To ask for the scandalous secrets of your industry?

[Iwasjustabouttosaythat]

Or just dirt?

Mine isn't very interesting, more just sad. My background is in immigration and I have never worked with so many racist (and stupid) people.

A boat of refugees when down and the guy who told us the news was laughing about it.

Endless racial stereotypes and visas refused because "as if a French person would go out with a Japanese person" etc.

Then there was the chap who said amnesty are evil because they provide money for abortions to rape victims in the Congo. He's the same guy who refuses to assess any applications from homosexuals because he thinks they should all be denied visas. He doesn't get fired for this.

There are probably more but they are the stand outs.

What's your industry gossip? I'd especially love to hear from nannies and cleaners but I'm interested in all dirt!

I work in a prep school and many of the younger teachers are massive coke fiends.

I didn't find that when I worked in a prep school (household name) but there was certainly a lot of alcohol in the bloodstream of resident staff - generally only when off duty. But honestly it would make a wedding look like a maiden aunt's tea party.

They are completely vile about the less bright children behind their backs and laugh at them.

I didn't find that either but there was a lot of "information sharing" gossip which I guess is necessary when you have pastoral care of a child and in any case was kept internal and not discussed on the bus / with non-colleagues. It isn't an academic hothouse: maybe that's the difference.

I'm reminded though that it was kind of a brothel: there were lots of very young women (18-20) working gap year jobs for next to no money, who were sexual targets for the single male teachers.

I mean, at 18 I was barely five years older than the oldest pupils, and I was actively pursued by these men twice my age who had no outgoings (resident = low or no rent or bills, all meals provided, etc) and could therefore splash the cash on fancy dates, expensive booze, sports cars, and so on. I'm glad I was actually so naive as to have been oblivious to much of it at the time, but with hindsight...!

Also when I worked in the call centre for the mobile phone company, we were able to fudge about 70% of the credit checks. If it didn't go through the first time then we would try it again by changing the door number or changing a Mr to a Mrs or swapping first name and surname around. I'm not too sure how this worked getting past a credit check but mostly it did, although customers weren't ever told that another check was being carried out so they would end up with multiple checks on their credit report without their knowledge. In fairness to the advisors that did this, they didn't realise that it would leave multiple checks and mess a customer's report up as they were mostly very young 17-22 so often didn't understand credit checks too well then, although the team leaders that encouraged it knew full well of the consequences.
This stopped eventually as the company changed the checks so it no longer worked.

We also could carry out a check even when a customer didn't have the required £1 in the bank to for the check to go through, we would just make up the card number after the first 4 digits and after 5 attempts it went through, again I've no idea how that worked but we didn't question so long as we hit target, and we didn't hit target for commission as the company almost always found an excuse not to pay it, but we needed to hit target to at least keep our jobs.

I also worked in a call centre for a well known energy supplier and whilst everything we did was above board, many of the customers' past experiences were dreadful, so many had had an engineer gain access to properties from the council (council tenants) because a bill was in huge arrears and they would swap meters for a PAYG one, only for a customer to return home from work and phone to question what the hell was going on and find that the engineer had been told the wrong door number. Customer would then receive £10 credit as an apology but would have to pay £150 to change the meter back to a normal one.

Ex military here. Whenever I had an overseas posting in Afghan, Iraq etc 90% off the men (& I'm including the civilian journalists, engineers, force protection etc) shagged around regardless of wether they were married or had a partner. Much the same as the Oil & Gas industry (probably why it's the 2nd career of choice for ex-squaddies).

One of the Big Four professional services firms, consistently features near the top of 'Best Company to work for' lists...God knows how as there was and still is a shockingly high rate of attrition due to the appalling treatment of staff.

Also, a few years ago, I was working in a maternity cover role. After the first week I realised that the father was one of my managers (married - to someone else - with kids) although nobody had told me directly

NC for this.

I work for the organisation that runs the NHS. It's split into several directorates, each run like separate companies to some extent. I previously worked in one of these in which:

• many staff take more annual leave than they are entitled to because no one monitors it
• staff 'work at home' whenever they want and come and go as they please. The entire org seems to work a 4 day week for 5 day pay
• staff book hotels (work funded) and train tickets for personal trips
• bullying is rife and, when reported, goes unchallenged
• senior management gossip about staff to the extent that we all knew who had cancer, who had raised a grievance etc.
• we knew who was being made redundant weeks before it was announced and before the people affected were told
• the people deciding who was being made redundant did it all via Gmail so it couldn't be requested under FOI
• FOI requests were rejected on false grounds and we were instructed to lie about not holding info

The level of waste is astronomic. Senior staff regularly award contracts to their mates. It goes through due process but there's always a way to make sure it gets awarded to the person you want.

Supermarket. Rotten food at the back of shelves, constant racism towards asians and black staff, including from managers 'jokey' but still there (jokey as in 'You are 'Dick', he is 'Fat DIck' to asian for example).
People in fruit and veg going to the toilet and not washing hands, or picking up loose fruit with completely filthy gloves, Loose fruit or mushrooms falling over the floor or in the car park and put back on sale, spilled fresh food, yoghurt and milk only being cleaned up cosmetically, some food left to either rot or go completely dry in the cracks between shelves, old fruit or salad piled up rotting between shelving units, Plants pulled through doorways or dropped so that they break, come out of pots and are damaged going back on sale.. deliberate 'accidental' underpayment of staff (Unions recommend ALWAYS checking payslips as a result), contracts lapsing so workers have no rights when they complain- even though they are still given shifts the same as the contract they were on.. etc etc etc!

If we can get into their phone we do. newsflash, calling your nudey photos 'work documents' isn't hiding them in any way shape or form!

How do you get into someone's phone?

