Office Party Fouls

The bacchanal is related more to low alcohol thresholds resulting from lack of college party experience than it is to "adventure-loving". If EF employees loved adventure, they wouldn't work there to begin with.

This article actually gets EF off easy. I have dozens of other ridiculous, raunchy stories about that place, starting at the very, very top.

Company policies condoning staff-only raucous parties have little to do with team building and everything to do with getting 23 year olds to slave 70 hour weeks for a mere 27K a year. EF shamelessly exploits the fact that Sex and Alcohol are inexpensive motivators that can be more effective than salary. Is this really an educational tours company you want to entrust your children's safety to?

Tip of the iceberg this article is. I once saw a guy take of his belt at the company bar (yes there is a bar on the 1st floor) and start spanking girls with it.

Let me tell you, the parties and the drinking were what got you through the awful hours, horrible pay, and idiocracies involving office politics. I have pictures no one will ever believe!

Guess what EF, I'm never sending my child on an EF "Educational" tour and I'll make sure all my friends in our school and neighboring schools see this article as well. The most immoral unprofessional policies I've ever heard of. To actively exclude employees spouses or significant others from company parties to promote promiscuity??? No way, I'm entrusting you with my child.

I am employed by EF since 2K and I love it. We work hard and play hard, that is our motto. I never full around or expected too at any EF party and I have been at all parties. Who ever wrote this article only talk about the few teens that got wasted. What about the remaining majority that just had fun. Our parties has 1K or more people, is 0.1% (10) get drank and wasted that is what everyone remembers.

As amusing as this article is, I don't understand why some former employees are so embittered that they need to post this kind of stuff here. As someone who has worked at EF for many years, I have been to MANY company parties. There are those who can't hold their liquor, and you know what?...you would find those people anywhere. I feel that such behavior is a reflection more on the individual than the company. Have some self-respect and a little ownership of your actions! I have friends and family that work for large and small (public and private) companies where there are even worse shenanigans, so I refuse to believe that this is EF-specific. Yes, there is a large post-collegiate population here, and for that reason, the atmosphere is made to be attractive for these young'uns. However, that does not give people the right to act like fools and blame a company for it. Grow up. As far as not sending your kids with EF, as someone who went with EF as a highschooler myself and has s

(cont)...spent many years at this company, there is no other Educational Travel company that I would feel comfortable entrusting my own children with than EF. Don't let the words of an embittered few overshadow the great things that EF is and does. And, as far as the 'Global Bedroom' is concerned, infidelity is not promoted here. Maybe some people don't know how to handle a company that does not have a blanket rule against 'fraternization'. The many positives to this lack of rule are the countless EF marriages (and children) that have resulted from love in the workplace, and continue to blossom. EF IS family-oriented, being a family business itself, and it offers parents a great deal of flexibility! To all of the negative posters here, I say, think before you act (or maybe that is why you no longer work here...?).

First, to the EFer that has been there since "2K"- you must be drunk right now - proof read before you submit a comment online please. Also, what "teens" are you referring to? That would be against the law. Secondly, to the EFer that believes ex-EFers are bitter - have YOU ever been to another company's holiday party in your life? Well, I have been to both and let me tell you, there is nothing even close to what goes on at EF to the rest of the real world. EF motivates and exploits their young employee population via keg parties and drunken escapades. There is not an organization out there that operates on a reward system based on alcohol. When you live on 27K in Boston, you want $$$$ not a 6 pack.

YES- the office sex, lies, and videotape are the real EF. HR's policy of not hiring "older professionals" (26+) is easy to decode- who the heck is going to accept a starting salary of $27K...oh wait- $28K if you have a Masters Degree! Joking aside- the company offers excellent benefits and perks, but the brutal truth is that the shenanigans only go so far. Booze cruise after booze cruise gets old- even for the biggest of frat/sorority drones. And in the end the shelf-life of most EF'ers is what- 2 years max. Then it's time to enter the real world!

Come on. Lets be real EF! Everyone in that company is unhappy. I mean at first the parties seem fun, but after 5 months you realize that you are treated like a child and make nothing.Ef rewards people with claps and beer. The only reason why tht company is succesfull is bc you have so many people there working their buts off. Also, you know its looked down upon if you dont show up at one of these drink fest.

This is so true...I once saw Batman and Robin at one of the parties. Who knew the dynamic duo worked on the 7th floor?

I had the misfortune of blowing out my MCL at an EF Holiday Party.

I once knew a guy who worked there only because of the plethora of large women, of which he had a fetish for. Wow! Did he clean up!!!

It is unfortunate that nothing has really changed about EF since my time there. I met wonderful people there and did some travel, however, there were few opportunities to advance unless you got totally wasted at these office parties with "the right people". Being super drunk would be rewarded if you came in to work the next day. This article is accurate and anyone currently working there that doesn't want to face the truth is just living in a fantasy world.

Yes, I love wine from Oregon too Erin but back to the issue at hand; look, I understand hiring 21-year-olds and dangling booze and parties in front of them is how EF operates. (And I've seen a lot of crazy things myself - like managers hooking up with employees.)Obviously if you don't like it, you can look elsewhere for work (which is what I did after a year). But high turnover is the price they're paying for cheap labor. I'm curious to see what's in store for EF in the next year or two.

How about when one VP puked on the president a couple of years ago? Were those drunken teens?? Don't blame "bitter ex-EFers" for EF's clear need to re-evaluate its policies. Excluding significant others from the holiday party would be a good start... maybe the Roxy would let us have a holiday party there again. And nice to see that the president's personal assistant, Erin Bennion, feels that it's appropriate to state her drinking preferences on this forum. With all that said, I do believe that your children are perfectly safe on an EF tour.

I think we should all just calm down. Yes, the pay is a little low. No one here has mentioned the fantastic health benefits, outrageous vacation time (4 weeks in your second year!?) and amazing opportunities to travel abroad provided by the company. I highly doubt anyone here has joined the company solely because they 'dangle alcohol in front of us.' Let's look at the big picture here.

Has anyone thought that including significant others would almost double the cost of these parties?! I think it's more for financial reasons that they exclude them rather than promoting promescuity... haha

Excluding sig others from holiday parties because it's cheaper... how about the fact that the owner, Bertil Hult, is supposedly richer than the King of Sweden?? Way to get rich, and way to be family oriented!

While EF's owner is the third richest person in Sweden and apparently a billionaire, EF's salaries are absolutely ridiculous. Why do you think EF hardly has any minority employees?! Because most of them have to pay off college debts etc and can't afford to work for a fun company that doesn't provide enough money to survive in Boston... So if EF really wants to make a difference (other than in their owner's pocket), they should raise their employees' salaries!

I've worked at EF for a few years now and I really enjoy the parties. I've never thrown up at one or gotten kicked out and I was one of those "post college grads" that EF hires and "exploits with cheap labor". I think that if you are unhappy with having worked at EF because of being overworked and underpaid then you weren't a good fit for the company anyway and probably didn't work hard, but spread your poison around. EF certainly doesn't push hook ups at parties, but neither does any other company that it happens at. I think that this story is blowing things out of proportion and Erin Bennion actually isn't Martha's assistant. Check your facts.

As an ex-EFer, this story really does not do that place justice. I fully agree with the person who commented that sex & alcohol are cheap motivators and the company exploits it to the fullest! Although, I must point out that not everyone who works there, gets there willingly. For many, it's their 1st post-college job. I'm glad I left as early as I did! Horrible unprofessional environment. I wouldn't send my kids on any of their tours... esp knowing how the treat their employees!

work hard, play hard. Get caught with your pants down- priceless. Rolling a cart stocked to the brim with beer around the sales floor and serving it to employees during work hours is what I call using alcohol to fuel cheap labor. Celebrating is expected, but some of the company's policies and tactics are questionable- even for 23 year olds!

Okay, to the person who stated that EF has great benefits - I suppose, if you were fortunate enough to get hired full-time, then maybe they gave you good benefits, but a significant number of staff are hired on an-hourly basis for a meager $10/hr with no benefits and have to endure horrible treatment by their supervisors and customers on the phone! I had my supervisor in not-so-many words tell me that they couldn't hire me full-time because they didn't want to contribute to my benefits! I left a few months after!...So, that's the big picture... but as I said, if you were one of the full-time staff, then you did get health insurance and periodic travel abroad...

To the inbred who has the audacity to imply that someone did not work hard:- Don't you dare accuse anyone of not working hard enough. If you are so blind that you cannot see how that company exploits staff, then you probably belong with the multitude of morons that work there (exluding the enlightened ones who see the mediocrity that exists and leave as soon as they can). They call themselves EF Education, but place no value on education. They've disqualified applicants because they had excellent credentials and I know this first hand, since that's what I was told!

As an ex-EF'er, I can honestly say that if you didn't agree with all the partying, there was no future advancement! Miss one of these raucous events and you go on the black list. I also was part of the hiring process and saw excellent candidates disqualified for not seeming 'cool' enough or the partying type. Upper management was also very careful to promote only those that would follow as lemmings and ask few questions.

