For a fun time, not a long time - Server/Bartender Second City Employee Review

From a day-to-day angle, this was my favorite place to work. The staff was friendly and supportive of one another, the managers were helpful and understanding, and the job itself made it easy to get through a shift. The hours were on a regular schedule, so I didn't have to keep track of what days I'd be working which week--something that can be overwhelming and confusing at other part-time jobs. Plus, the staff was large enough and the hours flexible enough that it was easy to get time off when needed. The job itself also allowed a certain level of freedom during shifts that helped get through the idle periods (for example, they didn't seem to care too much what you did on the computers when there were no customers, as long as it was SFW and didn't distract you when there were customers). Just a really positive work environment.

Nights and weekends are a must -- which isn't really a surprise for that kind of business, but it's still a reason I'd hesitate to return. Upper management (as in beyond the managers of my department) felt very disconnected from the base-level employees and often made dumb policy decisions, but that upper management has since been overhauled, so this may not still be accurate. Also, between customers, they encouraged (and some nights required) us to perform this sort of data-entry task that felt a little mindless, which was mainly annoying because this task was the result of the computer systems regular error that they could never seem to fix or were even interested in fixing. I just was somewhat resentful that this mindless task was then put on us, as the bottom rung of the employment ladder.

They are great with communication and continuing education.

The hourly rate is less than what most theaters in Chicago would pay for faculty.