Vantaggi
Prestigious brand name, beautiful building, decent pay. That’s it.
Svantaggi
My time as a Client Experience Waitress in Harrods' Private Shopping lasted less than three months and was one of the most distressing work experiences of my life. What was sold as a prestigious opportunity quickly revealed itself to be a deeply dysfunctional, unsafe, and exploitative environment. The first red flag came during induction when we were fed the cliché that Harrods was "like a big family." This couldn’t have been further from the truth. Immediately after being hired, we were blindsided with a last-minute "training" period— had to work for two weeks in the dining hall, a requirement never mentioned during interviews. It wouldn't have been such a big deal if one of us hadn't been told about this training as we were walking to get our uniforms on our first day, after two days of induction. This bait-and-switch was just the beginning of Harrods' dishonesty. During this stint, I witnessed shocking food waste, with untouched meals thrown in the bin while employees were forbidden from taking them, all while the company promotes a greenwashed image of sustainability. The hypocrisy was staggering. I heard from a colleague that someone once got fired for eating an egg. Only allegations. The restaurant "training" wasn’t just misleading, it was physically dangerous. On my last day in the dining hall, one chef deliberately handed me a scorching hot plate without warning, leaving me with painful burns. When I tried to hand it back in shock, he dodged me for several seconds before finally taking it, showing complete disregard for my safety. I spent the afternoon in tears from the pain. One manager acknowledged the incident and told me the chef would apologise, which of course he never did. When I finally moved to the Private Shopping department, the environment was openly hostile. The existing team resented new hires because management provided zero proper training, setting us up to fail. We were trained by colleagues still on probation, who would watch us make mistakes without intervening, only to report us to managers afterward. The toxicity was systemic. But the most chilling part was a colleague (let's call him Brad) who came several times to work visibly drunk or coked-up and aggressive. He openly shared violent, misogynistic, racist, and homophobic rants (even regarding clients)—including bragging about being arrested for assaulting a manager from a former job he suspected was gay. On the last day where Brad showed up visibly under the influence, a female coworker asked him to stop bothering her and do his job. He threatened her with a terrifying death stare, to the point that she thought he was about to physically harm her. We reported him (again) to multiple managers. Their response was shockingly negligent: they merely had a "chat" with him. It took an external manager to finally fire him—but not before one of our managers (Irish) recklessly revealed that a male colleague had corroborated Brad's behavior, putting my colleague in immediate danger. After his termination, Brad waited outside Harrods for over six hours, threatening two of my colleagues and sending vile messages and threats. When we begged management for protection, the Irish manager patronisingly told us to "calm down," with an attitude showing him enjoying his moment of control. I could go on about what this manager has told me but this review would be too long. Another manager callously dismissed Brad as "harmless" and that "he had expressed sadness over his departure". It is important to mention that Brad was an admirer of Andrew Tate, known for encouraging harming women, and accused of rape and child trafficking. The message was clear: Harrods cares more about avoiding scandal than protecting its employees. To make matters worse, colleagues warned us not to go to HR, knowing they’d side with the company rather than help. This mirrors Harrods’ history—like the case of former owner Mohammed Al Fayed. The culture of silencing victims is institutional. Between the unsafe conditions, sexist dismissal of concerns, and the trauma of working alongside violent individuals, I had no choice but to quit. Even after leaving, Brad continued to harass me and other colleagues with threats - he told me he would come for me at Harrods because I dared to reply (I have beautiful screenshots as proof). Harrods’ refusal to take any of this seriously speaks volumes on its institutional negligence. One last critique is that the canteen food is insanely expensive, even the sauces aren't free.
