What's the most toxic and pleasant environments you have worked in?

steddyeddy

Basically what's the best and worst work environments you have experienced? I work in a lab and the competitive atmosphere in the lab leads to more staff breakdowns than any other job I've worked in. I love my job but it's a tough environment and not many people know that. What work environments attract the most d1ckheads, breakdowns, ruthlessness and general crap?

Banjo String

steddyeddy wrote: »

Basically what's the best and worst work environments you have experienced? I work in a lab and the competitive atmosphere in the lab leads to more staff breakdowns than any other job I've worked in. I love my job but it's a tough environment and not many people know that. What work environments attract the most d1ckheads, breakdowns, ruthlessness and general crap?

Funny you mention labs, many years ago as a student, I was working part time with a local builder.

He was contracted during the summer months (school holidays) for some major renovations.

Anyway, one of the first things to be done was the complete gutting out of what was obviously the science department / lab.

Jesus, the smell that came from the drainage syatem when we were pulling out the sinks etc was one of the most putrid smells I have ever experienced.

Still hunts me to this day.

thegreatgonzo

I worked in the kitchen of a hotel in Galway for a few weeks after I finished college years ago. It was a bit like east germany, a throwaway negative comment about the job or about one of the millions of supervisors in front of the wrong person could have you sent up to the head office for interrogation. People whispered to each other in the staff room for fear of being overheard. The staff were the most unhappy looking bunch of human specimens I've ever encountered in the workplace. I've had other kitchen jobs in restaurants and hotels and enjoyed them so it wasn't the work, just this particular place.

One eyed Jack

Banjo String wrote: »

Funny you mention labs, many years ago as a student, I was working part time with a local builder.

He was contracted during the summer months (school holidays) for some major renovations.

Anyway, one of the first things to be done was the complete gutting out of what was obviously the science department / lab.

Jesus, the smell that came from the drainage syatem when we were pulling out the sinks etc was one of the most putrid smells I have ever experienced.

Still hunts me to this day.

You've clearly never had to gut a rubber seal making factory that had an animal meal factory just across the road from it

Ohh yes, the jokes about rubbers and firing blanks and pulling your wire and arm sheaths to protect your arms from the heat in the presses, combined with the unholy smell of shìte from across the road...

Anything really was pleasant after that experience tbh!

pauliebdub

Best - working in a beef processing plant as a teenager, long hours and standing all day in a refrigerated room but the place was full of characters and it was brilliant crack. I really enjoyed working there.

Worst- current job, nobody hardly speaks to each other, unspoken tension and hostility, annoying colleagues, sterile dull environment, no promotion or career opportunities. Looking to get out soon.

Letree

steddyeddy wrote: »

Basically what's the best and worst work environments you have experienced? I work in a lab and the competitive atmosphere in the lab leads to more staff breakdowns than any other job I've worked in. I love my job but it's a tough environment and not many people know that. What work environments attract the most d1ckheads, breakdowns, ruthlessness and general crap?

It must be a research lab you were in was it?

steddyeddy

pauliebdub wrote: »

Best - working in a beef processing plant as a teenager, long hours and standing all day in a refrigerated room but the place was full of characters and it was brilliant crack. I really enjoyed working there.

Worst- current job, nobody hardly speaks to each other, unspoken tension and hostility, annoying colleagues, sterile dull environment, no promotion or career opportunities. Looking to get out soon.

If it's anything like my job that translates into spoken tension and hostility.

SEPT 23 1989

pauliebdub wrote: »

Best - working in a beef processing plant as a teenager, long hours and standing all day in a refrigerated room but the place was full of characters and it was brilliant crack. I really enjoyed working there.

Worst- current job, nobody hardly speaks to each other, unspoken tension and hostility, annoying colleagues, sterile dull environment, no promotion or career opportunities. Looking to get out soon.

Jack it all in and go back

pauliebdub

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Jack it all in and go back

The money was terrible.

steddyeddy

Letree wrote: »

It must be a research lab you were in was it?

