"The Rumors You Hear About The Stores Are Actually True": Retail Employees Are Sharing Insider Secrets About All Your Favorite (And Least Favorite) Stores

I personally love to be in the know about insider secrets in different industries, especially retail. So I, of course, asked the BuzzFeed Community: If you worked at a popular "mall store" — like Hot Topic, Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, or any others — what is something that a lot of people don't know about these stores or would be surprised to learn about them?

I learned a lot of surprising information from the responses I received. Here are some of them!

Disclaimer: Obviously we can't 100% confirm all of these stories, but these people are supposedly speaking from their own experiences as alleged current or former employees. Some responses have also been edited for length and clarity.

1."I worked at Claire’s in the late '90s. It was my first job at 16, and I was so nervous to begin training to be able to pierce ears. Well, I practiced on a teddy bear, then on one of my co-workers, and magically became a certified ear-piercing specialist!"

2."I recently worked for Victoria's Secret. Their new pathos is that they are inclusive and support mental health. This is a joke. I was a manager, and the three other managers were so mean I had a mental breakdown and had to go on disability. They are toxic and problematic. Mean girls still exist, and VS is a party to this."

3."My friend worked at Hot Topic when we were in high school (over 20 years ago now, sigh). He had to destroy so much perfectly good stuff like T-shirts that didn’t sell after being on clearance for a while. It was all destined for the dumpster, and everything had to be ripped up or broken before being thrown away. He often said he was going to ruin everything on the loading dock but then just hid the stuff so he could take it home. So much waste!"

4."I worked at Blockbuster in high school. I DO NOT have the same nostalgia that everyone else seems to have. As an underage high school student, they would still schedule me to work until close, which was midnight. But whenever we closed you never got out until at least 1 a.m. because of all the closing duties. The most tedious of which was putting back all the videos that customers decided they didn't want to rent, so they were just put anywhere. The worst area was always the kid's section. It would be absolutely destroyed by the end of the night because people let their kids run wild. Blockbuster was also always behind the times. When DVDs were king, Blockbuster still mostly had VHS. They never innovated because their arrogance made them believe that they'd always be number one."

5."I used to work at Abercrombie in college. The rumors you hear about the store are actually true, and sometimes there are crazier stories that people never heard of. There was a rumor that the stores' cologne spritzed out of the speakers, which was not true. Spent all day and hours spraying the store's cologne spray on all clothes; that's why it always smelled super strong."

6."I worked at Victoria's Secret and if any of your things rip from there, you can exchange them."

7."I used to work at Bath and Body Works from 2013 to 2016. What I found out that only a few people know, including myself, is that after the semi-annual sale is done, whatever is leftover from the sale, the workers get to fill up a medium bag with whatever was part of the sale and only pay $5. I used to love stocking up my wallflowers! One of my favorite products the store sells and one of the things I miss about working there. Not sure if they still do that, but it was one of the perks we had."

8."I worked at Forever 21 while in college. I haven’t set foot in that store in years, but while I worked there, the setup was similar to TJ Maxx and Marshall’s, where clothes are kind of piled up or put on hangers in random places. Because they were so cheap, they had SO many clothes (this store had two floors), and SO many teens came in. After the store would close around 9 p.m., employees were forced to stay until all clothes had been refolded, rehung, and put in the correct area."

9."Former Victoria's Secret employee: I never pay retail price for any item. They ALWAYS go on sale at some point; if you want something, wait for the sale because the retail price is way higher than its actual value. Also, the quality has declined so much since I worked there (around 2017–18); the panties are so cheap now but priced much higher than they used to be."

10."Bath and Body Works former manager here. One thing I loved was the 'gratis' for each theme. It is a smart way to get employees to rave about a new product to guests. I hated that Mother's Day evening is a floor set change. I get that you want to take down messaging the second Mother's Day is over, but staff are or have mothers. Also the music! I have never forgiven them for their 12-song rotation during the 'Hawaii' theme, and that was ages ago!"

