I worked for TDS for 5 years, and I hope to be back this year for the holidays. My store is gone, though. I loved it, I must say. But, you work hard, and you usually are trained to do several things, unless you go in just as part of the shipment team. Duties include vacuuming, cleaning onstage, AND backstage, including the employee bathroom. (we had a new CM quit over the bathroom detail). You climb ladders, too, sometimes up pretty high. New CMs are often made to be "greeters", which can be either your favorite job, for some personalities, or something you sort of dread.
As for availabilty, that varies by district, or even by store. We were never required to give open to close on Fri/Sat/Sun for example. It changed from time to time, I remember at one point you needed to give either all day sat OR all day Sun. OR One of the 2 weekend days, betwen open and close. At another time, you needed to give one shift each weeeknd day. But you needed to give a total of 3 or 4 days, and lots of times you were given call in shifts. You call 2 hours before the shift, to see if you need to go in. This is hard for Moms with sitters, but most Mom's would not be able to pay a sitter on TDS wages anyway I guess. In any case, availabilty requirements cannot be generalized at TDS, but weekends certainly are a large part of their business. They used to have alot of 4 hour shifts, I am not sure how it is now.
Wearing the "costume" or uniform was a HUGE plus to me, I do not own a suitable wardrobe for retail.
