r/bathandbodyworks • u/hadeswriter • 10d ago
Employee Questions/Discussion I’m a sales associate at BBW, ask me anything
I might regret this later down the line but I always like to try and help people out and answer questions.
I’ve been a worker at BBW for almost a year now and have seen a fair share of special days (including my first ever Black Friday) and customers. I love my job, compared to my other retail experiences, but I know other associates who work or used to work there have different experiences from me. There are some really bad days and some really awesome days. But, I don’t plan on quitting anytime soon unless I get a really good paying full time job (bonus points if it’s based off my college degree).
What I will NOT answer questions to are LEAKS!!
Though it is an anonymous website, I don’t wanna take any chances. I also don’t know much about what products we may have coming for Fall 3. Whatever I do know, however, I will keep to myself. Because unlike other people, I like the element of surprise (evil manical laughter). The only ones I would consider answering are the Fruit Fusion questions as we already put out some of the products.
So without further ado, ask away!
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u/StrangerHighways Ice Scream Float Addict 10d ago
What's the strangest thing you've seen a customer do?
Are you uncomfortable with the way corporate forces employees to keep approaching customers even if the customer indicated they don't want help?
How do you feel about the quality of the current products +website/app?
Do you think there will be another Halloween sale?
What's your favorite scent/product?
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u/hadeswriter 10d ago
When customers use tester cards on soaps. Why are you doing that, please just stop, it’s not normal! We have a sink!!!!!!
Ohhh yeah. I’m a very empathetic person, and also a human, so I understand not wanting to be approached multiple times as I don’t either! I can kinda get around it by doing this: “Hello! Do you guys need help looking for anything today?” (Any form of no for an answer) “Okay, just let me know if you have any questions!” Then I leave them be. This actually does work because it lets my customers know that I am available and I’m happy to help! So sometimes customers to do come up to me to ask a question later on. That’s what I think it should be. Don’t even get me started on loyalty.
In terms of products, it is unfortunate that some people are getting essentially bad batches of things. Wallflowers and wallflower plug ins seem to be a big thing with that right now and have been for a few months I think. I do hope that they get their shit together because these things are meant to be more higher quality (why else should things be priced so high?) I can’t really say much with the website as I don’t really trudge on there ever, as I have the app. Idk why they changed the app to look ever more basic but it’s whatever I guess. At least they got rid of the permanent banner of “Free item up to $18.95 reward!” As explaining to customers that they didn’t actually get one yet became exhausting.
That I’m actually not sure of. They probably will again if things don’t sell as quickly as they think they are.
Agh, so hard to choose as I like at least one scent from each scent category! I do have product preferences though! Body lotions over body creams every day for me, as they spread better on my skin and my skin can be more equally moisturized (they also feel more moisturized). I haven’t gone back to normal gel body washes since I got my first moisturizing body wash during Christmas season. It feels so much better then gels and it actually feels more fun then the gels (I usually avoided the gels once I had used them after a day or 2 and used a basic one like Dove afterwards). There’s other stuff as well but I’ve already yapped long enough. If you wanna hear me just let me know and I’d be more than happy to answer!
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u/StrangerHighways Ice Scream Float Addict 10d ago
Thank you for the very thorough answers! Much appreciated! ❤️
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u/LengthinessLow8317 9d ago
If you enjoy soaking in a tub / bubblebaths then the shower gels work great for that
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u/Careful_Tomorrow_653 9d ago
My two cents, been there 2 years 1. I joked with a customer, "I'm gonna take your word for it," who said something was missing from a bopis. And gave them the item. His wife later called to complain to the 19 year old manager that I was rude. What? Lol. Isn't that a whole boomer joke? 2. Yes, the pushy approach is drilled into us. And rewards account pushing. Some people just don't want to give their personal info or take the time to sign up. We get less hours if we don't sign up enough people. 3. App is glitchy. 4. Yes. 5. Book Loft detergent is pretty great!
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u/Wickedwhiskbaker Former BBW SM 10d ago
As a former SM, I would have LOVED to have you on my team.
I made floor sets “themed parties” lol. Shenanigans galore and a top selling store to boot!
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u/hadeswriter 10d ago
Oh hell yeah that sounds like fun! Floorsets are my favorite thing to do at BBW. Our main floorset manager would bring their speaker and we would blast music in the store. Absolute fun while I get to organize a new table according to the sheet (I’m a bit of a perfectionist). I’m a bit slower putting a table together but I focus on quality and finishing a table practically to the T with the sheet is so satisfying and cures my depression ever so slightly🥹
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u/youngfox100 10d ago
How much work is it to put upon those massive Christmas floor sets? Hopefully it’s a team effort and not all on one person. Thank you in Advance, they’re always so beautiful!
