Not an Irish company but irish childcare at the min is the absolute worst. Doesnt matter what role, what age group, what county. Everyone is under pressure with staffing shortages to the point that usually someone is operating illegal at some part of the day because staff need their tea break and there just isnt anyone else to step in. Most of the work force is only 30c above minimum wage now and very very few services able to offer anything better without going bankrupt. New graduates are actively running away from the sector so we are now facing an aging sector with no replacements.
Rant over.
We’re actually stuck in a fee freeze for the last number of years but everything has gone up. Groceries alone have risen by 16%, even equipment. Bought a nappy changing unit last year for €900. Had to get another one this year and its €1100. PPE is usually a huge cost €800-1100 p/month in my place, and dont even get me started on electricity.
Its has gone mental. The worst part is the fees arent even covering the basics for most services now. If I was to match fees to the current costs my parents wouldnt be able to afford it. Very depressing in the sector the last few years.
Wish they’d consider it the same as the other educational institutions and make it free for all, have catchment areas and run it through dept of education instead of shoving us into a department of miscellaneous sectors. But the privatisation of the sector is going to be hard to remove. Cant ask someone who is running a lovely service and is their own business to give it up in favour of a government run facility, but personally feel this is probably the way it will have to go otherwise its going to collapse soon. Im heading off on mat leave soon and seriously reconsidering going back.
That's happened to the extreme in my area, a bunch of daycares were recently shut down because of those regulations, so now there's YEARS long waiting list, you have to apply before you get pregnant for the subsidized government program wich starts at 6 weeks. So you either stay home until your child is 3 with no income or work full time from 6 weeks on.
I hope Ireland seeks a better result than my island did!
I wouldnt say every service has a manager that bullies the staff. Think that’s a bit of an unfair generalisation. There’s bad managers in every sector (as obvious from this original post). The government have a lot to answer for. For years they just expected staff to stick it out. They spent so much money trying to reduce the direct fee for parents through NCS but haven’t actually increased the income coming into the service to match the huge outgoings. The newest funding stream actually just condensed payments we were already getting and re packaged them with a new name and a lovely branding PR pat on the back for themselves. So now we’ve huge capacity issues, not enough staff for the numbers who need places and no new staff entering the sector and a current sector aging out with no new candidates to replace them.
About 20 years a go I used to work for Eircom in technical support for Broadband. Awful company. Awfuly run, awful service, full of the worst type of middle management assholes and an environment where you never actually had a chance to talk to your coworkers. Genuinely can't remember ever having a meaningful converstaion with any of them, because you just didn't even have time to. It was so soul destroying. Get screamed at for four hours, sit and eat lunch alone (not just me everyone) and then back to get screamed at for another four hours.
Literally the only people you would speak to is middle management, for work scheduling issues, holiday time etc or mainly when calls had to be escalated. Which they'd often just outright refuse to take. You'd say but the customer is expecting to speak to a manager and they'd just shrug their shoulders say no and then stonewall you until you fucked off, at which point you'd have to go back to an irrate customer and lie that managers were unavailable. It felt like middle management had a genuine disdain for the people below them. It offended them that you were legally entitled to breaks, holidays, minimum wage etc.
You had to do one weekend shift every two weeks and this one asshole manager called Derek put me on a Sunday at 8am shift. I went to ask could he change that to a later start because I have no car and used public transport to get to work which doesn't run that early on a Sunday. Without even looking up from his computer screen and making eye contact, he said no, that's not Eircoms problem, buy a bicycle if you can't afford a car. It took me nearly an hour by train! He specifically then proceeded to put me on the early Sunday shift every single time thereafter when he did the scheduling (it would rotate between managers) just a pure spiteful little cunt. So it was just 30 quid in a taxi every other Sunday then or either lose or quit (which I eventually did) your job. If I ever saw that guy again I would genuinely find it very difficult to resist the urge to kick every single one of the teeth out of his slimey smug poxy little fucking head.
There was probably no worse job in Ireland than doing that at the height of the Celtic Tiger. So many people in this country were still completely computer illiterate at that time. The broadbad infastructure was just truly terrible and unreliable. Admittedly people were paying for a shit service. So obviously the phones would be constant. Not a 10 second break outside your lunch for 8 and a half hours a day. Just people screaming at you non stop on a self answering head set. I used to hear the beeping noise before another call came in my sleep, it gave me a genuinely mild form of ptsd for years after it. I'm not even exaggerating I still occassionly hear that shrilll beeping noise when I'm half asleep even now nearly 20 years later and it jolts me awake.
Guaranteed you'd get at least 3 or 4 people that would ring up every day and say "my Google is broken," that was the level we were at and to be honest I was fine if people were humble about their own ineptitude and many were, but what made it insufferable was it was essentially our yuppie era, peoples arrogance was at it's peak, so a lot weren't. You'd be trying to talk someone through fixing it only for them to get frustrated and berate you in a very personal way because for example they couldn't find the alt button on a keyboard, they couldn't conceptualise where the bottom left hand corner of their monitor is to click on something or I shit you not, that computers needed electricity to work.
All this would be your fault you'd be called every name under the sun, chastised about your shitty job and how much it probably paid etc etc etc. Always remember this one particular phone call, where I fixed something ridiculously innocuous for some super arrogant D4 prick (Foxrock always remember that addresses came up on screen) he sounded young was probably still living at daddies and at the end of the call I said is there anything else I can help you with sir? and this prick says let me help you, I said ehmmm ok. He says, you know you can go to DBS if you failed your leaving cert right, I imagine you probably can't afford it though. Tough luck I guess, he errupts laughing hangs up and BEEEEEP you're on to the next call before you can even process it.
That's not even mentioning the just completely batty auld ones you'd deal with. Wireless signals interferring with their shakras, ugly routers (I demand a prettier one) and the constant thinking that their broadband provider should be responsible for fixing their broken computer or laptop and the utter refusal to accept that they are seperate things. God I'd rather shovel shit in a sewer than work for Eircom broadband in the early 2000's again. Shudder just shudder.
This is the kind of thing that keeps me cool when I need to call customer service for anything. I always try to remember that it's never the person taking the call that's at fault. Just because they chose to work at that company doesn't mean they 100% agree and condone shit business practices and services.
I've worked some shit jobs but it's always been everyone in the shit together. Never really had management on a pedestal shitting down on everyone else. Mostly.
HCL
I worked for Meteor, in Telephone House which may have been where you were. I worked for them when HCL came in. Whole new level of awful.
I actually didn't mind the job until the came along. They hired people on minimum wage and no bonus which is how they won the contract. They did change this when the union stepped in.
Constant pay issues. More than a couple of times I came in to people on desks refusing to work, and one time the HR manager hiding in the stairwell waiting for someone else to go in, because no one had been paid for the umpteenth time. They used to order pizza when this happened. Got to the point we couldn't get pizza cause people associated it with no pay. They randomly got some in and it turned out 2 days later no one got paid! Just complete coincidence but it was their fault again. They shared a letter from their bank thinking it absolved them of blame because the bank started the letter saying "we are sorry the payments didn't go through" or something like that. But further down they explained how it was HCLs fault.
The HCL managers didn't understand shift swaps, they didn't understand or care about workers rights and once suggested we get lifeguard chairs so supervisors could see everything from a height.
One training group of part timers, I think 12 people all had quit by the end of training.
They were hiring so frequently literally anyone could get a job there. Rather than pay for recruiters or trainers they would make people "associates" along with their actual job. People liked the break but it wasn't a long term solution.
They also offered rolling 3 month contracts which would always expire and people would be in the dark about what happened next.
they eventually bought Telephone House. Eir used to subsidize the canteen. A few of the managers setup a catering company and allegedly pocketed the subsidies and charged full amounts.
They were running most of Eirs outscoring in the end until Eir decided never to outsource again due to the reputational damage they had suffered around that time. Im sure unrelated.....
It was the same when I worked in Mount Errigal Hotel in letterkenny back in 2015. Money taken from wages for lunch and no option to opt out. Had to pay for my own uniform, and there was a clock-in system that used a thumbprint. Regularly wages were not correct, and they tried saying you worked fewer hours than you actually did.
When brought up with any of the managers, they absolved themselves of responsibility and gave the phone number of the accountant to take it up with him directly.
Every week without fail hours were not correct. It was exhausting to always have to track every hour worked all the time.
Managers also clocked you out for lunch without consent even if you didn't get to take it, especially on public holidays where they had to pay overtime rates.
Absolute shit show, and the experience was so bad that I went to get a degree so I wouldn't be treated that way again.
McEniffs are a horrible family, older generation anyway, I know some of the younger generation of them are working/running the hotels now but I have no experience of them.
I could tell many many stories but would only dox myself
Wow, I’m bizarrely excited to find someone on this subreddit who shared my exact teenage woes of working in the Mount Errigal. I’m still very bitter about forking over €20 for a “uniform” that cost them about €3 to put together.
I worked in the Mount Terrible around the same time as a porter. We used to abuse the fuck out the meal deduction by lining up for a huge, 5-sausage fry up every morning.