Yes. One person publishes and someone else resents it. People published before me but I don't see the point in getting hostile about it. The only thing I have control over is my own work.

pauliebdub

steddyeddy wrote: »

If it's anything like my job that translates into spoken tension and hostility.

It's more like passive aggression, which is just toxic to have to put up with.

GLaDOS

Work in a lab myself (PhD student) and thankfully have to say the environment isn't like that at all. Generally everyone works as a team and there isn't much issue with authorship or sharing results. Was it industry as opposed to academia?

Doesn't surprise me about the sink though .

sjb25

Worst job was in a call centre my god I hated every second if customers are not on your case management was over call times surveys etc hated it

steddyeddy

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Work in a lab myself (PhD student) and thankfully have to say the environment isn't like that at all. Generally everyone works as a team and there isn't much issue with authorship or sharing results. Was it industry as opposed to academia?

Doesn't surprise ma bout the sink though .

Well I'm a PhD student with a small group. It's academic and there's always backlash when one group gets money and another doesn't. I'm in biochemistry so maybe it's different to your area?

Red Pepper

thegreatgonzo wrote: »

I worked in the kitchen of a hotel in Galway for a few weeks after I finished college years ago. It was a bit like east germany, a throwaway negative comment about the job or about one of the millions of supervisors in front of the wrong person could have you sent up to the head office for interrogation. People whispered to each other in the staff room for fear of being overheard. The staff were the most unhappy looking bunch of human specimens I've ever encountered in the workplace. I've had other kitchen jobs in restaurants and hotels and enjoyed them so it wasn't the work, just this particular place.

can you name it?

GLaDOS

steddyeddy wrote: »

Well I'm a PhD student with a small group. It's academic and there's always backlash when one group gets money and another doesn't. I'm in biochemistry so maybe it's different to your area?

I'm biochemistry as well There can be some politics between PI's but we keep out of that and generally everyone gets along

The Strawman Argument

Worst: Family farm, don't think I even need to elaborate! There was also a shop with some really sexist attitudes toward overtime but, giving the way boards has been lately, I'm not even sure I should mention it!

Best: Volunteer work teaching old people how to use computers, felt great to be able to help some of them in reasonably significant ways with relative ease and I had some great conversations with a few of them too. I like that kind of one-on-one informal teaching type stuff a lot in general, can get very enthusiastic about almost anything.

steddyeddy

ScienceNerd wrote: »

I'm biochemistry as well There can be some politics between PI's but we keep out of that and generally everyone gets along

Yes that's the thing. The politics between PI's really gets annoying to be honest. You're not in UCD are you?

GLaDOS

steddyeddy wrote: »

Yes that's the thing. The politics between PI's really gets annoying to be honest. You're not in UCD are you?

Nah I'm in Maynooth

steddyeddy

The Strawman Argument wrote: »

Worst: Family farm, don't think I even need to elaborate! There was also a shop with some really sexist attitudes toward overtime but, giving the way boards has been lately, I'm not even sure I should mention it!

Best: Volunteer work teaching old people how to use computers, felt great to be able to help some of them in reasonably significant ways with relative ease and I had some great conversations with a few of them too. I like that kind of one-on-one informal teaching type stuff a lot in general, can get very enthusiastic about almost anything.

Think I experienced the same thing. I think Boards has an anti sexism policy so I don't see how anyone would mine you pointing one out? I worked in a shop at 16 (used to be s-quinn) and they sent the girls home at ten making the boys stay on. Also the boys did all the lifting.

steddyeddy

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Nah I'm in Maynooth

Phew you could have been in one of the ENEMY GROUPS!!! That could have been awkward :P

GLaDOS

steddyeddy wrote: »

Phew you could have been in one of the ENEMY GROUPS!!! That could have been awkward :P

We do have an enemy group as well, but they're in Germany :pac:

thegreatgonzo

Red Pepper wrote: »

can you name it?

Well I used to call it the Pr1ck House hotel which is pretty similar to its actual name:D

One eyed Jack

Red Pepper wrote: »

can you name it?

Sounds like a lot of hotels I've worked in tbh!


Another dirty job I worked in - a sleeper plant!

