ZARA — Local services in New York

This is a nice Zara with a small children's section and the worst employees working there. The line in the Children's section was long and backed up. About 7 to 9 people on each line. There were two registers open, one on the left and one on the right. An employee came out and said to the two lines that there should be one line. We looked into the middle of the floor at multiple tall signs in the way that would absolutely prevent a line from forming in the center. We all collectively agreed to remain on the lines we were already one because that made no sense. The person holding up my line was doing a return, she was not even returning children's items or purchasing children's items, so right there, I don't know why they accepted her in the line. They should have directed her to a different line considering everyone else was in the right area for their purchases. The employee took over 30 minutes to do the returns and had to call several people over to help her in end, while also moving at the slowest pace I have ever seen, all the while having personal conversations. She was returning 2 items. The employee on the other side was moving even slower. Staring at the line, moving with absolutely no haste. I'm a patient person but we waited for about 50 minutes on the line before we decided to leave. By that time, the lines were still long, we were 3rd in line (only two people were seen before us in that time frame). The last straw was when the person after the women with the lengthy return was also doing a return and we overheard the employee once again having lengthy personal conversation instead of just doing the returns and moving on. The other employee randomly left without announcing in the middle of checking out a customer and another employee had to step in at another register to help with that second line. Everyone was visibly annoyed because there's really no reason to have to wait that long. If the employees don't even put in an effort why would I waste my time? Do you know how much time you cause others to waste. About an hour on a line after only be only being 5th in line is crazy. Many people on line only had 1 or 2 items in hand. One woman had 5 or so but still an hour is insane. I know how it is working a retail job but I would never purposely work slower after seeing a rush in the lines while initiating personal conversations with the people on line and not actually checking out the items while doing so. I wish I had a video of how slow the other employee was checking out and folding items while the other was getting the details on where the customer grew up. If I shop here again, I hope to never have to encounter these...

I really wasn’t going to post my negative experience here, but when I tried reaching Zara customer service to tell them, the chat mysteriously ended.

I had a really disappointing experience here this past Tuesday morning around 10:20am with one of your male employees working on the main entrance floor. I walked in to pick up an order, waited at the order pick up area because I could see that him and another employee were busy sifting through clothes (gave them two minutes or so before they finally acknowledged me). I showed him my pick up qr barcode and right away he said “no that’s not gonna work” in a tone that suggested I was the problem. Instead of finding a solution himself as an employee (perhaps an order number or opening the qr code in the app), I HAD TO SUGGEST IT TO HIM. We tried it, although he didn’t seem to want to do anything, and it still wasn’t working. At that point, I’m standing there because what am I to do as a customer? He’s staring back at me in a stand-off manner like he’s expecting me to leave instead of finding a solution. I’m confused, does he not work there??? I’m completely taken aback by how rude he was at this point that I told him “you’re looking at me like I’m supposed to figure this out for you.” He instructs ME to go downstairs to find a manager. Alright… I had to pull a female manager from her busy workday only for her to find my order just fine without a hiccup. Even if I actually needed a manager for this particular issue, why couldn’t he have asked for a manager himself? I expressed everything that happened to her and she asked me to identify him, which I happily did because you would not believe this guy’s self-righteous attitude. Someone downstairs said his name was Danny (latino-looking male about 5’6” with facial hair). I work nearby so I’ve seen him at least a handful of times. I really hope the manager had a conversation with him because he was incredibly rude for absolutely no reason. I actually work a customer-service focused retail job myself, so it takes A LOT of disrespect for me to write negative reviews. Why work retail if you’re going to be nasty about...

I’ve never witnessed such unprofessional and degrading behavior from a store’s management team until my experience at Zara. The way the managers treat their staff is absolutely appalling. They constantly yell at employees on the floor, right in front of customers. There’s no respect, no sense of leadership, just loud, aggressive, demeaning behavior that makes the entire atmosphere incredibly uncomfortable.

What makes it worse is that this toxic energy doesn’t just affect the employees, it spills over to customers too. You can feel it the second you walk in. Employees look anxious and afraid, like they’re walking on eggshells, terrified of doing or saying the wrong thing because they might get humiliated in public.

One manager in particular, Misty, is constantly at the center of this. Her tone, body language, and attitude all scream power trip. The way she speaks to her team is completely uncalled for and should never be acceptable in any workplace, let alone in front of clients. It’s not just uncomfortable to witness, it’s disturbing.

And where are the regional managers or corporate oversight in all this? Do they know what’s happening on their sales floors, or do they just not care? It honestly feels like there’s no accountability. I’ve even overheard managers gossiping about their own employees while customers were nearby. It creates an environment that feels more like a hostile work zone than a retail store.

This isn’t just a one-off situation either. It’s clear that the issues at this store are ongoing and deeply rooted in poor leadership. Employees are visibly overwhelmed and mistreated, and management seems to thrive off of control and fear instead of building a healthy, productive team.

Zara needs to take a serious look at what’s happening within its stores. If regional directors or higher-ups don’t step in and address this toxic culture, then they’re just as responsible for allowing this behavior to continue. Until then, I won’t be shopping here again, and I wouldn’t recommend anyone else support a place that treats people this way, customers...