My Work Experience - Or should it be, my bad experience?

(The long story is worth the read, but for a summary, skip to the bottom.)

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Well, I just thought I'd share with you all the story of my week of work experience :D

So I was working at Dubit Limited, who run Dubit Chat, Dubit Insider and Dubit Informer (yes, I was promoting the informer on Monday :rolleyes:). It had been planned long in advance, about 8 months actually, and I was really looking forward to it cos I was interested in what they do (marketing, graphic design and market research).

So anyway I got there on Monday and went in and went up to the office manager who told me to go over to this other guy. So I went over, he sat me down, and told me to just promote Dubit Informer for a bit until this other guy came in (I'm not gonna use names here, so lets call the first guy Bob and the second guy John, oh and there'll be a third guy called Joe later on). So I was heading around different message boards promoting the informer, and then John came in and said hi and whatever and didn't give me anything to do so I carried on with the Dubit Informer thing.

Then Joe came in, and John told him to give me some work, he said... 'unfortunately it's data input', but I just thought okay, that's fine. I didn't really know what to expect anyway but I was happy with data input. So basically, the data input involved going on this website, and filling in an online form with the details of about 200 people (who had filled in leaflets with the info) on their address, email, college attended, what they study, what they wanna study at uni and so on... for each leaflet to input into this online form, it took about 6 minutes. There was a stack of 100 in front of me. So anyway, for the whole of Monday I sat and did this data input, kept a positive attitude and just looked forward to the next day to see what else I'd be doing.

So anyway, along comes Tuesday, and hey, guess what, I'm copying and pasting text from one document to another (and occasionally re-writing the text). There was so much, it took me all day, yes I got a bit bored but I put up with it.

So then, Wednesday arrives and hey, guess what, all that stuff I did on Monday, well, there was more of it, hundreds of leaflets. This time they had been scanned in though so it was PDFs, which made it harder to fill in cos I had to keep flicking between apps (adobe and firefox). So I sit there, all day Wednesday, doing this data input again.

Thursday arrives, and in the morning I look for advertisement opportunities and then after 2 hours of that (which was not bad actually), I get the same data input again that I had done all day Wednesday and Monday. So I say I don't wanna do it, but fall for the whole 'oh please, just two hours'. So I agree to do an hour, which ends up being two anyway. Then in the afternoon I got to go to the graphics department and I met this really nice guy who was really chatty (bearing in mind that no one from the marketing dept where I'd done data input really spoke to me or made me feel welcome) and he also recommended a good college cos we were on the subject and I told him that everywhere in Leeds was crap and what not. he said that so I got a change from data input, on my last day, (friday) i could come and use his mac cos he wasn't in and design him a couple of websites.

So yeah, I was really looking forward to Friday and then it arrived. My 9th 1hour 20minute bus journey of the week, only one more to go to get home this afternoon.

I got in on Friday, and then this lady (Let's call her, Soandso) said she had some more data input for me to do, so this is the transcript from there on: (i was speaking calmly, quietly and politely and she was speaking to me like dirt)

Me: I'm really sorry but I really don't want to do it, i've done loads.
Soandso: Well.. just a couple of hours.
Me: I'm sorry but it's driving me mad, it's all I've really done since I got here. I really don't want to do it.
Soandso: Well, I'm sorry but you haven't got a choice.
Me: Well I really don't wanna do it.
Soandso: Come over here a minute.
She takes me aside from the office, where no one can hear us.
Soandso: Don't you ever speak to me like that in front of my team.
Me: I was speaking politely. It's just that all I've done all week is this same data inputting on this website.
Soandso: no you haven't you've done two hours everyday.
Me: I haven't, I did it all day Monday, a similar task on Tuesday, all day Wednesday and half the day Thursday.
Soandso: well there's nothing else for you to do.
Me: Dave said I could use his computer to design him some websites.
Soandso: Dave isn't in today.
me: I know thats why he said I could do it.
Soandso: Well you've got data input to be doing.
Me: Well I'm sorry but I really don't want to do it.
Soandso: Well then leave and I'll report you to your school, or do it.
Me: Well I'm going to have to leave, thanks for your time this week.
Soandso ignores me and walks off.