NHS here - 'pen pushing' rather than patient facing. I've never experienced a more difficult place to work. As a PP said - bullying is horrendous and heirarchy is God. It's a pile of shit.

I work for Mumsnet

interesting post

Oh darn.. obviously that was a joke. it was obvious wasn't it?.. KNew I should have put a ...

I work in primary education. Every employee at the school cares so much about the kids, especially the ones with crappy home situations. It's been discussed that if it wasn't illegal, we'd pull a Miss Honey and take those poor kids home with us, away from their awful parents.

Also, that kid your son/daughter hates because they are so annoying? We agree and wish they would just shut up for 5 minutes so we could teach everyone else who is trying hard.

I used to work in Local Authority. In a service where everyone worked long hours and did work way over their levels of responsibility. Only scandal was that there was some theft from the stationery cupboard sometimes.

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The racist immigration officials is not a new phenomenon. There are plenty of scandals and other things that go on. Google US Embassy Vietnam Visa scandal and you will see what I mean. I also know a few people who work in immigration, not in the UK. You would be surprised at what they don't know.

I work in the NGO sector and could write a book on how much corruption goes on. There is also a lot of fighting and backstabbing between organizations. My organization is extremely small and I would like to keep it that way. I have run it for 10 years, I am one of the only foreigners with a disability to work in the countries where we do our work, and other huge organizations have gotten jealous when I am asked for newspaper interviews. They have annual grants and are multi million dollar organizations. Somebody actually told me I must be happy on my little SSI or what ever. SS I is like benefits in the UK. This came from the director of an organization that helps people with disabilities, yet they were jealous when I was asked for a newspaper interview and very condescending towards me.

Most NGOs that help people with disabilities will not hire them or when they do the people with disabilities are more like puppets to make the organizations look good.

NHS/Public sector here. Whistle blowers are NOT protected in the NHS so their voice is very rarely heard.

Fully agree with NHSTales, the level of waste and corruption that occurs in the NHS because of senior management is an absolute disgrace and really should be investigated properly. (Not by the Daily Mail though)

There is a culture where senior management can decide to "work from home" when in reality no work is being done. They are playing golf, shopping, having their hair done, visiting friends, resting, taking this piss, being paid for doing nothing.

In the last six months a particular NHS "organisation" has been undergoing a restructure. As a result, the 20 or so managers, earning at least 60k a year, have had no role. Still had their full salaries though! None of them have done anything of any benefit to the NHS whilst this has been going on. No wonder the NHS is allegedly so short of funds!

I worked in sales for a company that consistently features in these "top companies" to work for survey because they bribe the staff to fudge their answers in order to have a huge piss up on the company's expense.

There is no HR. One colleague was pregnant and when trying to arrange her maternity leave, had always been an exemplary employee and consistently hit targets, but was told to not plan anything regarding maternity leave because "you could get sacked or your baby can still die" when she was well into her second trimester.

They also encourage backstabbing, lying to customers, long term contracts and all their competitors openly slate them for their "del boy tactics". There are work incentive trips that always have drugs (and apparently are now being dealt within the office in working hours) and hookers. When a female won an inventive half of the winners refused to go because a woman would "ruin it". Hours are set but it you don't do an additional 4/6 hours a day, unpaid a day you'll soon find yourself out the door.

Horrendous horrendous horrendous place.

Scary clown i worked for a supermarket in the 90s and it wasnt like that. Maybe ours was a one off. Your post has put me off my 5 a day!

"In the last six months a particular NHS "organisation" has been undergoing a restructure. As a result, the 20 or so managers, earning at least 60k a year, have had no role. Still had their full salaries though! None of them have done anything of any benefit to the NHS whilst this has been going on. No wonder the NHS is allegedly so short of funds!"

Interesting. Much more fun blaming NHS failings on 'health tourism though' After all, fuck facts, it's how we feel that matters

I worked in European projects for a large European manufacturer essentially writing works of fiction that would be awarded large sums of money by the European Commission as it was then known. The projects were never implemented and the commission never thought to check. As long as some fictional benefit such as saving the environment could be forecast, that was enough. I left as couldn't be a part of it. If people had any idea of the endemic pilfering, waste and downright fraud that went on in the EU, and what a gravy train it really was, they really wouldn't be so anti Brexit.

Midwife here. Hand on heart I have never heard anyone bitch about women or flirt with partners.

Mostly though there are unpleasant people in every job, so there will be some but certainly the majority are caring and do the best they can. The bitchiness is reserved for each other sadly. Lateral violence - feeling under pressure with lack of support from wider management and we take it out on each other. Yes yes to the breastfeeding and pubes comments above!

HelloKitty That's appalling, but it doesn't surprise me in the least.

I have worked as a councillor at a local level and I could honestly write a book. Worst was the councillor who was put into the Families and Children division. She had never had a child. Yet was instrumental in putting children into adoption. I was aghast at her sentiments (she is a lovely person, heart in the right place etc) but totally unsuitable for the task in hand. She was moved, because it was clear that she was given a remit that was beyond her experience.

It was the culture in this particular unit. Once witnessed lead midwife getting on her back on the floor and doing a "funny" impression of a poor mum who looked like a freaked out stranded beetle. That was probably the worst. Another boasted and laughed about how she frightened a mother into pushing her baby out as she threatened her with the scissors. Other midwives complaining about women being wusses. Sigh. Glad to hear it's not like this everywhere, but agree burnout is to blame, probably.

I once, a very long time ago, worked as a SPAD. It was horrific. If anyone has watched The Thick Of It, they will know what I'm talking about.

OP - your particular case is not an anecdote - it is illegal and you need to whistleblow. I'm all sorts of mixed race and I cannot fathom that for example my Arab/British father would never have fallen in love with my Dutch/African mother.

emma .. Was that with female personnel or with the locals? 😳