TL;DR: don’t apply for a store credit card if you don’t go there often and if you don’t have great credit. The managers hustle the employees into getting cards that will ruin their credit.
So I work at a big retail store. Let’s call it S.I. Nazz. As a cashier, we have to ask every customer if they have our credit card. If not, we say “If you apply, you can save 10% off of today’s purchase and for every $200 you spend at any of our stores you get $10 back!” Well. What we are not allowed to say? 30% APR. That’s right folks! Where I work? 70% of the people have credit scores of about 500. You only get the 10% when you’re accepted immediately, which is when you have a great credit score. When I ask and they decline, I smile in understanding. But my managers? If they say no, the managers won’t stop. They will hound them. It got to the point that the customer I was helping was very clearly close to yelling at my manager. I discreetly mouthed “I’m sorry”, which my manager didn’t see (thankfully) but the customer did. She gave me a small nod and paid with cash after finally cutting off my manager’s rant that had been going on for about five to seven minutes.
We cashiers know it’s a bad card to get if you don’t have excellent credit. Don’t be mad at us. Be mad at the managers who yell at the cashiers who don’t manage to get someone to sign up for a card. I haven’t gotten a single person to apply for a card in over a week and a half. My managers are on the verge of having a HUGE talk with me about it but I don’t care. It’s a shit card and if someone says no then that means no. Pushing them to get a card that will screw them over is financial rape. Spread the word. If a manager tries to go on a huge rant about how great the card is, say “thank you but I’m not interested in applying. Have a nice day.” If they don’t stop, tell them that you do not appreciate them trying to force the card on you.
Not even employees are safe here. I don’t have a checking account. I need one to open a credit card. My manager asked me why I don’t open one and apply for a card. When I say I don’t need one he tells me that I would save a lot of money. If he asks me again I’m going to tell him how it really won’t help because I have no credit and the 30% APR is ridiculous and it is unfair to make employees apply for this card just to make the store look good.