11."Lush employee here. If you’re nice to us or just vibe well with us, we WILL give you free stuff. From bath bombs to face masks!"

12."I worked at Ann Taylor Loft in college. It really surprised me to learn that when people returned items — even from online orders — it was deducted from the store's profits for the day. So if someone ordered $1,000 worth of clothes just to try on and then returned them to the closest store, it really messed with the store's earnings. Those profits are used to evaluate the success of the store and team. Never made sense to me."

13."Bath and Body Works. There are no new scents for candles during different seasons. They are just repackaged and renamed. They haven’t come out with new holiday scents in years (like 10-plus years)."

14."Not really too salacious, but I worked at Skechers a while ago, and in our employee handbook it literally said, 'No black nail polish'; we're not Journeys.' Why the shade against Journeys? I'll never know!"

15."Former Hot Topic manager of over a year here! People always find it hard to believe how little we were actually paid. Not only did sales associates only get paid $7.25 an hour, but as one of the three store managers, I only made $8.25 an hour. I nearly quit when I went next door and heard they were hiring my exact position at Hollister, and the pay was nearly twice what I was making for the SAME JOB!"

16."Bath and Body Works and Victoria's Secret are sister companies. My manager shared that the company will recycle retired scents and fragrances and brand them as brand-new fragrances. No wonder I would think some of them smelled familiar!"

17."I managed an American Eagle. All jeans have a lifetime warranty in case of rips or damage. As long as it’s the same size or similar jean style (if the original was discontinued). Also, the watches are taken out of their original packaging, but they also come with a lifetime warranty."

18."Maybe it’s not ALL of them, but I was hired at Forever 21 a few years ago. I made it a total of four hours before I legit had a mental breakdown. They scheduled my first day on a Saturday. The manager then passed me over to a regular employee, who then told me to 'Fold the sweaters in this section,' which I did for four hours. Over and over. So, basically, that company doesn’t give a fuck about you; you’re a walking meat suit to work for them. My only training during those four hours was to fold sweaters; that’s literally it. I couldn’t answer any customer questions, and couldn’t figure out how to check someone’s bag when the alarm went off. Nothing but sweaters."

19."Bath and Body Works seasonal employee here. I can’t tell you how many times a day I had to deny someone’s coupon because they brought in a Bed Bath and Beyond coupon, not realizing their mistake. This resulted in extremely embarrassed customers OR ones who doubled down and acted like we were dumb and didn’t know the name of our own employer. NEVER AGAIN."

20."I worked at Aéropostale for about six months in college. I started working there during the holiday season, and by the time the store was closing, it would be an absolute mess. The T-shirt tables would be so chaotic and unorganized that instead of trying to reorganize those tables, the items would be shoved off the table and onto the floor to start fresh. Also, my sleep schedule took years to recover after having to work 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. to do floor sets (changing the store around when new items/seasons arrived)."

21."I worked at Bath and Body Works in college. The entrances had devices that counted every person who walked through the door, and if sales didn’t match those numbers, the store got penalized and staff working that day got the blame. I watched managers be outright rude to customers who came in and didn’t buy anything because of this. Also, those extravagant floor displays you see set up? Staff members have to stay until 1 to 2 a.m. to set them up, and management expects it to be perfect. It’s exhausting!"

22."I worked at Hot Topic and two things — for starters, there is nothing in the backroom. If you ask us to look, we sit down for five minutes. Another is that Hot Topic has some of the lowest turnovers in retail. Do you want a job there? Good luck! No, seriously, they never have openings. People like working there, so they stay for years."

23."I worked at Bath and Body Works for almost a year. Everything that doesn’t sell each season gets put in storage to eventually be marked down. If you have your eyes on something specific, check your store the next time they have a sale because chances are it’s at least 50% off. Also, you really can return anything no matter the condition, but always ask for an even exchange because with returns they only have to give you the lowest price the item has ever been back."

Have you ever worked or currently work at a popular store and can share some insider information? Tell me in the comments below!