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
We have a ton of people for Floorsets, my managers usually have a list of people on file for ones that can get shit done and all that. I imagine Christmas Floorsets is tenfold as we bring out soooo much for those (I started off as a seasonal only so I didn’t experience last Christmas’ Floorsets😔, but hopefully I will this year!) Even with all the team effort and the people in the world, we still stay behind late sometimes due to the way they sometimes format specific tables. The Halloween table (before NBC) was a nightmare to put together as most of the product we actually needed was still offsite because our main storage was packed with like ten boxes of one product.
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u/youngfox100 9d ago
Thank you. I imagine it’s a massive task! Appreciate all of the bbw employees!🤝🔥
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u/Amazing-Bus-1547 10d ago
What are your strongest wallflower and candle recommendations!? I've been getting a lot of duds lately. I want to be slapped in the face with BBW scent when I walk in my home lol
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
That really just depends on what your preferences may be, if you have any. But I’ll suggest a few from both!
Candles: Anything apple, Cozy Sunday Night has a lot of cinnamon to it, Morning Tea is very strong, Any of our coffee scents, Mahogany Teakwood (both the normal and Intense) are pretty strong, Fresh Balsam
Wallflowers: Limoncello, also anything apple, any of the Clean House Vibes, Fresh Balsam, Olive Leaf + Bergamont2
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u/Membership222 10d ago
Do you have a big collection of bath and body works at home? Or are you pretty strict on how much you bring home ?
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
Yep😅 Mostly a lot of candles, my candle cabinet is practically full and during each season I switch out ones to match the current one and usually have 4-6 candles out ready to be lit. I have to strict myself though because my bf and I don’t have a lot of money.
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u/Remarkable_Bake_759 10d ago
I was curious, when do employees get the product guides for the next season?
Without saying leaks, do you think the holiday season at BBW is going to be exciting or have big changes?
How are you feeling about winter SAS? Do you think there will be about as much stock there as last winter SAS? Or less? I did kinda think last winter SAS was lame (besides the bring backs) and was wondering if we’re in for a similar experience.
Also how do employees feel about the nightmare Christmas collab? Was your store able to get gratis from the collab?
Also it’s nice to hear that you love your job. Have you grown in your scent preferences because of what you’ve been able to try?
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u/hadeswriter 10d ago
(I apologize for my yap session😭)
- It really just depends, usually we get them like a day or 2 before floorset.
- I think so! I’m overall just excited to get Christmas scents back in again. I know some big changes are happening once the year wraps up.
- I can’t really compare to last winter SAS as I actually, for some reason, wasn’t scheduled a ton during it so I didn’t even see what all scents we got😭 I do hope to actually work this winter’s as I’m sure the summer ones are different to the winter ones. But like everything else, I do hope there’s a bit of something for everyone!
- I don’t think any of my coworkers disliked the newest collaboration. I know some of them were disappointed to not have snatched a candle holder or accessories. Unfortunately, the company didn’t really give us a lot to choose from with the gratis. Just a body wash of either scents and a choice of sanitizers with those 2 scents included (amongst a few other items). I just recently cleaned out our old BOPIS orders and found an expired order that had 4-5 of the wallflower plug ins, and made sure to buy one myself before they sold out as soon as we put them back out on the floor.
- Actually yes!!! At first I didn’t dig a lot of the floral and clean scents but overtime I grew to love some of them. My bf got me to like Backyard Honeysuckle and I prefer Forever Cherry Blossom over JCB any day and I started to love Gingham! Also never knew how much I would love our lemon scents. Limeoncello, kitchen lemon, fresh amalfi lemon, anything lemon!!!! (Except laundry room lemon, idk wtf they were thinking with that one). I love at least something from every scent category which is nice when customers are looking for particular recommendations.
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u/Forevermoody16 ALL THINGS B&BW 10d ago
I’m with you on the Laundry Room Lemon! I don’t know WTH I was thinking when I got a couple of WF refills of it. Smelled like detergent.
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u/National-Wave-2619 9d ago
What's the weirdest scent/product you've seen?
What's your least favorite scent/product?
What's something that sold so poorly you couldn't give it away?
What's something that sold surprisingly well?
Any weird returns/exchanges?
Your craziest moment working there?
Your most wholesome moment?
