I applied online indeed or similar and got an email back within a week inviting me for an interview, they immediately noted how low the pay would be but I wasn't bothered- more just wanting to see what the company itself was like in person. When I went to the interview the following week I was immediately struck by how shabby the building was, carpets were dirty and the laminate flooring was coming up in places. Looked like it hadn't been updated for a good 10+ years anywhere. The lady interviewing me was struggling to speak with proper English pronunciation and I had to ask a few times for her to repeat - that's fine, but maybe dont get someone to interview unless they can speak eloquently? It seemed as though she didn't care about me as a person at all and didn't want to be there, she didn't make eye contact and kept looking around the room, asking me if I would be willing to work hours that I didn't apply for, asking me very vague questions. They expect you to be able to regularly lift 25kg crates all day. Where I currently work in retail health and safety strictly say that this is unreasonable for one person but hey, you never know. Then she got someone to take me for a lab tour. The lab itself was absolutely disgusting. It stunk, it was dirty, everyone working there looked absolutely miserable. The store which he took me into saying it was 'nice and warm' smelt so rancid I had to hold my breath, and he opened one of two bio hazard room doors where they test for things like e.coli etc multiple times in front of me - I stood back. They had old red tape that looked years old on the floor to depict which zones to be careful in, and the lab looked half empty. When I asked if this was normal he hesitated and looked around a bit before answering vaguely that lots of people were off. They seemed to be proud of this red tape saying that 'inspectors like it'. Maybe if they payed more, looked after their employees well being more and had people on more regular shift patterns they wouldn't need people to meet unrealistic targets. I already had a bad gut feeling about the company from other reviews but decided to go to see what it was like myself. Please trust me- unless you have no other choice to be a housekeeper or receptionist or even work in retail PLEASE do not take this job!!! It was filthy in there and you could tell immediately they had no sense of employee well-being. They expect you to be able to produce about 50 samples per hour which is completely unreasonable and expect you to work 12 hour shifts 4 on 4 off which wasn't specified when I applied as it only said full time. When I left I felt like I needed a shower and I could see very visible health and safety reasons not to work here! I will not be following up about whether or not I got an offer as I do not want to work here, and will try and get a health and safety assessor to visit.