Drama Kings/Queens... this is getting quite out of hand. I worked at EF for two years and found EF to be a great company. They do offer enter level pay but other benefits are fantastic: vacation, travel ( I was sent to London and Parris shortly after I was hired), company parties... It seems to me that some of the people that are making theses negative comments about EF may be projecting their current unhappiness with life… I would bet that they are unhappy in their current jobs as well….

All the proof is in EF's turnover.

I don't understand all the bitterness going on here. So pathetic that people are carrying this anger toward a company where they were obviously not a good fit. These are all college grads and know exactly what pay is being offered when they sign on. I’m sure for many, as it was for me, the idea that you’ll be working alongside peers of a similar age who are passionate about travel is appealing and outweighs the negatives. It's not like it's smoke and mirrors and then you're stuck. Get real. I worked at EF and learned a lot, traveled a lot and met some wonderful people who are still great friends after 5 years since my departure. And, actually, if you hit your goals, your bonus structure isn’t all that bad and livable, even in Boston. Yes, I definitely had many fun/crazy times, often involving drinking while I worked there but it was nothing that was ever forced on me by any means. And the tours are great...I've recommended EF to friends of mine who are teachers and will continue to do

" unhappy in our current jobs"? You have to be kidding! I work for a Fortune 100 company now, get paid triple- to do half the work I did at EF. Leaving EF was the best career move I made! The parties, 'Happy Hours' and other events got old fast and were not motivational. That's where management really misses the boat- thinking they can fit cookie cutter college kids into an unregulated work environment with abnormally low pay.

You must all be drunk right now.

Regardless of what current employees think and what "bitter" and "unhappy" ex-employees think, the existence of this article and these comments perhaps hint at a need for change. Maybe it's time to grow up.

Dont you think it is not a coincidence that the article has gotten so many responses and many of whoch have nothing good to say.Yes you get free travel but once every year and a half and maybe if you got paid more then you can travel on you own instead of having to follow around kids. Bottom line is that Efers work too hard, don't get paid enough,are expected to come in on weekends, aren't recognized and oh lets not mention our emergency beeper service (its part of the job description)

Give me a break... you were a TC not a rocket scientist... when I was hired by EF I wasn't promised a lavish salary. I knew what I was getting into. It was a good FIRST job. It was a job that I felt good about since I had lived abroad and I felt like it would be cool to promote international travel to middle-school high school students. Congrats to the person who landed a job with a fortune 100 company... sounds like you are still an idiot though! What do you expect from a first job out of college? If money was your main motivator perhaps you should have sought a different degree other than a liberal arts major.. or was it marketing… then again you mostly likely weren’t smart enough or didn’t have the fortitude to hack it. People that read this article and the colorful comments that follow should also realize that many of the employees at EF are spoiled-wannabe ivy league east coast brats that feel like the world owes them something.

Both sides of this argument are totally true. I worked at EF while in my 20s, and I had a fantastic time. I went to wild company parties, I had sex with a variety of beautiful, interesting women. On top of all the drinking, I even did some serious drugs with a couple vice-presidents there! But, in the end the lack of money and no possibility of advancement due to being a heterosexual American Male led me to leave. Now I've doubled my salary, have great benefits and can afford my own house, even in the inflated Massachusetts real estate market. It's a great place to work, but you are Native Labor for the European plantation owners, and you better not step out of line.

EF is epic. That's all you can say about it. Great company. They provide quality services at reasonable prices and their employees are nothing short of excellent. EPIC EPIC EPIC. bye now.

This does not surprise me one bit. EF was the worst run company I have ever worked at and the ridiculous childish activities that go on there are testiment to the incompetent Swedish idiots that run this shanty of an establishment. Grow up!

I worked at EF for 2 months, but had to quit due to all the effin' Jager bombs. I was drenched in SOCO & Lime cologne the whole time I worked there.

EF is not a company, it's a cult. It's part of some Swedish conspiracy to undermine our country through low-paying party jobs and IKEA furniture. Gotta be European to even think about management possibilities. Puking in your trash can on Friday mornings, hooking up in the 'nursing room', walk of shame to the garage on Saturday mornings after a big Friday night...how I'll miss it! To add to the mystique, my favorite moment while employed there was the girl on girl sexual harassment claim--gossip for weeks! I busted my butt for my $27k in the wake of 9/11--try selling a tour to Paris after that!--and unfortunately the Swedes only tried to keep me down. The best part is the faux-responsibility perpetrated by middle management. One Monday I got a stern talking to after making an 'unprofessional' comment related to sex, then on Friday I was expected to go on a 'team outing' after work to the drag queen show at Jacques! It's hard to mix business with pleasure, but they sure give it t

The only thing better than the girl on girl harassment suit was the actual girl on girl action at an off site 'Sales Goal' party in NYC.

EF is a ridiculous place to work. The parties are out of control, the management has no idea how to run a company, and the only way to get ahead is to shmooze (drink, sleep with, etc..) upper management. And the money is so low... so low and the "bonuses" they promise you are just flat out lies. So many people quit from my floor they had to go and hire temps. Oh don't forget the time one x-employee tried to sell the CCAP database to our competitors because she was so bitter... too bad she got charged w/ a felony! It's insanity, don't get their au pairs, don't go on their trips..and for God's sake DO NOT WORK THERE!!!

EF should open a midwifery school for men

Wow. Look how we can all act like children. Throwing insults back and forth like it is the true matter that makes up the world. Point blank, none of us can look in the mirror and say we are perfect. Some of us prefer one lifestyle over another. And most importantly, every single situation that ever takes place anywhere in the world can be interpreted in a thousand different ways. What one person may consider "slave-labor" and cheap incentives for employees, someone else may appreciate and accept. For those of you who no longer work at EF, I am sure there were bad experiences - this happens everywhere in life, but is this really the best way to vent anger? Might all of our energies be better placed on the more important issues facing society? International awareness, eradication of war, aid to 3rd world countries? I am not a 100% do-gooder, but I am quite embarassed for many of you and the comments you have listed here. Anger is a very messy friend.

These postings are SO childish!

Mime school

I'm not angry. Like I said earlier, I had a great time at EF. Free thinking women and plenty of liquid courage to go around. It was a great and terrible place to work. But with the availability of hindsight, I can see now that I shortchanged my personal and professional development by staying at EF well past the expiration date. I deluded myself into thinking for a long time that I would be recognized for my hard work and eventually break through to a position of responsibility. So, I left in search of greener pastures and now I have that position and much more money in the bank. I have virtually the same benefits and I still travel the world. Don't fool yourself. You can have the fun social atmosphere of EF, and you can get paid to work there in more than sex and liquor.

Can we talk about the summer at EF? I wish I could leave my job for a month every summer and spend it at EF. The young ladies really push the envelope on acceptable business attire. And I'm all for it. If you are in inside sales, why shouldn't you be able to wear a strapless top, tight capri pants, and strappy heels? Cleavage? Totally acceptable, the more the better, pasties if possible. The icing on the summertime EF cake is when they bring busloads of Northeastern (Univ)students to work their co-ops. This practically doubles the number of incredibly attractive, young, innappropriately dressed women who work there. Come to think of it, those Northeastern kids probably make more than the regular employees! The old Swedish execs love to kick back and hoist a few with the college chicks while their wives back home slave over salmon and capers.

WOW. As an EF employee who started at the bottom of the ranks and has since moved up to upper management without sleeping with anyone or feeling the need to get smashed at our parties I thought I would add my two cents. For the first year and a half of my employment at EF I did not ever step foot into our after work hours bar. I also have never dated or slept with anyone at EF, yet I was still able to grow within this company. EF has given me many opportunities over the past 6 yrs, I have learned many leadership skills, managed different teams, met interesting people, networked with upper level mgrs, and of course I have seen the world. I also look forward to our holiday party every year, where I hold myself accountable for my holiday actions, not EF. Any employee at any job should hold themselves to the same standards, if they are at any work function they should be mindful of how much they are drinking and how they are acting. At the end of the night, you are the adult. No manager h

As a current EF-er, these comments are as ridiculous as they are expected; work sanctioned or not, does behavior like this from this age bracket surprise anyone? I agree completely with the poster above when he/she said that people need to take responsibility for their own actions -- if there's anything worse than behavior like this (which you all seem to agree with) it's the vicious spreading of rumors and stories and being the laughing-stock of your entire work place (let alone entire building)... but *of course* there's not enough foresight in annonymous posting to see your way out of a paperbag! Give me a break, internet. It sounds like you're having more fun with EF talking about us than even we're having -- and we're the ones living it!