Not quite as exciting as it sounds, I'm talking the concrete sleepers that go under train tracks. I dreaded having to go into the vibrator moulds to clean the gunk off the moulds with oil, and then when they'd come out of the moulds they were lifted onto steam beds in stacks and covered for an hour.

The steam when you'd lift the covers would scald you, and then you'd have to manually lift the steel stands out, about 12 of them in a stack weighing about 20kg each. Then they went on a conveyor belt where you'd have to shove steel rods through them, and if they were blocked in the middle as you were shoving the wire in, it'd stop dead and you could really do yourself damage (the belt was about the same height as me family jewels :pac:), drill it out then and go for a second attempt. 12 hours of that and you'd be in bits by the end of it, but one thing for sure it was a better workout than you'd get in any gym!

TheBeardedLady

The Strawman Argument wrote: »

Worst: Family farm, don't think I even need to elaborate! There was also a shop with some really sexist attitudes toward overtime but, giving the way boards has been lately, I'm not even sure I should mention it!

You don't have to tip toe about the place TSA. People had problems with the genuine misogynistic stuff, not people simply commenting on sexism in their workplace.

The Strawman Argument

steddyeddy wrote: »

Think I experienced the same thing. I think Boards has an anti sexism policy so I don't see how anyone would mine you pointing one out? I worked in a shop at 16 (used to be s-quinn) and they sent the girls home at ten making the boys stay on. Also the boys did all the lifting.

Yep, that was pretty much it.

Everyone was designated an aisle. Almost everything was stored upstairs so the male staff had to carry everything down at the start for everyone and, when they finished their section, they had to carry whatever needed to go upstairs (quite a lot on delivery days!). Male staff also had to carry bags out for anyone who requested it... it ultimately amounted to an additional few hours of overtime.
What really took the biscuit was that that manager kept giving better hours to a lot of the female floor staff too. Things got way better when he was replaced, mind.

TheBeardedLady

The Strawman Argument wrote: »

Yep, that was pretty much it.

Everyone was designated an aisle. Almost everything was stored upstairs so the male staff had to carry everything down at the start for everyone and, when they finished their section, they had to carry whatever needed to go upstairs (quite a lot on delivery days!). Male staff also had to carry bags out for anyone who requested it... it ultimately amounted to an additional few hours of overtime.
What really took the biscuit was that that manager kept giving better hours to a lot of the female floor staff too. Things got way better when he was replaced, mind.

Reported! :mad:
















Haha?

mickstupp

Worst - long time ago, working for a couple of years in Sandyford in the offices of one of the biggest software companies in the world. Incredibly soul-destroying environment. Nothing but bad memories of the place. Great money does not make a great job.

Best - currently, for almost no money in comparison, teaching first year students a few tutorials every week. Getting to see people learn and progress, seeing them fall in love with the subject I love, and helping them learn how to express their ideas in essays. Sounds silly maybe, but I'm far happier than I ever was with a tonne of money in that other place, doing work that meant nothing to anyone for people who probably couldn't even spell 'thank you'.

corner of hells

mickstupp wrote: »

Worst - long time ago, working for a couple of years in Sandyford in the offices of one of the biggest software companies in the world. Incredibly soul-destroying environment. Nothing but bad memories of the place. Great money does make a great job.

Best - currently, for almost no money in comparison, teaching first year students a few tutorials every week. Getting to see people learn and progress, seeing them fall in love with the subject I love, and helping them learn how to express their ideas in essays. Sounds silly maybe, but I'm far happier than I ever was with a tonne of money in that other place, doing work that meant nothing to anyone for people who probably couldn't even spell 'thank you'.

I worked as a contractor in that software company.I was employed there as an electrician.

We were not allowed drink water from drinking water fonts , you know the ones where you get the little plastic cup , the reason we were given was that the water was for the staff employed directly and not for contractors.
I can still see the piss stain of a manager standing in front of about ten electricians and apprentices telling us not to drink the water.

rob316

Dunnes stores was hands down the worst environment I ever worked in. Dickhead junior managers, even bigger Dickhead dept managers and one the biggest Dickhead of them all store manager.
Hated every minute of it there.

steddyeddy

rob316 wrote: »

Dunnes stores was hands down the worst environment I ever worked in. Dickhead junior managers, even bigger Dickhead dept managers and one the biggest Dickhead of them all store manager.
Hated every minute of it there.

