sales associate

retail sales associate

operations manager

retail assistant manager

sales supervisor

Photogenic Inc.

I worked for the Skydeck venue. A typical day here is just handing out customers' photos and trying to sell them off. Honestly, it depends on who are you working with that day. The day will go by fast if youre with the right people. Ive made good friends here! In sales, I say for maybe the first 2 hours you start your shift you get switched out at capture. you're SUPPOSED to stay there for 2 hrs.  Sometimes they even forget about you being there due to favoritism or people begging not to go there and be alone since you're literally isolated, and at times there WILL be big crowds, especially in the summer. And its extremely hard to manuever a huge crowd. You call someone for back up for capture and at times they wont even pick up the walkie talkie if you have to go to the bathroom or need backup for crowd control. Each guest HAS to take a picture if you loose a bunch of people you will be yelled at and talked down to as if youre stupid.  for ledge you work there your whole shift. Breaks are 30 minutes sometimes 15. If youre late they will write you up and tell you to go home. ITS VERY EASY TO GET FIRED AT THIS JOB!!! if you miss a single day it doesnt matter what it is, you will get fired. Oh wow you got into a car accident? Thats too bad either come in or you have to find someone to cover your shift. Your child is sick and you need to care for them? Ask someone to cover your shift. Are you sick? Too bad come in or have someone cover your shift. When theres people that dont WANT to cover your shift at all, because its miserable there. its only like 3 people that work hard like dogs taking everyone's shift. The manager is so disrespectful and also rude once I was extremely sick and she immediately says i called off that sunday if i do again I will be fired when that was my first time EVER calling off. I did everything I was supposed to do when you call off sick. Which is snapping a photo of a doctors note. When I first started working here I asked for part-time and not full-time since at the time I was dealing with a lot of things on my plate mentally and physically. A bunch of schedule changes and not even a consistent schedule at all. One day I ended up having a panic attack due to said things and they finally gave me part-time then eventually changed my schedule AGAIN, they really don't care about anyone wellbeing at all. We are truly disposable and they do make it well known. They sometimes cut your hours and tell you to "go home we're too overstaffed" if theyre not over staffed theyre understaffed not organized whatsoever. Once there had to be like 2 people at each booth and it was extremely hectic, the supervisor that was in charge that day almost had a break down since there was gossip going around too. One supervisor was also kind of rude to me and once gossiped saying one of our coworkers is slow bc it takes him a minute to process things and he called him that. Whenever i had to go use the washroom since i have a condition that makes me go a lot, he would make snarky comments like "dont be taking all day" and "be quick" and he always misgendered me. Most staff have misgendered me a lot. Even when I nicely reminded them as well. 

I worked at Photogenic for a long time and want to share my experience so candidates understand what the day to day reality can be. When I first started, the job felt manageable and I worked with supportive managers and coworkers. Training was limited, but there was at least a sense of teamwork and mutual respect.

That changed significantly after leadership turnover. Many of the supportive managers I worked with were pushed out or left, and the tone from upper management shifted in a noticeable way. Communication became discouraging rather than constructive, and feedback was often delivered in a way that made employees feel replaceable rather than supported.

In internal meetings, upper management used language such as “gorilla warfare” to describe their performance strategy. This term was explained as applying constant pressure, aggressive micromanagement, and strict enforcement of metrics to drive results. These expectations were later reinforced directly to me by a new VP. In practice, this created an environment where employees felt their jobs were always at risk unless they were producing at maximum output at all times.

The focus shifted heavily toward numbers and aggressive sales behavior, often at the expense of training, consistency, or employee wellbeing. Expectations changed frequently, and there was little room for discussion or feedback from those on the ground. Over time, this approach led to high stress, low morale, and a constant sense of uncertainty.

I am not writing this out of bitterness. There were parts of the role I appreciated, including unique venues and coworkers who tried to support each other despite the pressure. However, the leadership approach made the environment extremely difficult to sustain long term.

I believe it is important for candidates to know that this role operates under intense pressure and a management style that relies on fear of consequences rather than coaching or development.

