retail sales associate

retail store manager

store manager

assistant manager

guest service agent

Sandbox VR

The main incident that perfectly exemplifies how much the corporate side of this company cares about it's store employees is when a customer relieved themselves on the floor in the back hallway and corporate took no action to clean it for a whole week. This took place at the Oakbrook location, the largest store that the company has. If cleaning this liquid is so low of a priority for their largest and most profitable store, I can only imagine how poorly they keep the others. The only reason that the liquid was even cleaned was because a particularly higher member of corporate made a visit and mentioned the smell, with a proper cleaning man in the store to treat the carpet with chemicals within 6 hours. This makes me question how long would the issue have been ignored if this member from corporate did not make their visit? Recently more equipment was brought in to the store, forcing the staff to move the table where the equipment is fixed to the back hallway where it smells as you would expect.

Sandbox VR is very much a Quantity over Quality type of company when it comes to providing VR sessions. They do not care about the customer's experience and only want to fit more reservations so they can make more money, the ability to comfortably give guests a good experience is irrelevant when they're making more. It used to be that when you book a session you had the room for your group only, corporate wanted more money so they opened public sessions, so now for the same price you have to share the room with total strangers and awkwardly have to work with them, so now you're paying the same price to be with total strangers. The only way to guarantee the room to yourself is if you buy out all the tickets for the room, a full $330. Listed on the website it's also not obvious that it's a public session when you're the first to book, so when they show up at the store and are frustrated they have to share you embarrassingly need to show them the policy and that their session is not private, leaving you to deal with all the issues while they rake in more money. They just changed to 40 minute sessions, the games are 30 minutes. So that leaves 10 minutes to have all customers check in and sign the waver, any bathroom use before, ordering them to the correct colored trackers and showing them how to put them on, have them select weapons, chose individual names, team name, take pictures of each guest for the videos at the end, explain safety rules, put their belongings away in the room, put on a vest, hand trackers, a headset and headphones, then after the game take all of that gear off and wipe down each individual piece, and then take them to the front to show them their videos. Anyone with any time management skills understand that 10 minutes is not enough time for this and that's not counting if they're late, or if the game needs to be stopped if there are any technical issues, which there will be. This formula guarantees that by the end of the day all sessions are going to be late on a sold out day and setting the store up for failure. The only benefit of this is more reservations and more money, the guest experience and employee comfort are irrelevant and suffer because of this.

Loyalty to the company means nothing. They actively look outside the company for higher positions instead of looking within. You could have worked at this company for the last 3 years and looking for any kind of recognition will feel like pulling teeth. Recently new employees have been hired on at a higher paying rate than those of the older employees. When asked about the difference in a meeting a person from corporate dodged the question, saying that conversation should be done 1on 1 even though it effected many people in that meeting, making it very clear that this company is intent on throwing out the old staff this way.

One GM that this company employed from outside, that I was told came with amazing recommendations from another current GM within the company, proceeded to have a negative interaction with a female employee. Once brought up to corporate he was removed quickly, but makes me question what kind of vetting process does this company go through to end up hiring someone so vile. It also makes me question the other active GM this man is friends with that recommended him so highly and what kind of a store is he running? The employee victim to this man still receives attempts of contact through text/snapchat and continues to deal with this because Sandbox was so careless with their hiring process.

The current GM specifically has unavailability during the busiest times of the store leaving the undervalued leads to run the high traffic days and drown by the end with corporate's poorly planned schedule, leaving them to embarrassingly have to explain to guest that the boss is not in to help solve any issues and is the only person that refunds can go through. They are usually in during weekday mornings when the store is very quiet.

On multiple occasions there have been issues with members of corporate. Almost all visitors who where there to actually do some operation of the store have been dismissive and elitist to the rest of the staff. One such corporate member came in to help with hiring and was later said to have been flirting hard with the new lead that they brought on. Another member of corporate on their visit at the store came in to do a couple things on their computer in the back while totally abandoning the one employee to run 3 groups, 18 total people, all by themselves and did not come out until the groups left. When they did come from the back they dismissively told the employee to turn on the TV's at the front while on their way out of the store. Later that same day, after that employee told the member from corporate they were going to go on their lunch break, 15 minutes in the employee's phone blows up with a call from the GM and 2 other different members of corporate saying they urgently need to go back to the store. It turns out all these frantic calls were because the one member from corporate was unable to run a single group of 2 people. Said member from corporate isn't new either, they've been part of the company for multiple years and was totally incapable of running the smallest size of a group available and additionally make it a very big deal. Another person from corporate who is in charge of scheduling private events will also cut all the corners they can while still treating the people who are actually running those events like they're nothing. When emailed about a supply of chairs from a lead who would be running a party that this member from corporate scheduled in the next couple days the lead was totally ignored, and it wasn't until a day later that the GM asked the same question that there was an immediate response. This coordinator will also promise guest all the room they need for all their food they want to bring when the store is a thin hallway with only the 6 VR rooms, 2 bathrooms and an employees only server room. They have charged guests full price for a 6 person room and then schedule them into the smallest 4 person room we have with promises of all the room they'll need, and then not answer emails so that employees get calls about their private events only to embarrassingly have to tell them they are not located at the store physically and those unanswered emails are the only form of communication. There was an incident where an employee was physically assaulted by a customer for enforcing a late for a session policy. Later when the employee was asked by a detective to get security camera footage and the employee asked HR to get it to said detective, HR entirely ignored the situation and didn't send anything until asked a second time a week later. This alone seriously puts into question where Sandbox's priorities lie if the assault of one of their employees is taken so lightly especially by HR.

