Local architectural/design firm ran by a French guy startswithWYandendswithTO
No aircon in the office (too cheap to turn the aircon on by default, with glass doors wide open despite the construction noise from opposite)
No printers/printing (insane for a design focused practice)
Extremely micromanagey (you HAVE to schedule a meeting individually with him at the end of the day before you leave to go through what you’ve done that day, and this causes people to leave the office late waiting for other coworkers to be done) EDIT: AND oh yes I forgot, you MUST go to his office and greet him when you’ve arrived and before leaving
Makes use of cheap interns from aboard and locally to do most of the work every 3-6 months, causing expertise to be lost every time there’s a turnover
Senior staff dont get to make simple design decisions without consulting him first
6.Poor delegation of tasks and poor understanding of responsibilities; was asked to work on M&E stuff despite not being trained as one and working the design DIRECTLY on a BIM software (an insane way to iterate designs during design phase; other firms usually use sketchup or cad)
Heard bad stories about him from another firm I joined after quitting (very very ngiao towards contractors, consultants etc, and very anal about tiny details to the detriment of the project)
Makes everyone water the numerous potted plants, using a hosereel from one of the toilets, outside the office as if you’re a cleaner
Old and poorly maintained office equipment like moldy mousepads that gave me a weird allergic reaction/rash
I have so much more horror stories from other firms I’ve joined and quit, but it feels like this one has to be the worst. I’m just glad I’m no longer in the construction industry. Ironically, the best firm (relatively) is one managed by locals, but the clients that they usually work with are the government, so that’s an entire nightmare separately.