Sure, many EF-ers may enjoy celebrating after much of the hard work that is put into each season, but I beg you to find any person in any company who does not. Certainly EF did not coin the term "weekend-warrior" and did not write the song "everybody's working for the weekend"; so then why does the author of this article feel the need to single EF out? Has Bos Mag stooped to the lows and trash jounalism techniques characteristic of Perez Hilton and Star Mag (if one could call that jounalism)? Clearly some people are uninformed. Clearly some people are bitter. Some people may be poorly paid, but for those that are, perhaps pay is not a motivator in happieness. Could it be possible that people find fufillment in providing others with the opportunity to explore world cultures at a fraction of the cost and of better quality than its competitors? The igonorance and borderline racist comments left here are the very individuals that need companies like EF to show them that there are alternati

I make tons of dough at the Cheesecake Factory and I meet tons of boys! I love my job. yet, I am so glad that i got to meet the love of my life (for five minutes) there and that we had some cuddly bus rides up to Somerville. It was all worth it!

My girlfriend worked there and she went to the party two years ago you guys had. She left looking radiant, "all puce and pearls" like my alcoholic grandmother used to say. This was like at 7PM. 45 minutes later as I'm 5 scenes into a Bo Derek flick and BAM!! Gozer the Gozerian comes through the front door. I've never seen a look like that in a human's eyes. I'm like "How were the festi-" and she scissor-kicks me in the face. My girlfriend never played soccer! We still don't know what happened that night. No one does. But it wasn't all bad. I've not had a night of ED since.

If you don't like EF: the company, the culture, the parties, the salaries or the benefits. . . don't work here! We don't want you! So, you think that "management" doesn't have a clue and that you have no outlet for your opinions, well then, don't work here. . .find a better place. To those of you who have moved on to a cubicle somewhere in Dilbert-land, congratulations! I applaud you! Good for you! Where does all your bitterness come from, though? I guess it comes from the fact that at some point you had to face the reality that you failed at EF where many other young American professionals have succeeded and built extremely successful careers. The hard truth is that you weren't one of one's who got promoted and moved up through the ranks on their own accomplishments and professionalism. That must hurt! I get it. So go ahead, lash out. You are clearly a victim of this evil Swedish empire! This must be the forum you have been waiting for. . . the Boston Magazine artilce gives you the o

This doesn't surprise me, considering all the stories my best friend relayed to me, while employed there! She was miserable. And got the HELL out of there while the getting was good. The place seems cult-like, and despite whatever strong work ethic you may have.. you're unceremoniously dismissed if you don't partake in all the drunken, orgiastic-lite shenanigans. Don't get me started on how they expected my friend to donate her OFF days to their social events and BBQs. The place sucks and only people wanting to relive their drunken college days, would deny and defend. Either that or all the managers are posting the Pro-EF comments. It is not conducive to a professional work environment... period. Say what you want, just because someone has decided to tell the TRUTH about what went on and what GOES doesn't mean they're bitter, or have failed at their jobs. I wouldn't want to spend money on their services.

Katie Smells!

Katie Smells

I'm a former EFer-10th floor to be specific-anyway when I forwarded this to my dad tonight he replied with "you are young once, and if you get paid to have fun, all the better". Although everything that has been written is absolutely true, I think my wise father has a point. And, thank you to the higher ups for a solid effort to diffuse the truth that has been so candidly displayed through these postings.

This one time, at an EF function, I was in the bathroom and there were strippers in there doing lines of cocaine off of the urinals and this other time, I saw a Sweede selling secrets to Communists right behind the Berlin Wall. This other time, I heard one of the managers talking about how secret company policy listed Education as Second and not first but listed Christmas parties as First.

Say what you will about EF, personally I'd give 9 of my fingers to french kiss Louise

How about we ask the Nantucket police how they felt about our little get away there? I'm sure they loved showing up at a hotel in the middle of the night only to find a current VP causing a lot of the ruckus. Say what you will, EF definitely crosses the line at times.

I realize I'm being hypocritical by posting here but are we all seriously spending so much time arguing about EF? Check around. "That guy/girl" is at every company and company party and is often in upper management. And you have to pay your dues at any company. Why do people think that your company owes you any more than a paycheck? If you used to work at EF and have moved onto something better, good for you. Why is is that so many ex EFers find it necessary to badmouth the company? Move on! Hopefully you had some good times, learned something, maybe even traveled some, met some amazing people, and are in what you consider to be a better place because of it.

I'm completely straight edge (meaning no drugs, no alcohol, no meat, etc...) and have never once felt dismissed or under-valued for not participating in the antics described in the comments following this article. In fact, I'm pretty sure this was also discussed in one of my interviews when the idea of the EF core value "work hard, play hard" came up (a value I wholeheartedly agree with!) and is part of why I was hired. Thing is, EF isn't defined by how they play hard because no one would ever dare define "play" for you -- just being passionate about the things you care about enough so to be able to balance out your time is enough to be able to hang with the most rowdy of them, because at the end of the day real recognizes real.

I used to run a newspaper kiosk in the lobby of EF. Yes, there were a lot of scratch ticket junkies and I could never stock enough Zima and Mad Magazines, but I can vouch that the people there are great. I remember once that they had the company reenact the Battle of Market Garden in the park they have out there. With all the people from all the different nations in that building, it was quite a show! Most at EF were born in Poland, so they just moved them to the sidelines next to the chain-smoking Swiss, but after that, people got into it. The Charles made for a good Rhine and women were pistol whipping the crap out of the three guys that work there. Made me think, "Life is funny" and "Imagine if the Germans won?" Scary sh*t.

I left EF because my manager looked EXACTLY like Max Headroom.

My orientation at EF consisted of watching "Max Max Beyond Thunderdome" and a learning forest fire jokes. How do those skills help me in life? I did hook up with a girl from Chad while I was there, so it's a wash I guess.

I feathered my hair and had my teeth capped just to interview there. Things went well until I asked about health insurance. The person interviewing me started vicing her temples and swearing to herself. Then she shoved her chair back from her desk and left the room. A full fifteen minutes later she came in and threw a trashbag full of drywall on the desk and said "There's your goddam benefit package." I laughed, she didn't, and I now work at Build-A-Bear.

The EF Pipe Fitters Union had an offsite at the Museum of Science (cheap bastards). They were like, "Yeah, go ahead, walk around with fountain drinks, its all good whatever dude." What happened? That's right: a friggin guy got zapped by those huge testicles they have in that dome there. HIs name was like Don, or Jon or something. Something "-on." WHATEVER! Moral of story is it could have been prevented.

BURN BABY BURN

Woooahhhh, Woaahhhh Woooooahhhhh. How come no one has talked about how the Head Honchos tell pathetic motivational speeches about how they once ran a 2K quickly followed by them eating a Gonormous 12 LB bag of Candy en route to the Girl Bite Girl show in NYC??? I mean can we talk about his????

"at the end of the day real recognizes real" Wow. Real recognizes Real. That is deep. Man, you just totally blew my mind. This must be what it felt like for Neo when he woke up from The Matrix. Dude, thank you for that insite. Word. Real Recognizes Real.

Boston is a party town, filled with kids - whether they are in college or just out of college. I worked at EF, and while it is clear that they are not a company for older workers, it is a good place to start. So you don't make a lot - guess what ? Not everyone out of college gets a $100k/year job. So, suck it up, work your butt off, and have some fun in the process. They reward you with booze. Ok, so we wanted cash instead. At least they gave ya something. What I got out of it is great friends. Fun memories. We all laugh at how everyone was hot for Martha. Mistakes were made, but all was forgiven at the bar after work. Cheap booze, loose morals, HOT girls - what's the problem ?

Directly following the sixth floor kitchen WET T-SHIRT CONTEST at 12:00. There will be girl on girl at 1:30 on floor 10. Please no more volunteers as the list we have should take us into the evening. Managment

Disclosure: I'm an ex-EF employee. EF is fun. They celebrate work hard/play hard, but as the person above mentioned, they let you define "play hard" as you wish. For many 22-25 year olds, that involves boozing and/or sexing. I think it is indicative of our culture as a whole instead of EF's policies. This seems to be construed as negative by these comments, but I disagree. It's not the company's responsibility to police people and EF adopts the exact opposite approach. I enjoyed my few years at EF whole-heartedly. I left because it was time for something different, but look back on the EF days with nothing but good will at the opportunities for professional development, growth, friendship, and fun that I experienced. I went on an EF tour in high school and traveled extensively during my time with EF and it was all done expertly. If you are a teacher that is considering taking kids on an international tour, EF is still a great company to do so with. Don't let the negat

200 words my butt. I counted.Anyway, don't let the negativity of some bitter ex-employees that limited their own careers there sway the decision.

No, don't let the bitterness of ex-employees on this forum inform your decision of EF's policies. Just think about why some of you [Group Leaders] have 4-5 TCs in one year. That's not normal - and it's generally not because we're young and love to travel like we tell you. There is a problem, and EF needs to work on it. Yes, it's ridiculous that some people are extremely bitter, but it's just as absurd that some of you so staunchly support it. I hope EF takes this article seriously and makes some changes... of course, that's something they're kind of awful at re: company culture and employee satisfaction. Fortunately, they're very good about it with the actual product.