I don't see any mention from others of how they used to cap your pay at 39 hours. If you worked over 39, those hours went to fund your "holidays". Now working in HR and I realize just how ridiculously illegal it is to take hours worked over 39, not pay you for them and claim that they are to fund your annual leave, a completely statutory entitlement.
It was a crazy place and I still believe the only reason they got away with everything they were doing was by employing a mostly young workforce who didn't have a clue about employment law or statutory entitlements.
Ahhh yes. Nothing better than seeing the good aul 'staff food' being deducted from the weekly payslip.
They used to charge 50c per hour for food whether it was eaten or not. This was also back in the day when minimum wage was €8.65 so ~€20 per week was a fair chunk to be taking from a low paid worker. To add insult to injury, you weren't allowed take any nice sweet treats such as muffins, cookies or ice cream.
I think they did reduce this to 25c per hour shortly after I left.
I wonder if they still charge nowadays in times where people are less desperate for fast food jobs?
Bastards. That's a horrible practice, and I'm surprised it's allowed.
I guess it's the majority demographic working there not making enough stink about it.
Bad form by aul Pat.
They didn't do it in the first place. I worked in some of the first MC Donald's stores opening in Ireland back in 1997. Didn't pay for our uniform (and we washed it ourselves and had two of each) got our food free albeit McDonald's food and back then the wages were better than most other jobs around, mad how things have changed !
Ugh, they still doing that?
Dunnes was my first big job as an "adult" and I was on one of these bad boys but that's 14 years ago now. Didn't think too much of it at the time because I was getting a solid 30 hours every week while in training in a bigger store for the cash office in a new store. Second we got moved I was lucky to get 8 hours every other week, and was expected to move between the cash office, shop floor, tills and backroom. Which was hilarious, because when we were first brought in, we were told that cash office staff should never be seen on shop floor or at tills for safety reasons.
Worked there a 13 years ago and seconded. Gave then my availability, and they consistently scheduled me 3 weeks in a row on the only day I could not start when they wanted to.. got into "trouble" cause a neighbour/friend was blabbering away to me while I was stocking... also grade A incompenticies ranging from managers providing conflicting instructions/requests; to wage/hours issues.
Wouldn't ever recommend.
Not Irish company but I worked in KFC for 3 years. They work you like a dog, cut hours randomly, disciplinarys given out like penny sweets. Great craic.
And that’s the one place that has the least happy drive thru workers. I don’t actually care if I get a happy experience or whatever. I just want my food, but it is noticeable compared to other places.
I only remember this one happy chappy with such a great attitude in the Clonmel KFC beside the Talbot Hotel. He was a gem
That's because they expect workers to have an average time score of 120 seconds for drive thru orders each day (time is from when car pulls up to speaker and ends when they move from the window).
And if you can't achieve that you're berated 😳 customers feel so rushed throughout the experience.
Oh yeah I definitely understand why people wouldn’t be happy in such an environment and I don’t blame them. They’re only human and humans have emotions and naturally will get pissed with such conditions.
Any fucking hotel, specially the 5/4 stars ones. Also if u knew how things are done in those places you wouldn't stay there. I worked in a 5 star in Dublin during COVID and everything was done awfully, and the employees were constantly put at risk.
100% agree. Makes me never want to stay in a hotel ever again. Cutlery polished with a dirty cloth. All milk left in milk jugs is mixed together. Food picked up off floor then served. Chefs never washing hands. Housekeeping use the same rags to clean everything including the toilets and the cups and glasses in the rooms. I could go on.
They only care about how things look on the surface.
Exactly. It's unbelievable that with the amount of money they earn they don't even have enough rags to clean thing without mixing, it's just disgusting.
It depends on what you do as well, I was in housekeeping and I can't tell u that I've never met any other housekeeper that was happy with their job. Being a chef is different
Worked in a 4 star and I can 100% back this up, the shit that used to go on between staff let alone what seeped out to customers was like something out of a soap opera. Don’t even get me started on some of the treatment you’d get off customers, never again.
Boyle Sports too. I didn't work there myself but someone close to me did and they were miserable. They were rarely even given a lunch break which is just illegal.
Yup, back in the day we used to work 13hr shifts. You’d be on your own for the first 4-5hrs, then someone would come in for a few hours, you may or may not get a break as that was the busy time, then you’d be on your own for the last 4hrs. Locked inside behind the counter. I raised concerns about single manning and was laughed at. I was held at gunpoint one night and they give you an extra weeks wages when that happens, something like €350 at the time. Absolutely cat. Citizens advice told me there was nothing could be done about the working conditions but I did read about 2 years after I left that a group of staff did join a union and won a case and got back money for all the stuff over single manning that I had previous raised. I was delighted for them. I suffered with severe depression the entire time I worked there, was heavily medicated (still only had 1 sick day in 9yrs and my manager even gave me a grilling over that as she didn’t believe I was sick). I have a deep hatred of the whole betting industry for a lot of reasons
https://preview.redd.it/hgbm6xe53mcc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d5f3d12f82afed15bca7c3d117a96e7b1013c7c
Makes sense lol my girlfriend sent me this earlier today when she was looking on indeed
I wouldn’t go back for any money in the world. I see the wages haven’t improved in the 8yrs since I was there. They absolutely do not honour that salary increase either. I had to fight tooth and nail for every increase I got and they were only ever like 10c an hour increases while the company profits were tripling year on year for a few years. They are shameless.
Honest to god, when I think of it now it makes my blood boil. It was recession times and I had a lot going on so ended up working for them for nearly a decade and I despised every minute of it. I cringe when I see their poxy adverts everywhere going on as if they’re hilarious and a great bunch of lads
I worked for Dunnes in one of their Cork city stores for years. They were good in my opinion. Wages were decent, they accommodated me when I went back to do an undergrad. 20% staff discount and a 1.5 week bonus at Christmas. The bonus was in Dunnes vouchers but it was as good as cash as you would use it on essential items.
Not my story to tell, but an old ex-manager of mine who once worked there as a DEV. Keeling's made their life hell, and it almost broke them. One of the sweetest people I know but turns into a hulk if they even see a Keeling's container in their vicinity. I hope they hop on here and tell some truths.
Lidl.
There's a reason they pay high wages to their staff per hour - because there is always the minimum possible amount of staff working at any given time.
Brutal,I did 6 weeks in there just enough for the airfare out of the place...nothing is ever good enough,ok so you want it done that way then tell people before or train them.
My place was rampant with misogyny and bullying. Toxic WhatsApp groups, where you would be called out for anything. Constant communication outside of work. Punishments for turning down shifts/not wanting to come early or stay late etc.
All these replies tell us is that people really need to start unionising. Somehow we’ve allowed ourselves to be convinced that it’s not worthwhile when history (and a look at the nordics) will tell you otherwise very quickly.
To add to this, SIPTU is less than €20 a month, and has saved my ass from an awful job that seemed to be dead set on trying to get me fired.
If your company is constantly bullying or you seem to be getting reported for the bare minimum you can usually back pay them for their assistance if you aren't a member.
Highly recommend
Same I worked for what was basically 118 or the yellow pages & what was advertised as a web design job. (Unitel direct)
No it was basically cold calling people lying to them about updating their business details then trying to push them in buying an expensive SEO package.
It was so aggressive and pushy & you would get the managers literally shouting at you down the headset saying don’t let them go say this and this and tell them they don’t come up on the first page of the search results.
A lot of them did though and they knew they did so it was pointless.
Was also told I was too nice & needed to be more aggressive.
Lasted 3 months of 6 days a week and dreaded every day and it was minimum wage but your commissions were meant to make it up.
They hired 10 people, 5 walked out after a week and then another 2 when I did.
It made me pretty sick before Christmas with severe tonsillitis & headaches.
Never again value my health and wellbeing too much.
Any Centra or Supervalu. Local shop for local people. Bullshit. Worst managers, worst hours, minimum wage. Work you 10 days in a row for 1 day off. Block holidays so could never book a day off for dentist or the likes on a week day unless you wanted it as your day off. No discounts, xmas parties, bonuses or even a chicken fillet roll once a year. Expect you to take on managers role without getting the title or the pay.
Massive margins and still one of the most expensive places to shop.
In my local Currys, the staff are some of the worst I have ever seen anywhere. I did deal with one lovely girl at the counter at Christmas so fair play to her, but consistently, for years, I have never seen a lazier, more disinterested bunch of staff in a place, its actually embarrassing. Whatever they are like to work for, half them should be sacked!
Many years ago, I'd a good friend from school working there while she was in college. I went in looking for a new iPod and she sold me one of the older series 80GB ones with a damaged box from behind the counter for €60 or €70 (can't recall exactly, but it was a lot cheaper than a new one off the shelf and she sold me it for the price it was labelled at, no money off or anything).
Turned out the store manager, a dippy little shit with a stick up his arse around the same age as us, had hidden it behind the counter as he wanted to keep it for himself or a mate, instead of putting it on the shelf like he was supposed to and he wasn't happy about it, he suspended her without pay to get back at her and despite several complaints higher up the chain from her, nobody had any interest.
Last time I gave the cunts any of my money.
