Pros
Flexibility on hours that’s about it.
Cons
They treat their experience guides so poorly here. Management is very absent and excuses their lack of leadership with “no micromanaging” policy, which really just means that they get to check out and enjoy their personal life as they get paid in salary while the hourly workers must fend for themselves when problems arise in the boutique. One great example of this was the boutique flood in Silverlake on Christmas Eve. They completely abandoned their Experience Guides with both confused, unsatisfied and angry guests, on top of dirty sewer water they were expected to clean up themselves. They called in a Lead Experience Guide on her day off to help, and no one from management every showed up as they begged for them to close the boutique because the water had gotten into all the hallway and even the main room in the view of guest, the smell was awful and they never checked on the health of the Experience Guides that were in that sewage water. Even though you have sick hours you work so hard for, they question as to why you’re calling out sick, they don’t use your sick hours automatically unless you chase down the manager, so they don’t have to pay you, and no supervisor or manager takes on their responsibility of finding coverage. You could be in the hospital and they’ll probably still expect you to find your own coverage. Many EGs from both Silverlake, Studio City, and Santa Monica were lied to when it came to their hourly wages. They found out newer EGs were being paid so much more than them and were told not to talk to each other about wages by a manager, even though it’s completely legal to do so. The most obvious problem with this company is the way they pressure you to do more work that what they pay you to do. There is no equal growth opportunity, it is clearly favoritism, and if they can make you believe you will be promoted, they will overwork you and make you do things management is in charge of doing and will never give you a raise for the extra responsibility they will putting on you. If you try to speak out against them, they will try to isolate you, to gaslight you and intimidate you. The last thing they will ever do it hear you out, unless your speaking ill of another employee, that is the only time they will hear you out. Management has placed a us versus them environment in these boutiques when it comes to Experience Guides, Leads and Management in general. It’s completely inappropriate. 5 Experience Guides resigned at once, which should tell you a lot, and one of them who management had a vendetta against was continually treated disrespectfully, cut on shifts, and denied her exit interview. And let me just note that the influx of 5 star reviews that have come up on this page by new hires, shortly after 5 of there employees quit its no coincidence. Do not work here, you will regret it.