Everything starts out great as any job would, but the longer you work there the more dull and lifeless you become. Workload starts to become very repetitive. Wages are very low and hours fluctuate between none at all and no days off. Along with that you'd have to have a manager approved excuse just to get any time off. Always short-staffed throughout the year and expected to work 6 or 7 days a week and never call out. Even worse I worked for a manager that 45 minutes into the day would show up late and in a bad mood for personal reasons beyond our knowledge, but she did come baring doughnuts 1 out of the 20 days she was late so I guess that was pro. The actual job wasn't very hard just annoying to constantly put up with amongst the complaining of the boss (about her workload). Manager would make rude/condescending comments about employees to other employees. Also, she would state opinions aloud that were sensitive topics that shouldn't be mentioned in the workplace. She would leave around or before 1pm on every single shift within the week, even though she would put herself as closing the shop. If she didn't even leave early that day it meant that I had gotten a text that morning stating that she wasn't going to come in at all despite living 10 minutes away. If you want to advance in this company I wouldn't recommend it unless you were thinking of taking her place. Which wouldn't be an impossible task because you'd already be doing the things that corporate asked her to do in the first place. Scheduling is also a huge conflict; you get put on days you can't work when you've already given your availability multiple times bolded, highlighted, even color-coded. Poor, Unqualified people should not be in leadership roles. Companies would rather have someone with experience over a person that would actually make a good manager and do things with positivity and determination. Managers aren't anything without the employees and with a turnover rate this high within the last couple of months I hope they reevaluate their choices in who they let lead.

Working at the Willis Tower can be very high stress and is a very up tempo job. Our basic job duties as Supervisors were to run the venue and be in charge on our assigned days. A typical work day would be from about 9am - 4pm for an opening shift, and 12pm - 9pm for a closing shift. Our job duties included running the shifts, managing the staff, and performing the opener or closer duties during our shifts. Working here I learned a great deal of patience with working with staff from different areas of the city and dealing with all their different personalities and attitudes. I learned that being in charge of a staff takes a lot of responsibility as well as patience, and that it is not about making everyone happy but making everyone feel appreciated as well as somewhat satisfied in their workplace. I enjoyed working with the staff, which was one of the main reasons I was with Photogenic for over a year. I also enjoyed working with my fellow supervisors very much. We all were on the same level the majority of the time and we always worked together to meet our goals and help one another. The hardest part of the job was the amount of people we saw at the venue each day. Since it is a huge tourist attraction it got very hectic and chaotic at times. The summer months were very busy and sometimes out of control, and traffic gradually died down during the winter months. The way the company scheduled was not flexible and was usually not subject to change, but they did manage to deal when someone either called off or could not make their shifts. Overall I am thankful that I was able to obtain the experience I did from this job and am thankful for my time spent there with the people that made it worthwhile.

This job is great for those who are looking for a summer job that is easy and fun. This job is also great for those who love photography as a passion and would like to broaden their photographic abilities. 

A typical day of work would include checking in, photographing the Duck Tour or Harbor Cruises, and then after everyone has boarded, you make note of the total amount of people that boarded and the total amount that refused their photo to be taken. Then, you would head to the Kiosk where you would quickly edit all of the photos while simultaneously printing one main full-frame photo and three collage-style framed photos. Then you would package them and tally the number of packages. Afterward, you would head to the board and place all the frames waiting for the cruise to arrive back to sell. You were given a device called a Point of Sale Terminal to execute credit card payments. Cash was also collected. Each package was sold at $25. As soon as you finished selling, you would head directly to photograph the next boarding cruise. At times this was hectic as simultaneously people would be boarding while you are still selling, and even though this is a two-man job, to begin with, the job was always understaffed and so, I always did my cruise as a one man job. 
I also worked at the Boston Duck Tours where it is less stressful since you are with a team of typically 4, and you would split the tasks accordingly. At the Duck Tours, I was a lead, and I would close that branch. Closing was when I wrote up all the numbers on a large spreadsheet, placed all the cash in the vault, and tallied up the proceeds of the day. Then I would send an email to corporate, my manager, assistant manager, informing them of the day's status. 

This is not a photography job. This is strictly a sales job. Yes you will take photos but most of your time will be editing and selling photos. Capture is about 30 mins out of a normal shift of 5-8 hours. So understaffed you have to work doubles multiple times a week. Expect employees to call out daily or contact you to pick up shifts. Also people talk there. Be mindful of what you say. Employees are not your friends they are just coworkers. I’ve been a part of it for a while and everyone talks about each other all the time including management. So un-motivating and draining having to work doubles everyday from the am to late at night (between 9-10pm). You can’t take time off the week of Christmas because they will tell you it’s the busiest time of the year and that’s not true at all. The season strives from March to early October. After that we see about 150-300 people a day. It sounds like a lot but that’s over an 8 hour period. So it gets slow. And good luck selling. Customers will complain about price and that does effect your service scores because they won’t buy them most of the time due to the price. And if your service scores are low management will lecture you in a way that makes you not want to come back. They are very hard because their numbers are constantly declining. With that being said that does effect your hours. If the company doesn’t make money then neither do you. Many people take on second jobs and with that I will say that they are good with scheduling. They always schedule two weeks in advance and they do accommodate people in school/people with other jobs. Just be mindful of what you’re getting into. Of course you can always try it and leave later on but in my personal opinion I would stray away to better job opportunities.