I once saw two male EF employees do a tandom aqua massage after an EF Happy Hour... when they emerged they both had fake mustaches on and on top of everything....the poor kid working at Sbarro fainted

If you can make money and still party like you're a frat boy on a mission, I say good for you. That's $27K more than you made in college. And last I checked, our economy sucks, so just the fact that you have a job should be something to appreciate. Worst case scenario, train your body to live on beer. Like me!

I went on an EF tour to Southeast Asia in 1998. One of the night events was attending a Luther Vandross concert in Seoul, South Korea. I was being playful after the concert and got lost on the subway. After five days of wandering alleyways, I had worn the soles off my shoes and become addicted to opium. With no passport or money to get home, I went to the American Embassy and told them I had information on the Jon Benet Ramsey case. I was promptly delivered back to the US via a shipping container filled with Hello Kitty backpacks.

I went on an EF tour to Southeast Asia in 1998. One of the night events was attending a Luther Vandross concert in Seoul, South Korea. I was being playful after the concert and got lost on the subway. After five days of wandering alleyways, I had worn the soles off my shoes and become addicted to opium. With no passport or money to get home, I went to the American Embassy and told them I had information on the Jon Benet Ramsey case. I was promptly delivered back to the US via a shipping container filled with Hello Kitty backpacks.

Couple years back a manager had an offsite at their summer house in Revere. There was a kiddie pool with rum punch in the back yard and clowns and all this other crap everywhere. Everyone was drinking, and apparently I just lost it. The next day people told me I punched a nun and had reenacted Martin Sheen's naked mirror smashing scene from "Apocalypse Now."

I worked there for 5 years, had a good time, earned a basic salary. Most of the things that everyone has posted here from either point-of-view are mostly correct. It was a choice to stay there and not earn much, but I did travel a lot which was tons of fun, drank a lot and hooked up with a bunch of girls. The place was an interesting environment to work in and that's what kept me there. We always said that we liked it mostly because of the people, but much like high school, if you weren't in the "in-crowd" your advancement wasn't going to be a positive one. I met a lot of friends that I still am in contact with which is great! But there are other travel companies who pay a lot better, still get to travel with, BUT, you can invite a significant other to THEIR holiday party along with 500 of your co-workers. By the way, the article forgot to mention that after the party at the Roxy, a guy named Scott was stabbed in the neck, and survived, by a bystander in their car on the street when he

The worst thing possible happened to me at that Roxy party. My dad showed up in sweatpants and an Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirt, eating a cheese danish. He sat on the stage swinging his legs and playing air drums to the songs. Everyone went up to me and goes: "Your Dad is at this holiday party." I was like "What!" People said "Yeah. And he's wigging out on stage." I'm all crying and go to find my dad. He was as drunk as anyone there! I said: "What the hell are you doing here?" He says "Ripping drum solos." We lived in Watertown, so I was like: "take me home now!" and my dad goes "I walked here."

All of the dishware in the cafeteria have swastikas engraved under them in the bottom right corner, a la "American Beauty." Really strange stuff. Those are the Swedish for you, I guess. Explains the operation Market Garden re-enactment...that's the only battle the Germans ever won post-Normandy.

I have absolutely no affiliation with EF, but would like to thank all of you who have exposed the awful, unprofessional behavior of some of your management and employees. I'm also never sending my kids on these tours. I think your management should think about the negative publicity you are giving yourselves and make some changes to your company policies.

I am an EF employee of over 2 years. I have loved my time here and do not plan on leaving. That being said, How can anyone possibly think that the negative comments of a few disgruntled former employees has anything to do with the product that we offer or the good work that EF does in the community. None of them seem to mention the great charity work that EF does within the Boston Area. They don't mention that EF is the #1 corporate provider to the Greater Boston Food Bank. Nor do they mention that we were given the FDR Award by the March of Dimes. (look it up) A Christmas party is a Christmas party. It doesn't determine the good that our company does!

I work at EF and take my job very seriously. I guess you could say that I "work hard". I have been to the holiday parties, have had fun, but I have a wife and child waiting for me at home, so I don't "play hard". I have never been blacklisted for this. But you want to know something? I just had my yearly evaluation. My director told me how much EF values my productivity and commitment to the company. He wanted to compensate me accordingly. I am three years out of college, but I was not compensated with beer, but rather a VERY generous raise. So for all of you sour grapes who feel the need to attack EF policies, did you ever consider that your output during your time here was unsatisfactory? EF is a very professional company, which I am proud to represent...and I did NOT have to sleep with anyone to get where I am today!

I also have no affiliation with EF, but I work for a Mortgage company that always has an open bar at the quarterly updates and Christmas parties and yes people get drunk and yes people say or do things they regret the next day. At the last “family” picnic a supervisor showed up drunk and was arrested and handcuffed in front of everyone for public intoxication and refusing arrest. Is this acceptable? No at least not in my opinion, but people these things happen at companies everywhere, you just don’t hear about it. Unfortunately for EF this author aired their dirty laundry for everyone to see in this article. (Side note is it just me or is this article come across as slanted and almost tabloid like?). I understand some people may choose not to buy “products or services” from a particular company because a company violates a social, religious or a certain human rights conviction. But I really don’t understand the comments from people who say they will never travel with EF… why? Be

don’t understand the comments from people who say they will never travel with EF… why? Because they have wild Christmas parties. Its like saying, I am not going to buy a BMW because the Germans get wasted during October Fest, or in my case I won’t get my home loan through company “x” because they party every quarter and especially hard at Christmas. Unless the people are getting trashed while they are working and endangering the kids or customers on these trips, I don’t think it should have any real bearing on whether or not you use this companies products. But that is just my opinion…

Martha wants you all to meet a lingo for shots....and to tell you what a great cult; I mean company EF is.

I just wrote the comment about getting a raise, not beer, for working hard. I want to add this: the HR dept of EF contributed information to Amy Derjue, the writer of this "article". Amy chose not to include EF's contributions, and instead wrote a sensationalized piece that bashes EF. Most of it is embellished, a hyperbole of the truth. That EF encourages cheating on spouses? are you serious? EF has a liberal policy towards inter-office relationships, they do not encourage promiscuity. Most people seem to be able to handle themselves at these parties. The ones that can't are probably the same ones who are trashing the company now. Get real. If you are professional, you will be treated like one.

Just because we like and defend our place of work, does not mean that we have to be a "manager".

why don't you go apply for a job at FOX news...fair and balanced, just like your trashy piece. I've sent my kids on trips many times, and had Au Pairs as well. Not once have I questioned their professionalism. I don't know what your goal was for this piece, but it certainly won't sway me. I know that EF cares about their public perception, which is very positive. Your glimpse into what they do at holiday parties is irrelevant and unnecessary.

After three months of employment, they take people (man or woman) into a men's bathroom on the 8th floor and have them stare at a Rothko print over a urinal for a half hour. If the person comes away with anything witty to say about art or life, they fire them on the spot.

My grandmother died, and my manager, who always feigned sentiments about everything, showed up at her wake wearing a leather 8-ball jacket

Jeesh! My manager was nearly as bad. I don't think he took anything seriously. He had a plastic banana thing welded to his phone receiver that said "Wrong Orifice" on it and he would wear one of those piano keys cummerbunds to staff meetings. I went in once to talk to him about all the asbestos blowing into my hair from the air vents, and he goes "Oh! We all thought you had head lice!" So as I go on about it, he was just nodding and playing with his mouse (a replica Tony Stewart race car) and looking at something on his monitor that I couldn't see. After a while I was like "Excuse me what are you looking at?" He turned the monitor towards me. It was a director's-cut orgy scene from "Caligula." I (had just eaten almonds and) gagged. I looked at him and he just started popping and locking.

I would pay a large number of Global Points to see how this article and the above string is handled by Martha and team tomorrow. Would somebody please, please, please post the email that will go out about it tomorrow. Or better yet, videotape one or more of the team meetings that will take place to discuss EF Culture and what a wonderful place it is to work.

post it on You Tube!

All the employees at EF are actually in their mid 40's. The Cafe downstairs fortifies all products with severe growth inhibiting hormones to keep everyone looking and acting college aged. They also have a company abortion station in the basement that is open after every Christmas Party. Damn Democrats.

Every Monday, EF rounds up 10 on-staff virgins and sacrifices them in an enormous company wide blood orgy just to set an example: "Holding out will not be accepted. Now lets get out there and get the job done!"

I worked for EF and I have nothing positive to say about the company. It insults college grads with a horrible work environment. The pay is even worse!!!

