Pros
Co-workers were really great people.
Cons
Far drive (subjective). Very early start time (5am). No raises. Low pay. Horrible work culture. Tools and benches were old and outdated. Management never listened to their employees. Jewelers were treated like warehouse employees. micromanaged. no advancement opportunities. working almost every Saturday (mandatory Saturdays meant no life!) Workshop located in a distribution hub which felt like walking into a dungeon (no windows). Subpar benefits. VTO (stand for voluntary time off) was never voluntary. No cell phones allowed (no one could get in touch with you till break time or lunch. God forbid you had an emergency.) no metal on clothing. Security would not allow you back in if you mistakenly had metal buttons instead of plastic. Had to run home and change clothes. Sinks has no plumbing for the drains. Buckets were used and had to be dumped when full. Subpar ventilation. Polishing dust EVERYWHERE! At one point in time- a mouse infestation. Many OSHA visits led to fines. Actual jewelry work was bad too. The quality of the jewelry that was worked on was very low quality. Thin shanks. Horrible setting jobs; some stones were glued in. Channels set stones had no metal on channels. Worked on brass plated silver rings. Extremely thin rope chains were constantly coming back. Management didn’t care about the quality of the work going back to customers, as long as it went out the building (this may have changed recently). Management doesn’t care to retain talent. There are many more cons that have not been mentioned but hopefully you get the point.