It was a temp job that seemed too good to be true for a university student who was tired of handing out nightclub flyers for pittance in Brighton.
During the holidays, my university friends were making almost three times what I was making spraying perfume in the glamorous salons of Harrods.
The luxury store was just one subway ride away from where my parents live in Zone 6, and I knew I wanted to go there.
What neither of us knew then, more than 15 years ago, was that behind the glitz and glamour of the famous department store lies a world of abuse.
The corruption was clear from the first interview, in a west London townhouse run by an agency that mainly employed young actresses for casual work in the hairdressing salon downstairs.
We were taught that pencil skirts had to be so tight that it was difficult to take big steps, that heels had to be a certain height, and that makeup was a must.
It soon became apparent that these rules, which were strictly enforced, had little to do with creating a sophisticated image for the department store, but rather something far more sinister.
When Mohamed Fayed walked through a store, any woman he deemed not to his liking was asked to leave. I was once threatened for not wearing enough makeup.
I remember getting a strange phone call asking where I was meeting someone after work.
I answered the phone in a confused manner, and it became clear that it was a wrong number, so the caller hung up.
I didn’t know the truth of it, but it was part of a toxic environment where nothing felt as it seemed.
Abuse at Harrods under Mr Fayed was an open secret.
This was a dangerous man who was convinced he had the power to do anything he wanted to vulnerable young women.
Sadly, he was right: lawyers are currently representing 37 of the alleged victims of the late Harrods owner, but I suspect the number is much higher.
I have always been appalled that such egregious abuse could have taken place so openly in such a well-known institution.
“Finally,” an old school friend wrote to me after his abuse story went public. Finally.
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