What's the worst job you ever had?

[Joe Fields]

Also, how many jobs have you had?

Me? I'm not tellin, but I AM gellin' like a felon!

Okay, just one. I was a floorhand on a workover oil rig. My job was to keep existing holes clear of parafin that builds up. Thirteen to fifteen hour days, and covered in crude. Looked like Jett Rink, after his well came in.

[Throd]

1. Delivering auto parts in the most crime-ridden shit holes of LA

Fortunately it was a daytime job or I probably would be dead.

[devilgrrl]

2. The one I have now.

:puke:

[Joe Fields]

5. Which is.....?

[devilgrrl]

10. I plead the 5th...

who knows if my employers are lurking on the internets.

[Joe Fields]

11. How 'bout we share a fifth, and I'll coax it out of you?

[devilgrrl]

44. I work for a dot com and it's run by lunatics...

and it's only getting worse.

[Haole Girl]

3. Denny's Hostess (it was beyond bad)

I've had over 23 different jobs in my life. One, busing dishes, for only 2 weeks!

[crim son]

27. You haven't been a hostess until you've been a hostess at

Bob's Big Boy!!! Worst job beyond question but fortunately for me I haven't had many other terrible ones.

[Haole Girl]

29. You got me there!

:patriot:

[RebelOne]

4. I can't remember all the jobs I have had in my lifetime, but

the worst job I have ever had was my first job ever -- wrapping meat in a supermarket. I would have to take the hunk of meat and put in the styrofoam tray, cover it with plastic wrap and then use a hot iron to seal it. Can't tell you how many times I burned my hands. Yeah, and that was a long time ago as my salary was $40 a week.

[datasuspect]

6. fluffer on a porn set

[Joe Fields]

7. A dirty job, to be sure, but someone had to........

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. Pfft. I was Official Fluffer of the RNC convention in NYC in 2004.

Don't cry to me.

[pagerbear]

16. Is that why I couldn't get you on the phone that week?

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. Mmmffmfmfm mmfm fff mfmfmmfmmfm mmmmfffmfmmfmfbb

mmffmfmfmmfmfmbmdmmd mmfmmmgmgmmfmfmfmmffm *choke* yep, that was the reason.

[datasuspect]

21. damn, mister

i think i'm starting to take a shine to you.

i like the cut of your jib

[Rabrrrrrr]

34. Well, you know, all in a day's work.

Ya do what you gotta do.

[Joe Fields]

36. you said a mouthful....

[RedCloud]

51. Did you need a microscope and tweezers?

[idgiehkt]

28. what does a fluffer fluff?

can I ask that?

[Crabby Appleton]

31. gets the actors "ready"

[NNadir]

43. I worked as a Pharmacy Tech for one of the most corrupt pharmacists

in LA.

He was a freak who's business consisted entirely of filling prescriptions for Thorazine to keep old people complacent in Nursing Homes.

I was hungry, literally starving, little to eat, but I quit anyway. Amazingly I got a better job within a few days.

[skygazer]

8. I have no idea how many jobs I've had

I found something to enjoy in every one of them. Just the way I am - I make a game out of whatever I'm doing, challenge myself in some stupid way. It makes the day go by faster.

Probably the worst was packing books in a bindery. Pretty mindless stuff. I'd make up stories in my head, keep myself occupied. It wasn't so bad...

[Chan790]

9. 3 Jobs

Worst one was being an AmeriCorps volunteer sent to specialize in fundraising/development under a megalomaniac Executive Director who didn't really want me there, had me foisted upon him by his superiors at the parent organization (due to his general incompetence in the area of development), and thought he was the world's greatest fundraiser. I had this conversation 15-20 times a month.

Him: Why don't we do this?
Me: Because it's illegal, or at a very minimum, unethical. It's also expressly forbidden by the AFP and it violates the Donor Bill Of Rights. (AFP is Association of Fundraising Professionals. I'm a member, meaning I'm obligated to their guidelines and the Donor B of R.)
Him: I don't think it is. Last year, it netted us $4,500 (said fundraising event could-have/has-since netted over $25,000/year.) I don't care what the AFP says.
Me: Why don't we do this instead, it has had strong results elsewhere and is not ethically ambiguous.
Him: You're fired.
Me: I don't work for you. You can't fire me...still.

He just got elected to chairman of the board of the parent organization (over the objections of the outgoing Director)...because I never called the CT State Ethics Commission like I should have after he falsified data in a report to the Legislative Oversight Office required of a received 3-year grant. It now stands between me and my CFRE. (This is the second-highest certification in the field of fundraising/development.)

[Joe Fields]

23. Wow. Is this common in your line of work?

[Chan790]

32. No...Thank (insert diety of your choice here) .

He was/is truly the exception to the rule. He's the one in a billion jackass the rules were invented to stop.

Unfortunately, he's considered very highly in his field and is the one person in his area of expertise that everybody calls as a resource of first choice. (He's a dictonary of statistics, facts and study data. He truly knows his cause.) That's how he's managed to get away with it for so long and climb ever higher. It's "The emperor has no clothes" syndrome in effect, nobody will call him out because of who he is, but somebody would if they knew they could.

