sales associate

housekeeper

maintenance person

cashier

guest service agent

Navy-Exchange

The job itself isn’t bad at all and I personally like it. However due to being understaffed, housekeepers are forced to stay past their shift to finish their boards and are written up for not finishing their stay overs despite being given more rooms than time permits. Current management does not go in to help housekeepers with their rooms but expects for all the work to be done even if it’s too much for the number of housekeepers clocked in. Management has been confronting everyone about how long people take to clean rooms and saying that the times don’t add up, not taking other factors into consideration like going between rooms, having to restock, having to take a lunch break, etc. No one looks forward to coming in to work including myself but the pay is what’s stopping us from all leaving. I can never get in contact with my manager to ask questions or to call out of a shift as I always get ignored or forgotten, she will never pick up my calls, respond to my voice mails, nor reply to my text messages. Everyone is overworked and dreads coming in to work because they’ve made so many rules to make the workplace so miserable to work in and they don’t try to accommodate or negotiate for anyone’s issues. On a more positive note, coworkers are generally friendly and easy to talk to (on the occasion you can talk to them, management has instilled rules to minimize the amount of interactions between employees despite us being a “team”). There is diversity within the team which is nice. The job would be so much better and enjoyable if management would work on improving the workplace rather than trying to make it so undesirable. I feel as if there is no point in even trying to talk to my manager about the issues I have with how they run the Lodge because I’ve watched as all my other coworkers and ex-coworkers have tried to talk to her only to go nowhere and have any requests or accommodations to be forgotten about or overlooked/ignored. It’s unfair to them and it makes management seem very unapproachable and unprofessional. My supervisor has expressed his appreciation for my work and he will come help us with rooms when it’s busy, which is also nice. Guests are generally nice and sometimes tip well.

This company can be great, but much like any other company I would imagine, if you don't play the game you can run into being black balled.  There are overseas travel opportunities if you are in management and have been with the company for about 2ish years at least, that part is wonderful!  There are a lot of upper management individuals in many different locations that are so power driven and want to be "the boss", they forget about their people.  There are some members of management that are wonderful, but for every 1 great one, there are 5 that really need some courses in ethics, and leadership training.  The pay is absolutely awful, management and hourly alike.  Most people assume that management in this company makes bank, and it couldn't be further from the truth.  Most management at the store level make less than $35k and are expected to work well over 40 hours a week.  Management yearly increases even if you have an outstanding year end review will not see anything even close to a 5% increase in pay.  If you stay with the company and promote within, your increase in pay will also be substantially low, while someone who is hired from outside will be considerably higher even if they have the same or possibly less experience than someone already with the company, sounds messed up, but it happens all the time.  This has nothing to do with experience, from what's been told, if you're already with the company there is a limit at which the local district can approve your salary increase.  The best piece of advice I can give to someone looking to work for NEX is: once you are hired go in with open eyes.  Take notes and make sure that whatever you are told is very clear, as backtracking and blaming happens a lot.  Don't expect a whole lot of training for your new job because most people I knew where never trained, just thrown in....  Also, do your best to keep yourself to yourself.  A lot of places say that they are one big family, but really anything can and will be used against you, and this place is no different.  Finally, don't expect to have a work/life balance, it's just not going to happen, and the pay certainly won't make up for it either!

A typical day at work. I'd start at 8:45 (opening shift), the store opens at 9. In those 15 minutes you get the department keys and anything else needed in your department for the mornings. You're usually the only one who opens your department. Throughout the day you're restocking and cleaning. Sometimes you are assigned to a POG, or, planogram, where you move certain items around to the way HQ wants. There's also yellow-dotting NIS (not in-stock) items, helping the customers in any way you can. I learned that despite being another retail store, they aren't JUST that. You can't compare them to Walmart. They're clean cut, like the military. The Navy Exchange prides themselves on providing what they call, PREMIER customer service. PREMIER, stands for:
P-Personal Connections
R-Relationships
E-Enhancement
M-Memorable
I-Individual Care
E-Empowerment
R-Risk Taking
-One of the very many mottos that the NEX uses is "Always say yes!" And boy, do they mean it. They do not want their customers to have to go anywhere else for anything. They try to make the Exchange as comfortable as possible. That being said...
The Management at the Navy Exchange in Silverdale, WA. Could be better. You often see them having double standards. You as a "Sales Associate" or whatever bottom-of-the-totem-pole job you have, are expected to act a certain way. ie: Always be on your feet and never hesitate to pick up phone calls. But the management will sit at their desks for hours talking to one another. Or they'll be talking to someone in the warehouse while their department gets a call and, even though you, the poor sales associate is busy breaking down boxes and putting things away upstairs. But since you didn't answer that call before they paged over the radio that they would take it, they'll grill you. 
Co-workers were for the most part fun. There are some that take advantage. There are some that try to pull seniority because they've been there for 20 years... but they're job title is still the same as yours... and you've only been there two months.. nice huh. 
The hardest part of the job was dealing with the boss. That was it for me. 
The most enjoyable part is obviously the interactions daily with customers. The Navy Exchange does indeed have THE BEST customers. In the world. They're amazing.

