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HW's avatar

Wow Holly that's a shocker! We're the same age so I do remember office culture as a graduate in the early 00s but thankfully nothing as bad as your experiences. My daughter is half way through sixth form and considering advertising as a career after uni as she has a lot of skills that would suit it - arty, creative, good language/communication skills and she seems to have an innate understanding of what people want and what works well. Now I'm thinking I need to put her off that career path - do you think it's still awful?

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Helen Barrell's avatar

I'm horrified about the Facebook revelations, and horrified by your experiences in advertising.

I haven't had anything as bad as that, fortunately. When you mentioned signing the waiver to the working hours protection, I did roll my eyes though because I was told to do the same. I was a receptionist at a computer games distributor run by millionaires (in the late 90s, after dropping out of uni, saving up to start again and go back in). I didn't understand the document, and they said, "oh, but we'd never expect anyone to work that many hours." So why did they need us to sign? I didn't really want to sign it but felt I had no choice. I didn't want to get on the wrong side of my employers. It's worrying how many employees must've signed the waiver because they were forced to by bosses.

And the lapdancing: once I was back at uni, I temped in the "vacations" (they weren't holidays for me!). I was at a company that builds houses and converts old warehouses etc into apartments, and the head of the section I worked in took clients to a lapdancing club. I was disgusted. It's so sexist and "boys' club".

I never had to suffer any assaults, though. That's horrendous what you experienced and heard about going on. One of the staff at the distributors was sacked for looking up skirts at the work's Christmas party (which I'm relieved I didn't attend). And the directors got really angry when they discovered handprints on Lara Croft's boobs (the cleaners had neglected to dust her).

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