This article is truly outstanding, but there's a balance of good and bad here at EF. Here's the bad.. the fraternity atmosphere is appalling, if you aren't with the "it" crowd, you have less chances for advancement due to lack of "presence". (and every EF employee shudders when a manager mentions their prescence). second the pay is awful and lastly after being an RSM there isn't much else to look forward to. The good however is the fraternity like arena will allow you to meet amazing friends, the vacation time and travel opportunities are amazing, and lastly i believe in the product. So take from it what you will and move on, it's a good stepping stone company, but unless you're on the ins, you generally move on to bigger and better.

EF is a horrible company. I worked there for a year and a half. When I heard from group leaders that past trips went poorly, my supervisors told me to ignore them because "if 8 out of 10 trips go alright, we make money." This policy of 80 percent satisfaction pervades the entire management. They sell recent grads on the idea of promoting education but really they are money hungry slimebags. When the war in Iraq broke out in April 03, they told the customer service representatives that when a high school kid called to cancel his or her trip that the customer service rep should try and make them feel bad about it to pressure them into letting us keep their money. When the Madrid bombing happened, EF was slow to refund money for students that wanted to cancel their trips to Europe, and when they finally did "refund" the money, it was in the form of a voucher for 75 percent of their money which could only be used on a future trip.

...why doesn't one of you draft a letter asking for higher base salaries? Then the people who agree sign it and it goes to management. Merely an olive branch, nothing antagonistic. You won't get fired for it, charlie. There are legitimate financial concerns relative to living and working in Boston at this calendar date that, if construed skillfully, could sway your employer towards making a greater investment in its workforce. It might even be in their best interests.

In addition, EF continually promises recent college grads exciting business opportunities but then squanders every opportunity for inspiration and stunts their professional development. One employee who was a leader in the department for over two years told her boss that she needed more challenges and he said she can continue the status quo or "get out there and find another job...but with the economy as it is, good luck finding another job." The boss finally apologized after bringing the employee to tears.

EF - listen up: You can throw a party and get your employees drunk occasionally. But after they sober up they will once again find themselves languishing at their desks, disappointed by the reality that their minds are being wasted and unappreciated rather than embraced and developed. I am a busy person, but never too busy to spread the word about EF.

EF - listen up: You can throw a party and get your employees drunk occasionally. But after they sober up they will once again find themselves languishing at their desks, disappointed by the reality that their minds are being wasted and unappreciated rather than embraced and developed. I am a busy person, but never too busy to spread the word about EF.

I WORK at EF currently, and i have nothing good to say. I'm counting down the minutes until something better comes along. Now if only I didn't work 99 hours a week and had time to interview other places...

... a pathetic article clearly written by a bitter journalist influenced in some ways + unhappy former employees, clearly bitter they didn't make it with the company + some current employees unhappy about their pay (complaining won't get you anywhere by the way, just quit if the company is not for you!) + some current employees who are trying to protect their employer. My thoughts ... if EF has been around for over 30 years excelling at what seems to be a noble cause "education" .. they must be doing stopping right! Amy, disappointing article I must say.

Come on! Why are you so concerned abo what soem Amy girl writes in a magazine. Her job is to write about interesting topics, and by the looks of it, she got everones attention. You should be more concerned about the comments stated by your current and previous staff

My son has worked at EF for two years and the article and more particularly the negative reader comments are right on the mark. These 20 somethings handle enormous accounts for the firm and receive pay on a scale that is commensurate with someone working at menial labor. It was clear to me early on that EF uses its drinkfests as a substitute for giving higher wages. It is a despicable, untrustworthy employer.

You're the drunk dad from the Roxy party! Sly fox. You have no rhythm.

It is unfair to criticize EF's actions during the Iraq War or the Madrid bombings. I was at the company for many years, and I found that their policies are generally the best out there. Also, the satisfaction rate is well over 80%. However, EF does have some pretty crappy internal policies. I worked at EF for YEARS and got many benefits out of it, but it is unfortunate that they have not figured out a way to keep talent. There are barely any TCs with more than 1.5yr+ experience. What's going on? First job out of college or not, it's below average. Yes, it's not rocket science, but those with more experience do tend to be much better at sales. And I can't believe people are denying that the parties get a bit out of control. To the guy at the mortgage company, has the Roxy ever banned YOUR company from ever coming back? Someone in HR once told me that we are charged a higher rate to have our holiday parties anywhere... that's embarrassing.

My comments about Iraq and Madrid may have been unfair. Management had very difficult decisions to make at that time. As you suggest, lets keep focused on the real issue here, which is internal policies and the poor treatment of employees. After all, there are about 50 negative comments from former and current employees posted on this page. And the comments are not just from "those who didn't get promoted" but also from folks who worked there for years and moved up the chain.

I work in NYC. The cost of living here is rediculous. But I'm motivated by the product my company produces, not by the holiday party. When I started working here, right after college mind you, I was making 26k a year. I didn't need to booze it up during the day at work (one of my family members was a former employee of EF and relayed the drinking culture to me) or at a crazy holiday party. My company has a grand holiday party where people are pleasently inebriated, we even do happy hours at local bars, but NOTHING to the caliber of EF. While you'll find boozers at any company, it seems like EF recruits specifically alcoholics, and it doesn't seem to be a branch (perhaps other branches are different? Oh, and blaming it on a Sweedish liberal culture is ridonculous) anyone in their right mind would leave their kids with.

Horrible work enviornment. Low pay. No chance for advancement. Wow looks like you were stupid for taking the job. Blame your own poor decision making not EF. If you were so blind and naive as to what you were getting yourselves into then who is to blame? Also judging from your grammatical and spelling errors you don't appear to be very bright. Move on and let go. Or continue to sulky like whiney bitches- might be all you are good at.

I've only been at EF for a few months now, but have to say that I've been very pleased with my compensation, my coworkers and management – and to be honest, I'm looking forward to this holiday party now more than ever! Just my two cents.

I feel almost bad for EF. I think most people have worked for that entry level job right out of school. But for most, those jobs had little responsibility and little stress....hence little pay. Certainly they weren't the front line of sales for a massive company! But EF is losing good employee after good employee it seems...and who's left but those that "fit in"? Not a pretty picture. And EF never seems to get it through their heads that staff retention is a HUGE deal! If most staff is new and most management doesn't seem to care...well I can't say I feel great about sending my kids overseas with them!

Let's just stop all the nonsense for a moment. If Boston Magazine has nothing better to do then report on a party at EF WE ALL HAVE A PROBLEM. With a war raging in Iraq, a presidential election coming up, not to mention the worst economy in years this is the best work they can produce? America is at war and your all worried about EF? Is this a joke? It must be including the author and the idiots adding comments.

HATERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Good one...so every article written by 'Boston Magazine' should be about the war in Iraq and the Economy? So many god damn liberals and hippies. I'm sure you know alot about the economy and the war too...right? This was just a fun article about how kids get way too drunk at EF parties. No one can argue with that. The debate thats going on in this message board really has nothing to do w/ the article. It just between bitter EF'ers and either dillusion or relatively successful EF'ers.

This message board is really pathetic. If you didn't like EF and quit, move on, if you work there now and don't like it, quit. I find it funny that so many employees continuously complain about the company yet make no efforts to leave-perhaps because they enjoy the benefits, the fun, the great people and the possibility of travel-the same things they later call "exploitation" upon quitting. Working at EF is a choice, everyone that works at EF is an adult and can make their own decisions about how important salary is to them. EF does indeed offer a lower salary than many companies, however every employee has a choice to accept this salary or to decline and find a job elsewhere. It is very immature for an employee to accept a position and it's salary just to work there and complain. Everyone posting on this message board should find a job that works for them, and not worry about what makes everyone else happy.

...don't forget about the employee who got so hammered he got in to the wrong car when he was leaving. the person's car he mistakenly got in to stabbed him in his neck. the doctor's told him he was milimeters away from loosing his life....and don't forget that one of the division's former presidents left and stole company secrects to start up his own travel company......

This run of comments is unbelievable. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, absolutely, but let's put this into perspective. We are all adults, young and old, and we must all take responsibilities for our own actions. Blaming others lacks maturity. So, if I got drunk at an office party and killed someone driving home, could the company be held liable? Most likely. Should a company monitor the drinks served at their parties? Absolutely. Can they realistically control the actions of others? Doubtful. I am certain many of these employees are getting drunk before they even arrive at the party. Some of these comments could be considered slander...so be careful. As to the man who got stabbed, this is seriously tragic. In regards to the President who stole 'secrets,' what a ridiculous comment to make.

I used to work at EF and let me tell you this stuff is absolutely true. I used to get more ass than a toilet seat at that place... If it weren't for the ass I was regularly getting I would have quit earlier. It's horrible pay... but I suppose I got paid in ass and booze. Thanks EF!

Each EF employee gets two drink tickets. EF is not providing an endless supply of alcohol for free.

Some EF hotshot stole my Delorian! It's true, just like every single thing on this comment board. Yikes!

what's ridiculous about the "stolen" secrets? It's absolutely true. Everybody at EF knows it.

