There are numerous. The biggest downsides in my opinion are the following:
- Atrocious management. I was never personally introduced to the store manager, and the only contact I ever get with any managers (not team leaders/section leaders) is when they decide to give me a new task that has absolutely nothing to do with my actual job, or they decide to complain about something. As the saying goes: "Once I did wrong and that I heard ever; twice I did good but that I heard never".
- Unfair absence policy. I called in sick once, and was explicitly warned (without ANY sympathy to the fact that I was actually very unwell on that day) that if I was to take another day off during the probationary period (12 weeks), I'd most likely lose my job.
- Zero value. I feel that no-one in the store really cares at all about me as an individual, or even as an employee. The only person in a management position (section leader) who actually cared about me was one of the youngest people there. Anyone in a senior rank than you (and even those who simply perceive themselves to be so) simply does not care. It is quite depressing frankly, knowing that you are essentially treated as a well-paid slave to the company.