store director

sales lead

gift shop associate

sales associate

retail sales leader

Event Network, LLC

Had a put in a two weeks notice and mentioned a date I start a new opportunity I was excited for. Took a month to let me leave. Last day was my first day at the other place. Need to fix so many small issues, but it seems that when they're brought up not much is done about it. Management is very sales goal oriented which is weird at a place that is a nonprofit with save the animals/world goals. Gives guests the wrong impression of the overall establishment when focus is put on sales (ex. “they just want our money!”). People sales lead and higher get benefits (like free parking) when those lower do not. Some coworkers are okay but (most people working are from a nearby college) many graduated and left. This made the hiring process more desperate and bring in new people. Some just not so great personality and work ethic-wise which can damper your own work ethic. Was much better with the one big organized store. The split up of mini-stores made things harder for communication and bringing coworkers closer together. Haven’t been to a work meeting since, which updated everyone on new things and helped with knowing everyone. The things that probs made me stay almost a year were probably the nice people, but because most of them moved on it made it difficult for the intense environment (summer time rush in particular). 
The guests themselves are a problem with a sense of either ignorance or entitlement. Expect things like “I dont believe in recycled bags” and tantrums over not having a plastic bag at an eco-friendly establishment. Those interactions certainly do not help. If management allowed those type of people to not get their way more (like some newer folk give discounts at another ministore when they were not supposed to just for their “trouble”), then everyone might feel more empowered and not feel like pushovers as much. I would have loved to refuse to give service to people when they started cussing me out, but the general goal was to be “nice at all times for the guests”.  
Plus there needs to be more communication with the giftshops, the security, AND the aquarium guest representatives as a whole. One time a guest got angry that her online discount (for the ONLINE STORE like it said ON the coupon) wouldnt work in the giftshops. She pulled a guest rep into it and he had no idea about what we can and cannot discount so he tried to make us use his discount for the guest. We cleared it up that it was for the online store only as state on the coupon on her own phone, but the anger was still there and the guest rep walked away before he could have been updated himself.
The registers also need some updates themselves they run slow and are of older model. Often going offline and making us sometimes need to revert back to paper methods for cards. 
Overall, lots of little things could be fixed but when they arent they discourage the people that work there, leading to a higher turnout rate and a low quality coworker from desperation. Theres more Im sure, but this is what I can remember after mulling on things for about a month or two. 
Good luck.

If you decide to work here, don't care too much, negotiate higher pay with ANY additional responsibilities, have firm boundaries, and expect poor communication on every level.

Full review:
Day to day tasks and interactions can feel fulfilling, as far as retail can be -- but highly based on the location you work. My main issue is the absolute cutoff of communication from the company at the store management level. My store manager told regional management a very different story from what we were working on day by day. The manager I worked with had horrible communication with the team, poor and unreasonable expectations, and often required a lot of work from the entire team to figure out how to read their mind & understand what they wanted based on their terrible explanations. They played favorites and did not handle conversations about potential problems well. Gossip from the store manager was frequent and consistent. Training stopped after cashiering handling, and due to very frequent turnover, few people had any idea what they were doing as far as company standards went. High stress, average compensation, poor benefits, sometimes satisfying work, but TERRIBLE communication and employees took the brunt of the blame for issues that the store manager should take responsibility for. 

The coworkers made the job worth it, as well as the partner location-- until all the emotional backlash from learning how to do your job from scratch by yourself and yet still be blamed for not knowing more, as well as the pressures of high intensity seasonal retail, became too much to handle. The more you learn for yourself what you don't know and weren't trained for or ever told, the more pressure you receive for not doing more.

There were also a few specific instances of harm towards employees from minority groups, and HR did not follow through with any action towards the individuals who caused such harm, and preferred the dismissive accounts from higher management levels to the individuals directly involved with lower position priority. 

If you tend to care about your job and want to succeed in it & create higher quality work within your work environment, this job is not for you. There is no limit to what will be expected of you, and the more you take on, the less you will be compensated for it.