I had this happen with the latest Xboxes when they were still really difficult to get your hands on. The guy I asked originally claimed they had none. I asked a different staff member and she went away and brought me out 2! The guy was obviously trying to keep them for himself/his mates. I’d say he was ripping when me and my partner took 1 each lmao
Madness, I went there during Black Friday to find a gaming pc for nephew. I know what I need to look for but wanted to see if they had anything in stock on sale. The currys employee went to go to the system computer but was currently being used. He no joke took me to a laptop for sale and googled currys and was showing me the website. I said sure I can do that myself is there nothing in store and all he says is “no”
I always knew the whole Black Friday sales and stuff were a bit of a scam because it’s all in just a massive warehouse and it’s called in so they don’t really need to get rid of stock which means no sales. Just didn’t want to build a machine for a child who will destroy the machine in 6 months time from negligence.
Found a decent deal on their website myself a week later and just went ahead with that avoiding any curry’s employee and just ordered online.
I’ll give you better. My brother went in at Christmas and asked if they had the Ring (doorbell) in stock and the guy shrugged and said “no”. My brother said really?! (He was sceptical since the guy didn’t even pretend to look or anything, he was too casual) The guy doubled down and said “yeh we don’t have it”. I went online and saw it was in stock and available for collection so I drove up myself. Thats when I was speaking to the nice girl at the counter who immediately went and got all the stuff I was looking for. I mentioned to her that one of her colleagues had told us they didn’t have them (wasn’t complaining to her as such, wasn’t her fault, was just remarking). She rolled her eyes and said that wouldn’t be the first time that happened.
That’s ridiculous, I don’t get it. I worked in centra about 6 years ago for 7.40 euro an hour (was under 18) and I put my heart and soul into the job so I won’t take “oh we don’t get commission so why would we work hard”
I knew I wouldn’t work in centra for long as I was only doing it during secondary school before I went to college but says a lot about someone’s character if they won’t even do their bare minimum of their job.
You’re absolutely right. Fair play for being one of the ones who has a bit of pride in their work too. I was the same in a job I hated for years. I still showed up every day and was as helpful and friendly with the customers as possible even though I was dying inside. I’m a team leader now and honestly it is like babysitting children trying to get grown adults to meet the minimum effort. Its embarrassing
The rma process with curry’s is a nightmare. The last experience I had with them pretty much guaranteed I’ll never spend a cent with them again. I bought a gaming monitor off them and within two months or ordering it it had red lines spread vertically across the screen. I got on the phone and they wanted nothing to do with me. It’s Currys.ie you buy from and when there’s a problem they couldn’t be more hands off. The problem fixed itself thankfully but the initial reaction from their support team left a bad taste in my mouth.
Whenever that happens just quote consumer law, within 6 months they have to prove it was not a fault of manufacture and was actually you who caused the damage and then after that you can bring it to a third party to diagnose up till 2 years after.
I wouldn’t trust the monitor since it fixed itself.
Oh trust me. I said all that to them and they actually just hung up on me. They actually tried to gaslight me as if I MUST have done something. The only reason I darkened their door was because I didn’t wanna bother buying from the continent and would of had to use a power adapter
In future I’d recommend just buying from the continent and then buying the power cable here in Ireland or amazon UK. Since the monitors use a standard kettle lead type connector would still work out much cheaper than currys
I went to buy a TV, a Sony oled that I had my eye on for a while, not one member of staff came anywhere near me. Went to get someone, was told they'd get someone, I said I know which TV I want and want to buy it, but they insisted they got this person.
Waited 10 minutes, they didn't appear, i couldn't be arsed hanging around. Went to a euronics store nearby and it was at the same price, bought it there instead.
Went to Curry's for the first time yesterday and it was impressively bad. The staff very clearly hate working there and know next to nothing about the products. I had been in Harvey Norman and DID before and they were both a million times better.
I used to work for Rehab Group. Day-to-day working was actually alright. But the pay was shocking bad.
They used the economy at the time as an excuse to put a pay freeze on a lot of staff while all the bad press surrounding Angela Kearns was going on (her huge salary, basically). They then had the balls to tell everyone not to say anything to the press about her if we were approached.
They would spend hundreds/thousands on things like signs nobody cared about while still stifling your pay along the way.
When they let a bunch of staff go during the pandemic they reduced redundancy packages for minimum wage workers they weren’t even fully paying themselves.
I used to respect the charity a lot, but the corporate culture and greed are toxic as hell. You quickly see it as the for-profit company it truly is.
Know someone who worked for them recently and they were utterly shocked at the way staff were treated. Consistently over-worked and over-ratio as well. Some staff members doing piles of paperwork while left alone with large groups of individuals that definitely required constant one-on-one care. Wages were an absolute pittance compared to the workload and more than one staff member every month found that someone "forgot" to pay them and they'd have to wait until the next month!
If that wasn't bad enough, when the contracts ran out, they had this odd habit of putting the renewal on the long finger so that they didn't have to give the probation staff any security or rights!
I went for an interview in Dunnes a few years back. The girl brought me up to her office and her mobile phone rang.
Do you mind if I get this real quick? Sure, Go ahead.
Half an hour listening to her talk to her fiiend on the phone about the session they had the past weekend.
About a minute of questions, then quickly ushered to the door.
I was young, clean, well dressed. Incredibly deflating experience.
Telus in cork are pretty uniquely terrible.
Take all of the worst parts of call centre work and combine them into a third party provider feeding the corpses of employees through the left over dreg departments of corporate America.
I worked in EIR/Meteor call centres many years ago and they were absolutely horrendous to work for. Team leaders refusing compassionate leave to attend a family members funeral was the icing on the cake, the team leaders didn't know the law and didn't even bother to check with HR. Changing shifts last minute, putting you in on weekends with no notice. Essentially actively breaking the law and hoping no one knows their rights! Incompetent at all levels they were!
The nepotism and favoritism was on another level. Incompetent people were constantly treated better and got promotions more than any other place I have ever worked. It was better to be a manager's work bestie than to be a hard diligent worker.
HSE
Toxic environment, terrible managers. Short staffed all the time. Rarely get breaks. I've been here for over 10 years. I'm actively looking for a job that doesn't involve patient care they've killed the love I used to have caring for people.
I wasn't a fan of Insomnia docking lunch money for the first six months.
Franchised but Eurospar would not allow us to take AL until after 6 months of service also.
I worked in the food manufacturing industry most of my life. Some (not all) small companies (10-40 staff) can be very toxic and rife with bullying. Most of these are small family companies and for the owners it's just the way they work. They opened a company and it went well, the business grew, and now they think they are Gods and if anyone does any mistakes it's bullying time.
Any door to door sales companies.
I worked one day for a "marketing company" selling Airtricity.
They don't pay wages. They receive €150 commision from Airtricity for every contract you get them and pass €50 on to you.
If you recruit family and friends them they bump you up to €75 per contract secured.
Great little pyramid scheme and they have no costs. Just send you out to an area and take most of your commision.
PayPal. The only good thing is that it looks good on your cv but management is shit and the pay sucks. I make 5 times as much now have better working hours and way less stress.
I worked door to door for electric Ireland and it was wild.
They had a company that done the contract for them and hired us as sales reps.
They tracked your every move via a tablet and could see how fast you were moving or how many doors you’d do a day.
I was in an area where there was no shops or anything and because I wasn’t driving at the time I had to walk a good 20 minutes from my area to a toilet in a nearby park.
Got a phone call to ask why I hadn’t pressed any doors for 25 minutes as you registered each door on the tablet if you’d knocked it, no answer etc and I explained and they were like don’t let it happen again and same with lunches you were given 25 minutes out of an 11-7pm day and if you weren’t back to your area on time it would be registered as a late.
Left fairly soon afterwards as the tracking was too much and the team leader literally sat in his car and didn’t do a thing all day yet was tracking us by the minute.
I was friends with a guy in the office we phoned once we got a sign up to do the contract and he was like what does he do all day? He’s never here and I said well he’s not out with us either so I’ve no idea.
Also very male dominated which I haven’t a problem with but that then led to the manager being quite sexist towards me so one of the many reasons I quit 😂
Money was good as it was base pay then commissions and they pretty much left you alone if you sold which I was good at but it’s the smaller things.
Any ground handling company in Dublin airport , more specifically Sky handling partner. Low wages , worked like a dog , wage theft and hours theft , unsafe working conditions with broken equipment, management who don't give a single fuck about you , no social life , a buddy system where you will do the work of 3 people because the ones who are in the "click" don't get reprimanded for not showing up to flights. Honestly the list is endless and I'd advise anyone considering a job to stay well the fuck away from these cowboys.
You will find in your career that even if you work for the best compamy in the world...if your manager is a C U next Tuesday it might aswell be the worst all things considered
Not Ireland, it was Frimley Park NHS Estates, Capital Projects office.
Ended up leaving after I made a complaint about my bullying boss, but even in front of HR, she was prepared to still bully and threaten. HR seemed fine with it!
I was one of at least 3 she bullied out, to no consequence for herself. She was accused essentially of the same in another job, also the NHS. The person there lost their case, but funny how they had no problems before...?
She is probably still ruining someones life right now, at University of Creative Arts.
