What's the worst job you've ever had ?

[MindPilot]

When I was 14, I worked for a company that re-furbished heavy construction equipment. My job was to climb inside the drum of cement trucks and chisel out the hardened concrete. In those days ear protection was a couple of cotton balls.

[jrandom421]

1. Working at one of the first Childrens' hospices in the nation

It was the only job I could get at the time, and I'll never do anything remotely like it again. Lots of kids with cancer, juvenile AIDs, and so on. Kids and their families would come and go and no one asked where anyone went, because we already knew. One week, there was a complete turnover of patients. No one who was there on Monday, was there on Thursday. I quit Friday morning, and got drunk for a month. Even now, so many years later, their names and faces still haunt my dreams.

[MindPilot]

2. Oh man that must've been horrible

Sorry you had to go through that.

And welcome to DU :hi:

[rug]

5. Was that in Bayside, Queens?

[JVS]

16. You win. Your job sucked most.

Sorry to hear about it

[skygazer]

51. I really admire anyone who can do that work

And I'm thankful there are those who can. But I sure couldn't. :scared:

[liberalitch]

3. Meat Cutter/packer.....

At a arab deli..... I loved my employer.... he couldn't help it if it was a shitty job.....
Arranging goat testicles on trays for display and all....
He paid me well and fixed my car for me..... really nice guy..... came to my dad's funeral

[Ally McLesbian]

4. Computer tech, Northrop Grumman

I got fired after one week, and they gave me so much BS before and after firing me.

I was lucky to even be eligible for unemployment insurance.

I strongly suspect racial bias (I'm Asian), as this was during the Wen Ho Lee scandal where we were busy charging an innocent TAIWANESE-American with spying for MAINLAND CHINA.

[leftofthedial]

6. being chronically unemployed

[Ally McLesbian]

9. Me too...

after Northrop-Grumman.

I never worked in computers again. I had to change my name and re-enter the workforce as a San Francisco secretary, but the Financial District Republicans killed my prospects (they WILL work around the city's discrimination laws any way they can). I'm transgender, if that puts things into perspective.

I ended up bankrupt and broken, and had to leave the Bay Area.

[leftofthedial]

14. that's awful

good luck finding a new life

why would they do this?

I've suspected career "sabotage" more than once.

[Ally McLesbian]

15. I'm rebuilding though...

All of the crap I mentioned happened 1999-2001.

Now, I've recovered to the point of driving a luxury car, and I'm on the verge of starting my own business. I may have to watch for another sabotage attempt again, as my business contacts are Korean-American neocons.

[northofdenali]

24. Although we're a RED state, you might want to try here.

Professionals are always needed, and there is surprisingly little gender/race bias in professional fields. A lot of the good old "live and let live" Alaskan attitude is still alive.

Just stay away from the oil companies. They brought all their crap with them.

[Ally McLesbian]

37. Thanks for the offer...

... but I've visited the Anchorage area. I found Alaska too red for my taste.

Even the immigrants (Koreans) are RED. But then, California's Korean community has given us Ashcroft counsel John Yoo, so I guess it evens out.

And too cold for me... That'll be the killer.

Nice to hear relative lack of bias though!

[northofdenali]

42. Anchorage isn't (relatively) cold............

It's rather chilly here in the Interior today. 42 below. Ice fog.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, Fairbanks!!

[graywarrior]

7. Goodwill.

Like being in HELL.

[Rowdyboy]

18. My partner worked for Goodwill for 7 years before I met him....

He despised it.

[graywarrior]

20. I have total respect for him

I worked for them for a total of 6 months. Mr Graywarrior worked for them for 22 miserable months which ends in 3 days. They are thieves of the most dispicable kind.

[raccoon]

39. How so? "They are thieves of the most dispicable kind."

Enlighten us.

[sendero]

8. A tossup..

... between a job making tire patches or a job rebuilding carburetors.

[DS1]

10. I have to ask - how is your hearing now?

Do you hear ringing when you wear earplugs, all the time, none at all?

[MindPilot]

33. Permanent tinnitus and loss of high frequency acuity

Of course the subsequent years in the Navy and spending twenty years fixing cars didn't help either. And then there was those concerts....

