Pros
Most of the staff was professional, cordial, and clearly intelligent and doing their work. Direct Partners was owned by a larger parent company. There were definite perks such as lunches and dinners were catered for people working on tight deadlines. Contract and freelance people were frequently brought in to help on certain projects where more manpower was needed. Again, nearly everyone on the regular, full-time staff was friendly, professional, and no "weirdness" whatsoever.
Kontras
The agency was in transition and there were several art directors on staff: One female art director was there for several years and she was very difficult to work with. It is not an exaggeration to say that she routinely argued with a junior staff member -- who was always polite when he spoke to her for help or other approval or feedback from her. Their arguments escalated to a point where things were even thrown onto the floor. And, another example is of a female intern working with a senior male art director, wearing very revealing clothes and clearly -- not interacting with him in a professional manner. This was very apparent and the male art director, who was married with family, did not make it obvious to set appropriate professional boundaries. This display of a lack of leadership in a mentoring relationship was disheartening to witness. Direct Partners was one of several companies in a large "warehouse-type" setting where the noise levels from people talking on desk phones in their cubicles were very loud and distracting. And, there was NOT a cordial attitude between staff from different companies that happened to share a floor, for example.