You will be a federal employee technically but you don't fall into the category 100%. Especially when it comes to certain things like snow days and federal holidays. The store only closes twice a year. A lot of those bad apples no longer work for the company. The old GM definitely didn't do her job properly not sure how she got it definitely was somebody she knew. She put a lot of people in positions who didn't know what they were doing. New GM is cool can't say much for everyone underneath him though. Alot of people in positions that they probably shouldn't be in and wouldn't be in anywhere else which is why they continue to work here, its safe. They promote anyone to supervisor. Doesn't matter that they don't know what they are doing the position needs to be filled.  The customers are okay but very entitled so they can be annoying at times. The company definitely cares more what they think over the employees even when the employees are correct. Don't expect them to have your back. Most coworkers are decent but they pretty much operate in their own little groups so be careful. Kind of like high school. Some groups are based on nationality, some groups are based on snitching behaviors. Trust no one, do your job and go home. I don't understand how people work in this environment so many years I feel it has a definite expiration date and then move on to something more worthwhile and that pays you better. Perhaps another job that is federal where you can use your total skill set because they do not use it here. It's almost as if they only want you to know things if you have a title, other than that prepare to be ignored. They lose plenty of good people because of this. The egos are big for no reason. Especially for this little money.

If you’re at a place in your life where you want to focus on family and not really worried about pay this is the spot for you. You get 13 PTO & 13 sick days a year(4 hours every paycheck) and can use it the moment you collect it. Every federal holiday you get off as a paid company holiday, and(depending if you want 3rd shift) the latest you will get off is 4:30pm. Schedule is always Mon-Fri and only Sat if necessary, but for the most part you have every weekend off. They also offer a lot off options to take time off if a family member falls ill. They have a 401k along with a pension plan(for that added income in retirement).

If you’re looking for a good paying job with opportunity for overtime and promotion, this isn’t the job for you. The pay is about average/below average starting, and because it’s union(a very weak one) the raises are set in certain intervals(6 months, 2 & 5 years respectively). Once you get your last raise you are capped, and the cost of living raises you get yearly can range from zero(you read that right) to maybe $1. There are people that have been there over 15 years who make less than $20 an hour. Overtime is limited for most of the year, and very rarely is there any opportunity for promotion from within the company. 

The year probation seems intimidating but as long as you show up everyday and don’t get into any accidents it’s not really that bad.

The department management doesn’t always get along, but as long as you ask questions and cover yourself you’ll be good. 

Coworkers are generally good, but gossip spreads quickly around there. What workplace doesn’t have that tho. 

Hr can be very spotty there. They’ve gone through 3 since I’ve been there for 4 years, and they go as much as a year before they hire a new one.

You will have to be vaccinated there(it’s government) 


  The Navy Exchange was fun at first, the benefits are.....alright. They are there if anything. The customers make my days here amazing, it's actually the employees that I don't care much for except for a few.

  There is a lot of favoritism, nepotism, and rule bending. On top of that if you have an issue with someone or something, no one will aide you....not even H.R. They tell you to deal with it or talk with your manager who also won't do anything to help you.

  That being said, I'll move onto the transferring bit. I live 45 minutes away and have been trying with all my might to get a transfer to the NEX closer to me (which is 12 minutes away). I've tried talking to H.R. as well as my supervisors manager with no results. I currently have about 9 applications for positions at the location that is closer but have had no emails or calls back. I feel there is nothing more I can do at this point other than find another job that's closer...

  I will also add this tid bit in, we had a very sweet guy in softlines who did everything he was supposed to and treated everyone with respect. He was easily the nicest guy in the store, but was made fun of all the other ladies in the store because he was gay. It was so wrong in my eyes. He tried to get help but ended up quitting because he couldn't take it anymore. My associates got away with discrimination and there is nothing I can do or say about it to the managers...




To summarize this,

The NEX is great if you've never worked retail before. Benefits are there but not the best, still affordable though. The customers, whether they be active duty or civilians are amazing and have made my last 2 years of employment tolerable. The managers are alright but won't help you if someone is giving you a hard time, you need to transfer, or want to try and advance to supervisor.