Some people have posted well thought criticism, and some have posted honest rebuttals. Then there are the idiots who need to get there facts straight and grow up. Like the ones referring to my incident after the Holiday party at the Roxy where I was stabbed and severely injured. Are you serious that your making light of it? Your summation of the incident is rediculous, I should know, and EF was not to blame for it. Like most adults, I take responsibility for my own actions. With that being said, I too had issues working there, so I left and moved on. You should too.

I just accepted a job with EF in their new office in Denver, but after reading these posts I am worried about my decision. I have already been out of college for a few years, so I am worried that I will not fit in with my coworkers if they are all recent grads.

Don't feel bad for EF. It's a phenomenal set up from a business perspective. There is an incredibly tight profit margin on travel companies and pre-packaged tours in particular. In order for the ownership structure to make any money, they have to squeeze every bit of value out of the money they spend that they can. The owners have made a deliberate decision to hire people solely from an upper middle class background, usually who come from an upper level university (Middlebury, Colby, etc.). They then filter down to the people who have starry eyed expectatins of adding value to the world in a positive manner over making money. Sometimes they hit the jackpot and end up with people who posses their own trust funds enabling them to sacrifice annual earnings in order to pursue their do-good goals.

Then, they use the incredibly effective tool of peer pressure to work these people as hard as they can and pay them as little as they can. These people are highly educated, highly motivated internally and paid very little. Also, they are usually very naive and inexperienced in terms of what their rights are as employees, and the aforementioned peer pressure is used effectively to silence a lot of grumblings. Harvard Business School should do some studies on the EF business structure. It's incredible. If the NHL hired the same people there would be no other sports on television. The NHL would own sports. So don't feel bad for EF, just don't trust them to do the right thing.

Yeah, that's right, I said the NHL, the absolute worst national sport on television today. That's how good EF is at recruiting people and creating an environment that motivates them to work harder than the people who dug the Panama Canal.

LOL I love the comment about 2 drink tickets...I guess YOU weren't part of the "in crowd" because when I worked there it was more than easy to get way over 2 drink tickets at the events. I think it was even encouraged for managers to give out the drink tickets to their teams to make them (the managers) “seem cool.” I think we should start using our EF call names, you know the three letters we went by, or for some of you sorry asses, still go by. I’m too chicken to start it out, though. The nostalgia these comments give me is great. I got SO much ass when I worked there. Now I am married and love my spouse, but boy did I have fun while I worked there. I looked forward to the raunchy comments I would receive from my RSM…oh yeah, I was banging him…was that bad….I didn’t think it was a problem because he wasn’t the only one I was doing at the time...and they both worked at EF. Nothing good or bad to say about EF, just a fun place to work for if you are a slutty drunk...even the vir

sorry, got cut off...even the Virgins ended up putting out. I had 3 virgin friends, or so they claimed, when I worked there and all of them ended up putting out, with friends of mine. I'm so proud!

For those of you trashing the reputation of this company: GET A LIFE! Who cares if they drink and party like there is no tomorrow? So be it! Sorry, no offense, but you are a bunch of hypocrites. This is the way the company does business, period. You don't like it? Don't work there. You work there and feel that way about the company? I don't know how you look your face in the mirror, shame on you. Go someplace else, like "Dunder Mifflin" and have fun.

Awesome, EF has slutty girls too. I worked there about 3 years ago. We had one of those off sites at my manager's house. Basically we all ended up getting wasted and hooking up with each other. Big orgy. I know, it sounds too messed up to be true and a guy's dream (since the girls were going at it too), but it is true. The best part is we had the beeper (cell phone) duty that night. The service for participants and parents to call while on tour. A kid ended up passing away that night. It was sad and I feel really bad about it now. But not at the time when I was getting my di*c sucked my by manager. Don't believe me if you don't want to, but i can provide names on request.

As a former employee I can safely say that not only is EF a HORRIBLE place to work but anyone who actually has or had a social life EVER would rate their holiday parties about -6 on a scale from 1-10. Anyone who thinks these parties are the best or even calls them fun had no social life, and no party judging skills before they sold their souls to the hell that is EF.

I have worked for the company for quite a while and let me tell you, none of this phases any of us...we're just laughing at all of you because we all LOVE to come to work each day and believe in what we're doing...so go on with your lives and find something you love doing...like writing disgruntled reviews all day.

I had a friend who worked there. He barely put in 30 hours a week and hooked up with at least 5 girls from there within 4 months. I wouldnt feel too bad for those employees. I had to laugh when I saw '70 hour weeks' and 'EFers say they love the madness—it’s a relief from their long hours and hard work'

I had to laugh when I saw this article. I had a buddy who worked there and barely put in 30 hours a week. He worked there for five months and hooked up with as many girls. I had to laugh when I saw '70 hour weeks' and 'EFers say they love the madness—it’s a relief from their long hours and hard work.' Hard work. What a joke. The company is a meat market. My buddy used to hook up with girls in the elevator and in the bathroom while he was working. Come on.

I had to laugh when I saw this article. I had a buddy who worked there and barely put in 30 hours a week. He worked there for five months and hooked up with as many girls. I had to laugh when I saw '70 hour weeks' and 'EFers say they love the madness—it’s a relief from their long hours and hard work.' Hard work. What a joke. The company is a meat market. My buddy used to hook up with girls in the elevator and in the bathroom while he was working. Come on.

my favorite is the kid who told an ef customer how great his morning dump was. ef managers thought it was funny. poop humor is so middle school. but whatever, every day i sit on the toilet for about an hour to kill time. i even had a beer in the bathroom once. and to top it off there was a good article to read as well. then a little tetris on the ol' cell phone. try to beat that top score. all the time i was thinking...am i really getting paid for this? its only lunch time and i've already made up 15 contacts.

Please. Come on, you can't really believe you are doing something good for the world. You are robots. The majority of the company is sales and customer service people. What you do is make money for an inner circle of puppeteers who tug on your little invisible strings so that every day you rush to work to lift up a receiver and say "EF Educational Tours, can I please have your I.D. number?" over and over again. If you are a good little robot you will log onto the phones by 9am so you can feel proud when your managers pull the monthly reports about who logged in at 9 and who logged in at 9:02. Actually, you probably don't have to lift the receiver because you wear a head set all day. Cool!

But hey, even though you ask yourself daily, "How did I ever end up in this job?" and then spend each evening jobsearching, at least you are making good money! Like starting out at 27K before tax. That's $519 a week pre-tax. That's laughable. In fact, it's not laughable. You should not accept it. I make that each day now. Literally. I make over five times as much as I did 4 years ago at EF. Call me a liar or call me arrogant if it makes you feel better, but I swear the point is not self-aggrandizement. The point is that once you liberate yourself from EF you will find that there are companies out there that care about you. And I love the comments by the employees that have been there for a while (3 years is ancient at EF) who think that anyone writing negative comments just didn’t “make it” at EF. You should take a look at the average salaries in your market for employees just like you at other companies. Hint: It’s a lot more than you make.

But now I am starting to feel bad. Because even though you are shrugging this off right now as a defense mechanism, I know that the next time you look yourself in the mirror you will recognize that it’s all true. The only thing that could be sadder than that is if you DON’T see any problem with EF. I think I speak on behalf of many of the folks who have made comments to this posting when I say that we write not with the goal of retribution but of empowerment. Wake up. Walk out. You’ll never regret it. Trust us.

For me, those who have the courage to name specific people while remaining anonymous themselves aren’t the most reliable sources. Out of respect for the company and the individuals who work there, I feel obligated to share my opinion. During the two years I worked there, I found that the business was conducted with a high level of professionalism. I admire Martha Doyle and Skip Carpenter and the incredible work that they do. Erin Bennion and I worked together for two years – during my first sales month, she gave me advice and did everything she could to help me reach my goal. There are many others working for the company who are a credit to the organization.

For me, those who have the courage to name specific people while remaining anonymous themselves aren’t the most reliable sources. Out of respect for the company and the individuals who work there, I feel obligated to share my opinion. During the two years I worked there, I found that the business was conducted with a high level of professionalism. I admire Martha Doyle and Skip Carpenter and the incredible work that they do. Erin Bennion and I worked together for two years – during my first sales month, she gave me advice and did everything she could to help me reach my goal. There are many others working for the company who are a credit to the organization. The best thing about EF, this article, and the comments is that we all realize even before 30 the impact we have on people’s lives. One way to do that is to write tangy gossip that sells page views. Another is to make inflammatory (and anonymous) comments on a web page. Personally, I’m proud that I chose to impact

Hey Biggie Smalls, you would give 9 fingers to french kiss Louise? Hmm, let's see: we have Alexander H and also a 14 year old Alexander J. Maybe the Christmas parties aren't so bad after all and you should give it a try.

Personally, I’m proud that I chose to impact the lives of over 4,000 kids during the 2 years I worked at EF as a tour consultant. I know how important their product is from personal experience. An EF tour changed my life when I was in school. Without that company, there is no way I could have afforded such a trip. Without that trip, there was no way I would have the interesting (at least for me) life that I have today.