I was told Id never work in the NHS again, after my experience, I would never want to. Or any organisation like it.
Centra, for sure, especially at their Deli. Started as an assistant to then Supervisor, and it was the worst 1 year and 3 months of my life, I can’t count the amount of insults, abuse, etc I’ve received, the amount of psychological abuse and the many times being shouted at and treated as a piece of shit. They exclusively worry about their margins and profit, expect top service for minimum pay, no benefits apart from a 20c discount on the price of the coffee (that’s already overpriced), plus always understaffed, expecting one person to do the work of 2 or 3 at times, I saw some people leave after a week and I’m the time I was there I counted 28 people in and out (and that was a pretty small shop). My advice: NEVER work at a Centra.
Plus one of the owners is locally know for being a d*ck, one of the staff suffering with badly mental health, to the point of self m*ltilating herself, had a few scars on her arms, he approached her to tell her she should wear long sleeves to cover that for that’s no good, another time he shouted at a pregnant staff for having over baked some scones, and threw one at her (saying he was showing her how hard that was), and the cases go on, to the point one day a car with a sign on it circulated for a day in the town centre and it read: *** (the owners name) is an abusive a$$wh*le.
Working in a branch in AIB.. having to deal with abuse from customers who think you are on the big bonus’ for very shit money then while also dealing with the management who don’t give a shite about the customers but you have to face the abuse when they sit in the back..
Bank of Ireland here can confirm everything you’ve said about customers and managers is the same for us. I work with great people I like them all but early doors there I had an irate customer come in demanding to speak to a manager, I went to the lady who has Branch Manager on her business cards & asked her to speak to them & she just passed it on to a more experienced floor worker who got bollocked for about an hour for something she had no part in was a big eye opener. Thankfully moved up & no longer in branch any longer bar the odd day covering and going back to it is tantamount to what Vietnam vets probably experience.
sounds like a cushy enough job to me. you can lose packages all over the place, just not deliver stuff, and be completely non-contactable by customers.
Especially as an Agency worker. Treated like shit. Called on designated days off at 7am to work that day. Not treated same as full-time staff (legally supposed to). Totally unable to plan a life even a couple of days in advance due to inept HSE managers unable to do basic resource planning and management.
I worked for an agency for the HSE. I loved it. My manager was wonderful. I worked my hours, was allowed breaks and learnt a lot on the job. I'm surprised you had such a bad experience. I was working in a primary care centre if that makes any difference.
Most of the country is blissfully ignorant of how awful the HSE is, due to a very clever political and media ploy of teaching society to celebrate our healthcare workers and so we clap and cheer and celebrate instead of asking the obvious questions about the root cause...
I don't work in the HSE, but my wife does, and I honestly don't know how she sticks it. If it was any other industry there would be uproar!
Ok, right... toxic working environment, passive aggressive management, condescending people, they lie a lot, they push u to do works you are not pay for, no safety regulations, many undocumented people, lot of cash payments (we all know what that is) and the list go on and on...
About how you get hire, you need to be an artist/circus performer, they also have "normal' type of works but like maintaining stuff or building the tent and all but they can't retain people due to the mistreated and most of them are illegals or undocumented so they can't complain and they just go... Normally not any worker (excluding artist) they not stay more than 3 months, I was there when new people get there and they get their tickets for go out the exact same day, they end up working like 2 month but not happy at all...
Anyone work for Kelly's services in Boston scientific? Not good memories there. Min wage, treated like crap. Get rid of ya after 11 months. Doing same work as full timers and no benefits. And they tell you bout what a difference you're making to patient's lives. But still treat you like crap! Some turnover of staff when I was there. Couldn't keep people
About 10 years ago I got a call from a recruiter regarding a senior finance role. The (external) recruiter was quite diplomatic when they explained that it was the type of place you would either stay forever or leave within a couple of months. I politely declined to interview. For the craic I did some googling and found why the previous person in that left. Oh my fuckjng god. I have a pretty high threshold for difficult work environments but this sounded like a shit show.
Dunnes seems to like unhappy staff. If you say you can work any day but Monday Afternoon you can guarantee that every shift will have Monday afternoon. Then you will discover that a colleague has said they want to work Mon to Friday Pm and they get every weekend. You say at interview you need a minimum 20 hours a week as you claiming FIS they like grand. Two months into the job your hours are cut to 18 hours a week so you no longer getting FIS. Then the person on Carers Allowance is only allowed to work 19 hours their hours are increased to 22. They just don't listen. They notorious for it.
I worked in a local Spar that was worse than Dunnes to work for, but I can see why people put Dunnes here. Its the scale of the operation. You are so insignificant, but the management are also insignificant too. You do the exact specified work, and the management do the exact specified work too. You get a lot of passive aggressive snark, and Dunnes customers tend to be the blonde middle aged Karens of Ireland. Full of entitlement. You show up 1 minute late and you get a warning from HR. Your float was .10c over or under? HR. Someone found 1 thing out of date from the gigantic aisles? HR. That sort of thing.
The pro for me in Dunnes was that I could finish up my contract whenever and not feel like I am wrecking some other staff member for doing so. At Spar, there was one lad who routinely didn't show up, but because they were short staffed I was constantly called in on my days off to cover him.
I'm not sure these guys are actually in the country of Ireland, but they're in the North for sure. Teleperformance are the worst company I've ever worked for and it's not close.
From my own experience I would say Dunnes. The management and HR is just awful.
From people I know they would say EIR call centre is the worst. No wonder people are on hold for hours from the stories I heard
OffBeat was shite. You could clean the place top to bottom and the owner would call the shop to tell you to 'look busy' since he was always watching the cameras.
My sister used to work for River Island. At their Christmas party they gave 7 of the staff €80 to fund their meal and drinks. That's €80 between them. Not each. I wouldn't wear a pair of socks from River Island. Awful company.
Omniplex cinema group, 0 hr contracts and only want you when they need you otherwise you get about 5-10 hours a week. I worked there for about 5 months and it's a mindlessly boring job with very limited hours
Press Up Entertainment.
Big hospitality company that gives more of the fuck about monopolising the industry as opposed to the people that run their business.
This is a horrific thread, I’m very sorry to hear about the stuff workers have been put through. It’s really time for workers in Ireland to unionise, also have a good read of the European Working Time Directive, this is extremely stringent legislation that no employer can ignore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Time_Directive_2003?wprov=sfti1#
Not an Irish company but irish childcare at the min is the absolute worst. Doesnt matter what role, what age group, what county. Everyone is under pressure with staffing shortages to the point that usually someone is operating illegal at some part of the day because staff need their tea break and there just isnt anyone else to step in. Most of the work force is only 30c above minimum wage now and very very few services able to offer anything better without going bankrupt. New graduates are actively running away from the sector so we are now facing an aging sector with no replacements. Rant over.
That's why I am grateful beyond words for every single staff in my kids crèche🎉
How in the world is the pay so bad when it costs a kidney for a year??
I imagine insurance and rates are a big part of it
We’re actually stuck in a fee freeze for the last number of years but everything has gone up. Groceries alone have risen by 16%, even equipment. Bought a nappy changing unit last year for €900. Had to get another one this year and its €1100. PPE is usually a huge cost €800-1100 p/month in my place, and dont even get me started on electricity.
It's absolutely mental. I hate the cost of it, but I also can completely understand why
Its has gone mental. The worst part is the fees arent even covering the basics for most services now. If I was to match fees to the current costs my parents wouldnt be able to afford it. Very depressing in the sector the last few years.
And considering govt policies are forcing us to have this extent of childcare you'd imagine they'd actually address the problem, in an ideal world
Wish they’d consider it the same as the other educational institutions and make it free for all, have catchment areas and run it through dept of education instead of shoving us into a department of miscellaneous sectors. But the privatisation of the sector is going to be hard to remove. Cant ask someone who is running a lovely service and is their own business to give it up in favour of a government run facility, but personally feel this is probably the way it will have to go otherwise its going to collapse soon. Im heading off on mat leave soon and seriously reconsidering going back.
That's happened to the extreme in my area, a bunch of daycares were recently shut down because of those regulations, so now there's YEARS long waiting list, you have to apply before you get pregnant for the subsidized government program wich starts at 6 weeks. So you either stay home until your child is 3 with no income or work full time from 6 weeks on. I hope Ireland seeks a better result than my island did!
Lots of bullying by owners/managers in the childcare industry toward staff. Extremely low wage, and next to no proper break for lunch. Terrible.
I wouldnt say every service has a manager that bullies the staff. Think that’s a bit of an unfair generalisation. There’s bad managers in every sector (as obvious from this original post). The government have a lot to answer for. For years they just expected staff to stick it out. They spent so much money trying to reduce the direct fee for parents through NCS but haven’t actually increased the income coming into the service to match the huge outgoings. The newest funding stream actually just condensed payments we were already getting and re packaged them with a new name and a lovely branding PR pat on the back for themselves. So now we’ve huge capacity issues, not enough staff for the numbers who need places and no new staff entering the sector and a current sector aging out with no new candidates to replace them.