Feedback and Suggestions for Event Network as a company: 
Have more communication with whole store teams beyond management, and resolve HR issues including microaggressions with more seriousness & care. Have more discussion of individual location needs in regards to company wide visual practices; allow some wiggle room based on location needs. If a store team is doing badly, investigate management and training practices first. Seek in-company hiring first and discourage management from outside sources, as it leads to poor training and high stress as well as poor work satisfaction.  If you care about your employees, try harder. Also, your health insurance and benefits are entirely inadequate.

Working for Event Network is an unique experience. Not like any other retailers, in the sense that it is a smaller company and has products that are exclusive to the venue that they are partnered with.

I tend to find the products are a mixed bag and depending upon the "vertical" you work for, therefor the more successful venues have a pick of the litter for what they can sell while the smaller lesser known ones kind of get what is left over from nearby venues. I guess it's to be expected when it comes to business.

Speaking of business, the best part of working for Event Network is the potential for every employee to grow and move up from the store to the corporate side of the company. It's not easy but it's a pretty straightforward process for anyone interested.

Also prepare to be FLEXIBLE. I know most retail jobs require that of their employees but with Event Network operating within Aquariums Museums & other notable tourist attractions, its more than likely your schedule will get switched around even more so, you may go from working a 9-5 to 5-12 because of an event. 

There's also large amounts of school groups for some venues, and business picks up for everyone during the summer so that will effect scheduling as well. 

Overall, my experience has  been a pretty good one, it's a rewarding feeling that my hard work has gone noticed and that I have had help to reach my goals within the company, with the potential to achieve more in the future.

This job is a standard gift shop employment of a "Sales Lead."  It consists of serving customers in search for particular items, answering general tourist type questions, assisting museum employees, cashiering for purchases and returns as applicable, taking store inventory needs and restocking from storage room. This job is a balancing act between staff, coverage of the store and customer service. The pay is very low compared to other service jobs in the area. Event Network, LLC is a national company that essentially contracts with various museums, National Park and historic sites throughout the USA. It is based in San Diego, CA and appears to be a very Top Down run business, so local special needs and inventory are not valued very much. Nor is the staff very compatible as the backfrounds is a very mixed bag. Constant lateness by some is not corrected and some just ignore the ordinary rules about proper coverage or making up their own time schedule with no apparent consequences. This of course stresses the other work colleagues in a negative fashion. Pay is whatever the state's minimum hourly wage is plus an annual bonus supposedly for a good review. My increase was 45 cents per hour. 

A typical day of work is unpredictable. It's good in that you find things to do yourself. It builds a sense of responsibility. It's bad because you're often left to read the mind of your superior and then be judged accordingly.
I've learned to become more flexible in this job. From your boss calling you in unannounced to the guests requirements, you learn to adapt to each situation.
The management is not the best. It's the most corrupt place I've ever worked. The bosses don't help much on the floor. They're in their respective offices most of the day- usually making personal calls and shopping on Amazon. You and your co-workers work hard to make the stores look nice and to provide excellent customer service while the Managers/ Asst. Managers talk among themselves all day.
The hardest part of the job is the lack of appreciation shown. I, often, get called into work with only a few hours notice. And, usually, work 6 days or more in a given week. Despite my trying to be available and to work as hard as I can for the company, no one says "Thank you" or "Good job." Also, you don't get breaks- despite laws stating you earn two 10 minute breaks plus a 1/2 hour lunch (at least in CA). We don't get the additional two 10 minute breaks, even if we ask.
The best part of the job are the locations. All workplaces are in cultural attractions. They own several museum/zoo/ aquarium stores. Also pleasant is the fast-paced environment.

Typical work days include opening and closing duties; Safe counts, Open/Close registers via Closing Reconciliation Forms, Filling Bank Deposits, Checking store email periodically throughout the day, Pulling and Processing Online Orders, and Assisting customers with any questions or concerns they may have. 

