Texas State Aquarium Reviews

I worked at this aquarium after being hired as a diver, and unfortunately my experience was very different from what I was led to believe the position would be.

From the beginning, I felt constantly overworked and repeatedly assigned tasks that were not what I had agreed to when I accepted a "diving" position. I also felt targeted and bullied throughout my employment. I was hired and qualified to dive, yet I was initially not allowed to dive because I was repeatedly told I needed to complete an O2 training course, despite already having the qualifications and requirements to dive.

After eventually completing the required training, I was still barely allowed to dive. I only got to do a very small number of dives. One of the dives I did get to participate in involved spending a significant amount of time scrubbing algae. I tried to make the repetitive work a little more enjoyable by making a tiny heart in the algae and then crossing it out when I was finished. Afterwards, Chelsea Hill wrote in a notebook that there were to be “no hearts” or artwork in the algae. The heart was extremely small, and the only way she could have known I had done it was by closely watching what I was doing the entire time.

After that, I was essentially no longer allowed to dive. Instead, I was constantly given cleaning, maintenance, and physically demanding tasks. I repeatedly asked whether they would allow me to dive. I was told no. Later on, I even asked whether I could volunteer as a diver rather than being on the payroll, if that meant that I could dive and that I did not have to perform heavy lifting. I was told no. I repeatedly asked when I would be allowed to dive again and continued to be told no.

This was incredibly frustrating because I was hired as a diver, yet I spent the vast majority of my time doing work I had not expected to be doing.

1. Workplace injury

I had disclosed a previous abdominal surgery to the aquarium. I reported it during my initial physical and verbally informed the doctor about it as well.

Later, I was required to fill approximately 18 scuba tanks, each weighing around 50 pounds. The process involved repeatedly moving the cylinders, taking them to the compressor room, connecting them, filling them, removing them, and lifting them onto a high shelf.

Because there were so many tanks to fill and I had seen other employees carrying multiple cylinders at once, I carried two at a time. While carrying two tanks, I experienced sudden and severe pain in my dominant wrist and had to stop working. I also experienced pain around the area of my previous abdominal surgery.

I reported the injuries and completed workers' compensation paperwork. However, I felt that my abdominal complaints were dismissed, despite my having disclosed the previous surgery.

My experience with HR after reporting the injury was extremely negative. I felt that I was treated horribly by Nicole Andrade in HR during this process. Rather than feeling supported after reporting a workplace injury, I felt dismissed and treated as though I had done something wrong.

Nicole Andrade also accused me of failing to disclose my previous abdominal surgery. I strongly disagreed with this accusation because I had disclosed the surgery during my initial physical, verbally informed the doctor, and documented it on the medical paperwork. I found it extremely upsetting to be accused of withholding information that I had, in fact, provided.

I was not immediately sent to a doctor. When I was eventually evaluated, I was cleared to continue working as a DIVER as long as I did not lift heavy objects.

Despite that restriction, I was repeatedly assigned tasks that aggravated my wrist by Chelsea Hill. These tasks included folding towels, repeatedly scrubbing showers, cleaning animal areas, lifting objects, and cleaning refrigerators.

Eventually, I was assigned to shred paperwork for seven-plus hours a day. This involved continuously shredding documents, removing staples, and lifting bags of shredded paper. I asked whether there was a chair I could use because I was expected to do this for hours at a time, but I was told by Chelsea that I had to wait and ask someone else rather than being provided with a chair.

There was even an occasion when my family was in town and I asked to be able to spend time with them. I was denied and instead required to come into work and spend another approximately seven hours shredding paperwork.

I eventually underwent physical therapy for my wrist, but it did not resolve the problem. Insurance stopped covering further treatment, and I was not provided with treatment that resolved the injury. I continue to experience extreme chronic pain in my dominant wrist all day, every day.

2. Animal-care concerns

One of the biggest reasons I am writing this review is because I genuinely cared about the animals, and there were several situations I personally witnessed that concerned me deeply.

There is a turtle named Tiki in one of the enclosures. During one incident, I was “tending” the area because I was not being allowed to dive. A diver entered the water and left both regulators dangling in the water rather than securing them.

Tiki came up and grabbed one of the regulator mouthpieces. I immediately offered to get into the water with another diver to try to retrieve it before the turtle swallowed it. Chelsea Hill refused to let us attempt to help and instead ordered us downstairs while she called for other people to respond because she "couldn't handle it."

The people who came to help spent a significant amount of time attempting to catch the turtle with nets, without success. Tiki ultimately swallowed the regulator mouthpiece.

What happened afterward was especially concerning to me. The turtle was not immediately given definitive treatment to remove the foreign object. An endoscopy was attempted and failed. Another endoscopy was also unsuccessful. They then attempted to contact a specialist, but treatment continued to be delayed while this was happening.

During this period, the turtle was not being fed. I repeatedly raised concerns about how long the turtle was going without food. Chelsea told me that they were hoping the turtle would regurgitate the regulator, which was the reason they were not feeding it. I questioned this because sea turtles have a unique throat structure with downward-facing spines that make it physically difficult for them to push food back up from the stomach.

The turtle went without food for an extended period (weeks). Eventually, the turtle was moved downstairs where people could not see it, after repeated questions were being raised about why the turtle was not being fed.

There was another incident involving turtles brought in during a cold-stun event. I was specifically instructed to wear gloves and change gloves between FP-positive and FP-negative turtles to prevent cross-contamination.

However, the person checking the turtles in was handling turtles from both groups without changing gloves between them. Eventually, when there were large numbers of turtles coming in, I was instructed to place FP-positive turtles awaiting veterinary evaluation directly next to FP-negative turtles that were also awaiting evaluation. The turtles were being dried off together and were physically touching each other.

I voiced my concerns about cross-contamination. The veterinarian's response was essentially that they "just do the best we can".

Another situation that disturbed me involved a dolphin that, to my knowledge, had not been eating for at least a week. Despite this, the dolphin continued to be forced into performing repeatedly for visitors.

Seeing an animal that appeared to be unwell continue performing was extremely upsetting to me. I understand that there are difficult circumstances involved in animal care, especially during emergencies, but these are situations I personally witnessed and that I have not been able to forget.

3. How I was treated as an employee

Throughout my employment, I constantly felt overworked and overwhelmed by tasks that I had never agreed to when I accepted the position. I felt like I was repeatedly targeted and bullied, particularly after I began raising concerns about my work assignments, my injury, and the fact that I was not being allowed to dive.

Toward the end of my employment, Chelsea Hill and Emma Gilbert also confronted me together in a room. I found that interaction intimidating.

I repeatedly tried to find a way to continue contributing in the role I had actually been hired for. I asked about transferring to another position. I asked about volunteering as a diver. I asked when I would be allowed to dive again. I was repeatedly told no.

In the end, I was hired as a diver but barely allowed to dive. Instead, I was repeatedly assigned physically demanding work and cleaning duties that I had not expected to perform, and I ultimately suffered a permanent injury to my dominant wrist and abdominal area that has continued to cause me chronic pain.

I am writing this review because I wish I had known what my experience would actually be like before accepting the position.

I genuinely care about the animals and wanted to contribute as a diver. That is why these experiences have stayed with me. My concerns are not simply that I disliked a job or disagreed with management. They involve my experience with workplace safety, how my reported injury was handled, how I was treated as an employee, and animal-care situations that I personally witnessed.