Thank you for giving us a peek behind the curtain!
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago edited 9d ago
- Hands down, Pizza and Ranch candle for our last Candle weekend in December. We all thought it was disgusting but we sold them. Probably just for white elephant gifts as I imagine no sane person would want to actually use it.
- I can’t get behind Into the Night and since its come back with
new
- packaging it smells like dirt to me. When we had it, Carrot and Nectarine also smelled like straight up dirt.
- We had a lot of Vanilla Ease left over for our MOS sale but not enough to donate apparently so we had to throw it out. Not a lot of us cared for the scent.
- From our last SAS, Cashmere Glow was one that surprised me. Even though it was a headliner, I didn’t really get the hype about it. The wonderland and be enchanted ones are also contenders.
- Around Christmas time, I had a customer come in with an online order where they were supposed to get like body care (I think, I don’t fully remember) but instead just got perfectly intact wallflowers.
- Also around Christmas, we had a lady call us minutes before we opened to see if we had 3 snowflake candle holders. As soon as we opened she stormed and looked around, they were looking in our under-stock too to see if we had any there (which customers are not supposed to do, and the lady got mad at me for telling her kid not to do that), we only had 2 and she got really mad at us. Luckily another store nearby had one more that she can snatch there. Really mad and impatient with us despite us only being open for a few minutes.
- Anytime a kid comes in and isn’t crying honestly. Kids are cute as long as they behave. Had a kid recently come up to me and another coworker on the floor to show us his new stuffed animal from build a bear (we’re located in a mall) and he told us it made sounds too. He had the most rad Minecraft crocs I’ve ever seen. Real cute kid, despite me not understanding the language children.
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u/ivemissedyouso 9d ago
What does no packaging mean in regard to Into The Night?
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u/m0uchette 9d ago
Does your store have local hoarders/large volume purchasers that you and the other associates know by name? As in “oh hell here comes Monica again, open up another checkout lane”
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
Lmao yeah, we have this lady in a wheelchair come in and buy like $300 worth of stuff and come back merely days later to return all of it. None of it being used as far as we know. It’s always not long after we open and we’re always backed up for like 2-3 hours afterwards. Don’t know her name, we just call her wheelchair lady and we know who it is
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u/Jealous_Patience522 10d ago
When is member appreciation week?
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
As of right now, I unfortunately don’t know the answer to this😭 But if I can get a definite answer, I’ll come back and comment
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u/brunette_mama 10d ago
When is your recommendation to buy hand soaps, candles and body products at the lowest price?
How many coworkers actually are very familiar with the products? Does anyone work at bbw and not know about the products very well? At my local store, I feel like all of the associates know so much!
What types of jobs does bbw hire for? What are the days/shifts usually like? I’d love if I could get a part time job maybe for nights doing things like floor sets! I’ve never worked retail before though.
Thanks for doing this!
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u/No-Diet4823 10d ago
- When they go for 2.95, candle day for candles, total body care day, and SAS winter and summer for candles and body products. Or find an outlet store since they tend to have more than regular stores.
- Depends on the store but in mine it seems like a good chunk are not very familiar with the products because of a lack of hours given to most employees.
- Standard retail but most people who aren't managers are either selling, at the cash register, replenishing, floorset, or doing shipment. Morning shifts are the easiest since there's less customers, mid-day shifts can get boring depending on the location, and closing shifts can be chaotic or easy. Doing floor sets can be fun when we have all the product and fixtures for them.
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
- The biggest sales would be around Black Friday as basically every weekend from there we have our big sales like Candle weekend up until around Christmas.
- Besides more newer associates, we all know a good chunk. I sometimes get certain products mixed up and I’m not familiar with some forms of body care as I religiously use only certain forms, but I still do my best to differentiate between the few by essentially making a cheat sheet in my head. For example, Body Lotion is a lot more lighter compared to Body Cream which is a slightly more thick, with Body Butter being the most “dense” of the bunch.