Worked there too. A element of fear was used to keep people in line. I don't believe in treating human beings like that.

thegreatgonzo

rob316 wrote: »

Dunnes stores was hands down the worst environment I ever worked in. Dickhead junior managers, even bigger Dickhead dept managers and one the biggest Dickhead of them all store manager.
Hated every minute of it there.

Oh how could I have forgotten Dunnes. After the 3 weeks in the Stasi hotel I went to the Dunnes on the other side of the square. It wasn't as bad as the hotel but it wasn't a whole lot better. I remember the night of my 21st birthday I was supposed to finish at 6 but the new store manager made me stay till 9 as some shelves needed to be stacked urgently.

rob316

steddyeddy wrote: »

Worked there too. A element of fear was used to keep people in line. I don't believe in treating human beings like that.

Managers went off the rails for absolutely nothing. You wouldn't talk to your dog they way someone of them did. A saw a couple of soft quiet fellas break down after a bollocking in my time. I worked there for 6 months the final month was a Christmas December I walked after it didn't even give notice. It's just not how people should be treated.

corner of hells

corner of hells wrote: »

I worked as a contractor in that software company.I was employed there as an electrician.

We were not allowed drink water from drinking water fonts , you know the ones where you get the little plastic cup , the reason we were given was that the water was for the staff employed directly and not for contractors.
I can still see the piss stain of a manager standing in front of about ten electricians and apprentices telling us not to drink the water.

Oh my god...

Wompa1

In my second job, I worked in as hop for 7 years. Making less than minimum wage. Working until 1am most shifts that I worked. No breaks and no sitting down. Also, for part of the 7 years I was in school in the same town as the shop so I'd get harassed by some of the people I went to school with.

Then I worked in a toy store for just over a year. Christmas was hell. Also, back during the boom times they struggled to fill positions but at the same time struggled to keep staff. Though, most were fired...I counted 109 people who left in the time I was there. Dealt with the most obnoxious customers, I ever had to deal with. Mostly types from Kilcolgan and commuter towns near Galway city. Manager called his staff 'retards' at the time. The regional manager was an ever bigger piece of sh1t...I was so happy when I left that job.

My first job in the US. I worked in IT for an insurance company. The pay was great, benefits were great. Time off was awful. But the main problem was the politics and environment created by management. It's a right to work state, which means a company can fire you without any prior warnings BUT being a warm, cuddly company they had a policy. If you get written up 3 times, you get fired. But at the same time, if they just needed or wanted to fire you, they still would. They would pick their moments when to fire someone. We'd all be in a meeting and the victim would be told he\she had a call or something...they'd leave the room. Our meeting would continue.

An hour later at the end of our meeting. We would be told that the person who was called out got 'let go' and please don't talk to him\her if you see them in the parking lot. A good friend of mine was driven out of his job. He got written up twice for absolute nonsense. It was a matter of time. He walked before they could fire him but due to his age, he didn't find another job. Also, of course not in writing but management demanded that everybody put in at least 5 hours a week of unpaid overtime.

Two people on the team, had all of the say. One of them went to some big University and the other one would work 7 days a week but accomplish nothing. She was also going through menopause. If you challenged anything she said. She would burst out in tears. It was so uncomfortable and awkward. After my friend got fired I left.

I then moved onto working in IT for one of the largest retail shops in America. The atmosphere and environment among the staff was slightly better but people still got fired in a brutal fashion.

Also, the company was so large that myself and a couple of others on my team would end up working pretty much every weekend because there was always some migration or implementation and there always would be because the company kept buying other companies....In this company they didn't make any statement about working overtime but for me, I would end up doing it regardless due to being unwilling to saying no! Also, a guy I worked with got himself into a lot of debt. So he was working a second job in a D.I.Y shop. He'd work from 7am-4pm in our office and then go stock shelves and stuff at the D.I.Y place from 4:30pm-10:00 and longer shifts on weekends.