Some posters would like to hold EF responsible for the fact they had too much to drink or slept with a co-worker. Some would even go as far as blame EF for the fact that they are not happy with their careers or salaries. These are all the results of individual choices, made by adults every day in all companies all over the world. EF, like any company, pays exactly as much as they need to keep people working. The employees, like all employees, negotiate as high a salary as they can. How many of us would honestly pay a Mercedes price for a 1985 Chevy Nova car? I know this personally because I used to have a 1985 Chevy Nova. You will have a long wait if your dreams for success depend on waiting for someone to pay you 5 times the market value for your 1985 Chevy Nova.

This is not to say my work was worthless. Thankfully, people, unlike Chevy Novas, can improve. EF provides a very good environment for growth for those who chose to. I had 3 raises in the 2 years I worked there, and the company supported my decision to attend business school and continue my career in another field. Incidentally, the best sales person on our team (and in my opinion in the company) didn't attend a single party. Her career continued in the way she planned without any mention of a need to party. This is a successful company run by talented, intelligent, and fun people.

Hey Matt, still on saturday shifts? How much did they pay you?

I haven't worked for EF for over 3 years. I do not work on Saturdays, and I am sure that my regular salary is more than yours, but I have enough integrity to remember all of the good skills I gained in EF. By the way, they also supported my education. What about you? By the way, what is your name?

There is a time when so many are with out a name in our society that is just cowardice. If there is an allegation to be made use you name or be marked just another cowardly piece of trash. This is not an allegation it is a statement. EF is a great company When there are many detractors, Implies that EF is doing something right. Please, Boycott that rag of a magazine. The first amendment does protect stupid.

Hey Matt, Just out of sheer curiosity about the opportunities that await EF TC's who choose to move on, what do you do for work now? If my career deadends at EF, I'll still feel like I developed some valuable skills and learned a lot (equal parts what to do and what not to do). It would be good to have an idea about what sort of transitions await. Thanks, Anonymous #317

ef raped my soul... and now it hurts to walk..

EF...the Swedish Concentration Camp...where you work more than the typical 9-5 job and get rewarded with beer. Oh joy, oh joy! Let's all end up with Liver Disease instead of higher pay. That sounds better, right? Talk about the revolving glass door! I worked at EF for just under 2 years and I should have left much sooner, but the real benefit was diving into my graduate studies. What more could I possibly learn after picking up the phone and answering pax questions and taking payments? The work there was absolutely mind-numbing and my managers had nothing going on besides fake smiles and drinking in their free time. Hmm, sound familiar? Also, so much for encouraging cultural diversity and breaking down cultural barriers, because that was definitely not happening from a hiring perspective. The majority of EF employees are spoiled, Caucasian, upper middle class individuals that vacation in either Cape Cod or the Vineyard and that come into work on Monday morning talking about h

and that come into work on Monday morning talking about how much they drunk and who they slept with (usually someone from their own team). Didn't you get enough of that in college? Well, I hate to say it, but EF is definitely not an extension of even college, it is like being back in high school. Get real and get a real job!

Hey, anonymous. It's me, Anonymous. Lay off Matt Lyberg or I'll kick your ass. He makes a good point, people shouldn't drop names in these posts. Real low class maneuver. No matter how bad your job is, or how bad you think it is, bashing real people online is a shady maneuver and will hopefully come back to bite you. I know Lyberg well from my old EF days and we have different opinions about the place, but he's right about toning down the outrage. BTW, Kid makes mad loot downtown now and would tell you to go F yourself in 4 languages if he thought it was worth his time.

so, after being handed this article by roommate, i have to admit i was more than a little intimidated about beginning my journey with EF. that being said, i am super excited to start work tomorrow and think that EF has a lot to offer me! as far as everyone's major concerns about loose morals and the like- be accountable for yourself. no one made that poor kid eat some throw-up at the roxy, well sure someone may have dared him/her to- either way no one shoved it down anyone's throat. and who doesn't like hilarious stories to share?

I worked at EF for over 8 years and always thought it was an oxymoron - EF promotes cutlural exchange and travel, but 99.9% of EF staff are white. When I worked at EF, there were 1,000 employees in the Cambridge office, but only about 2-5 African Americans working there. How can that be when that doesn't represent Boston? Why is everyone at EF white, blond, and blue eyed? This should raise some eyes to the dept of equal opportunity!

I worked for EF for about a year, sort of as a stepping stone to my career. I can tell you though, I got more ass at that place than a typical toilet seat. There are many many drunk hot young ladies, and most are more than willing to take a little ride. I can say I averaged maybe 1.5 girls a week. The pay was total crap, I see people move up and around in the company but pay increases are minimal. I think EF (everybody f**ks) should also state "not a bad place to work, especially if you're in to coked-up sex" Let me be fair for a minute, much of the male portion of the company are homosexuals who really know how to party. Craziest night there - ORGY night at an unnamed managers house with maybe 10 or 12 of us. It was a blast in some ways but I have to say kind of awkward sitting around afterwards - cold, naked, and rolling.

There is a lot of bitterness in this forum, but most of what is written here is true. EF encourages drinking and looks the other way when inappropriate relationships exist between managers and their subordinates. EF is also a company that hires many amazing, creative and dedicated people - many of whom never engage in the kind of behavior described here. I worked for EF for more than 2 years - an eternity in EF time. I wasn't proud of many of my co-workers or their behavior but I was always proud of the product we offered. All of you who are bitter about working long hours for little pay and nothing to show for it but your pictures from tour, and STD and some free beer, need to look at the big picture. When you became a TC you became part of the EF machine - and it ground you up and spit you out. When you started and there were 50 or 100 other people with you at orientation, didn't it occur to you to think about why EF has such high turnover? There is no way that EF could provide adv

There is no way that EF could provide advancement to all of those people if they stayed at the company. EF makes a lot of money by hiring recent grads and paying them nothing to work for a year or two before replacing them with a new crop recent grads. The high turnover is not a consequence of the EF lifestyle - its part of the EF model of doing business. Open your eyes - there are a lot of other companies out there that are guilty of worse. Learn from the experience and move on!

There is no way that EF could provide advancement to all of those people if they stayed at the company. EF makes a lot of money by hiring recent grads and paying them nothing to work for a year or two before replacing them with a new crop recent grads. The high turnover is not a consequence of the EF lifestyle - its part of the EF model of doing business. Open your eyes - there are a lot of other companies out there that are guilty of worse. Learn from the experience and move on!

There is no way that EF could provide advancement to all of those people if they stayed at the company. EF makes a lot of money by hiring recent grads and paying them nothing to work for a year or two before replacing them with a new crop recent grads. The high turnover is not a consequence of the EF lifestyle - its part of the EF model of doing business. Open your eyes - there are a lot of other companies out there that are guilty of worse. Learn from the experience and move on!

I worked for EF a little over a year, and I must admit it was one of the worse experiences of my life. EF heralds "cultural diversity" as one of its main tenets, but there was basically NO ethnic/racial diversity anywhere in the company. You could count the number of non-white people working there on one hand (out of a office of 700!!). How hypocritical can you be. How can you promote cultural diversity in theory, but not embrace it internally. Most of the people who work there are all ivy league wannabes from crap ass schools. I wouldn't even tell my worse enemy to work there. They randomly pick and choose who they want to advance there, and it definitely helps if you are a blond haired, blue eyed white woman. No non-white person in upper management (hell, in management period!) Luckily I have found a much better six figure job in the city, but I will not forget the awful, exploitative experience that was EF.

It's so clear to me now. I've always wondered how the executives at EF could be so ruthless when it came to taking care of the foreign exchange students whose parents pay EF so handsomely to send their high school kids to America for their dream year in America. Now I know why they can cover up the sexual abuse of the kids they sponsor. Now I understand why they can still sleep after threatening these kids with repatriation if they tell anyone about the nasty homes these kids are placed in. They're all in some alcohol, drug, sex induced stupor. An to their low paid workers--how does it feel to aid and abet the abuse of innocent children? Is it worth the 27K?

Might I also add that EF has some of the most low class, trashy people working there who think they have class because they work for an "international" company but are all are moderately educated, ignorant and borderline racist drunks (ironic they are an "educational" company, but could care less about the education component, and more about how much they can exploit out of people. Its about as anti-intellectual as you can get). Heed my advice - don't ever consider working for this company.

What are you saying? Sofia, Alexander and Isabella will not participate in Mommy’s exchange program? No sh*t. Even though I would luuuuv to see L.J. getting a reality check and suffer through those nightmare exchanges.

Do you really think it matters what you say or how you are treated or the poor kids who travel with us? Are you really so naïve? In Dr. Qidi Wu’s schools in China getting tens of thousands of students prepared to be able to get a visa for the US as an exchange student. Guys, you don’t even know, how little it matters what you whine about, while China with over a billion people makes deals with EF. Did I mention, EF is the supplier for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games? Get real, guys.