Most people who take this job don't last more than a year. At my particular location, temperatures are consistently and extremely hot during the summer. They don't want you sitting down. People getting sick due to the work environment is a daily occurrence depending on the season. This leads to people consistently calling in. So, expect to get calls on your day off. You can expect people to get in your face. Being a retail job, customers can be extremely rude. This is again, a very frequent occurrence at this particular job. Don't apply for this job simply because you are interested in photography. I would not define this as a photography job. This is a sales job with photography aspects. The photography training is extremely limited. After that, you are simply "encouraged" to learn from your coworkers. As many people have mentioned, the management is the worst part about this particular company. Most of the problems with the management come from the top and bleed all the way down through the company. This leads to a toxic workplace culture. They do not value employees more than sales. This is why they are perpetually short staffed and consistently hiring. Job benefits are extremely delayed. Most of the people who take this job never qualify for health insurance or a retirement plan through the company. In my experience, most of the things taken to HR are either resolved months later, or they're left not resolved at all. They definitely aren't confidential. Other people within the company will probably hear about it.

I started my journey with Photogenic in Autumn of 2024 as part of half a dozen new hires. I enjoyed my job initially, but the small problems I had in the beginning only grew larger. The job is simple: you stop guests as they come in, ask them if they want a photo, and if they take one, you try to spot them on their way out and sell it to them. The guests understandably do not like having to wait for other families to take photos, and traffic would quickly build up. Management was constantly resistant to opening additional entrances that did not pass through the photo area, and as a result of manufactured understaffing, could not even open additional photo lanes. The batch I arrived as a part of should have been indicative of a short employee turnover rate, starting at 11/hr, the lowest paid position at the wider location we operated in at my time of hiring. A minimum of two people are needed to keep the business open, and upper management was set on keeping it as understaffed as possible. I enjoyed the job initially, but the disproportionally high workload of the job, compared to its nature and pay, quickly made it unbearable. As a personal anecdote, we also operated 100% outside, at the mercy of the weather and heat of the deep south. Guests would not take or buy photos of their own accord, and facilitating the process gave no commission. Avoid at all costs.

Photogenic in Charleston Sc isnt the worst place to work if you need money. Pay is average 12 an hour 
Cons:
Hours are not promised. During the off season you would may get 15 hours but during the busy season you work 10 to 11 hour days, with 2 days off. You get a break if you work at Patriots Point. If you work at the downtown locations you only get a break if you are fast at walking back to the office and printing photos fast. Downtown locations you back and forth from the office to the venues. The boss is known for being "sarcastic" but it comes off as rude to customers and employees. Do not be late. (Trust me) You are not allowed to eat unless you are on break and away from everyone else. Drinks are not allowed unless its water and you have to hide it. You are not allowed to sit down at all unless you take a break. You are required to take every customers to photos. All of the work you do is outside.
Pros:
Some of the people you would work with at photogenic are really great and customers can be alot of fun to interact with! You work in the most beautiful place in charleston, The charleston Harbor. If you love history this place has tons of it and you get to hear about it all the time. Uss Yorktown has tons of amazing employees and volunteers that are a pleasure to work around. You get a state reciprocal pass (it gets you into all state parks and museums) If you love taking souvenir photos and selling them, this could be fun for you. 



Learning the ropes is the main thing of this job, but first going into it, you're thrown into with high-ish expectations. They start you off somewhat immediately putting you in the middle of it. When I started I had some other circumstances that made my starting difficult, which because I just starting had a hard time asking for a break, only one person that time understood and accommodated me. For a school/work life balance, even though they know you are in school the put a lot of pressure or try to get you to work on days you don't. In one location where you are expected to manage the location by yourself with all the systems, I was left alone most of the day and I wasn't given breaks. One of the things it says for the description is photography experienced not required, I would say it would need to be required, and to at least a base knowledge or at least a year worth of knowledge otherwise trying to get to know a camera system and fast paced environment when you start is overwhelming. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
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