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

[Nick.]

(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

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.

[Bouncing]

I was at a travel agents it was crap.

[Andeeh]

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

[eight]

I quit mine after first day lol

[Nick.]

I quit mine after first day lol

haha how come?

[eight]

haha how come?

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

[dirrty]

im surprised you stayed so patient lol.

[Nick.]

im surprised you stayed so patient lol.

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.

[Dan2nd]

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

[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?