Do you really think it matters what you say or how you are treated or the poor kids who travel with us? Are you really so naïve? In Dr. Qidi Wu’s schools in China getting tens of thousands of students prepared to be able to get a visa for the US as an exchange student. Guys, you don’t even know, how little it matters what you whine about, while China with over a billion people make deals with EF. Did I mention, EF is the supplier for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games? Get real, guys.

Do you really think it matters what you say or how you are treated or the poor kids who travel with us? Are you really so naïve? In Dr. Qidi Wu’s schools in China getting tens of thousands of students prepared to be able to get a visa for the US as an exchange student. Guys, you don’t even know, how little it matters what you whine about, while China with over a billion people make deals with EF. Did I mention, EF is the supplier for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games? Get real, guys.

I hear the holiday party is tomorrow night! Are all you first timers excited? Where is it this year? Remember to arrange for someone to pick you up in the morning from wherever you are staying. You are expected to be at work and at your desk the next day at 8:55am. Please try to bring a fresh change of clothes. As always, the showers on the fifth floor are available for use.

Party is tonight at 8pm at the Cyclorama in the South End. I remember the last party they helod there was pretty crazy. Don't forget to bring your office Ids as they are required this year for some reason. Hope there aren't any reporters around to see for themselves the debauchery and drunken behaviour that goes on at these parties. Remember all, condoms won't protect you from everything.

Those who are bitter need only be bitter at themselves. Yes I worked at EF for 4 years. Yes I had my good times and bad times. At times I was disgruntled but that happens everywhere. EF is simply a company where people like to party. If you get involved and keep yourself out of trouble, good for you. If you overindulge, that is your business, until gossip rears its ugly head. But never was I shunned for not getting involved if I did not choose to. Drinking and sleeping with people is your business. Are some people underpaid? Yes. Does EF advantage from hiring young people who work hard for less? Yes. Have people witnessed practices that they would deem unsavory? Yes. Do they provide an environment that lets employees let loose? Yes. But if you are going to call it exploitation, you had better be ready to call most of the other businesses in the US to task. Welcome to capitalism baby, get more… spend less. Bottom line… EF provides quality products to most of its clients. At times I ma

(cont.) But guess what? I’m a friggin’ adult. And the fact that I stayed at that point was no ones fault but mine. I could have jumped ship at any time. I was provided with good benefits, great vacation time, and I worked with many people who will remain my friends for life. I chose my own opportunity cost. And so can you. To sit here and make blanket statements about a corporate monster that sucks young innocent people into a drunken, promiscuous, whirlpool of debauchery is simply unfair. There are plenty of genuine hardworking adults who make a decent career, find a spouse, have children, and thrive in that environment who do not deserve that kind of crap. Anyone who is here bellyaching about exploitation, and being duped into drinking and sleeping with people, should be questioning their own convictions and integrity. If you are so easily led by booze and your private parts, I think that you may need some help that EF cannot provide you. Oh any by the way. I am a person of color. Ye

Yeah, we wished that I could have seen more brown people in the hallways with us. But to tell you the truth, I didn’t witness any foul play. There was one time only that I was subject to prejudice, and in that case, I blamed the person and not the environment. To tell you the truth, the prejudice that I was most exposed to was disgruntled workers’ propensity to turn anti-Swedish. If you want to complain about a glass ceiling, fine. But don’t drum up some “Jim Crow” conspiracy because it suits your argument. Times may have changed, but I truly didn’t see a great amount of people of color interviewing in the first place to be shut out. And to the person who felt it was his duty to assume that “minorities” do not work there because they have more student loans to pay back… Please think before you make statements like that. There are a great amount of people of color who choose to work where they want to work and are not purely driven by monetary gain.

People need to take a hardcore look at themselves before they blame a company for their problems. Wake up and take responsibility for you own situation. If this is some form of “sticking it to the man” by warning parents not to let their kids go on tours or convincing people that S.O.’s aren’t invited to parties so their partners can sleep with other people, you deserve a big F.U. And if EF didn’t give it to you while you were there… you can have it from me. As far as I am concerned, this article is a little distasteful and I hope the editors get some crap for it. Kudos to Boston Magazine for taking one step closer to tabloidism. The End.

After reading all the comments and hearing that the EF holiday party is tonight I am dying for some new stories. Come on EF'ers fess up and give us some new dirt. With the storm there should be some good 'experiences' happening.

My spouse worked for EF for a few years, so i saw alot of what was referred to in the article and then some. Hey, we all like to blow off steam so what? the biggest problem i saw was that my spouse's career was affected because he wouldn't "drink the kool-aid" literally and figuratively. I'm not saying that ALL the higher-ups are there because they are better at vomit darts than those below them, but most of the idiots that are promoted there are the ones that have better bar stories than resumes. Just ask those who were introduced to a manager who passed around a photo of himself passed out in a Santa suit with vomit all over himself. I'm sure he'll be on the board of directors or king of sweden soon enough. Cheers idiots!

Another successful party. None of the author's claims were on display. PS. Eddie, your comments are 100% accurate. Thank you.

As a field representative for EF Foundations and seeing kids first hand hurt by the decisions and delays of the decisions of the EF Boston office. It is obvious that this is not a good practice for any company that is responsible for dealing with children. I have had students at doctors this year because of the stress caused by the EF Boston office. I hope that someone steps in and corrects this issue. I know I will be looking for another company to represent next year, as well will the other reps in our area.

EF treats their employees (err, SLAVES) like children. Bribing them with alcohol, food and sometimes even group songs and dances in costumes. Literally. This company should be sued for the work habits they force. Working from 9am to MIDNIGHT for weeks in a row is unhealthy and ILLEGAL. I would never tell ANYONE to work at EF or use their programs. I've been there and I'm glad to see that others feel the way I do.

I too am an ex-EFer. I have to say that I had so much fun working there, learned so much professionally and personally, and have made life-long friends. BUT -- and this is the bottom line (no matter how they brainwash you), the salaries are not competitive. I agree with the gentlemen who commented on EF's generous salary increases. I never received less than a 10% increase while working there. So, I remained complacent and overworked think I was getting my fair share. The trick is EF was my first job out of college and I was not aware of how much other employers paid for my skill set (I work in IT, not sales). When I found out what my peers were making at other companies, I felt duped. I gave EF the opportunity to pay me the money I deserved, but there was no way they could compete an almost $20K difference! Now I work in a office filled with grey cubicles and co-workers that aren't quite all eye-candy, but its nice to be able to actually SAVE money and pay off my debt. Not something m

My first day at EF the manager took me into a room and told me that I would never succeed in sales if I didn't get my teeth bleached, go tanning, wear mascara, and get a decent haircut. I reminded her that I would be doing phone sales, but she didn't seem to hear me. This was my first post-college job and I was desperate to fit in so I took her advice and went down to Pini and got my hair done. I even started to use sunless tanner so I wouldn't be so pale under the harsh 10th floor lighting. Everything was going well until the Xmas party when my sales team decided that our theme would be "slutty" and I had to show up wearing the skimpiest black dress you can imagine. My manager saw the orange streaks all over my body and at my end-of-year review she fired me. It had to be the streaks, because I had hit all of my sales goals.

To "Eddie" who said there arent many people of color interviewing at EF - hmm, maybe could that be because they aren't recruited to work there? Maybe EF ignores these demographics when recruiting people to work at the company? if EF truly valued cultural/ethnic diversity, they would promote themselves and utilize recruitment tactics to find said people. Obviously internal diversity isn't deemed a valuable asset.

Total exploitation-low pay, just look -all the teachers are 23-29 years old.

I taught there for 2 years-low low low pay. Some teachers would say-oh I do it for the kids-well pay me for it--the kids pay a lot. My co-worker moved to Miami and got a job teaching for them there. But he got so sick at the idea of going back to such long hours and low pay he couldn't do it.

I taught there for 2 years-low low low pay. Some teachers would say-oh I do it for the kids-well pay me for it--the kids pay a lot. My co-worker moved to Miami and got a job teaching for them there. But he got so sick at the idea of going back to such long hours and low pay he couldn't do it.

I am an attorney who has been retained by a former employee who has been treated horribly, not to mention unlawfully. If you are a non-managerial employee and think that EF should not be allowed to engage in this type of conduct, I'd appreciate the opportunity to speak with you.

You should just go to any bar with a bunch of 20-30 somethings and hand out fliers. You'll find at least 5 people a night in any bar in Boston with an EF connection.

Hey Boston Magazine! You should do a new article and follow up on this one from last year.

This is the sketchiest company I have ever worked for! They make so many promises to keep you hanging around and they never materialize! All of the managers are completely unqualified and if you aren't in their BFF club you are nothing. All they do all day is micromanage you while they sit on facebook or skype with each other! I went further into debt with the ridiculously low salary I got and I couldn't get out of there fast enough. FUEF!!!