Where do I begin? I got hired in September. During my interview, I looked past a comment made after several rounds of interviews with product and cross-functional teams. I remember the Engineering Manager saying, "Hey, we'll give you an opportunity, and if you can't get it done, we'll find someone who can."
I didn't think anything of it at the time. I should have taken that as a red flag, but I wanted the job. I accepted the offer, choosing Floor and Decor over three other offers. It definitely wasn't perfect; honestly, it was a bit of a sh-t show.
As a Product Manager, I asked fundamental questions about documentation, business rules, and features, but they couldn't answer. It was all domain knowledge locked in their heads. They couldn't point me to any documentation, so I always had to ask people for help, which slowed down the process tremendously.
Lo and behold, my immediate manager left for maternity leave after two or three months. I was supposed to report to my VP, but I ended up in limbo. From what I learned, the Engineering Manager was pushing for a product person to get in there. However, I didn't report to Engineering; I reported to Product and the business to deliver on their strategy and goals.
Once I got in, the Engineering Manager—who had only been there eight months and came from Home Depot—was walking by my desk telling me to get things done in 24 hours. He was a total je-k.
I started to see that they were very Type A personalities. The Product team was all women, mostly white, and they didn't seem to like men. They claimed to be DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), but that was a lie—a disguise. The place is a nightmare. I feel they are racist. The C-suite and high positions are white, and I didn't see much opportunity there.
I am African-American, but my observation is just that—my observation. I noticed there was no good structure. Because it's retail, it has a "family feeling," but there is a lot of knowledge hoarding. Teams compete against each other, and it's really bad.
Let me back up. About two months in, there was an Oracle project migrating from a legacy ERP system. It touched all 40 of their systems and took up everyone's time. The project is supposed to cut over between February and March, and it has consumed the company for a year.
I came in new and was told to work on projects with specific timelines, including one for drop ship. The stories and mapping by another PM weren't done until December. I was trying to get stuff done in January, and unbeknownst to me, I got in trouble for it. I was let go because the Engineering Manager was upset I wasn't focusing on what he wanted, even though that wasn't the priority.
My VP sent an email to the whole company saying, "Don't work on this without me knowing; we need to slow down and take it through the PM process." Yet, when I did that, it wasn't fast enough. They didn't even have the resources. Even if everything was ready in January 2026, the Oracle project isn't done until March. The CEO said not to work on anything until that's done, but I was punished for not going fast enough.
They used that as an excuse to get rid of me because the Engineering Manager didn't like me. If they don't like you, they will find a reason to fire you. Be very cautious about working at Floor and Decor. Don't drink the Kool-Aid immediately. They will make plans to let you go.
I did the work. I was turning around documents and creating slides. They allowed AI, so I was actually able to move faster. But they have this strange culture where they claim to be DEI, but they aren't. It's on all the TVs in the break room, but it's just a disguise to protect themselves from lawsuits. There are no Black board members, no Indians, no Mexicans, no Asians. It's an all-white "Good Ol' Boys" club.
To go deeper into the story: I agreed to be a POS (Point of Sale) Product Manager. Once I got there, they told me the POS shares data with two other web applications for inventory and orders, so I was the PM for those too. I had three products, three ceremonies, and requirements to build. I got played and set up for failure.
I did the best I could, but there was no documentation or training. They expected me to piece it together in four months with high performance. The expectations didn't match what could be delivered.
When I started pushing back on work to Marty (the Engineering Manager) because I reported to Shannon (the Product Leader), he got upset. I requested a Product Owner to help manage the boards because they didn't have a Scrum Master. Asking a Product Manager to also be the Scrum Master for three products doesn't make sense; you don't have the time. That is why Scrum Master is a dedicated job title.
Just before I was let go yesterday, they pulled an older Black woman from another team to "help" me. It wasn't help; it was a sign they were pushing me out. They put her there to protect themselves with DEI optics because they knew they were firing a Black employee from an all-white team. They brought her in late last week, she asked a few questions, and then they fired me on Tuesday.
I'm not stupid. I'm in my 40s, and I see how they move. I know the games corporate plays, and this was clearly one of them. I was set up for failure with staggering demands and no documentation. It was an absolute termination because I didn't kiss the Engineering Manager's a-s.
Be aware when you go to work at Floor and Decor. It's not what it seems. It's a sla-ghterhouse, and they just had a mass layoff last week. That should help you with your decision. Thank you.