Little room for growth, favoritism, often demeaning - Guest Services Associate California Science Center Employee Review

The best part of working here were the people. The overall environment is very uplifting and encouraging; I don't think I ever had a bad interaction with co-workers or other personnel. Its also located in a beautiful area, with the Rose Garden, USC, and Coliseum within a 5 minute walk.

The CSC lacks competitive pay and career growth opportunities; the hardest part for me was leaving to pursue better career opportunities.

I get paid a lot more than my last job, and only partially because of the higher base-pay. As camp instructors we have a “working lunch” so we get paid an extra hour a day. We also frequently get overtime.

We are very, very overworked. The program maximizes camper experience while paying little attention to employee needs. The hours are meant to be 8am-4pm, but we often have to come in early and stay late to complete our basic job requirements. We have approximately 20 minutes to eat lunch every day, but if a morning camper’s parents are late to pick them up we have to cut into our lunch until the parents come or someone relieves us of our duty. There is no time to sit down, and it is frustrating how much the work culture seems to have accepted the working conditions as a necessary evil. Some phrases I’ve heard are “if you’re not doing anything, you’re doing something wrong” and “it’s not summer camp if you’re not exhausted!” The kids are cute and the activities are fun but my body cannot physically handle another summer working here. Also, I have frequently had to work unpaid hours in order to run my classroom as it is intended in the curriculum. We are not given enough time to prep for everything we are responsible for doing.