Pros
- Has the potential to be a great place to work. - Get to have fun and be silly with the customers. - Get paid on your Birthday without coming to work!
Cons
In a word: the management. It's possible that other Build-A-Bear locations are awesome but the head-manager at the place that I worked made the atmosphere nearly unbearable. She has unrealistic expectations and becomes furious when they aren't met, which is most of the time. I'm a straight-A college student, a hard-worker, and I would still be reprimanded on a daily basis. The drive to push sound sales and to force people to sign up for our rewards program became a huge source of stress. The store has had to hire a new set of bear-builders at least once every year because of how many people can't stand the negative atmosphere anymore and quit. Other minor cons include being "On-call" for shifts and having to push products such as sounds/heartbeats that don't work well. Also, large flagship stores have to deal with unavoidable long lines during the holidays and as a result, aggravated customers.
