Really horrible atmosphere, particularly on the night team, where the predominant culture is one that really scrapes the bottom of the barrel. The so-called "banter" sees people constantly swearing and burping etc. For some reason the topic of excrement seems to be a favourite, with the swear word for it coming up frequently - sometimes every few minutes. Jokes about things such as child abuse and race are also commonplace. Whilst I am far from a prude, I felt unclean just listening to it. People sit there playing silly computer games or playing on their 'phones. As well as a work-related instant messenger thread, they also have a tacky thread where they seem to get off on humiliating each other with put-downs and stupid pictures and memes grabbed from the internet. There is a culture of "nobody is better than anybody else," except the egos and attitudes are all there, simmering under the surface. So pervasive is the alpha male culture, most people there seem to fall in line with it. I didn't, as as a result, stood out like the proverbial sore thumb. The jobs is incredibly boring and procedural. Most alarms are caused by stupid rats if warehouses and corner shops, or wind rattling shutters. You are expected to be thorough but not given the time to be so. There is a tacit expectation to cut corners, but if you miss a "real incident," it is on your head be it. The job drains your soul, and the 4 nights on, 2 off shift pattern means you never get to see the light of day for any great time or adjust back to normal hours. The job started to affect both my mental and physical health, and I felt tired all the time and kept getting headaches and feeling depressed. If you assert yourself with snotty customers they will just get rid of you because they are more concerned with their online reputation than they are with their hardworking staff. The alarm-receiving agents are the lifeblood of a monitored alarm company and yet are treated like dirt. They expect you to take customer service queries overnight, and you will be in the process of investigating an alarm, when this will be interrupted by a call that is foisted upon you. This is extremely jarring and annoying.
