[jblackmoustache]

What do you think are the bitchiest sectors to work in and what are your experiences? Education and Social Work (and other related) definetly get my vote. For some reason the people are so unprofessional. Add the fact that there are loads of females in education (more than men) and the fact you're dealing with human beings and you have a bitchy work environment.

[Brevity]

Prostitution: the things I learned about the human body one time... Never again.

[ZeeAli]

RETAIL! so many of my work mates are horrible and catty to one another i just dont get involved :/

[geetar]

Recruitment. Not exactly 'bitchy', but incredibly cut-throat with everyone looking to get one over on everyone else all the time. Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate.

[YB101]

fashion retail most definitely

[kka25]

(Original post by geetar)
Recruitment. Not exactly 'bitchy', but incredibly cut-throat with everyone looking to get one over on everyone else all the time.

Really!?

Care to elaborate? My sibling works with HR and they claimed it's quite stressful but I couldn't appreciate why

[-Liberty]

Has to be beauty. I've been to those little stalls in department stores and actually had makeup artists bitching about eachother whilst getting my makeup done.

[geetar]

(Original post by kka25)
Really!?

Care to elaborate? My sibling works with HR and they claimed it's quite stressful but I couldn't appreciate why

I only worked for a couple of weeks in recruitment (temp job), but, yeah, the atmosphere is quite unfriendly and very competitive. Basically, a lot of the potential earnings are done by commission, so it encourages a lot of back-stabbing. It's also very high stress, which also makes everyone on edge and touchy.

I think HR is a bit different, and probably a much nicer place to work, because you would be working for a company, dealing with potential new employees. Whereas with recruitment, they are all stand alone agencies which recruit people into a lot of sectors and companies, so you don't have that supportive atmosphere that you might get in HR. If you work in the recruitment department of an actual company, everyone is working together. Whereas if you work in a recruitment agency, you are working for yourself, and effectively against your "colleagues".

[Em_Huong]

I worked in a pub years ago and the barmaids there were quite bitchy. Also in a cab office with about 10 employees where they would divide themselves into little 'cliques' and if anything happened they would all side together within their groups. That's my experience anyway.

[079]

Topshop sales assistant...

[Nutini]

Education without a doubt - one of my parents is a deputy head and the other a department head and the stories of the amount of bitchiness that comes from the non-senior management staff towards them (and the other senior managers) is unreal, I wanted to work in Education but it doesn't sound very enjoyable... People finding ways to blame other people for their mistakes, or even a recently a teacher hid some coursework folders from pupils in another teacher's (in the same department) class so that the teacher would get into trouble! All around an inspection period as well. The kids had to redo all their coursework from scratch.

[UpsidedownLandMan]

Sales. Especially Entry-Level Sales. As Team Leader it's OK 'cause most of the job is management based at that point, and I only got out into the field 2-3 days a week, but commission-only junior sales reps, whether their door-to-door or business-to-business bitch like there's no tomorrow. Mainly cause of all the abuse they have to tolerate with a smile on their face. Seriously, my team are all lovely people, but if they don't get their cigarette break... watch out my friend, watch out.

[IRL]

IMO, retail, as someone else previously stated. It's a bit of a closed community in whichever store you work in and promotions are always dubious. Anyone is capable of doing any job within any shop in the country, whether it's stacking shelves or managing the place.

[QuirkyDoDo]

(Original post by Nutini)
Education without a doubt - one of my parents is a deputy head and the other a department head and the stories of the amount of bitchiness that comes from the non-senior management staff towards them (and the other senior managers) is unreal, I wanted to work in Education but it doesn't sound very enjoyable... People finding ways to blame other people for their mistakes, or even a recently a teacher hid some coursework folders from pupils in another teacher's (in the same department) class so that the teacher would get into trouble! All around an inspection period as well. The kids had to redo all their coursework from scratch.

wow.

[willbee]

Education seems quite bitchy for sure. I remember the way the teachers used to speak to each other sometimes at school and it was absolutely shocking. How can you demand respect from your students when you so readily disrespect your colleagues?

As for working in a bitchy environment, I haven't done so yet, but I haven't had a stressful job either, so everyone was relaxed at all my jobs and easy-going because they could be. Stress makes you snappy and bitchy and I dread post-uni jobs where I'm sure everyone will be bitchy as...

[syrettd]

I knew a woman who started a job in a clothes shop. There was another girl there who made no effort to welcome her, or talk to her, or anything really. She just gave her dirty looks and snide comments. Her second day of working there, she's holding a load of clothes after a delivery and asks this girl for help. The bitchy girl says something to her, and the other one just snapped. She threw the clothes down and yelled "What's your problem with me???"...right in front of the manager. She got fired, when she complained, her manager just said "Oh that's just whatshername, she doesn't like change."