  

I would like to preface that I worked as a cashier for 8 months and ended up being one of the longest working employees that's how quick the turn over is. It's honestly astounding how extremely poor the management is. One during my virtual training HR and the hiring person were making fun of some of the new employees that were in the call not knowing we could hear them. Two you will not have any of your supervisors numbers or emails and will have to call the customer service desk anytime you need to speak to them. Three your schedule is paper so if you've been out for a week and don't know when your next shift is you have to call them. Three when you request time off they blatantly ignore it and you have to remind them every single shift until the day before and even than they might not fix it. Four they will change the schedule last minute and not inform you or they'll have you down as working on their schedule but not the one posted and than make you sign a paper for a no call no show even tho you weren't infromed you were suppose to be working. if that wasn't enough to show how poor managment is while I was working we had mangers and supervisors leave because of how poor the conditions had gotten. For general annoyances employees are not allowed to wear comfortable shoes it's against dress code. You have to wear business casual shoes for your 8 hour standing shift. They are so understaffed there's times you'll be the only cashier during a rush, even holidays time rushes. They will try and cheat you out of breaks because they don't have workers to cover you. I was hired as a flex worker meaning id be working 0-19 hours a week but I was working 35-40 hour weeks. This was the worst job I have ever had I wouldn't wish this experience on my worst enemy. 

My experience working at the Great Lakes NEX Student Store was the best job ever. The NEX facilities are clean, it’s family oriented and the staff are very professional. Everyone worked well together and we all had fun providing great customer service. My department manager that no longer works there was hard to work with, my supervisor was awesome, the store manager was okay and the general manager was so cool, very nice and friendly as well.

We all get cross trained to work in other departments, which I think is a great idea because that’s what being a team player is all about. As far as my department in Softlines, I mainly worked in the ladies and mens clothing department and we hung and fold clothes. Did markdowns, inventory, organized our area in the back warehouse by labeling our products.

The job itself was very easy but the only thing that I didn’t really enjoy was the closing part because you’re working by yourself and you have to stock and recover your department while assisting customers in between to get it ready looking nice for the next day because the store manager walks all the departments in the morning. 

Yes, you do get help from other associates from other departments but sometimes they don’t do a good job at trying to make the department look nice because it’s not their department and they just want to clock out and go home. 

Overall, it was an honor and a privilege to serve the military service members and their families and if I didn’t have to relocate I would have stayed longer because the Navy Exchange is the kind of company that I looked forward to growing with.

I liked working for the Navy Exchange but I was horrible trying to call in and tell them that I couldn't come in. I have a 3 year old and when I got the job my husband was getting ready to deploy. I was having all kinds of trouble trying to find someone to watch my son so I could work weekends. I had a couple of times when I couldn't make it because I had no one to watch him. I called the store multiple times and was connected twice. I was put on hold and was told a duty manager was going to come and talk to me. Both times, I was hung up on. The one time I try to call my manager and leave a message to tell her that I couldn't come in I was scolded at for it because she didn't receive the message in her inbox. I ended up quitting because my son got sick and I had no way of getting to work at the time. Even then I had to send human resources an email telling them that I was quitting. They really need something for employee like myself and others to call and notify them of their issue. Secondly, I worked as a janitor. This job wasn't too hard but what the hard part was is trying to find the people on your team. If we needed to talk to someone on our team, we had to scramble around for hours until we found someone. We didn't have anyway to communicate to each other. I would think as janitors we would have walkie talkies. When one of us wanted to take lunch, we had to find someone on the team to let them know that you were going to take lunch or a brake. Again, I had to run around the store until I magically found someone because as a janitor you can't just leave the floor and take lunch. There might be a spill or one of the bathrooms need to be cleaned. If no one is on the floor, one or all of us gets in trouble. Besides those issues, I think I would work for them again, possibly. Just not as a janitor again because some people are just gross.

The company itself has a great reputation. But this location does not value employees. Management does not know how to speak to their employees. It starts at the top and works its way down. If the GM and the management are rude or do not value their employees, the employees in turn will show that same attitude. And that is not good for the company. A huge problem for me is the fact that they give you your schedule on paper. And the schedule sometimes isn't released in advance. Jobs should be required to give you your schedule two weeks in advance. I feel that them giving us our schedule the day before we are required to work and not in advance is a uncaring attitude that the this location needs to work on. Every job that I have worked for in the past has given me my schedule computerized and 2 weeks in advance. On that subject everything for the company should be computerized but is not. Examples are attendance, availability, and request for days off. so that they know who requested that day off first and on what day they requested the day off. Another note to remember is that management says that once you put your availability in, you can never change it again. Also, the safety of the customers and employees should be a main concern but is not. They have broken equipment. When things are brought up to HR or security the matters are not handled properly and sometimes the matters are not handled at all. The communication among the management, employees, security AKA loss prevention, and HR needs a lot of work but I feel that that's because of a lack of management knowing how to speak to employers and how to handle matters in a professional and respectful way. At this location not everyone is treated equally.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales associate 6 salaries reported	$17.04 per hour
Housekeeper 1 salary reported	$19.59 per hour
Maintenance person 1 salary reported	$20.86 per hour
Cashier 1 salary reported	$15.00 per hour
Guest service agent 1 salary reported	$35.21 per hour

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