I finally got round to digging out my exit interview... let this be a lesson to you

1. Why did you choose to work in Bermuda?
Partly adventure, partly by accident. I had been made redundant from a job technology PR in Europe. There were plenty of options open but I had it in my mind that I'd move back to Australia if I could finalise the sale of my house. A friend was nagging me to apply for other PR jobs so I did in Bermuda. I didn't think I'd get it and doubted it was even for real. I was just about to pay for a ticket back to Australia when I got the call offering me the job with an agency in Hamilton. I could've earned much more staying in the UK but chose the more adventurous option.

2. Was advice given about Bermuda by your recruiter/employer accurate?
No, no, no! I quizzed my employer carefully in interviews and was very specific. For example, she insisted that I would not have to work outside 9-5 more than about once a quarter. In fact she wanted me to work late almost every day, would actually scream at me if I made myself unavailable to work late? and every time I had a date she ensured that I would have extra work dumped on me. She also told me that the locals were very friendly and welcomed foreigners. That she would refund my air fare after a year. That the business had lovely offices.

3. Was Bermuda your first overseas job?
No, I have worked in Australia, UK (with constant travel in Europe, Middle East & Africa region) and briefly I was an au pair in Sweden.

4. Did the experience live up to your expectations?
I had little idea what to expect but the work part certainly wasn't what it was made out to be.

5. Did you live in a pink house?
Some of the time; plus a green one and an orangey coloured one.

6. How long did your work permit take to be processed & how would you rate the overall service of the immigration department?
My original 3 month fast-track visa took longer than I had been told to expect. Part of that was probably my boss setting expectations wrongly. She also hadn't asked for all the necessary information at the beginning and I ended up having to courier things from the UK (no, I never got that reimbursed).
My boss got the visa and was supposed to courier it to me in the US, where I stopped to spend time with family over the Christmas holidays en-route. She instead put it in regular mail and it didn?t arrive in time so she told me she?d meet me with her copy airside at the airport.

I arrived - no sign of my boss, so I had to go to a special immigration interrogation room. After an hour's wait, I was seen by a charming man who waived the penalty fee, mainly because of my boobs I think.

Customs took another hour. My boss was outside by the time I got there ? she had offered me a lift from the airport to my accommodation. She had a sports car that didn?t have enough room for a suitcase, so I had to get a taxi to take my bags (and I had to pay).

I was supposed to get a free week before starting my job but, as my boss abandoned me she handed me a folder, told me to learn the information and start work on Monday morning. Fortunately my roommate took me under her wing and showed me around on the weekend.

7. What is your primary reason for leaving?
I was let go from the job - because I had refused to lie to a client. My boss didn't allow for the great relationship I had built with my clients; so when she told them various stories ranging from shagging other clients to incompetence, they came and told me.

8. What would you change about your job?
Aside from management? the office. We were in an old building that needed renovating. It was so infested with giant flying cockroaches that eventually we had to be evacuated for it to be fumigated.

During renovations, the dust was so bad that I went home coated in it. Colleagues suffered asthma problems brought on by the conditions ? I'm not kidding, at times the dust was more than an inch thick on the floor. I had to deal with sorting out Belco and the ISP, fixing the network and evading the landlord. I had to account for my time in 5 minute blocks. I had to note toilet breaks and there would be trouble if they were too many or too long.

9. Do you feel any guilt at having caused high rents, traffic problems, teen pregnancies, expensive drinks and the downfall of Bermudian civilization?
I made it my quest to raise rents at every opportunity. The bars probably had to raise prices to make up for all the extra measures I got during happy hours by showing too much cleavage (like there?s such a thing as too much). That element probably caused a few traffic issues and I undoubtedly took moped parking places that others would have liked.

10. Did your job duties turn out to be as you expected?
Hahahahahahaha. I did everything from ghost-writing articles and speeches for government ministers to fixing the computer network, catching cockroaches and a lot that I was way overqualified for. I was lucky that I had some lovely workmates who kept me (mostly) sane.

11. Did you receive enough training to do your job effectively? Any training at all? Did they even show you where the bathrooms are located?
I received no training and found the bathroom by myself.

12. Speaking of bathrooms, did they have doors or were you expected to answer the call of nature while various tradespeople walked by and waved?
At one time, for a couple of weeks, there was no door on the toilet because of the renovations. My female colleagues and I would either have to hold it or use the toilet as workmen wandered by. Perhaps the worst was when a male supplier wandered in as I peed. And then wanted to chat.

13. Did you receive adequate support and equipment to do your job?
No. For example, any day one of our clients had a media release out, we had to record every single tv and radio news broadcast manually. For the first few weeks I had to share a computer, desk and even chair with another person. Oh and my boss insisted on me printing and filing every single email, fax etc.

14. Were you satisfied with this company's merit review process?
I had a 3 month review at the end of my probation; well, it was more like 4.5 months by the time it happened. I got top scores on everything except time management - but only a few days later I was let go. When I took my boss to the Labour Relations dept to try to recover some of the money she owes me, she presented them with a long list of my purported transgressions.

Some were so bizarre that the LR dude barely kept a straight face. Fortunately he saw through her and was supportive; she then wanted me to work 3 months notice if she was required to pay me for it; having just lied at length claiming I was no good.

My boss was instructed to pay the money owed. She didn?t and the LR dept at that point had to back away (well, I am a forner) and told me to take her to court. I haven't - yet - as I don't trust that one of her buddies wouldn't be presiding over the court. Still, I have a few years to change my mind.

15. Do you still have road rash scars?
No.  I got minor road rash once but recovered from that quickly.

16. Did this company help you to fulfill your career goals? If yes, were your career goals to be treated as an unwelcome intrusion and expected to make good the incompetence of lazy coworkers?
No and no. My fellow suffering co-workers were terrific, thankfully.

