Null Boundry
First Post
I was working in the accounts department for a car dealership. We were the regional head office for Southern England. The problems with this place were
1) The building we were in was plate glass on all sides and a glass ceiling, there was no air conditioning and if you wanted to open a window there was a choice of two. One opened onto the railway line 10 metres away (the main line into Paddington so it was busy). The second opened on to the engine testing area for the truck garage next door so there was the choice bake or breath in exhaust fumes.
2) It had a strick dress code unless you were female, having your top button undone were get you a written warning you were even expected to wear your suit jacket if you were away from your desk for any reason such as going to the printer. Women of course could wear anythng they wanted.
3) There was no supply of drinking water, combine this with the other two and just think how unpleasant august was.
4) Office hours were 9:00 - 5:30 with an hour for lunch. This was what you got piad for not what you were expected to work, its not even that the place was busy but the manager felt you lacked commitment if you did anything less than a 14 hour day minimum. Leaving your desk to get a sandwich from a shop nearby was simply wrong.
5) talking to the women in the office about anything other than work was considered grounds for sexual harresment by the manager. He was terrified that one of the women would make a complaint about something the had overheard. Considering out of 30 people 4 were male it didn't leave many people to talk to.
6) You didn't take holidays. Any requests would always be refused and just told they were too busy to let you have any time off.
7) There were large amounts of intricate procedures that left you relying in other people, if they didn't do their job in time for you to do yours it was not their fault. For example you had to bank cheques by the end of the day but they had to be logged by accountants first. They felt this job was beneath them so they wouldn't bother. So whose fault was it the cheques wouldn't get banked? Not the accountants that was for sure.
As bad as it was I felt I could stick it out long enough to get another job as my girlfriend had just been made redundant. So I covered my back and kept records. When it finally came to the crunch the manager called me for the disciplinary meetings and sacking me I requested a witness which he denied, he refused to see any of the evidence I had. The idiot actually recorded this in his mintues and posted me a copy. I made a nice lump of money out of them when I took it to the Tribunal.
1) The building we were in was plate glass on all sides and a glass ceiling, there was no air conditioning and if you wanted to open a window there was a choice of two. One opened onto the railway line 10 metres away (the main line into Paddington so it was busy). The second opened on to the engine testing area for the truck garage next door so there was the choice bake or breath in exhaust fumes.
2) It had a strick dress code unless you were female, having your top button undone were get you a written warning you were even expected to wear your suit jacket if you were away from your desk for any reason such as going to the printer. Women of course could wear anythng they wanted.
3) There was no supply of drinking water, combine this with the other two and just think how unpleasant august was.
4) Office hours were 9:00 - 5:30 with an hour for lunch. This was what you got piad for not what you were expected to work, its not even that the place was busy but the manager felt you lacked commitment if you did anything less than a 14 hour day minimum. Leaving your desk to get a sandwich from a shop nearby was simply wrong.
5) talking to the women in the office about anything other than work was considered grounds for sexual harresment by the manager. He was terrified that one of the women would make a complaint about something the had overheard. Considering out of 30 people 4 were male it didn't leave many people to talk to.
6) You didn't take holidays. Any requests would always be refused and just told they were too busy to let you have any time off.
7) There were large amounts of intricate procedures that left you relying in other people, if they didn't do their job in time for you to do yours it was not their fault. For example you had to bank cheques by the end of the day but they had to be logged by accountants first. They felt this job was beneath them so they wouldn't bother. So whose fault was it the cheques wouldn't get banked? Not the accountants that was for sure.
As bad as it was I felt I could stick it out long enough to get another job as my girlfriend had just been made redundant. So I covered my back and kept records. When it finally came to the crunch the manager called me for the disciplinary meetings and sacking me I requested a witness which he denied, he refused to see any of the evidence I had. The idiot actually recorded this in his mintues and posted me a copy. I made a nice lump of money out of them when I took it to the Tribunal.