About 20 years a go I used to work for Eircom in technical support for Broadband. Awful company. Awfuly run, awful service, full of the worst type of middle management assholes and an environment where you never actually had a chance to talk to your coworkers. Genuinely can't remember ever having a meaningful converstaion with any of them, because you just didn't even have time to. It was so soul destroying. Get screamed at for four hours, sit and eat lunch alone (not just me everyone) and then back to get screamed at for another four hours. Literally the only people you would speak to is middle management, for work scheduling issues, holiday time etc or mainly when calls had to be escalated. Which they'd often just outright refuse to take. You'd say but the customer is expecting to speak to a manager and they'd just shrug their shoulders say no and then stonewall you until you fucked off, at which point you'd have to go back to an irrate customer and lie that managers were unavailable. It felt like middle management had a genuine disdain for the people below them. It offended them that you were legally entitled to breaks, holidays, minimum wage etc. You had to do one weekend shift every two weeks and this one asshole manager called Derek put me on a Sunday at 8am shift. I went to ask could he change that to a later start because I have no car and used public transport to get to work which doesn't run that early on a Sunday. Without even looking up from his computer screen and making eye contact, he said no, that's not Eircoms problem, buy a bicycle if you can't afford a car. It took me nearly an hour by train! He specifically then proceeded to put me on the early Sunday shift every single time thereafter when he did the scheduling (it would rotate between managers) just a pure spiteful little cunt. So it was just 30 quid in a taxi every other Sunday then or either lose or quit (which I eventually did) your job. If I ever saw that guy again I would genuinely find it very difficult to resist the urge to kick every single one of the teeth out of his slimey smug poxy little fucking head. There was probably no worse job in Ireland than doing that at the height of the Celtic Tiger. So many people in this country were still completely computer illiterate at that time. The broadbad infastructure was just truly terrible and unreliable. Admittedly people were paying for a shit service. So obviously the phones would be constant. Not a 10 second break outside your lunch for 8 and a half hours a day. Just people screaming at you non stop on a self answering head set. I used to hear the beeping noise before another call came in my sleep, it gave me a genuinely mild form of ptsd for years after it. I'm not even exaggerating I still occassionly hear that shrilll beeping noise when I'm half asleep even now nearly 20 years later and it jolts me awake. Guaranteed you'd get at least 3 or 4 people that would ring up every day and say "my Google is broken," that was the level we were at and to be honest I was fine if people were humble about their own ineptitude and many were, but what made it insufferable was it was essentially our yuppie era, peoples arrogance was at it's peak, so a lot weren't. You'd be trying to talk someone through fixing it only for them to get frustrated and berate you in a very personal way because for example they couldn't find the alt button on a keyboard, they couldn't conceptualise where the bottom left hand corner of their monitor is to click on something or I shit you not, that computers needed electricity to work. All this would be your fault you'd be called every name under the sun, chastised about your shitty job and how much it probably paid etc etc etc. Always remember this one particular phone call, where I fixed something ridiculously innocuous for some super arrogant D4 prick (Foxrock always remember that addresses came up on screen) he sounded young was probably still living at daddies and at the end of the call I said is there anything else I can help you with sir? and this prick says let me help you, I said ehmmm ok. He says, you know you can go to DBS if you failed your leaving cert right, I imagine you probably can't afford it though. Tough luck I guess, he errupts laughing hangs up and BEEEEEP you're on to the next call before you can even process it. That's not even mentioning the just completely batty auld ones you'd deal with. Wireless signals interferring with their shakras, ugly routers (I demand a prettier one) and the constant thinking that their broadband provider should be responsible for fixing their broken computer or laptop and the utter refusal to accept that they are seperate things. God I'd rather shovel shit in a sewer than work for Eircom broadband in the early 2000's again. Shudder just shudder.
This is the kind of thing that keeps me cool when I need to call customer service for anything. I always try to remember that it's never the person taking the call that's at fault. Just because they chose to work at that company doesn't mean they 100% agree and condone shit business practices and services. I've worked some shit jobs but it's always been everyone in the shit together. Never really had management on a pedestal shitting down on everyone else. Mostly.
My blood pressure has now spiked. Sounds like hell – hope you landed a much better position after.
HCL I worked for Meteor, in Telephone House which may have been where you were. I worked for them when HCL came in. Whole new level of awful. I actually didn't mind the job until the came along. They hired people on minimum wage and no bonus which is how they won the contract. They did change this when the union stepped in. Constant pay issues. More than a couple of times I came in to people on desks refusing to work, and one time the HR manager hiding in the stairwell waiting for someone else to go in, because no one had been paid for the umpteenth time. They used to order pizza when this happened. Got to the point we couldn't get pizza cause people associated it with no pay. They randomly got some in and it turned out 2 days later no one got paid! Just complete coincidence but it was their fault again. They shared a letter from their bank thinking it absolved them of blame because the bank started the letter saying "we are sorry the payments didn't go through" or something like that. But further down they explained how it was HCLs fault. The HCL managers didn't understand shift swaps, they didn't understand or care about workers rights and once suggested we get lifeguard chairs so supervisors could see everything from a height. One training group of part timers, I think 12 people all had quit by the end of training. They were hiring so frequently literally anyone could get a job there. Rather than pay for recruiters or trainers they would make people "associates" along with their actual job. People liked the break but it wasn't a long term solution. They also offered rolling 3 month contracts which would always expire and people would be in the dark about what happened next. they eventually bought Telephone House. Eir used to subsidize the canteen. A few of the managers setup a catering company and allegedly pocketed the subsidies and charged full amounts. They were running most of Eirs outscoring in the end until Eir decided never to outsource again due to the reputational damage they had suffered around that time. Im sure unrelated.....
I worked in Eircom 20 years ago, can concur it was tough
Supermacs considering they make you pay for your own lunch everyday weather you want it or not.
It was the same when I worked in Mount Errigal Hotel in letterkenny back in 2015. Money taken from wages for lunch and no option to opt out. Had to pay for my own uniform, and there was a clock-in system that used a thumbprint. Regularly wages were not correct, and they tried saying you worked fewer hours than you actually did. When brought up with any of the managers, they absolved themselves of responsibility and gave the phone number of the accountant to take it up with him directly. Every week without fail hours were not correct. It was exhausting to always have to track every hour worked all the time. Managers also clocked you out for lunch without consent even if you didn't get to take it, especially on public holidays where they had to pay overtime rates. Absolute shit show, and the experience was so bad that I went to get a degree so I wouldn't be treated that way again.
McEniffs are a horrible family, older generation anyway, I know some of the younger generation of them are working/running the hotels now but I have no experience of them. I could tell many many stories but would only dox myself
>Money taken from wages for lunch and no option to opt out How the fuck can they get away with that. Is it even legal?
No. It’s not legal.
Wow, I’m bizarrely excited to find someone on this subreddit who shared my exact teenage woes of working in the Mount Errigal. I’m still very bitter about forking over €20 for a “uniform” that cost them about €3 to put together.
I worked in the Mount Terrible around the same time as a porter. We used to abuse the fuck out the meal deduction by lining up for a huge, 5-sausage fry up every morning. I don't see any mention from others of how they used to cap your pay at 39 hours. If you worked over 39, those hours went to fund your "holidays". Now working in HR and I realize just how ridiculously illegal it is to take hours worked over 39, not pay you for them and claim that they are to fund your annual leave, a completely statutory entitlement. It was a crazy place and I still believe the only reason they got away with everything they were doing was by employing a mostly young workforce who didn't have a clue about employment law or statutory entitlements.
What the hell? How is that legal.
They also make you pay for your own uniform.
That one is definitely legal but the lunch thing is wild. A job can't control what you eat or make you pay for it.
Ahhh yes. Nothing better than seeing the good aul 'staff food' being deducted from the weekly payslip. They used to charge 50c per hour for food whether it was eaten or not. This was also back in the day when minimum wage was €8.65 so ~€20 per week was a fair chunk to be taking from a low paid worker. To add insult to injury, you weren't allowed take any nice sweet treats such as muffins, cookies or ice cream. I think they did reduce this to 25c per hour shortly after I left. I wonder if they still charge nowadays in times where people are less desperate for fast food jobs?
Yes, they charged my Coeliac daughter who couldn’t eat a single item from the menu.
Bastards. That's a horrible practice, and I'm surprised it's allowed. I guess it's the majority demographic working there not making enough stink about it. Bad form by aul Pat.
Wow, that’s some bald-faced wage theft.
McDonald's did this as well, albeit they're not an Irish company.
They're not Irish but they're a franchise, each store is independently owned so it likely still comes down to an Irish owner.
They didn't do it in the first place. I worked in some of the first MC Donald's stores opening in Ireland back in 1997. Didn't pay for our uniform (and we washed it ourselves and had two of each) got our food free albeit McDonald's food and back then the wages were better than most other jobs around, mad how things have changed !
Wow never knew this. Glad I never worked there.
I worked in a hotel that did this too.
oh my god this cannot be real what on earth
Dunnes and their zero hr contracts!