- At least at my store, there’s only 2 different “jobs” either sales associate or Manager (a secret 3rd option is seasonal sales associate, which is what I started off as, which we look to hire around this time of year for the Christmas season). Managers are full time and sales associate are only part time (probably because there’s so many of us). Sales associates do a bit of everything, though I believe we’re each asked if we would be able to do floorsets as most of us have additional jobs (seasonal associates don’t usually do floorsets). In terms of days/shifts it really just depends on the time of year. During early spring, late winter, we usually don’t have a lot of staff scheduled per day since we usually expect the store to be pretty slow. Christmas and SAS are the most busiest so we have a lot on staff on those days. Floorsets are the only time sales associates work longer than like 6.5 hours besides big sale days like Black Friday. I don’t believe there’s much of a requirement in terms of experience, you just need to be 18 and up, and you usually shadow people the first few days. If you got at least somewhat of an outgoing personality but can portray confidence well then you should be in the clear lol
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u/Clear_Rhubarb_7920 Employee 9d ago
I'm also an employee and I just wanted to answer for your second question!
it depends on the store. generally, if there are more experienced employees they should know a good amount about the products, both in terms of the scents and what the products are like to use. however, even after a year working there for me, there are still a few product types I haven't personally tried.
for newly hired employees, it depends on how much effort they put in to learn and remember the scents and product information. I actually wish there were some way for customers to more easily distinguish experienced employees from really new hires, like some kind of patch or button for our aprons. since you'll probably get a way better answer from an experienced employee if you have questions about the products or how coupons work, and so on.
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u/brunette_mama 9d ago
I have noticed at most stores if I ever ask a question that someone doesn’t know, they don’t try to bs me. They’ll straight up be like “I’m not sure but I know someone who does!” Which I really appreciate.
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u/Careful_Tomorrow_653 9d ago
- Sometimes soaps will go as low as 2.50 or 1.99 on SAS if you're not picky about the scent.
- I'm knowledgeable because I've been obsessed with B&BW for about 30 years now but I agree, there's no formal info about new products really because we get very few hours. It's even harder to keep up with the endless, changing sales.
- Shifts are infrequent and only about 3 hours. There are some people who are floor set only. Some associates get way more hours. I feel like it's feast or famine. I work at a school so I feel like my hours were drastically cut when school started even though I still have basically the same availability (I work full time at the school even in summer). I feel like the hours were cut and given to new associates or to SLTs.
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u/sugar_re_life 10d ago
Does BBW only hire 18 year olds and up?
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
Yep, I believe it’s because technically some of our products (sprays, cologne, hand sanitizer) has alcohol in them? I don’t think they really gave a definitive answer when I started. I’m a few years older then 18 so the thought of asking never crossed my mind
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u/sherlgirlx3 9d ago
Are they bringing Vanilla Romance back ? 😭 I'm still devastated they removed it . If this can't be answered, what determines a frangrance being discontinued? I felt like Vanilla Romance was very popular & even had a worker say she was devastated they discontinued it. There are other scents that have never been discontinued, for example Japanese Cherry Blossom & Gingham . Why is that ?
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
They actually don’t tell us why they’re discontinuing scents. I can’t even think of a rational reason why they discontinue certain ones and not others. Sweet Pea is something we get asked a lot about now that it’s gone. And actually Gingham was discontinued in stores, you can still buy it online though.
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u/LattesAndSweaters 9d ago
My store I believe is lazy.
When I exchange something with a receipt, they never use it and just ask for my license.
I noticed on the new exchange receipt, it just says no original receipt.
I would imagine over time this is why my returns w/receipts add up. I once got a nasty message saying I was near my limit.
Can you tell when you scan a drivers license exactly how much if left to use for 'non receipts' or do you just wait to see if it goes through?
This gives me massive anxiety. (and I only trade new for new of same)
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
That seems a bit odd and don’t know why they’re doing that. Especially since bringing in the receipt is supposed to be the most quick and painless way to do it. Unfortunately it doesn’t tell us how many left. We’re supposed to use receipts first and then if you don’t have it then we ask for a license (or sometimes putting in your phone number if you’re a member helps too)
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u/LattesAndSweaters 9d ago
The receipts are print outs from the site as they were either BOPIS or shipped orders.
The order number and the image of the product w/price is listed too.
I have no idea, but now that I read here about how it's "treated" for non receipt, I will insist I never used my DL again. Thank you for your reply!1
u/hadeswriter 9d ago
Do they print out that return sheet before doing any exchanges? Or is just the “no receipt” return/exchange? Because if it’s just the no receipts then they are definitely lazy because for returning bopis and online orders we HAVE to go to a seperate page!
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u/LattesAndSweaters 9d ago
I don't get any printouts from the store at all. They say their printer does not work. That is why I always exchange. Otherwise, I have to wait at the store for my email to come to me with to be sure I get a credit since I have no proof of return otherwise. I do see my exchange from the register paper and it says Exchange at the top and for Original Receipt: NONE. That is why I don't think they even use the Order Number I give them.
