Pros
At first, I really enjoyed the role. Although I found the Blue Star offices to be extremely tatty, I learned so many things in a short amount of time and my colleagues were supportive and friendly. At first I was hesitant because I thought that I didn't have the skills to perform the role, but I found myself really enjoying it. The diversity of the workplace is nice to see. I have been in workplaces and I have had inappropriate questions put to me, such as whether or not I could speak English and assuming that I was not British. I was often eager to come into work because the people in my team were extremely pleasant and supportive.
Cons
I enjoyed working for Lambeth initially, but there were times at which I felt deeply uncomfortable and concerned because I often found that the environment became toxic. Other people noticed it too, but were unsure of what to do. It actually reminded me of being in school because people often get picked on for no reason. Many people noticed that there was bullying occurring and blatant rudeness but nothing was done about it. I have also heard a person crying in the ladies' toilets and this just cemented what often transpired in the office. No one was rude to me personally but I heard about it and my colleagues often overheard things which were said and told me about it. It was the verbal savagery, the snide comments, the rudeness and this is supposed to be a professional environment! This worried me and it got to the point that I feared interacting with members of other teams. While the members of my team were ever so friendly, approachable and lovely, there were some worrying concerns about what I witnessed in terms of the dynamics of other teams. I noticed that the attitudes of some of them were, at times, excessively rude. I heard and saw people treating their team mates in a harsh and mean manner. I cannot imagine what it must be like to always be the target of people being unkind. I think that is has come to the point that mandatory training should be taught on how to interact with other in a nice way and how management should intervene. I cannot imagine how it would feel to come into the office and knowing you are going to be treated badly. It was as if it was a case of hurting others and being nasty to people for amusement. The level of rudeness was appalling and I cannot believe that no one ever did something about it. If someone spoke to management in the harsh manner in which others were spoken to, that person would have faced some consequences. I really don’t know why it is which prompts people to make another person feel badly.