I left. All week they had not spoken to me (except the graphics guy the short time I was with him), not been very welcoming to me and just given me the same work to do. I'd had enough so I left. They deleted me from Dubit Insider, which in my opinion is pretty pathetic and unprofessional because I was calm throughout and I left without a fuss, and because I didn't want to do their work that they didn't wanna do, they deleted me... Sorry but pathetic much? They didn't even talk to me about the site whilst I was there so it was a whole different part of it.

Summary: I was working at Dubit Limited, a company based in Leeds which specialises in Marketing Research, Youth Marketing Campaigns and Graphic Design. They gave me some work to do on Monday, I spent all day doing it. It was data input and was repetitive. On Tuesday they gave me a similar task to do. On Wednesday they gave me the same as Monday to do again. On Thursday they gave me two hours of the same work to do as I did on Monday, I got two hours in Graphics dept where he said I could web design on Friday. On Friday I got given more of what I had done on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and told I couldn't do graphic design by the people I had been working with all week. I told them I didn't want to do data input nicely, calmly and politely and they told me I had no choice. They said if I didn't they would report me to my school. So I left.



So yeah, just thought I'd share my experience with you all. Steer clear of anything from Dubit. (except the graphics side of it).

Oh and I'm not in trouble with school, they believed my side of the story and said I was mature about it and gave it a fair effort. Dubit had rung them up before this and said I was rude and walked out, when infact, it was an open invitation to leave.

I was at a travel agents it was crap.

I feel for you man :( i havent got it yet but thank god mine is only a week in october.

Well i put down games testing or working in a supermarket. and the supermarket one is only 3 days long :)

I quit mine after first day lol

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Originally Posted by eight

I quit mine after first day lol

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haha how come?

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Originally Posted by Nick.

haha how come?

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all i was doing was cleaning, treated like crap, therefore i told them to stick the job where the sun dont shine

im surprised you stayed so patient lol.

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Originally Posted by preposterous

im surprised you stayed so patient lol.

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Well on Thursday I tried to refuse, but she was like 'oh just two hours please', and I'm not really one to lose my patience with people I don't know. But I know when I'm being taken for a mug, so on Friday I refused politely and calmly but this soandso threw her dummy out the pram and threatened me by saying she'd report me to my school, so I let her.

Good for you man I wouldn't have been brave enough to stand up to the woman like that, when I did work experience I asked to have a placement that had something to do with computers but ended up in Top Shop... I spend all week putting those little size tags on coat hangers lol

thats a shame because it sounds as if you are actually interested in your work experience. most people i know have just gone somewhere for the easy work.

did you school do anything, or was this last week?

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Originally Posted by Callum.

thats a shame because it sounds as if you are actually interested in your work experience. most people i know have just gone somewhere for the easy work.

did you school do anything, or was this last week?

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Yeah, well the work experience manager said I could do another one in July if I wanted, in the last week of school, when there isn't much going on.

And it was this Friday just gone, I rung school when I got home at about 10:40AM and asked to speak to to our work exp rep and she said oh I've been trying to get through to you and I said yeah they said they would report me, and then I said can i explain my side of the story? and she said of course. So i did, and after about 20 mins of explaining the weeks events and how they were rude and unwelcoming, she said that I had explained it very maturely and I had given it a fair effort, she was annoyed that they hadn't given me regular breaks (only 1 hour at lunch) and that I wasn't in any trouble at all and to just enjoy my half term holiday! legend :D

it also disappointed me cos I worked for them before through the Insider and they all seemed really nice when they rung me to explain the tasks and stuff and i organised it all myself and the guy I emailed about it all was really nice but when I got there it was like being smacked in the face LOL. i was gutted!

I got a week in a 24 hour vets, i'm dreading it. I've gotta be in from 9am - 10pm at night :l

I worked in game for three weeks on my work experience.

AWSOME!

At least you were given stuff to do! When I did it last year at a car garage they told me to sweep the floor and after I'd done that, they just told me to do it again! So for the entire week I went into work, not really doing anything but hovering about watching the mechanics like a bad smell!

lol a lot of places don't have a decent job for work experiencers, 'cos they can't trust them to do it properly. i had a week of repetitive and boring jobs but i expected no less.

It's either that or making tea. They're not exactly going to delegate loads of jobs for you when you're still at school. At least you didn't stand around doing nothing like I did lol.