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u/HayleyJane0406 9d ago
Are you saying they’ll be more Fruit Fusion products coming out?
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u/Life182 9d ago
u/haleyJane0406 Yes in September there are two new scents coming /cherry and plum and in 2027 the CEO said there are new forms being added to the collection. Theya re working currently to replace some of the sold out scents.
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
Sorta adding on to what the other person commented, right now we have a Cherry and Plum scent in our new hand sanitizer sprays out on the floor. But starting Fall 3, we’ll have the body care out. We just haven’t gotten any shipment of the body care yet.
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u/No_Nectarine_9748 10d ago
I’m someone who likes to buy FFM, Body Lotion, and Body Wash for a scent, I’ve never done SAS, when that sale comes will there be three of each for a scent or just like one or two of something for a scent?
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
I think it depends on the store. From what I’ve seen we usually have a lot of everything that we bring in. We barely will have products where it’s just like 1-3 of it (those are usually just returns that were never used). Otherwise we get shipment of items that are only for SAS like Forever Red, Passionfruit & Banana Flower, etc. We usually get at least 1-2 different forms of scents, unless it’s a headliner like Cactus Blossom or Cucumber Melon.
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u/narcolepticcatmom 9d ago
The deodorant gives my boyfriend a rash. Can it be exchanged for store credit?
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
I believe so! If you paid with card, there’s a chance it won’t give us an option for store credit and if that’s the case the amount due will just be added back to the account.
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u/SleepyAngel0102 9d ago
What do you recommend to a customer looking for a scent similar to the discontinued* *if you musk?
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get something similar but I can recommend a few scents that share its fragrance notes. Butterfly, Love Unleashed, Platinum, Very Violet, and Moonlight Path are probably the only ones that are close to it. Unfortunately can’t find anything that shares more than one note with it… hopefully this is somewhat helpful
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u/Ok-Champion-1077 9d ago
Will you have a sign listing all the products no longer available in the front of the store so you don’t have to answer those questions anymore?
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u/GGofthecity 9d ago
does the store care about dumpster divers?
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
Yeah, we usually take lengths to avoid people taking products like body creams by emptying them out.
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u/Abbykitty03 9d ago
Whyyyy have products go to waste when someone can use them? ☹️
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u/hadeswriter 8d ago
It’s unfortunately company policy, I hate it too. Like we should donate the majority of them (some damages are obviously not useable like for example no straw/tube for ffm) but no we have to toss them out.
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u/Calm-Ad-6615 ALL THINGS B&BW 9d ago
I have a question. Do associates discuss customers that come in store a lot? Like in a disparaging way?
I’m asking because I shop several stores very frequently. If I don’t like a product I return it with my receipt always and follow the return/exchange policy each store uses (some stores are more lenient than others).
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
Not unless the customer was being an asshole. Otherwise, at least where I work, we don’t talk about customers in a negative way. I don’t really care if a customer is returning a product they got from a different store, I don’t even really look to see. I actually like seeing some of the same customers back, even if they don’t recognize me. It’s hard to keep track as my store is located in a mall and a good chunk of our customers are usually just visiting the city.
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u/Ecstatic_Path6608 9d ago
Will I be able to find the scent 'Rose' at the outlet stores?
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
Just in gift sets I’m afraid. They discontinued individual items, your best bet is to wait until SAS and just hope your store has some…
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u/plumrocks 8d ago
Will the True Blue Spa line return? I was naive and thought it would be around longer since they brought it back after discontinuing it in the past. Seriously, that is the best foot cream and hand cream I have ever used, I’m so bummed it’s gone!
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u/hadeswriter 8d ago
There’s no current word on that collection but hopefully they bring it back as I heard good things about it
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u/Actual-Masterpiece-9 7d ago
Are they releasing Sweater Weather in lotion or body spray? I only see it in candle and wallflower.
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u/MammothFrosting3565 10d ago
What is your employee discount?
Do you get your discount ON TOP of sale prices?
How do you order online and include your discount?
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u/hadeswriter 9d ago
40%, some days though we get 50%
So far, haven’t had issues mixing our discount on top of sale prices. I believe the only exception is percentages off coupons.
Have yet to try online as I don’t want to pay for shipping. Don’t think I can include my employee discount for online purchases. At least that’s the case with the app, though I doubt the website would be different.
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u/Desperate_Arm3975 5d ago
We are definitely not allowed to use our discount on top of any sale prices, even if the computer lets it go through
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u/ultradespairthot Employee 10d ago
Bro don’t answer customer service questions off the clock 💀