Port Discovery Reviews

Very very low pay. 28 to 32 hour per week hour cap. You will be overworked and underpaid. Terrible benefits. No vacation/sick time. Expected to work extra events, but still get capped at said 32 hours. No overtime. No Holiday pay. Even at the full-time level things are not much better. Warning you will come across some terrible parents/teachers/and school groups. So if you don't have a tough skin about, you will be eaten alive. High Turn Rate! In my time at Port Discovery I could recall a time where we would average 2 to 4 people quitting a month. Some people have stayed less than a month, some less than a week, a few people quit their first day, or never showed up once they got the job. That says a lot. You will quickly find it's a dead end. Very political. When you could make more per hour working at Wal-Mart or just about anywhere else for that matter what's the incentive for staying?

I had a coworker who's worked there for 15 years and is retirement age. They make about $10 an hour, only about 50 cents above the entry pay for someone in the same position. They receive no benefits because they work part time. They walk to work. Their glasses have been broken for years. They've had such an intense loyalty to the company and have gotten very little in return from the upper management beyond lip service. Instead of investing in their employees, management sinks money into temporary exhibits that cannot always be staffed and opened and renovation plans for this year of which nobody seems to know the specific details, especially when it comes to the job security of floor staff. The museum have training sessions occasionally, but they are usually not related to education or relevant to the floor staff. The floor staff are trained to lead school groups in guided activities, but are not paid extra for it, despite it bringing in a significant chunk of the museums income. There is an atmosphere of avoidance when it comes to these issues. Typically the onus is put onto guest services to take on more responsibilities. They are expected to supervise areas for safety, maintain cleanliness, entertain guests, and lead educational programs while underpaid and understaffed with a very high turnover rate. Some staff outside of Guest Services are eager to criticize and evaluate our performance despite never holding our position. Criticism is often served with a bubbly, passive aggressive delivery. Another thing which comes up every few months is that when there is a tense situation between coworkers that goes beyond what is acceptable or if a particularly belligerent customer decides to treat an employee badly, the HR department will do basically nothing. Sometimes reports will be written that unfairly penalize employees who are actually on the receiving end of that tension and belligerence and escalate the situation, especially if they are a low level employee and the report is coming from management. People have left the company over situations like this. I would only recommend working here if you are having difficulty finding employment elsewhere. It's not the worst job in the world but the environment is toxic. It's supposed to be a fun environment but they treat employees so badly that the joy leaves the room very soon after you start.