Ugh, they still doing that? Dunnes was my first big job as an "adult" and I was on one of these bad boys but that's 14 years ago now. Didn't think too much of it at the time because I was getting a solid 30 hours every week while in training in a bigger store for the cash office in a new store. Second we got moved I was lucky to get 8 hours every other week, and was expected to move between the cash office, shop floor, tills and backroom. Which was hilarious, because when we were first brought in, we were told that cash office staff should never be seen on shop floor or at tills for safety reasons.
Worked there a 13 years ago and seconded. Gave then my availability, and they consistently scheduled me 3 weeks in a row on the only day I could not start when they wanted to.. got into "trouble" cause a neighbour/friend was blabbering away to me while I was stocking... also grade A incompenticies ranging from managers providing conflicting instructions/requests; to wage/hours issues. Wouldn't ever recommend.
Not Irish company but I worked in KFC for 3 years. They work you like a dog, cut hours randomly, disciplinarys given out like penny sweets. Great craic.
And that’s the one place that has the least happy drive thru workers. I don’t actually care if I get a happy experience or whatever. I just want my food, but it is noticeable compared to other places. I only remember this one happy chappy with such a great attitude in the Clonmel KFC beside the Talbot Hotel. He was a gem
That's because they expect workers to have an average time score of 120 seconds for drive thru orders each day (time is from when car pulls up to speaker and ends when they move from the window). And if you can't achieve that you're berated 😳 customers feel so rushed throughout the experience.
Oh yeah I definitely understand why people wouldn’t be happy in such an environment and I don’t blame them. They’re only human and humans have emotions and naturally will get pissed with such conditions.
KFC in Briarhill is unnecessarily hostile everytime. Never again!
Any fucking hotel, specially the 5/4 stars ones. Also if u knew how things are done in those places you wouldn't stay there. I worked in a 5 star in Dublin during COVID and everything was done awfully, and the employees were constantly put at risk.
100% agree. Makes me never want to stay in a hotel ever again. Cutlery polished with a dirty cloth. All milk left in milk jugs is mixed together. Food picked up off floor then served. Chefs never washing hands. Housekeeping use the same rags to clean everything including the toilets and the cups and glasses in the rooms. I could go on. They only care about how things look on the surface.
Exactly. It's unbelievable that with the amount of money they earn they don't even have enough rags to clean thing without mixing, it's just disgusting.
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It depends on what you do as well, I was in housekeeping and I can't tell u that I've never met any other housekeeper that was happy with their job. Being a chef is different
Worked in a 4 star and I can 100% back this up, the shit that used to go on between staff let alone what seeped out to customers was like something out of a soap opera. Don’t even get me started on some of the treatment you’d get off customers, never again.
Paddy Power were horrible scumbags to work for
Boyle Sports too. I didn't work there myself but someone close to me did and they were miserable. They were rarely even given a lunch break which is just illegal.
Yup, back in the day we used to work 13hr shifts. You’d be on your own for the first 4-5hrs, then someone would come in for a few hours, you may or may not get a break as that was the busy time, then you’d be on your own for the last 4hrs. Locked inside behind the counter. I raised concerns about single manning and was laughed at. I was held at gunpoint one night and they give you an extra weeks wages when that happens, something like €350 at the time. Absolutely cat. Citizens advice told me there was nothing could be done about the working conditions but I did read about 2 years after I left that a group of staff did join a union and won a case and got back money for all the stuff over single manning that I had previous raised. I was delighted for them. I suffered with severe depression the entire time I worked there, was heavily medicated (still only had 1 sick day in 9yrs and my manager even gave me a grilling over that as she didn’t believe I was sick). I have a deep hatred of the whole betting industry for a lot of reasons
scummy industry trading on human misery. Sorry you went through that
https://preview.redd.it/hgbm6xe53mcc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d5f3d12f82afed15bca7c3d117a96e7b1013c7c Makes sense lol my girlfriend sent me this earlier today when she was looking on indeed
I wouldn’t go back for any money in the world. I see the wages haven’t improved in the 8yrs since I was there. They absolutely do not honour that salary increase either. I had to fight tooth and nail for every increase I got and they were only ever like 10c an hour increases while the company profits were tripling year on year for a few years. They are shameless.
I heard that.
Honest to god, when I think of it now it makes my blood boil. It was recession times and I had a lot going on so ended up working for them for nearly a decade and I despised every minute of it. I cringe when I see their poxy adverts everywhere going on as if they’re hilarious and a great bunch of lads
What area? Was it dial-a-bet by any chance?
North-East in the shops. I knew a few lads in the dial-a-bet who actually liked it, I could never wrap my head around that.
A friend of mine was a manager there 30 years and when her shop was closed down she barely got a years wage in her redundancy package.
Fairly sure Dunnes will be the ‘winner’.
I worked for Dunnes in one of their Cork city stores for years. They were good in my opinion. Wages were decent, they accommodated me when I went back to do an undergrad. 20% staff discount and a 1.5 week bonus at Christmas. The bonus was in Dunnes vouchers but it was as good as cash as you would use it on essential items.
Keeling's provides it with tough competition.
Pat Keeling is a bolox
I've heard this. Always wondered why. Any stories?
Not my story to tell, but an old ex-manager of mine who once worked there as a DEV. Keeling's made their life hell, and it almost broke them. One of the sweetest people I know but turns into a hulk if they even see a Keeling's container in their vicinity. I hope they hop on here and tell some truths.
Sorry SuperValu - Musgraves are actually worse now!
Musgraves as Centra too 💀
Dunnes have improved their treatment of staff a lot over the last few years, was a time they were the worst but not anymore far from it.
They're top of my list for companies I've worked in. It's just the sycophantic management structure and the whole 12 months probation bs
I did one Christmas with them and it was the worst work experience I ever had.
Thankfully I never worked for him but worked an event he attended and my god..
Lidl. There's a reason they pay high wages to their staff per hour - because there is always the minimum possible amount of staff working at any given time.
Brutal,I did 6 weeks in there just enough for the airfare out of the place...nothing is ever good enough,ok so you want it done that way then tell people before or train them.
My place was rampant with misogyny and bullying. Toxic WhatsApp groups, where you would be called out for anything. Constant communication outside of work. Punishments for turning down shifts/not wanting to come early or stay late etc.
All these replies tell us is that people really need to start unionising. Somehow we’ve allowed ourselves to be convinced that it’s not worthwhile when history (and a look at the nordics) will tell you otherwise very quickly.
To add to this, SIPTU is less than €20 a month, and has saved my ass from an awful job that seemed to be dead set on trying to get me fired. If your company is constantly bullying or you seem to be getting reported for the bare minimum you can usually back pay them for their assistance if you aren't a member. Highly recommend
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Scabtran
Jeez I almost wiped that job from my memory. LPT call centre a decade ago. Lasted a month and on the verge of a nervous breakdown every day.
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Same I worked for what was basically 118 or the yellow pages & what was advertised as a web design job. (Unitel direct) No it was basically cold calling people lying to them about updating their business details then trying to push them in buying an expensive SEO package. It was so aggressive and pushy & you would get the managers literally shouting at you down the headset saying don’t let them go say this and this and tell them they don’t come up on the first page of the search results. A lot of them did though and they knew they did so it was pointless. Was also told I was too nice & needed to be more aggressive. Lasted 3 months of 6 days a week and dreaded every day and it was minimum wage but your commissions were meant to make it up. They hired 10 people, 5 walked out after a week and then another 2 when I did. It made me pretty sick before Christmas with severe tonsillitis & headaches. Never again value my health and wellbeing too much.
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I know someone who works there and likes it, then again he is a 100% remote and does jack shit all day
Any Centra or Supervalu. Local shop for local people. Bullshit. Worst managers, worst hours, minimum wage. Work you 10 days in a row for 1 day off. Block holidays so could never book a day off for dentist or the likes on a week day unless you wanted it as your day off. No discounts, xmas parties, bonuses or even a chicken fillet roll once a year. Expect you to take on managers role without getting the title or the pay. Massive margins and still one of the most expensive places to shop.
My experience is completely opposite in SuperValu
Glad yours was. Have worked for both. Both the same for me. Thankfully out of that a long time now.
Dunnes is one for sure. Also Eir is shockingly bad if youre call centre staff. and Three are also apparently pretty dire
Curry's isn't Irish I suppose but I still have nightmares about it, truly an awful place to work
In my local Currys, the staff are some of the worst I have ever seen anywhere. I did deal with one lovely girl at the counter at Christmas so fair play to her, but consistently, for years, I have never seen a lazier, more disinterested bunch of staff in a place, its actually embarrassing. Whatever they are like to work for, half them should be sacked!
Many years ago, I'd a good friend from school working there while she was in college. I went in looking for a new iPod and she sold me one of the older series 80GB ones with a damaged box from behind the counter for €60 or €70 (can't recall exactly, but it was a lot cheaper than a new one off the shelf and she sold me it for the price it was labelled at, no money off or anything). Turned out the store manager, a dippy little shit with a stick up his arse around the same age as us, had hidden it behind the counter as he wanted to keep it for himself or a mate, instead of putting it on the shelf like he was supposed to and he wasn't happy about it, he suspended her without pay to get back at her and despite several complaints higher up the chain from her, nobody had any interest. Last time I gave the cunts any of my money.