Because of this, he couldn't put in any overtime. He was warned by our manager who told him his performance wasn't to the level expected. He asked what more they expected and that he was working as hard as he could. He was told point blank that he should be putting in more hours and getting more done. He got fired about 9 months later....


Now to end on a positive. I worked in a job for about 5 years. It didn't pay well. There were no benefits. I got 22 days holiday a year. I worked with some sound people. There was drama from time to time but nothing too bad. My boss was the man. I started getting bad migraines and had been working long hours. For a few weeks, he would come by my desk at 5pm to force me to go home.

I went through a bad breakup with a girl and just happened to have to travel the very next day to a customers site. I was pale in the face, not projecting my voice and just generally distracted. I didn't eat the entire week I was there, so it just got worse. One my companies reps that was over there with me, made a comment to me that insinuated that I may have been drinking. So, before he could go to my boss, I decided to tell him what happened. When I got back, he sat me down and put his arm around me for one of those quick ahhh are ya alright gestures and then talked things through with me.

I wish I was back there!!

Reventon93

Worst - Worked for a certain company. Hated the atmosphere so much that i quit after a week. Also the people seemed so fake and like they genuinely hated their jobs. It gave me some good expense though.

Best - Either of the jobs i got this summer. One for working in a really busy environment doing something i really enjoyed and getting good money from it too.

The other one was working in a warehouse. Mightnt sound ideal, but i clicked really well with my boss and got kept on for longer than my original contract. Worked really long house, but it was a really fun place to work with some really friendly people

ShadowHearth

Worst: being engineer for a company who installs sky dishes and do service calls. What a ****y job. It was long hours, tom **** of paper work and dealing with customers was like dealing with rabid badgers who try to screw you as soon as you come in through the door. At one stage I just snaped, got back to hq, parked the van, walked in the office, threw the keys and said: I am out!

Best: Current job as a chef in a hotel. I work there very long time and I had rough patches, but now I just love the place. The people I work with are mostly the reason I love it. Some collection of characters and personalities just makes it some mad house, but very fun. I am there so long too, that management does not give me any **** just for the sake of it, they know what I do and how I do it, so they leave me doing my work in peace. I am getting a long with everyone very nicely too. So yeah, great spot!

suicide_circus

rob316 wrote: »

Managers went off the rails for absolutely nothing. You wouldn't talk to your dog they way someone of them did. A saw a couple of soft quiet fellas break down after a bollocking in my time. I worked there for 6 months the final month was a Christmas December I walked after it didn't even give notice. It's just not how people should be treated.

If you're dunnes stores management material you are almost certainly a complete cnut.

experiMental

steddyeddy wrote: »

I work in a lab and the competitive atmosphere in the lab leads to more staff breakdowns than any other job I've worked in.

Wow, never knew that a lab could be competitive. What's the reason? Not many lab jobs, and lots of people want one?

Getting back to the thread....

worst : working in a recycling plant during a night shift. Had no appetite for a while, after enduring smells of horrible stuff.

best : a job in a software development company. Sometimes I can work from home.

Sugar Free

Worst: supermarket job with managers who hated their life and ambitionless staff with reverse snobbery issues.

Best: Current role. Talented people, good managers and a good sense of camaraderie.

HardenendMan

The Strawman Argument wrote: »

Yep, that was pretty much it.

Everyone was designated an aisle. Almost everything was stored upstairs so the male staff had to carry everything down at the start for everyone and, when they finished their section, they had to carry whatever needed to go upstairs (quite a lot on delivery days!). Male staff also had to carry bags out for anyone who requested it... it ultimately amounted to an additional few hours of overtime.
What really took the biscuit was that that manager kept giving better hours to a lot of the female floor staff too. Things got way better when he was replaced, mind.

Maybe I'm missing something, but does it not make sense to have the male staff doing the heavy lifting?

