Associate | Littleton, CO | Apr 9, 2019
A good stepping stone
A typical day at work usually involved a wide variety of things, from cashiering to stocking and cleaning as well as customer service. Depending on how willing you are to try new things, you can end up doing most everything in the store including key cutting and bbq deliveries. No day is the exact same but you will have certain things you do each day. In my case I learned about so many store products and tools, parts, screw and bolt sizes, pipe, glass and plexiglass cutting, assembling and delivering grills, inventory maintenance, merchandising, and much more.
My manager was pretty great but had his mean moments, as does anyone, and i could definitely sense that the owners were penny pinchers, sometimes to the detriment of the employees. For me the hardest part of the job was when you had a specific mission to accomplish but couldn't because of how many customers needed help, and due to the customer service - oriented nature of Ace Hardware ("Ace is the helpful place"), I sometimes would find myself very frustrated and having to stay late. Another thing that annoyed me was it seemed like there were a lot of people working there that did not care to do their jobs correctly to the degree that it would make more work for me in the end. I also felt that they had me doing some things that were over my pay grade such as dangerous glass cutting (even though i was good and safe at it) and in one instance fixing the paint machine myself without any prior knowledge and a terrible cust
ProsGreat discounts and culture, flexible schedule, learning opportunities
Being a cashier at ace, I believe you should be paid more than 9.00 an hour! From learning how to make keys to making paint, I shouldn't be getting paid minimum wage when I have a lot on my plate. Before I started working at ace, I thought the environment was positive and friendly. I remember the interviews being smooth and I also liked how one of the managers said that they communicate there. That was something that my last job didn't do so I felt like this job was going to be better. Working at this place was a roller coaster but I'm going to start off with the pros. The pros was: The place closed at 8 (at my old job I had to work 2 extra hours so it was cool to close around this time), The place was nearby, and lastly some of the coworkers were cool. One of the biggest cons that I had with ace is that We were always short. I never understood how we never had enough people working when it was needed on the floor. I found myself always hearing from my manager that we're short because someone called off and I felt like they shouldve had a punishment for that instead of having people do what they wanted to do. Its not fair for someone else to take on that work when the person should've came in. Another problem I had with ace is some of the coworkers. For example, If you are hard on me for something and not hard on the other coworker for the same thing then thats unfair! I found myself in that situation twice and from two different people. And the last thing that I found a con
ProsThe location was close, The place closed at 8, Some of the coworkers worked as a team, Could be a beginner job for someone that want work experience
ConsWe were always short, drama, lying training video, Not all of us are experts, The pay should be higher for cashiers, They kept hiring people that don't want to work
I interviewed with Harleysville Hardware not out of curiosity. I already had a great offer from ADT Security, but was curious about Ace since I had heard great things about the store. The owner, who does all the hiring seemed like a great guy and made me a good offer. He wanted to grow a department in the store that was not doing what it should. Now I have 30 years of retail management and sales experience so I was taken aback at some of the business pracctices(or lack there of). Schedules are not done a week or two in advance like in normal business procedures. The shedules are "talked" about with the owner then printed daily, with the owner requesting changes constantly to fit poor or no planning and oIther issues that could have been resolved with planned and well thought out schedules. They also do not do a standard or traditional inventory. They basically "cycle count" areas seemingly at random.
There is lot of pandering, as family embers of the "CFO" work in various areas of the store. They are mostly christian baptists who seemed kind and caring until you say something wrong or question practices that are business standards in the world and are not followed in this family owned business. The staff for the most part are excellent people, who are the real reason for the sucess of the store, regardless of the "CFO" and her lack of understanding for standard business and HR practices. This is unfortunate for the owner has relinquished a lot of control to her... I was tre
ProsBonuses, praised by the owner and most of the staff
Consfailure to follow established business practices and the "CFO" and "the culture" stuff...