So I would definitely say clothes stores.

[jblackmoustache]

(Original post by willbee)
Education seems quite bitchy for sure. I remember the way the teachers used to speak to each other sometimes at school and it was absolutely shocking. How can you demand respect from your students when you so readily disrespect your colleagues?

That's what it's like in education and all other related sectors such as Youth Work, youth inclusion and community based work. Very competitive and vicious fields as you can question people's ethics, appearance, intelligence plus the job is rewarded with great professional relationships with young people. I've even sensed bitchiness coming from university tutors, but they were more subtle and smart about how they diss their colleagues (as they are academics). All the paperwork and policies and laws make things worse.

I don't know if this is related to the female dominance in the sector but it seems like any area that is dominated by women there's an incredible amount of bitchiness. It isn't just women and gays though, as men can be bitches to but men don't usually bitch as much. In my experience 'banter' takes place of bitchiness and men aren't afraid to upset you and diss you face to face.

(Original post by 079)
Topshop sales assistant...

haha... on my visits it seems hella bitchy in there.

[Geneticgeek]

I've worked in the Stock room for Next, been a web editor for an independent jewellery shop, and worked for a digital media company as an IT desk operative. So that's 3 quite different scenarios.
In all 3 jobs most of the employees were women. In all 3 jobs I've dreaded having to go into work the next day because the atmosphere is so tense and you have to be careful what you say.
The main problem in Next was the warehouse manager pushing his weight around because he had personal issues at home and used to take it out on the few girls who worked there. But then I moved stores and the majority was women this time and it was just bitch bitch bitch, they'd be sarcastic and patronizing to my face and it just left me feeling awful at the end of the day (being a 16yr old hormonal girl didn't help).
In the Jewellery store, the owner was a man and he only used to employ girls. He used to regularly be horrid and make them cry, he thought he knew everything and used to sit us down and tell us that we need to leave our emotions at home and just come to work and do our jobs, when he was the most unpredictable moody person of us all. He ended up turning all the girls against each other. Mainly against me at the start, they would sit and talk to each other and just ignore me when I tried to join in conversation.
In the private digital media company, it was every man (or should I say woman) for herself, everyone would bitch and moan about the other to make themselves look good to the company director. They steal food from each other in the fridge just to be annoying. It's so unprofessional. It's stuff you would expect from 15yr old girls not 25+yr old women. The thing is the company director enjoys it just as much, she's one of the bitchiest.

So, basically anywhere with women is awful, but you get the occasional man who is a complete d*uche.

[jblackmoustache]

(Original post by Geneticgeek)
I've worked in the Stock room for Next, been a web editor for an independent jewellery shop, and worked for a digital media company as an IT desk operative. So that's 3 quite different scenarios.
In all 3 jobs most of the employees were women. In all 3 jobs I've dreaded having to go into work the next day because the atmosphere is so tense and you have to be careful what you say.
The main problem in Next was the warehouse manager pushing his weight around because he had personal issues at home and used to take it out on the few girls who worked there. But then I moved stores and the majority was women this time and it was just bitch bitch bitch, they'd be sarcastic and patronizing to my face and it just left me feeling awful at the end of the day (being a 16yr old hormonal girl didn't help).
In the Jewellery store, the owner was a man and he only used to employ girls. He used to regularly be horrid and make them cry, he thought he knew everything and used to sit us down and tell us that we need to leave our emotions at home and just come to work and do our jobs, when he was the most unpredictable moody person of us all. He ended up turning all the girls against each other. Mainly against me at the start, they would sit and talk to each other and just ignore me when I tried to join in conversation.
In the private digital media company, it was every man (or should I say woman) for herself, everyone would bitch and moan about the other to make themselves look good to the company director. They steal food from each other in the fridge just to be annoying. It's so unprofessional. It's stuff you would expect from 15yr old girls not 25+yr old women. The thing is the company director enjoys it just as much, she's one of the bitchiest.

So, basically anywhere with women is awful, but you get the occasional man who is a complete d*uche.

Sorry to hear all of that.

Male managers who employ all female staff are the worst. They think they're pimps or something.

[Luxray]

I think any position where the person feels they need to prove their ability to succeed is bitchy.

So if a man employs mainly females then he may well be trying to show how he is the alpha male and he knows everything.
If a woman who has been working in a clothing store full time then she probably will be bitchy towards those who are working part time (and at college/uni) because she wants to show that just because she didn't get a degree she is still doing brilliant.
In an office environment everyone wants to show how they are the best performers because they want that the raise/bonus/promotion.