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

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!

Grayson

I've had many random jobs over the years but I had a load in retail and I'm going to look at them.


Worst: Dunnes. It was just a depressing monotonous job. The management were idiots who took pleasure in lecturing you for 15 minutes on how to front off tins of beans. These guys believed you couldn't figure out where the front was and that they had valuable knowledge to share. The job itself was boring. I'd be given an aisle and have to restock it. I'd spend my day doing it and would only occasionally bump into a co-worker in the stock room.

Best: M&S were pretty damn good. I had a temp xmas job there years ago. They paid €2 more per hour if you'd worked in retail before. They rotated where you worked every hour or two and everyone worked both tills and shelves. So you'd never be sitting at a till for 5 hours without a break. They also paired people up. So you always had someone to chat to. They also didn't count tills. If you were a few euro short, they just didn't care.

TOEJOE

worst Job: Worked in a chicken factory for the summer killing and cleaning out chickens good part got some free eggs!!!
best: Retirement!!!!

Redser87

I worked in a shop where the manager went mad when I asked for a Friday off so I could go to my Debs. Eventually, after lots of tutting, he allowed me the afternoon off, but I had to be in at 9 the next morning. Apart from him it was a nice environment though, we'd have a good laugh between busy times.

Apart from that I've always been happy in work.

TheBeardedLady

Best jobs I have ever had were my two positions as a graduate trainee librarian in London (I'd planned on doing the master's in Dublin after). First job was for the Ministry of Justice and minimal work was expected of us. It was just me and my boss who'd grown up in a working class family in Essex to Irish parents, had converted to Islam 20 years previously, was married to a British Caribbean woman and had to severely autistic children....and read The Daily Mail. You couldn't make it up. Lovely, interesting man though who was actually very open-minded in spite of his chosen news source. We'd have great chats (and very heated discussions sometimes) and drank gallons of tea in that lovely, dusty old library. Good memories.

Second job (the previous one was on for a year) was in a corporate law firm with 4 of the nicest people I've ever met. I'd just broken up with my boyfriend and was very broken-hearted at the time and they were so sweet to me. My boss was the funniest man I met while living in the UK and was always taking the piss out of library life and librarians (i.e. us). We all used to go for pints a fair bit after work down by the Tower of London (we worked in the City). The lawyers there were surprisingly nice to.

I've never worked in a toxic environment, thankfully. I wouldn't put up with it.

Saipanne

TheBeardedLady wrote: »

Best jobs I have ever had were my two positions as a graduate trainee librarian in London (I'd planned on doing the master's in Dublin after). First job was for the Ministry of Justice and minimal work was expected of us. It was just me and my boss who'd grown up in a working class family in Essex to Irish parents, had converted to Islam 20 years previously, was married to a British Caribbean woman and had to severely autistic children....and read The Daily Mail. You couldn't make it up. Lovely, interesting man though who was actually very open-minded in spite of his chosen news source. We'd have great chats (and very heated discussions sometimes) and drank gallons of tea in that lovely, dusty old library. Good memories.

Second job (the previous one was on for a year) was in a corporate law firm with 4 of the nicest people I've ever met. I'd just broken up with my boyfriend and was very broken-hearted at the time and they were so sweet to me. My boss was the funniest man I met while living in the UK and was always taking the piss out of library life and librarians (i.e. us). We all used to go for pints a fair bit after work down by the Tower of London (we worked in the City). The lawyers there were surprisingly nice to.

I've never worked in a toxic environment, thankfully. I wouldn't put up with it.

Some people have no choice.

TheBeardedLady

Saipanne wrote: »

Some people have no choice.

I know but I do (at the moment). I wasn't speaking for everyone.

One eyed Jack

It appears I completely misunderstood the title of the thread and thought the OP meant toxic as in dirty jobs and pleasant as in clean working environments

Every job I've ever worked in has been great, one or two bad apples didn't spoil the barrel, but now I work for myself I can choose who I do and don't want to work with, which is great!

Puibo

I had to change a hydraulic hose in the back of a bin truck one day. I knew i needed a change then!!

whatdoicare

Toxic: A certain popular kids jewellery accessory store. It was ten years ago and I'm still mentally scarred from it! The two managers running the three stores were absolute bitches! I started working in one store then they wanted me to move to another store way out of my way, so to force me they cut my hours down to the minimum they had to, (4 hours) kept making up random things to discipline me for and generally bullied me into taking the job.

when I got there the two managers were leaving, as was the assistant manager, so I ended up running a store by myself with zero training! I was pretty much by myself all day every day except when one of the college kids came on about five or six in the evening Thurs to Sunday. I was working nearly 65 hours a week with no breaks and no toilet breaks and one day off a week. I had to come in on my day off to give the girl who was from another shop my keys and come back in that night to collect them again. I was being "managed" by this pig of a woman who was filthy with the dirt. She worked in another store and luckily i never saw much of her. She would randomly ring me every day to abuse me though. As would the other two bints from the first store.

Eventually, i guess head office rand the bints and told them i was earning too much so i was to be promoted to assistant manager. They wouldn't tell me my salary and I found out why! I was salaried for a 40 hour week and anything extra was unpaid and I had to come in. So I was worse off straight away. I didn't even work a week as an assistant manager, the second I found out what was going on I finished up my day and went in the next day to the other shop and gave them the keys and told them where to shove them!

Best place: Factory I worked in about 15 years ago. We had some craic there. Horrible 12 hour shifts but great bosses and co workers! I was fast at my job so they left me do what I liked. Id be finished my quota about three hours early so I could feck off into the store room and have a nap. We used to race each other with pallet trucks and build forts out of huge cardboard boxes and pallets! One engineer used to be walking around with a clipboard all the time, he showed me once it was full of pages from a DIY book, he was teaching himself how to build a cabin! I used to find my line manager down the back of the machines fast asleep with a sandwhich in one hand and betting forms in the other, he was mad as a hatter! Hed call me into his office and pretend to be giving out to me for getting caught sleeping and really hed be wagging his finger at me and telling me what he wanted down the Chinese! Brilliant place!

Turtyturd

Worst was my first proper job, money was decent and would finish early most days but the environment was toxic with all the workers trying to one up each other in avoiding work. Management treated employees like dirt and expected them to drop any plans if any unexpected work popped up. Eventually forced them into making me redundant and the company has since gone bust which makes me happy.

Best is my current role in a section of the Justice Derpartment. The autonomy you are given to just get on with your work is great, and the atmosphere in the service is relaxed and laid back, which is a credit to the director.