[Broken_Hero]

12. hmmm

digging ditches, and pouring concrete...all by hand, yes, all by effing hand. Made me stronger, and I was in decent shape, but oh my word, what back breaking work. Worst job, digging a hole, 9 foot deep, four foot wide, and 80 ft long, damn...and by hand!

I have had....

1. Bakery Assistant

2. Bag Boy

3. Construction whipping boy

4. Deli clerk

5. Donut Fryer

6. Jewelry Salesman

7. RA(residential advisor at college)

8. Book Moving specialist

9. Mail room

10. Enevelope Stuff for big warehouse(for example, someone wants to promote their new coffee pot, or a politician wants to send out letters, it was our job to do it)

11. Substitute Teacher...

[Joe Fields]

24. Oh, Jeeze, you sound like me.

security guard, fry cook, encyclopedia salesman, door to door pots and pans salesman, janitor for a shopping mall, restaurant manager, laborer for construction crew....

[Broken_Hero]

26. yeah

a bunch of, in my mind, no where jobs...still trying to find a keeper, the best was the Book Moving Specialist, I thought I was going to do that forever, but of course, things don't work out.

[Crabby Appleton]

30. I hear you

I dug footers by hand and poured foundations in the hot Florida sun. I think they consider that one of the jobs Americans won't do now days.

Had about a million other jobs - network engineer, hotel security director, sous chef, restaurant manager, steelworker, teamster, beer can inspector, lifeguard, soldier.

[idgiehkt]

35. I've had a lot of jobs too

fast food/kennel/at least three gas stations/ several cashiering jobs/hostess/ baker/ pastry chef/ produce in grocery store/ a couple more kennels/animal shelter/veterinary assistant/data entry/receptionist/mail room/ lots of assembly line work/loading dock at plants/ receiving and packaging/cake decorator, which wrecked my wrists for good/janitorial stuff/delivery driver/newpaper ad inserter...blah blah blah

[mike_c]

47. I dunno, frozen ground is worse....

Nothing quite like the shock of a digging bar hitting frozen ground, eight hours a day. Concrete work is brutal. I didn't last long.

[Broken_Hero]

40. Forgot to add

Cold Storage job, gutting/cleaning fish, sea urchins...(this job, really sucked, but at least I was cool)

And convience store cashier/stocker...ran the whole convience store, basically...

[Arkansas Granny]

13. OK, I've worked 8 different jobs in my life. The worst one was

vaccinating baby chickens at a hatchery.

[Joe Fields]

25. my father used to be a chicken plucker when he was a kid,

back in the 1930's, and made 10 cents an hour.

[Benfea]

14. Cleaning up after butchers.

The smell after a full day is undescribable. Not only are you surrounded by decaying animal flesh, but you're also cleaning very sharp implements, so if you cut yourself, plan on a nice infection.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

17. I was a morning show "producer" for two of the biggest primadonnas...

In morning radio. Jack and Ron in the Morning on 98.9 KISS FM in Oklahoma City. I wasn't their producer. I was there basically to be their gofer. They were shitty to me. And it didn't help that I had some serious personal problems while I was there. I had really wanted to be in radio. I even have talent, at least that is what a few people told me that I worked with. Now, its all being wasted. Eh, oh, well, what are you going to do?
Duckie

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. I'm thankful to say that the worst job was at Walgreens.

It was dehumanizing, because they suck as a company to work for and not only do they not place any value on their employees, they manage somehow to make their employees feel they don't even have value as human beings.

But, there are far, far, far worse jobs than that, and thankfully, I haven't had any.

[cobalt1999]

20. shucking oysters

No oyster shucker is without scars. Nothing like a dirty, oyster parts dripping knife slipping into your hand once a week to make a nice infection.

[Roon]

22. answering the 1-800 line for the bridgestone/firestone hotline

I lasted until lunch.

[hedgehog]

33. Working as an engineer at a steel mill.

A lot of the people were OK, but a certain number just didn't want a woman around. Add to it the fact that a lot of people had been promoted more because of who they knew than what they knew and you had a real mess. You ever see the commercial where the flunky comes up with an answer, everyone ignores it, then the boss repeats the proposal and everyone praises it? That used to happen to me all the time. Things really went bad when I documented a safety violation and sent it to the Safety Department. After that I kept getting assigned to 2nd and 3rd shifts. During a 10 week strike thirty four other people from my department worked Maintenance jobs while I had the worst job available in the Production Department. Thank God they finally laid me off! My new boss is sending me to look at plants in Switzerland, Germany and England in a month!

[grannylib]

37. Worst I ever had was Federal Archive Aid at the Denver Federal Center

back in the late 70s. Minimum wage, shitty job.
I've had...hmmm, let me think...10 jobs in my life, counting the one I have now.
Waitress, nanny, press operator, youth director, cab driver, CS phone rep, proofreader at a newspaper, and my current job.

[seemunkee]

38. Laying sod

It sucked bad but because I was one of the few people that didn't have a criminal record and spoke English I was put in charge of a crew pretty quickly. I still hated it and jumped at the chance to paint gas stations in downtown DC when it came up.