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Originally Posted by GraysAthChaz

I worked in game for three weeks on my work experience.

AWSOME!

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Hmm, if its anything like EB here (its the same company) then shame on you. It has to be the worst company around for games.

As someone above said, not all employers like to give students difficult things incase they screw up, I worked at an Estate Agent, I was given a task which involved a matter of like and death, I had to record all gas safety certificates on the database.
On the other hand, a positive thing I did was actually sell my first house, I did the negotiating and the paper work, unfortuantly got £100 out of it - Instead of the usual 1% commission. :P

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Originally Posted by Cod

lol a lot of places don't have a decent job for work experiencers, 'cos they can't trust them to do it properly. i had a week of repetitive and boring jobs but i expected no less.

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Originally Posted by JackBuddy

It's either that or making tea. They're not exactly going to delegate loads of jobs for you when you're still at school. At least you didn't stand around doing nothing like I did lol.

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Originally Posted by Indie-Dan

At least you were given stuff to do! When I did it last year at a car garage they told me to sweep the floor and after I'd done that, they just told me to do it again! So for the entire week I went into work, not really doing anything but hovering about watching the mechanics like a bad smell!

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The point of the thread is they took me for a mug and didn't really speak to me or make me feel welcome, and they knew I wasn't some 'idiot' because I had worked with them online previously and had a strong marketing profile (as in, I would be chosen for campaigns/tasks a lot) but then they deleted that when I stood up for myself.

Also, yeah I wasn't expecting much better but I wasn't expecting the same thing day in day out with just a 1 hour break. Sorry but 7 hours a day doing the same thing? no thanks. I had an offer from the graphics dept to do some web design but the marketing dept wouldn't even let me do that so it shows, it wasn't cos they couldn't give me anything better, it's because they didn't want to hire a temp to do the work I was doing and wanted me to get it finished before the end of the week.

I worked in marks and spencers, funnily enough the mate i met their was called mark & my nick name is spencer, so ya. Was quite fun i just talked to him for 2 weeks about his like trips to american camps nd stuff.

Anyways if she treat you like that you should post a pic of her and everyone can spit on her.

omg that sounds boring ;l

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Originally Posted by Voiceover.

I worked in marks and spencers, funnily enough the mate i met their was called mark & my nick name is spencer, so ya. Was quite fun i just talked to him for 2 weeks about his like trips to american camps nd stuff.

Anyways if she treat you like that you should post a pic of her and everyone can spit on her.

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bit harsh? LOL.

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Originally Posted by GraysAthChaz

I worked in game for three weeks on my work experience.

AWSOME!

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I went to GAME on mine; was about 3 years ago.

And to be honast, what you've described does not suprise me at all. You would be very lucky if you get a decent placement because to them, your a weeks free work, so you just get bogged down with all the boring rubbish. But, I think you did handle the situation well :)

Sorry to hear bout your placement. I stayed in my school (because I wanted to be a teacher anyway) and all I did was admin tasks (excluding the first day cos that was a school trip they forgot about!) but funnily enough, I enjoyed it. Plus, I got a fortnight longer to do my coursework because "you really helped me a lot reorganising those files, Michael." Bonus :D

My manager put me in charge of the work experience students who came to work in Boots. They actually had quite a lot to do from putting stock on shelves, tidying up the shop and even knowing how the stock-take system works (which half of the staff don't even know how to use :S)

My work experience I did in a primary school. It was alright but it was the time of really hot weather and taking care of kids who kept complaining was not fun :P Also trying to relearn the alphabet from the way I had been taught was a bit hard :8

Hah, I had an awesome time on my work experiance at Cranfield Airport, I wish it could have lasted more than two weeks! :(

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Originally Posted by Technologic

I got a week in a 24 hour vets, i'm dreading it. I've gotta be in from 9am - 10pm at night :l

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On work exp, they cant legally make you work more than 8 hours. how does this work?

i did mine at wilkos, and i loved it lol! everyone was so nice and i still speak to ppl i met there, only did a week tho, was on hols 2nd week, i was so tired after tht week tho.

I did my school work experience at Sainsburys and afterwards I was offered a job there. I've got to do work experience again next month, this time I'm probably going to do it for the local newspaper. I'm not looking forward to it though because I have to do it during the summer holidays which is ********.