am retired and thought that the new Ace Hardware opening up within walking distance from my house would be a great place to work part time. I only wanted to work 4-6 hours a day, around 20 hours a week. The job itself was not too bad, except for the long hours. I rarely worked less than 6 hours and was going over 30 hours a week. They were short of cashiers so I offered to help out. But all employees are scheduled for a hour long lunch, no matter how many hours they worked that day. So for 6 hours, I was scheduled for 7 with an hour long lunch. I objected to working this many hours and the hour long lunch. I had an email from the General Manager stating part time employees get a half hour lunch. This episode blew up because of another employee. It was handled very badly by management making a phone call while I was working at the cash register. At that time, I took an hour long lunch and emailed by resignation to the GM. I finished off working the last week, but I also realized that they are always short of cashiers and this was not going to change. Training for cashiers was very bad. There were no helpful tutorials. It is just a person who does not want to train, trying to get you to understand everything by working the register for a few hours. Most of the job was simple, but there are things that are not often down and they have no helpful job aides. The computers when down twice while I was there. There are multiple windows to bring up, just to do little things. The softw
Prospart time
Conslow pay and management did not work with me on hours
Although the position I held was extremely satisfying, challenging, and was able to solve people's problems, the management level left a lot to be desired as they did not correct safety issues, affirm, train, and encourage the employees. They would give responsibilities without any authority, or power, to carry them out. There weren't any job descriptions to have your performance gauged by. They would exclude you when it came to what plans were for your area of responsibility. They were not pro-active in settling disputes between people, even misunderstandings that sometimes arise. They would make work arrangements for those under your oversight, but never tell you what those arrangements were even though you were the department head. It is hard to maintain confidence in the top leadership's veracity, and often found them undermining your efforts, or not deal truthfully in matters, and at times lying outright. There was very little training in anything, and you were forced to figure things out for yourself. As an author once said: "the victory belonged to the average individual who saw what needed to be done and did it, not because of excellency in leadership". It is frustrating to work at a place where you find you can not trust those in authority above you.
On the nice side, it was a clean, orderly, and bright lit place to work in and had a lot of fun with the customers as several were repeat ones so that you could establish long term relationships. But the bi
I worked here for 4 years and it was great when I started out but slowly turned terrible. I started off getting paid $8.50 as a cashier, got bumped up to $9.00 and then $9.50 and then $10. I got promoted to lead cashier and did not get a raise because i got my “annual raise” which had nothing to do with my promotion, so no promotional raises. That also happened to my Front End Supervisor. I was lead cashier for two years then got demoted down to being a cashier without an actual reason under a new manager and floor supervisor who genuinely did not like me. Management picks favorites even though they say they don’t, and they treat the employees they don’t like very unfairly. They give the “Lead Cashier” and regular cashiers the right to make their own decisions on when it’s okay to tell a customer no, but then make you look like an idiot in front of customers and completely let the customer take advantage of returning items without receipts that are clearly stolen when you already told the customer no and are following company policy. Benefits were okay, couldn’t add my husband on to my medical because it would have been $350 a paycheck which was basically half of it. HR is an absolute joke and never get back to employees when needed. They change schedules on employees without telling them and then get mad when the employee’s don’t know. There is no room for advancement unless the person in the title above you quits or gets fired. The last two months before I quit I was scared
Prosdiscounts
Consliterally everything else, especially management
I work at the uptown Lakeville store in Minnesota and I applied here because I came from a previous job that was unfriendly and utterly horrible, when I was hired, it was a little intimidating at first for being a teenager in a world of hardware that I didn't know too much about, but everyone I worked with and for were willing to go the extra step to make sure I was trained in and if I had questions about something I didn't understand, they would be answered almost right away. If you love your job then you won't work a day in your life and my dad taught me that and I love working here; Working hours are flexible to you, Management is beyond respectful and amazing role models, half hour lunch break with fifteen minute breaks. If you are in high school or in need of a job and you don't know a thing on anything to do with hardware, tools, small engines like mowers, you will have everyone pitching in to help you so you can understand it and use that knowledge to go the extra mile helping customers at the store and for your own projects at home and I am extremely happy to say that my Co-workers and owners are like a second family to me and that's a good thing. Finally when it comes to working with customers you may get some people who are stubborn and thats really the only negative working here, but that's the part of customer service, and it's especially rewarding to help them find the solution to their issue that's making them upset and its great to see them leave the building o
Proshalf hour lunch breaks, Great Co-Workers, Above and Beyond customer service, great management and atmosphere, all around great place to learn even as an employee
ConsDealing with overly excited customers every once in awhile
It's hard to describe a "typical" day at westlake due to the ever changing work enviroment. However, with my focus being in hardware, I'd always begin the day by cleaning and facing my section, while helping meandering customer who looked puzzled or confused get the product(s) they needed. Typically we would spend the bulk of the day stocking freight, and performing the tasks managers would ask of us.
I was happy to have worked at Westlake. After working in a hardware store, and learning skills I will remember the rest of my life, it has really made me appreciate the knowledge I gained while in my time there. The experience gained will truly help me for years to come.
Working under the managers I did in my tenure with Westlake could not have been a better experience. Most were very fun, but still very job oriented and effecient. The management teams at Westlake really helped make the days go by quick.