[pagerbear]

39. I've worked in convenience stores and porn shops

...but the worst job I ever had was office slave in a totally insane office.

[femmocrat]

41. Waitress was the worst.... and hardest job.

I made 23 cents/hour and worked the split shift: breakfast and dinner-close at 1 am. It was absolutly awful. I swore I would never do it again.... and I haven't. But I'm a great tipper!

[RebelOne]

50. Yes, I did the waitress thing for a couple of months.

I helped an ex-boyfriend out when one of his waitresses quit. I know that is not a career I would ever want to choose.

[bridgit]

42. mixing dough on the night shift at a donut shop...

aw, the memories x(

[Robeson]

45. Sucking farts out of used car seats....

...yeah, that one stunk.

[mike_c]

46. undertaker's assistant was bad, pouring cement was worse....

I also worked in sign printing/painting shops for years, up to my elbows in organic solvents, no respirators or skin protection to speak of. Oh, I was the pre-press person for Lyndon Larouche's printer for a while-- that wasn't a bad job at all, just a weird one. Oops, nearly forgot-- I spent about a year spray painting small appliance bodies, mostly toasters, avocado green in 100F+ heat, on the graveyard shift in a factory 30 years ago. That was bad.

[Cobalt-60]

48. telephone tech support

It's the job I have now.
I rate it as the worst because I can not escape.
My employer won't verify employment.
So, in spite of the fact that I have worked since I was 12 (I'm 47),
I have no work history.
the only way out is straight down: minimum wage /no work history.
I think the slavery aspect of this makes it worse than my other candidate, hammering coal tar scale off the inside of process tanks with a 90 pound air hammer.

[izzybeans]

49. Working as summer help for a General Electrics plastics factory.

I did the "gray area" work in a manufacturing plant. Such as unknowingly, but via orders, dump some unidentified powder in an industrial compactor on a fork truck. It clouded up the compacter and caused a reaction that put me off work for a little while. My hands were so swollen I could not grip a soda can. And the rest of my body looked like the toxic avenger. The medical facility on site told me that the reaction was not from the powder which was a neutral according to the "good" doc at the center. Nah. It was because I had swam in a river about a month prior. Yep. I went for a second opinion at the family physician-at a clinic two miles from the factory in a very small town- and got a "what he said" diagnosis.

Other tasks were cleaning up oil spills underneath numerous machines. Shoveling plastic pellets into 1 ton volume boxes for decontamination. Pellets that had fallen into a boiler room from a hole in a production tube that they were too cheap to fix. Rather they paid me to go into this room three days a week and shovel this shit into boxes so they could sell it.

My favorite task was to go to the waste water plant (sewage) into a 90% drained sewage pit and shovel the plastic pellets that had been washed down the floor drains during shift change. Apparently someone bought all the waste pellets from the factory shithole for recycling purposes.

Yeah. That job was my motivation for graduate school. My father still works at that factory and Jack Welch can kiss my ass.

[Chan790]

53. Ugh...

I had one of those during college too. Mine was passivating (washing with a mixture of salts and alkaloids) screws and rivets.

The first day, they told me that the passivating solute was non-toxic and harmless, then handed me a pair of Nomex gloves to wear "just in case". Well...I didn't because they're clunky and well..."If the solute is harmless why do I need them?". Next thing I know I have a bleeding ulcer on my forearm that didn't heal until halfway through fall semester. Worst part...my mother is a big muckedy-muck (next-in-line to a senior VP) at this company and still insists that the solute is safe as bathwater. According to her, I willed myself the chemical burn.

Everybody that works there, except me, is redder than a PNAC convention. I found out later our screws are used exclusively by the US military, on every US (and Israeli) missile, rocket and bomb fired in the past 10 years and within the US nuclear arsenal. I have nothing against our military...but I'm a lifelong pacifist.

Still not the worst job I ever had, if only because it only lasted two months.

[RedCloud]

52. Dental hygienist for sharks

Did that job ever bite!

After that I sold vacuum cleaners, but that job really sucked.

[noonwitch]

54. Waiting tables at IHOP/night shift at a Majik Market.

Both jobs sucked for different reasons.

IHOP-the store was filthy and the food awful. the owners were nice people but the manager was a creep. I was 16 and the manager gave me a uniform that barely covered my crotch, then ogled the girls all day. Pig.

Convenience store jobs suck in general. People are obnoxious, kids are always trying to buy beer, porn and cigarettes, and it's not safe at night all alone.

My favorite non-professional job was working at K-Mart. I got to set up displays, announce Blue Light specials on the PA and the food we served in our cafeteria was better than the crap we served at IHOP.

[One_Life_To_Give]

55. Suckering Tobacco

Thats where you went down the rows on your backside, removing the suckers that grew just above the leaves. Was the worst because the plants still had all of their leaves. As the season progressed it got better as in shade tobacco we started picking 3 leaves at a time from the bottom up. So by the third picking you could walk like a duck down the rows as you picked instead of sliding on your butt.

FYI we were expected to sucker/pick 80 bents/day or about 0.5 miles of sliding on your butt.