In a word. Management. A very top heavy managerial structure where each department (either operations or replenishment) had 3 ASMs (assistant sections managers), a SM (section manager), a DM (department manager) and then the store manager. That lead to a miss-mash of instructions, and people with little experience (or skill managing staff) put into ASM roles.
The higher the management the more pleasant they tended to be to work for, however the ASMs could become very demanding and power crazy. That manifested itself in the amount of shifts you were asked to cover due to be understaffed, and often you felt forced into doing so. Being told to phone family members in front of them, being asked in front of customers and then coerced into agreeing. Being threatened that "we'll be laying people off soon, and obviously it'll be the less flexible who will go"
I also had the unpleasant experience of an ASM sitting timing my break on his phone as he believed I was over staying. No one should have to go through something like that.
Shift times can be extremely unpleasant. I remember having to do a few 16:00 - 00:00 which is highly unpleasant. The way it worked you either had an early start <6:00 or a late finish >22:00 most of the time.
Don't believe any of the PR that you are fed. They aren't different in the way they treat their staff. I've worked in other, similar, businesses and been treated far better.