This company does nothing but set you up for failure while both exploiting the employees that have to scramble to keep up with their poor planning to keep the store afloat and taking customer's money while no care is put into the quality of their experience, only cramming more reservations in a day to make more money. So if you want to be a mindless worker bot, who asks no questions, with no chance of going anywhere, this is the place for you.

The people working there are amazing and have a positive attitude (for the most part). Where it begins to fall apart is that GEGs (Guest Experience Guides) and Shift Leads are taken advantage of for their hours. Both are part time roles and while the Shift Lead is a keyholder position, they are given no benefits and yet can still work full time hours. 

It is very difficult to take lunch and rest breaks on time, if at all, during the course of a busy work day. Unlike waiting tables at a standard restaurant (a comparible style of working setup to what you will see at Sandbox VR for how customers move through the building), there is no way for staff to adjust the number of available rooms (or seats/tables if using the restaurant analogy) if they are low staffed, leading to frustrated customers due to wait times and stressed staff.

There are no holidays off if you work for the retail side.

The only PTO you can accrue as a Shift Lead or GEG is through whatever state mandated leave time is required. Taking Unpaid Time Off has no strict rules and is generally up to Store Managers to apply. Where I worked we were pretty flexible on that to allow for life circumstances, illness, etc., but I can imagine at some locations this might be worse.

There is advancement available if you want to move from a GEG to Shift lead, but to move from a Shift Lead to Assistant Store Manager, or ASM to Store Manager, it is very difficult. Upper level management does play favoritism and is overly critical of numbers instead of understanding and deep diving into the context behind said numbers, especially when moving people into more "leadership" roles within the store. They tout promoting internally, but then will hire externally if you do not alight with their critical view of your store performance within the short time frame of a higher position opening up.

Overall, as an Assistant Store Manager the role was OK. It was hard seeing my coworkers be mistreated by the company, even though the job was fun at times.

If you want to get stuck in a room with a bunch of screaming drunk/high people that don’t wear their masks and constantly break things. this is the place for you.
Upper management is completely horrible they are CHEAP and don’t know how to keep stores stocked and running smoothly. 
-No advancement 
-low pay 
-no benefits!
-low hours 
-All the gear is pretty trash because upper management refuses to spend the money to replace broken stuff 
 -No chance of a raise/advancement no matter how much effort you put in. 
- customers are rude often coming in late and showing up high/drunk.
-there is no “free gear” as they may say on the job posting you get a work shirt. 
- only part time work
-HORRIBLE customer base (generally, disrespectful rude, intoxicated, there are exceptions but very few) 

-Loyalty means NOTHING to this company they play favorites and would rather hire new people than internally promote because they realize if they hire a new person they can pay them less than promoting a current worker. they will play you As long as they can or until they find someone who sucks up to them more than you then they will cast you aside. 

NOT COVID FRIENDLY. you will be jammed into a room with 6 sometimes even more people who generally refuse to keep their masks on 

In conclusion if you want to risk getting covid. get underpaid and overworked be lied to and manipulated and leave work everyday stressed and with a massive headache this is the place for you. 
BUT if you have common sense you will stay far from this job. 
 


No day at Sandbox VR is the same as the last. We’re at the forefront of Virtual Reality technology and working here allows you first-hand access to some of the most impressive VR technology currently available. And with VR advancing at the rate it is there are always new upgrades to the technology and experiences that keep the work environment fresh and exciting. 

As a Manager, you get a decent amount of autonomy on how to run your store and ensure it’s successful and it’s incredibly rewarding to see your ideas and work translate into tangible achievements and those achievements rarely go unnoticed by upper management. 

Overall, as a Manager and VR enthusiast, working at SandboxVR is the most fun I’ve yet to have at a job. The job is demanding and certainly requires a self-starter and entrepreneurial attitude. The success and ease of your job is completely dependent on your management style, implementation of operational procedures and overall approach tech maintenance. 

Working at SandboxVR is equally rewarding as it is challenging and perfect for those with a competitive nature and desire to optimize operations. 

This is a weekend job. You will not get any shifts other than Friday, Saturday, or Sunday (and sometimes you won't even get those). This was not communicated during the interview. Management is dismissive and condescending. 

There is a holiday blackout period from mid-november to mid-january, barring almost all request off dates (supposedly the "busy season") which was also not stated in the interview. It's difficult to get days off even months in advance. Schedule is randomly released either a few days before or months before.

