SEPHORA — Attraction in Palo Alto

Future potential employees beware. I had a phone interview with one of the assistant managers, then an in person with another assistant manager and finally another in person interview with the store manager. I would like to point out several red flags regarding this location and it's management team. During my first in person interview with the assistant manager, we spoke about my application for operations associate and my background in customer service. While I understand wanting to place people where you believe they are best suited, not every person needs to be on the sales floor. The manager also mentioned other potential positions, like event coordinator given my history of coordinating both formal and informal events and "leadership roles" which she didn't specify. It was also mentioned that they had full time positions available. I found this surprising as retail does not generally offer this to employees unless you are in management. Overall the interview was friendly and informative, albeit misleading. The final interview was with the store manager, we chatted back and forth about the open positions, where she thought I would be a good fit verses what I had applied for. During this time, she also mentioned that everyone does a bit of everything. I stated that if that's the case, the only difference must be in the pay rate, which I asked her about directly. She did not answer me directly, only stating that it was a $2-$3/hr dollar an hour difference between positions. She did not state what each position paid even though I asked her directly. This is a red flag and also just shady. I also mentioned that her assistant manager had brought up an events coordinator open position and leadership positions that were full time. She replied that neither position was full time and that she didn't see me as a good fit for either. There were many inconsistencies between the 2 interviews. I would recommend that all management get on the same page before talking about open positions with potential employees. This could avoid a lot of confusion and misinformation. I also believe that when asked directly what the the job pays, management (especially the store manager) should state the pay rate. California SB 1162 states that any business with 15 or more employees must provide a pay scale for a position in any job posting. I have retail history in addition to customer service in tech. I fully understand that no one is getting rich off of working in retail....unless you plan to climb the retail ladder. I don't have any intentions to do so, but there are many aspects to working retail that I do enjoy, like the camaraderie, the physicality, interactions with the public, extra income, etc.

Lastly, the manager mentioned at the end of the interview (which was on a Wednesday) that she would let me know by Friday. I never received a phone call either way. This is unprofessional at the very least, and just plain tacky at best. A manager sets the tone for how the store is run. At the time of this post, it has been 2 weeks...

Some store employees are rude or clueless. I asked for a foundation sample for two similar shades, she stared for a second and abruptly told me it's store policy each person has a limit of three samples, and after the two samples, I can only get one more, like I just hang around their store all day scamming samples? Lol I ask for samples not even once every two years and it's usually to decide which shade to get in a foundation. It's very hard to pick the best shade without applying it to the entire face and study if/how they oxidize throughout the day, how they look under different lighting, how well they play with your other face products etc. Would you rather I purchase 4 bottles to try and return 3??!! And another time I asked someone why the haus lab foundations are labeled differently from other foundations - cool tones are yellow and warm tones are pink, and her answer was they are the are not any different from other brands. Umm what?? Do you even know makeup. And sometimes you get brand representatives posing as Sephora employees trying to redirect you to their own counters. Someone came up to me asking if I needed a shade match while I was swatching a concealer. When I hesitantly said sure, she swatched the shade on me, and told me she knows this similar concealer that she "heard" is better and "thinks" is more longer lasting, and redirected me to a different brand - didn't even ask what kind of concealer I'm looking for specifically or what my skin type is. I later realized her shirt/name tag that...

I walked in after it had been a long time since I'd even been to the mall since they closed the original location. I knew what I wanted to buy and I came in looking for two particular items. I was not greeted nor acknowledged with a smile. I felt like these employees did not fit the location (Stanford) and what it means me as a local working Veteran. One older male came out a little after I had walked halfway through the store but only to tell me how to spray one of my favorite perfumes -JoMalone Orange Blossom. He did Not give me a positive response from him talking to me from so far on the other side of the show casing I was standing by. He didn't even introduce himself nor smile. A lot of new staff but only a four of the female employees of all were genuine and approachable. I'm glad I took a look at the layout. That way I just help myself since I know that employees at this Newly remodeled Sephora will not be approachable nor all genuine when customers are in front of them. . I have to mention they were more concerned talking about private things amongst themselves than giving any sort of acknowledgement to all customers. It is Very Unfortunate to see such a highly known company take such a turn by down grading to poor customer service when...