Very intense work environment and extreme sense of urgency. Very long hours, many are spent driving from one store to the next. I wouldn't recommend the real DM job to anyone who wants to spend time with his or her family. Some female DM's with kids have full time nannies to get it all done. Productivity is king which often hurts store employees who work extremely hard. People who don't want to "live" at Aldi are labeled as lazy. The atmosphere is very rigid and doesn't make sense at all. Many store employees are just working at Aldi for the money and benefits. Young DM's lack leadership skills. Very few DM's are over 40 due to the high burnout rate (I only saw 2).