It's a semi-stressful environment, especially when in-training/learning everything. They said they would take it slow, but I was running rooms by myself on my third or fourth shift despite saying I was not comfortable in my tasks. Trying to fix tech is stressful as well, especially when you get trained on day one and can't review it afterwards. Communication is sometimes lacking between coworkers.

Interacting with people and kids is super fun. Making people smile is the highlight of my day. Customers are usually nice, sometimes a bit entitled. Coworkers are collaborative most of the time as well.

It gets a little gross dealing with sweat and cleaning equipment (people do sweat a *lot*). Wearing long sleeves helps (it's also kept chilly in the store for that reason).

Every day is different when it comes to any retail profession and Sandbox VR is no exception.  Stress levels really depends on location and day - weekends are our busy times so be ready to run around to make sure everything is operating as it should be.  

Store morale ties into the type of leadership that is running the store.  There is always room for any company to  grow and improve and I feel the biggest area for Sandbox VR would be to make sure the right people are in the right places to ensure  smooth day to day operations and if not working on developing those team members to be the best that they can be.  

The hardest part of the job are really just two things.  Tech issues and wait times.  Being proactive and on top of all the hardware in the store really helps set you up for success on the busy times - but even doing so unforeseen things happen.  Having clear communication with not only your coworkers but also the customers is key to mitigating any issues.    When tech goes wrong it pushed wait times out for guests to play and then it is easy to snowball and lose control.  Keeping calm and having a level head and adequately communicating will save you so much strife. 

Entry level positions can move up very quickly if they just do their job and stay consistent. With store level positions being a mostly retail-esque environment, some other workers didn't exactly do their fair share when I started and created a bad work environment, but I felt that management was open to hearing what I had to say about it most of the time and over time it got much better! I also can't think of a single place I have ever worked where I could literally message the CEO or VP if I wanted, it's that small and close knit without the cringey "Family" stuff most companies do. You do interact with a wide variety of people on a day to day basis, so if you are not a people person or have very little confidence, you may not do well at Sandbox! I will say you also spend a lot of time on your feet working in store, but I came from food service so that was nothing new for me. The main negative would probably be the amount of hours you receive as an hourly worker, but I knew going in what it would be like! As long as you do a good job, have open weekend availability, and express that you want hours, you'll pretty much get scheduled. Just don't expect any overtime as an hourly worker, it was pretty rare.

Career Advancement and Experience at SandboxVR:

I progressed from a GEG to effectively managing a store. Although I did not receive an official title, I successfully led the store independently for four months with minimal guidance from District Leaders (DLs). Unfortunately, promotion discussions were hindered due to challenges with similar promotions on the West Coast.

Insights into Company Culture:

While the GEG position offers a great side job opportunity during college or as a second job, there are certain aspects to be aware of. The upper management culture is perceived negatively, with concerns about prioritizing personal gain. Additionally, my experience involved facing pressure to adjust another manager's schedule under the threat of job security repercussions.

Director Interaction and Advice:

In a meeting with our director, I encountered a lack of awareness about my role and tenure, raising questions about visibility at higher levels. As advice to potential candidates, the GEG position can be rewarding for its pay and is suitable for those seeking a side job. However, it is crucial to note that expectations for hours may be limited, and I strongly discourage pursuing people management roles within the company.


Where sales, tech and hospitality intersects, every day at Sandbox is unique and exciting. Sandbox VR is a fresh take on the future of retail stores. In my 7 months of working here, I've seen tremendous positive changes in the company which have only improved every aspect of working here.

In addition, there is a great sense of satisfaction of gaining mastery over the technology here with learning and diagnosing technical issues. You are sure to gain an intuitive sense with technology after working here.

The constant updates to infrastructure and people operations keeps the workplace fresh and worth investing your time in.

Because of the company's startup nature, there are plenty of opportunities of upward mobility and hard work is genuinely recognized and rewarded.

The most enjoyable part of the job is seeing day and day again, our guests blown away by the immersive experiences that we offer. Forming deep connection with guests that trust you to run their experience, they often return asking you to host their next experience.

There is no advancement and it's even harder to advance if you're a woman. Depends on the amount of sales, the employees hours would fluctuate. Employees wear many hats and are constantly running the floor without breaks. Many has skipped breaks to accomodate business needs because the company doesn't want extra staff on the floor. Low pay but high expectations for you. No competitive pay, no promotion, no raise based on performance. The company doesn't care about you. There is no effort of retaining employees to be seen. Employees are expendable. Have helped their store resolve technical issues and have driven sales but always under the shadow without recognition. 

Management culture is dry. Their sole focus is to grow sales. Manager constantly lies to people to cover up their traces and doesn't want to let anyone move up. When employees voice their opinions, they do not take any of the feedback into consideration. 

Nonetheless, the workplace is very wholesome, fun, and friendly. This company overall has a great concept. Just the way it runs is a disaster. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Retail sales associate 2 salaries reported	$15.50 per hour
Retail store manager 24 salaries reported	$63,333 per year
Store manager 5 salaries reported	$62,500 per year
Assistant manager 18 salaries reported	$20.28 per hour
Guest service agent 9 salaries reported	$14.46 per hour

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