If your complaint was about unequal overtime then ignore me!

ziedth

I worked on an assembly line for six months to pay bills. Min wage 8 hours a day standing putting various things in a box. The boredom was something i cant put into words, id try and think of anything to keep my brain functioning but the people who worked there were the worst. As if something had snapped in them after so long at it just strange strange Group of people. I was grateful to have the job but I'd find it very hard to go back.

Best: Worked for Superquinn back in the Fergal Quinn days in the butchery department. Real boys club, every day was a laugh as if hanging out with mates. Was decent money considering how easy the work was and I was sorry I left till the day I called in under the new name and saw it had all been changed.

HardenendMan

Worst; part time job while in college working as one of those annoying retail salespeople who come up to you when you just want to have a look around!

We were always pushed to sell what was good margin wise. I couldn't do it. I would get great enjoyment out of genuinely helping a customer get what suited their needs. And I was too honest. I would never ram an add on down someone's throat.

Best; working for big multi national as a contractor in software development. Absolutely cut throat. But i loved that. I loved being pushed to the limit, but only because i believed in the overall vision of what we were doing.

The Strawman Argument

HardenendMan wrote: »

Maybe I'm missing something, but does it not make sense to have the male staff doing the heavy lifting?

If your complaint was about unequal overtime then ignore me!

Had no problem with the heavy lifting in and of itself, the problem was that the heavy lifting wasn't factored into our hours at all, there was no real consideration of how much extra work it was landing in on us and we were still expected to do the same amount on the shop floor itself (restocking, cleaning, facing, etc) as the female staff in conjunction with the heavy lifting while receiving the same wage.


I dunno, I think I've just said exactly what I said before... maybe it doesn't make any sense, I'm terrible with words!

Brinimartini

The most toxic kip I worked in was Unidare/Tinsley Wire and Oerlikon in Finglas......full of working class filth and scum from the local area.

HardenendMan

The Strawman Argument wrote: »

Had no problem with the heavy lifting in and of itself, the problem was that the heavy lifting wasn't factored into our hours at all, there was no real consideration of how much extra work it was landing in on us and we were still expected to do the same amount on the shop floor itself (restocking, cleaning, facing, etc) as the female staff in conjunction with the heavy lifting while receiving the same wage.


I dunno, I think I've just said exactly what I said before... maybe it doesn't make any sense, I'm terrible with words!

Ah right I get you. I thought the guys did just the heavy lifting. But you clarified that guys also had to keep up with the other tasks too.

Saipanne

Worst: Security guard in a shop. My job was to stand in one spot for 12 hours a day. Also, the boss would pick on me in front of others. I was young, so too timid to stand up to him. I would love to run into him now.


Best: My current role. Great people there, relaxed atmosphere. I'm often offered interviews at better paying positions, but I'm reluctant to leave, because I like it so much here.

Teyla Emmagan

Was on a project in limerick years ago in a factory where loads of people were being made redundant. We were putting in an some system that they were spending a fortune on. Had to walk through the main floor everyday with our little suits and laptops and through the canteen where the union met to get to our office. All these men in their fifties being laid off and there we are. Very uncomfortable atmosphere. Pure misery that project, felt like it would never end. I saw grown men cry, and that was just us, not the lads being laid off!

drdeadlift

Worked in boi for a short period in 2007/8.It was in an office.Im not sure if it was the people or the fact i wasnt suited for office work buy i hated it.Boring as hell and you could tell nobody liked it there.
A better experience was working alone in flight ops for an airline.Four twelve hour shifts left alone to over see the smooth running of an airline.Im not a big fan of the whole "office teamwork bs" so this suited me.

The One Doctor

mickstupp wrote: »

Worst - long time ago, working for a couple of years in Sandyford in the offices of one of the biggest software companies in the world. Incredibly soul-destroying environment. Nothing but bad memories of the place. Great money does not make a great job.

Ah yes, I worked there too. It's great having it on my CV, but it was a terrible place to work. One guy came in at 7am and left at 11pm every day for less money than I was on. I went home on time. Backstabbing, passive aggressive managers too.

Graces7

Where I am right now.. snug abed knitting for victory over starvation for tiny abandoned babies in India who my family rescue...and at many of the markets I trade at although they are a mixed bag!