17. Do you have any tips to help us find your replacement?
I hear there have been a few since I left.

18. What would you improve to make our workplace better?
Send the boss to MAWI and don?t let her communicate with the outside world.

19. Were you happy with your pay, benefits and other incentives?
If I had been paid what I was owed then it would have been better ? much less than I can earn elsewhere but I wasn?t there for the $$. I was offered a much better job some time after finishing but after 6 months immigration denied a work permit. They said it was because I was still living in Bermuda illegally; at the time I was standing in Singapore airport and they could hear last calls for flights to Dubai and Jakarta. It was made clear that there were in fact other reasons for the permit to be refused.

20. What was the quality of the supervision you received?
Supervision? well, the screaming was of an impressive volume sometimes. The rants were less sane than any I've seen on this site - and I read it all.

21. Could your boss claim diminished responsibility or insanity as a defence against their management style?
Yes. But it is much easier to blame everyone else.

22. Did any company policies or procedures (or any other obstacles) make your job more difficult?
Yes. We were yelled at for not following procedures that we hadn't been told about. My colleague, who graduated top in writing at a good university, was not even allowed to send a standard fax without having her work checked. Clients were paying almost $200/hr for this. There was double dipping, overcharging, you name it.

23. Would you consider working again for this company/in Bermuda in the future?
No, not on your life.

24. Would you recommend working for this company to your family and friends? How about that weird cousin you don't like much?
Definitely not even the weird cousin.

25. Did anyone in this company discriminate against you, harass you or cause hostile working conditions?
Everyday! Jealous, bitchy, irrational, destructive, dishonest, incompetent, psychotic, hormonally challenged? that?d cover most of it. I witnessed my boss practice racism on a regular basis.

26. How about random strangers?
Yes. Among other things, I was accused of stealing all the good men, called a dumb white **** and made to wait at the back of the line while the entitled went ahead of me. I did meet some lovely people too; and I didn't steal all the good men, one is enough for me (plus I know there are some lovely single men in Bermuda still).

27. If you could travel back in time, would you still make the decision to come and work in Bermuda?
Some good came from the experience and I met my future husband, so I have to say it was worth it.

28. What advice would you give anyone considering working as an expat in Bermuda?
Be very clear what you want from the experience and check out your employer very carefully. Be prepared to walk away if you need to - keep some dollars aside as a safety net. Don?t work for my ex boss.

29. Did you remember to say good morning/afternoon to every single person you encountered, every single day, even if they were strangers you happened to pass on the road when riding your moped?
I was pretty conscientious.

30. Will you now return to the miserable third world country you came from, where you can?t get a decent job and earn a pittance (UK, Canada, USA, New Zealand, Australia)?
I'm back in my larger island with a better climate, lower costs, friendly people and great opportunities. Australia is such a miserable, third-world spot.

31. Any other comments?

I do think that the employer makes or breaks the expat experience. Bermuda needs to learn that no amount of foreigner abuse will make up for the past.

If you're hiring a PR agency, feel free to drop me a message on the site and I'll tell you a few things to look out for that will help you avoid the rip-offs.

I love Bermuda Sucks!


[editor's note: getting rid of the ? that snuck in when the database was moved.]

Very clever.  You see, you are not a moderator here without merit.

Bonus karma for you - although I see you are already in the triple digit group. 

Oh I know the scoop through little birdies, just want to know the year!  Have to say congrats!

Thanks Mike.  Now I am in a truly elite club too with triple digits

Well it makes my heart warm and fuzzy that two great people can find happiness with each other.  In a little over a month, 31 days to be exact, I will be celebrating my 14th wedding anniversary!  Let me tell you it hasn't been easy, but frankly I cannot see my life without him in it.

congrats Reality, my husband and I will be celebrating our 15th wedding anniversery in 6 days time, add that to the 9 years we were together before we got married we have been together a grand total of 24 years

I too had a crazy boss, actually I have had a few, one used to get into screaming matches with other members of staff, she got one gentleman (the front office manager) so angry he picked up her keyboard and smashed it on her desk, she eventually had a nervous breakdown. 

Wow Reality

Thanks for sharing all that info with the site, it must have taken you a little time to get everything down but I am sure, as you say, it has been a very therapeutic excercise! 

Must admit that I didn't feel at all comfortable in the workplace in Bermuda and I am an easy going, hard working, cheery type of employee that likes a chat at work every now and then but knows when to buckle down to the job.  I felt that the atmosphere was very tense at the 4 or so assignments that I had there.  I am pretty intuitive and senstive to various work situations and there were definitely certain issues in the Bermudian workplace that I did not like/had never encountered in my working life.  It was truly an eye opener and I am grateful to be back here working in a much more transparent and less racially and emotionally charged office atmosphere, one where I know my rights and can speak up without retribution/fear of the dreaded work permit denial - hurrah! (The agency constantly would pull that card out, but I never had any fear of the threat. They constantly reminded us..you can always 'just leave' - too right!

Congratulations on your up and coming big event, by the way. 

hey reality .... i forgot about the flying cockroaches ... that agency probably has the highest employee turnover in Bermuda.  The last employee lasted 5 days so don't feel bad you managed to put up with the S & M for alot longer.  I was and still am the longest serving employee ...but then I wasn't in the office!

Masses of luck .. u tell us where and when and the lads will be there less 'lab therapy'. 

C u xxx

wow.. i think i know who you worked for and i think we might have dealt with one another at some point. (well.. it's highly likely)

personally have huge issues with the person i'm pretty sure we're talking about here. talk about dragon.

hopefully you've moved on to bigger and better !