While working for Event Network I have been able to gain a more extensive knowledge of Shipping and Logistics, Keeping up-to-date records of WTD,  MTD and YTD sales and comparing those to current daily sales, and Developing product ideas in cohesion with our museum location to boost sales.

This particular location is a small venue which doesn't require a large staff. This is great because not many things get lost in translation when relaying information from manager to manager.

There isn't really anything hard to accomplish in this job which only leaves the most enjoyable parts of this job. By far the most enjoyable part is being able to work on such a historic piece of American History. This Battleship has history engraved into its very core from the smell of the oil and grease buried in its walls to the hundreds of military Veterans who come aboard daily and share their own personal memories about this ship. There aren't many inanimate objects that give off as much energy as this ship and I am truly grateful and honored to be a member of its crew.

This review is a mixed bag. I enjoyed our team and we had fun working together. Trouble is, Event Network and the Venue could never get on the same page in terms of our store goals. We were always on shaky ground, and never sure where we stood. 

One day, we're doing great according to our bosses in San Diego. Another day, we're doing horrible work according to the Venue. This conflict and confusion trickled down to our manager, who was supportive at first, but got stressed out, and started taking things out on us, the team. 

There was no consistent line of communication as to team goals, and both the main office in San Diego and the Venue were giving us mixed signals as to what we were supposed to be doing. 

Great team behind the cash register and on the sales floor. But the higher ups didn't have a clue on either side of the fence. The money was good, lots of hours pre-pandemic, and they offered benefits. 

If you like selling and meeting new people, you could demonstrate cool products and toys. I remember there were raises for performance and ratings. Too bad the bosses couldn't just step aside and let us work.

Maybe working for EN from the start would be ok. We were recently acquired by EN, myself and my team felt like they could take us or leave us. No real training, then a flip of a switch, and we were being written up left and right. Not much training, very little communication on a clear transition. Overall, very frustrating and left the whole team feeling like they were not important and could be easily replaced. PTO and sick time are about typical for any corporate company. Good luck figuring out their clock-in/out policies. Managers were reprimanded for being early and staying late. God forbid anything happens, and the "correct" people weren't notified, everyone was written up. Would not even try to leave one minute early, let alone for a personal or family emergency. They are fine with their stores being short-staffed. Be prepared to work single coverage, no regular break, or bathroom break for that matter! 

YOU CAN DO BETTER!!

As a sales associate with Event Network working in joint with the Mob Museum in a gift shop I am required to assist customers, handle cash and stock and straighten the store throughout my day. I have improved my customer service and sales skills by working with fellow co-workers and a fairly capable management team. My co-workers and I maintain a friendly environment and healthy work relationship with a balance of respect and communication, always looking to improve upon our performances with friendly sales competitions. The hardest part of my job with Event Network would be approaching customers for sales in a 'forced exit' environment; being as we are a gift shop at the end of the attraction it is common for us to have people who are just ready to leave so we must be creative in encouraging them to stay and make purchases. The most enjoyable part of my job is meeting such a diverse background of visitors in a relaxed retail environment and hearing their stories and sharing in their experience at the Mob Museum.

You can bring your dog to work, people are nice and supportive, and the offices are also very nice. Benefits are below industry standard in my opinion especially 401k and such.

I was a leader in the company and was let go due to COVID. No severance, no warning, nothing. They said they believed in being ‘in-service’ to their team and partners. I received a call once a week for a little over a month after being furloughed saying that there aren’t any updates’ until they 3 way called me one week just straight letting me go. They couldn’t have made me feel more worthless especially being in a ‘tight’ leadership team. We have bills, a life, a family. They have no idea what just dropping people the way they did hurt. Not one bit of support as they laid off (FIRED) 50-150 people company wide. They failed their morals and failed their team to chase the only thing that mattered; the dollar bill. They’ve also cut pay without warning to many more. 

Shame on the CEO. I really hope you re-evaluate yourself as a person while you made so many suffer. Remember, not all leaders can be ‘Great’ - these are the times that define you.

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