Such a waste of time. - Anonymous employee the Balm Employee Review

The rest of these reviews are pretty spot on. While there are many things I could bring up here, there are a few things that I would like to comment on as I know as soon as this review is posted the girls in the office will gossip about it and spread rumors, so hopefully this will be some things for them to consider and improve upon. First I just want to say that the girls that work in the Alameda office are very nice, supportive and willing to help. While I didn't spend a lot of time getting to know them personally (I was always working, afraid of not leaving my desk because someone would call to check up or whatnot, and no, I never took a lunch). That being said, the issues that I have are with the CEO and the atmosphere of the company. I was hired on as an Intern, and I knew week one that this was going to be a tough job, not because of the workload, but mostly because of the lack of organization, communication, and direction the company has. My boss while I was an intern decided to get herself out of this chaos and I was default promoted. I originally was going to leave at the end of my internship but was guilted into staying with the promise that things would get better, become more organized and be more efficient. The CEO was on vacation and Skyped in with a job offer. She asked me for my salary requirements while I was in a room of 4 plus people. I felt very uncomfortable discussing my salary in front of everyone as that, to me, is a personal conversation but because she was on vacation and couldn't wait, everyone got to hear me negotiate. I found this to be completely inappropriate and very bad business ethics. I was with the company a total of four months. The rest of these reviews can fill you in on what the company atmosphere is like having to call, get things approved micro-managing, etc. on a day-to-day basis. It wasn't until the end of my employment that I started to get irritated when someone posted a review on Glassdoor and they all pointed fingers at me as the anonymous reviewer. (Guess what? THIS is my review!) I found their accusations to be really insulting, and I decided at this time I would put in my resignation. I fortunately was laid off a few days later, not by the CEO or her assistant, but by HR (I guess you'd call them?) When I asked them why I was being laid-off they said Marissa wanted to "restructure" the company. Which means to me, "We really don't have a reason, we just don't like you." This company really does have potential and really could be something, but with the attitude that they carry, their work ethics, and with the direction of the CEO, I don't see more then a flatline for this company. As an aside, watch out for the few spies in the office, you will know who they are, and if they ever say on the phone to your co-worker "check for something in the other room" that means they are talking about you. It looks like my separation with theBalm worked out for both parties...