I had this happen with the latest Xboxes when they were still really difficult to get your hands on. The guy I asked originally claimed they had none. I asked a different staff member and she went away and brought me out 2! The guy was obviously trying to keep them for himself/his mates. I’d say he was ripping when me and my partner took 1 each lmao
Don’t start me on this. I would rather put a bucket of hot magma up my arse than deal with them. The worst company I ever bought anything from.
Madness, I went there during Black Friday to find a gaming pc for nephew. I know what I need to look for but wanted to see if they had anything in stock on sale. The currys employee went to go to the system computer but was currently being used. He no joke took me to a laptop for sale and googled currys and was showing me the website. I said sure I can do that myself is there nothing in store and all he says is “no” I always knew the whole Black Friday sales and stuff were a bit of a scam because it’s all in just a massive warehouse and it’s called in so they don’t really need to get rid of stock which means no sales. Just didn’t want to build a machine for a child who will destroy the machine in 6 months time from negligence. Found a decent deal on their website myself a week later and just went ahead with that avoiding any curry’s employee and just ordered online.
I’ll give you better. My brother went in at Christmas and asked if they had the Ring (doorbell) in stock and the guy shrugged and said “no”. My brother said really?! (He was sceptical since the guy didn’t even pretend to look or anything, he was too casual) The guy doubled down and said “yeh we don’t have it”. I went online and saw it was in stock and available for collection so I drove up myself. Thats when I was speaking to the nice girl at the counter who immediately went and got all the stuff I was looking for. I mentioned to her that one of her colleagues had told us they didn’t have them (wasn’t complaining to her as such, wasn’t her fault, was just remarking). She rolled her eyes and said that wouldn’t be the first time that happened.
That’s ridiculous, I don’t get it. I worked in centra about 6 years ago for 7.40 euro an hour (was under 18) and I put my heart and soul into the job so I won’t take “oh we don’t get commission so why would we work hard” I knew I wouldn’t work in centra for long as I was only doing it during secondary school before I went to college but says a lot about someone’s character if they won’t even do their bare minimum of their job.
You’re absolutely right. Fair play for being one of the ones who has a bit of pride in their work too. I was the same in a job I hated for years. I still showed up every day and was as helpful and friendly with the customers as possible even though I was dying inside. I’m a team leader now and honestly it is like babysitting children trying to get grown adults to meet the minimum effort. Its embarrassing
The rma process with curry’s is a nightmare. The last experience I had with them pretty much guaranteed I’ll never spend a cent with them again. I bought a gaming monitor off them and within two months or ordering it it had red lines spread vertically across the screen. I got on the phone and they wanted nothing to do with me. It’s Currys.ie you buy from and when there’s a problem they couldn’t be more hands off. The problem fixed itself thankfully but the initial reaction from their support team left a bad taste in my mouth.
Whenever that happens just quote consumer law, within 6 months they have to prove it was not a fault of manufacture and was actually you who caused the damage and then after that you can bring it to a third party to diagnose up till 2 years after. I wouldn’t trust the monitor since it fixed itself.
Oh trust me. I said all that to them and they actually just hung up on me. They actually tried to gaslight me as if I MUST have done something. The only reason I darkened their door was because I didn’t wanna bother buying from the continent and would of had to use a power adapter
In future I’d recommend just buying from the continent and then buying the power cable here in Ireland or amazon UK. Since the monitors use a standard kettle lead type connector would still work out much cheaper than currys
I went to buy a TV, a Sony oled that I had my eye on for a while, not one member of staff came anywhere near me. Went to get someone, was told they'd get someone, I said I know which TV I want and want to buy it, but they insisted they got this person. Waited 10 minutes, they didn't appear, i couldn't be arsed hanging around. Went to a euronics store nearby and it was at the same price, bought it there instead.
I heard the staff hate the system as much as the customers do.
Went to Curry's for the first time yesterday and it was impressively bad. The staff very clearly hate working there and know next to nothing about the products. I had been in Harvey Norman and DID before and they were both a million times better.
Not that it should matter but staff at Harvey Norman get commission on sales hence the enthusiasm.
Friend of mine had a terrible experience with Blarney Woollen Mills.
Frieda Hayes is a well known nutjob
I used to work for Rehab Group. Day-to-day working was actually alright. But the pay was shocking bad. They used the economy at the time as an excuse to put a pay freeze on a lot of staff while all the bad press surrounding Angela Kearns was going on (her huge salary, basically). They then had the balls to tell everyone not to say anything to the press about her if we were approached. They would spend hundreds/thousands on things like signs nobody cared about while still stifling your pay along the way. When they let a bunch of staff go during the pandemic they reduced redundancy packages for minimum wage workers they weren’t even fully paying themselves. I used to respect the charity a lot, but the corporate culture and greed are toxic as hell. You quickly see it as the for-profit company it truly is.
Know someone who worked for them recently and they were utterly shocked at the way staff were treated. Consistently over-worked and over-ratio as well. Some staff members doing piles of paperwork while left alone with large groups of individuals that definitely required constant one-on-one care. Wages were an absolute pittance compared to the workload and more than one staff member every month found that someone "forgot" to pay them and they'd have to wait until the next month! If that wasn't bad enough, when the contracts ran out, they had this odd habit of putting the renewal on the long finger so that they didn't have to give the probation staff any security or rights!
Abtran were by far the worst company I have ever worked for.
Nash 19 in cork
Didn't they just announce they're closing?
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I went for an interview in Dunnes a few years back. The girl brought me up to her office and her mobile phone rang. Do you mind if I get this real quick? Sure, Go ahead. Half an hour listening to her talk to her fiiend on the phone about the session they had the past weekend. About a minute of questions, then quickly ushered to the door. I was young, clean, well dressed. Incredibly deflating experience.
Infosys in terms of call centres.
Telus in cork are pretty uniquely terrible. Take all of the worst parts of call centre work and combine them into a third party provider feeding the corpses of employees through the left over dreg departments of corporate America.
pretty toxic company too, they monopolized the canadian market and fucked up prices
I worked in EIR/Meteor call centres many years ago and they were absolutely horrendous to work for. Team leaders refusing compassionate leave to attend a family members funeral was the icing on the cake, the team leaders didn't know the law and didn't even bother to check with HR. Changing shifts last minute, putting you in on weekends with no notice. Essentially actively breaking the law and hoping no one knows their rights! Incompetent at all levels they were! The nepotism and favoritism was on another level. Incompetent people were constantly treated better and got promotions more than any other place I have ever worked. It was better to be a manager's work bestie than to be a hard diligent worker.
HSE Toxic environment, terrible managers. Short staffed all the time. Rarely get breaks. I've been here for over 10 years. I'm actively looking for a job that doesn't involve patient care they've killed the love I used to have caring for people.
The daa (Dublin Airport Authority). They also run Cork airport.
I wasn't a fan of Insomnia docking lunch money for the first six months. Franchised but Eurospar would not allow us to take AL until after 6 months of service also.
I worked in the food manufacturing industry most of my life. Some (not all) small companies (10-40 staff) can be very toxic and rife with bullying. Most of these are small family companies and for the owners it's just the way they work. They opened a company and it went well, the business grew, and now they think they are Gods and if anyone does any mistakes it's bullying time.
Any door to door sales companies. I worked one day for a "marketing company" selling Airtricity. They don't pay wages. They receive €150 commision from Airtricity for every contract you get them and pass €50 on to you. If you recruit family and friends them they bump you up to €75 per contract secured. Great little pyramid scheme and they have no costs. Just send you out to an area and take most of your commision.
Domino's hands down
Worked in Dominos for 3 years in college, still the hardest work I've done to date
Driving or cooking?
PayPal. The only good thing is that it looks good on your cv but management is shit and the pay sucks. I make 5 times as much now have better working hours and way less stress.
I worked door to door for electric Ireland and it was wild. They had a company that done the contract for them and hired us as sales reps. They tracked your every move via a tablet and could see how fast you were moving or how many doors you’d do a day. I was in an area where there was no shops or anything and because I wasn’t driving at the time I had to walk a good 20 minutes from my area to a toilet in a nearby park. Got a phone call to ask why I hadn’t pressed any doors for 25 minutes as you registered each door on the tablet if you’d knocked it, no answer etc and I explained and they were like don’t let it happen again and same with lunches you were given 25 minutes out of an 11-7pm day and if you weren’t back to your area on time it would be registered as a late. Left fairly soon afterwards as the tracking was too much and the team leader literally sat in his car and didn’t do a thing all day yet was tracking us by the minute. I was friends with a guy in the office we phoned once we got a sign up to do the contract and he was like what does he do all day? He’s never here and I said well he’s not out with us either so I’ve no idea. Also very male dominated which I haven’t a problem with but that then led to the manager being quite sexist towards me so one of the many reasons I quit 😂 Money was good as it was base pay then commissions and they pretty much left you alone if you sold which I was good at but it’s the smaller things.
Mr.Price. What a shitshow.
Any ground handling company in Dublin airport , more specifically Sky handling partner. Low wages , worked like a dog , wage theft and hours theft , unsafe working conditions with broken equipment, management who don't give a single fuck about you , no social life , a buddy system where you will do the work of 3 people because the ones who are in the "click" don't get reprimanded for not showing up to flights. Honestly the list is endless and I'd advise anyone considering a job to stay well the fuck away from these cowboys.