The staff at Westlake were all pushed to do training at the cooperate offce, to be educated on the products we sold and much more. Because of this, my co workers were always prepared to lend a helping hand when needed. When we were all too busy to help, effective communication between the staff really helped to keep customers calm and get help to them as soon as possible.
After some thought, I would say the hardest part of my job is, for lack of better words, was the grunt work. Many of the physically challenging jobs were given to me, and by the end of the day sometimes I would
Prosacquired knowledge you'll remember the rest of your life.
Consworking outside all day had a tendancy to get very hot.
Franchise Betreiber der Amerikanischen Baumarkt Marke in Suedostasien, Malediven
An einem typischen Tag wuerde ich zwischen 08:15 und 10:00 meine Schicht beginnen. Die Ladenoeffnungszeiten sind von 08:30 bis 18:00 und von 20:00 bis 22:00. Die Arbeitszeit sind insgesamt 8 Stunden, wobei davon 1 Stunde als Mittagspause genutzt werden kann.
In der Regel kam ich in den Laden, begruesste Kassierer in Sektion 1, sah mir den Kundenverkehr und erfrage und ueberpruefte die Anwesenheit der Kollegen laut Schichtplan, um dem Store Manager davon Bericht zu erstatten falls der Laden zum Oeffnungszeitpunkt nicht voll oder sogar unzureichend bestzt ist.
Der naechste Schritt bestand, falls Personal noch nicht erschienen war, damit die Fehlenden anzurufen um zu ueberpruefen ob Sie noch kommen wuerden.
Danach, oder wenn alles Personal vollzaehlig war, legte ich meine Uniform (Rote Weste mit dem ACE Logo auf der Rueckseite) an, ueberpruefte die Funktion von Messband und Funkgeraet und ging durch den Upstairs Sektor des Ladens zu Sektion 2, um die Emails nach Anfragen fuer Kostenvoranschlaege und Informationsmails des Managements zu ueberpruefen.
Danach begann die taegliche Arbeit des Anbringens von Preisschildern, Neuorganisation und Aufraeumen der Produkte in den Regalen und sobald ein Kunde den Laden betritt, Kundenservice.
Wenn das Warenhaus eine Lieferung, entweder fuer eine Bestellung oder zum Auffuellen der Regale erhielt, war es meine Aufgabe anhand der Lieferliste die gelieferten Waren auf Vollstaendigkeit und RIchtigkeit zu ueberpruefen. Weiterhin war
ConsRasche Befoerderung nicht moeglich selbst bei Hochmotivation und Produktivitaet
Questions And Answers about Ace Hardware
What is the interview process like at Ace Hardware?
Asked May 1, 2016
Joke all the way around, from start to end.
Answered Dec 24, 2020
Owner will look over applications, he will call you in and he conducts the interview and he does the hiring.
Answered Jul 22, 2020
Why did you leave your job at Ace Hardware?
Asked Mar 15, 2017
Lack of support for the job I was assigned to
Answered Jun 22, 2019
I left because I wasn’t trained properly, was forced to work OT and an additional 6th day a week and was talked down to by management. This work environment is basically modern day slavery.
Answered Jun 15, 2019
What is the work environment and culture like at Ace Hardware?
Asked Jun 10, 2016
Ace is a friendly place to work. People there are happy to share responsibilties whennthe store is busy. Our manager even loads mulch when needed. Highly recommended if you get the opportunity to work there
Answered Dec 26, 2020
Living in the past.
Answered Oct 25, 2019
How did you get your first interview at Ace Hardware?
Asked Jun 17, 2016
A friend talked to his boss and told him I was great for the job.
Answered Jul 10, 2019
Just applied
Answered Oct 18, 2018
How would you describe the pace of work at Ace Hardware?
Asked Sep 21, 2016
Well, the whole daily operations comes with a percentage of job related stress. How well you learn to manage the stress in a high volume retail environment is how well personal success can be measured. The balance between cooperate directives, staying organized, and most of all providing the DIY customer and exemplary shopping experience isn't always as easy as a flow chart but there's a certain sense of accomplishment as an individual and a appreciation that without the commerodity of your team made the day much more easy to manage
Answered Mar 28, 2020
Depending on your position and day, it could be fast paced, other times it could be slow. For Yard/Carryout, when summer hits customers buy so many grills and lawnmowers. It feels like it never stops. When winter hits, all your pretty much doing is loading salt constantly, but there is times when it is dead.
So it depends on position and day.