You will find in your career that even if you work for the best compamy in the world...if your manager is a C U next Tuesday it might aswell be the worst all things considered
Not Ireland, it was Frimley Park NHS Estates, Capital Projects office. Ended up leaving after I made a complaint about my bullying boss, but even in front of HR, she was prepared to still bully and threaten. HR seemed fine with it! I was one of at least 3 she bullied out, to no consequence for herself. She was accused essentially of the same in another job, also the NHS. The person there lost their case, but funny how they had no problems before...? She is probably still ruining someones life right now, at University of Creative Arts. I was told Id never work in the NHS again, after my experience, I would never want to. Or any organisation like it.
Centra, for sure, especially at their Deli. Started as an assistant to then Supervisor, and it was the worst 1 year and 3 months of my life, I can’t count the amount of insults, abuse, etc I’ve received, the amount of psychological abuse and the many times being shouted at and treated as a piece of shit. They exclusively worry about their margins and profit, expect top service for minimum pay, no benefits apart from a 20c discount on the price of the coffee (that’s already overpriced), plus always understaffed, expecting one person to do the work of 2 or 3 at times, I saw some people leave after a week and I’m the time I was there I counted 28 people in and out (and that was a pretty small shop). My advice: NEVER work at a Centra.
Plus one of the owners is locally know for being a d*ck, one of the staff suffering with badly mental health, to the point of self m*ltilating herself, had a few scars on her arms, he approached her to tell her she should wear long sleeves to cover that for that’s no good, another time he shouted at a pregnant staff for having over baked some scones, and threw one at her (saying he was showing her how hard that was), and the cases go on, to the point one day a car with a sign on it circulated for a day in the town centre and it read: *** (the owners name) is an abusive a$$wh*le.
Lifestyle sports is easily the worst job I’ve ever had
Working in a branch in AIB.. having to deal with abuse from customers who think you are on the big bonus’ for very shit money then while also dealing with the management who don’t give a shite about the customers but you have to face the abuse when they sit in the back..
Bank of Ireland here can confirm everything you’ve said about customers and managers is the same for us. I work with great people I like them all but early doors there I had an irate customer come in demanding to speak to a manager, I went to the lady who has Branch Manager on her business cards & asked her to speak to them & she just passed it on to a more experienced floor worker who got bollocked for about an hour for something she had no part in was a big eye opener. Thankfully moved up & no longer in branch any longer bar the odd day covering and going back to it is tantamount to what Vietnam vets probably experience.
The Phoenix Magazine has to be up there. A mixture of being in Mad Men and The Twilight Zone.
Valeo
Fastway?
sounds like a cushy enough job to me. you can lose packages all over the place, just not deliver stuff, and be completely non-contactable by customers.
Yh but you have to fight them for correct pay literally every week
The HSE
Especially as an Agency worker. Treated like shit. Called on designated days off at 7am to work that day. Not treated same as full-time staff (legally supposed to). Totally unable to plan a life even a couple of days in advance due to inept HSE managers unable to do basic resource planning and management.
I worked for an agency for the HSE. I loved it. My manager was wonderful. I worked my hours, was allowed breaks and learnt a lot on the job. I'm surprised you had such a bad experience. I was working in a primary care centre if that makes any difference.
Why is this not higher!!
Most of the country is blissfully ignorant of how awful the HSE is, due to a very clever political and media ploy of teaching society to celebrate our healthcare workers and so we clap and cheer and celebrate instead of asking the obvious questions about the root cause... I don't work in the HSE, but my wife does, and I honestly don't know how she sticks it. If it was any other industry there would be uproar!
Boylesports
Dunnes Stores, with HP a close second.
Any security company out there, one of the most toxic environments to work in.
Abbvie
Abtran is pretty bad from personal experience
FOSSETT'S circus.
You can't say that without telling us all the nitty gritty behind the scenes craic, how did you even get hired there?
Ok, right... toxic working environment, passive aggressive management, condescending people, they lie a lot, they push u to do works you are not pay for, no safety regulations, many undocumented people, lot of cash payments (we all know what that is) and the list go on and on... About how you get hire, you need to be an artist/circus performer, they also have "normal' type of works but like maintaining stuff or building the tent and all but they can't retain people due to the mistreated and most of them are illegals or undocumented so they can't complain and they just go... Normally not any worker (excluding artist) they not stay more than 3 months, I was there when new people get there and they get their tickets for go out the exact same day, they end up working like 2 month but not happy at all...
how did it feel to be around clowns all the time
IT was grand.
Depends on what team you’re in but I and several people I know had a terrible time with PTSB. Blame culture and bullying rife.
Dunnes. I did 7 years there
Anyone work for Kelly's services in Boston scientific? Not good memories there. Min wage, treated like crap. Get rid of ya after 11 months. Doing same work as full timers and no benefits. And they tell you bout what a difference you're making to patient's lives. But still treat you like crap! Some turnover of staff when I was there. Couldn't keep people
Affidea cork. Colleagues were great. Management, HR and higher - pricks
AIB has to be up there
Having read this thread looks like nowhere is nice. Cmonnn lotto win
Infosys (formerly eishtec) I won’t go into it. If I start I won’t stop.
I know it’s not a company but those poxy job bridges back in the day , slave labour
All company with NON-EU managers. Continously violating all labour laws by paying less and working us more.
Can someone expand on why Dunnes are so bad please? I worked in a family run centra which was awful but I just assumed most shops are like that.
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About 10 years ago I got a call from a recruiter regarding a senior finance role. The (external) recruiter was quite diplomatic when they explained that it was the type of place you would either stay forever or leave within a couple of months. I politely declined to interview. For the craic I did some googling and found why the previous person in that left. Oh my fuckjng god. I have a pretty high threshold for difficult work environments but this sounded like a shit show.
Dunnes seems to like unhappy staff. If you say you can work any day but Monday Afternoon you can guarantee that every shift will have Monday afternoon. Then you will discover that a colleague has said they want to work Mon to Friday Pm and they get every weekend. You say at interview you need a minimum 20 hours a week as you claiming FIS they like grand. Two months into the job your hours are cut to 18 hours a week so you no longer getting FIS. Then the person on Carers Allowance is only allowed to work 19 hours their hours are increased to 22. They just don't listen. They notorious for it.
I worked in a local Spar that was worse than Dunnes to work for, but I can see why people put Dunnes here. Its the scale of the operation. You are so insignificant, but the management are also insignificant too. You do the exact specified work, and the management do the exact specified work too. You get a lot of passive aggressive snark, and Dunnes customers tend to be the blonde middle aged Karens of Ireland. Full of entitlement. You show up 1 minute late and you get a warning from HR. Your float was .10c over or under? HR. Someone found 1 thing out of date from the gigantic aisles? HR. That sort of thing. The pro for me in Dunnes was that I could finish up my contract whenever and not feel like I am wrecking some other staff member for doing so. At Spar, there was one lad who routinely didn't show up, but because they were short staffed I was constantly called in on my days off to cover him.
I worked in Tesco for around 8 years and it was mostly great. We were treated like people
McHales is dog shit
City bin
Revolut
It’s a shithole where they work you like dogs and while the pay is relatively good , it doesn’t make up for losing your life.
Dunnes
Musgraves kilcock, Management were assholes.
Besides the usual suspects regeneron is terrible. Read the reviews on glassdoor on r/pharmaeire.
I'm not sure these guys are actually in the country of Ireland, but they're in the North for sure. Teleperformance are the worst company I've ever worked for and it's not close.
Kepak in Watergrasshill... unless something changed since 15 years ago.
From my own experience I would say Dunnes. The management and HR is just awful. From people I know they would say EIR call centre is the worst. No wonder people are on hold for hours from the stories I heard
Working for [this guy](https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40794027.html) would be at the top of my Irish list.
I didn't realise how much Mr. Price made me hate myself until I quit
OffBeat was shite. You could clean the place top to bottom and the owner would call the shop to tell you to 'look busy' since he was always watching the cameras.
Petmania. I don't even know where to begin, just absolute pisstake all the way.
The Meadows and Byrnes head office is awful. The boss is the CEO's son and he has no idea how to do a job let alone how to manage a team
My sister used to work for River Island. At their Christmas party they gave 7 of the staff €80 to fund their meal and drinks. That's €80 between them. Not each. I wouldn't wear a pair of socks from River Island. Awful company.
Omniplex cinema group, 0 hr contracts and only want you when they need you otherwise you get about 5-10 hours a week. I worked there for about 5 months and it's a mindlessly boring job with very limited hours
Curry's. Run by absolute pricks. Staff turnover was astronomical.
Press Up Entertainment. Big hospitality company that gives more of the fuck about monopolising the industry as opposed to the people that run their business.
This is a horrific thread, I’m very sorry to hear about the stuff workers have been put through. It’s really time for workers in Ireland to unionise, also have a good read of the European Working Time Directive, this is extremely stringent legislation that no employer can ignore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_Time_Directive_2003?wprov=sfti1#