[bertha katzenengel]

11. Toys - R - Us during the holidays. Worked until 3 AM on Dec. 25

to restock the shelves - because they opened at 6 AM on Dec. 25.

(I remember being appalled when a co-worker, a young woman, no older than 18, started dancing when "Like A Virgin" came on the over-speakers music. I wasn't appalled by her dancing; I was appalled when she said to me, "listen to this, listen!" and sang, "like a virgin - fucked for the very first time!" She was thrilled with herself. I used to be a worse prude than I am now, and it made me very sad.)

Second worst was delivering telephone books door-to-door.

[B Calm]

12. Iron pourer at a GM foundry..

[LynzM]

13. Phone marketing for AOL...

I lasted 6 weeks on the phones. Then it was either quit or get promoted. I chose plan B.

We'd get transfers from AOL... the people that AOL tech support didn't want to deal with. We couldn't transfer them back, we couldn't help them even if we knew how, they were pissed, their computer was still not fixed, and we had to try to sell them something. That was great :eyes:

That, or the little old people who you felt like you were conning, and the people who didn't speak English well. Those made me feel the shittiest, actually.

Girl that sat next to me got called "a fucking dumb bitch for working for AOL" her first night on the phone. People are amazing.

[Rowdyboy]

17. I was a "juggie" on anoil exploration crew laying 80 lb ropes of cable

in freezing temperatures in north Alabama. The crew was unfriendly and crude, the job miserable and I lasted 4 days.

[RandomKoolzip]

19. Janitor at a supermarket in New Orleans.

My favorite incident was the day when a young boy urinated all over the front door during a busy morning rush and I had to clean it up. No one wanted to sit next to me on the bus after that.

[bigwillq]

21. I cleaned. stocked supplies at a hospital

it was gross. :puke:

[Redstone]

22. Besides the one where people shot at me?

Probably the box factory.

Redstone

[MindPilot]

34. You too? That happened to me at a car dealer once. eom

[cynatnite]

23. My first reserve unit after active duty

They did nothing and I mean absolutely nothing. There was no work at all. We sat around doing nothing.

Transferred out of there as fast as I could.

[LearnedHand]

25. Clothing factory, press line

Factory made men's and women's blazers. Now mind you, I didn't get to press the entire jacket. My job was to press the shoulder seams -- only!

[raccoon]

40. Clothing factory, packing dresses.

Had to stand up all day in the same spot. When I went home, my legs were killing me. And I was a TEENAGER then.

And the management style there was intimidation, as it is most workplaces.

[Gogi]

26. Checking census forms for completeness and legibility...

in 1980, my eyes crossed and it was very difficult to stay awake. I dreamed I was at work every morning just before I got up,that's how much I hated that job. The telephone census workers had it worse, they were regularly cussed out.

[norml]

27. Twas manhole cover foundry worker or meat packing plant cleaner.

Hard to say which was worse, tossing red hot manhole covers around or wading through the blood.

Then again there were the jobs for which I got stiffed on my pay, which was pretty bad.

[DanCa]

28. When I bagged grocieries as a kid.

Honestly if there is one job if your danged if you do and danged if you dont it's a bagger.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

29. The one I have now.

[donheld]

36. The one I have now too.

Sometimes/most times I think this job is psychologically toxic.

[Alexander]

30. Working in a movie theater. HELL ON EARTH.

Yes, it's pretty tame, compared to some of the horror stories I've read here.

But getting paid diddley-squiddley to work in a small theater (as part of a statewide chain, though - re: HARKINS) was not my idea of a good job.

There were the kids who would have popcorn fights in the hall, with nobody around to tell them not to. Of course, I had to go clean it up.

There was the "butter" machine, that had to be turned on every morning, heated up and whatnot. That plus the popcorn agitator made me never want to eat that crap ever again, not that I was terribly fond of it in the first place.

There were the bags of trash I had to take out, dripping with awful mixtures of popcorn, "butter" and soda that made me nearly retch.

There were the "secret" moviegoers - actually paid to check up on the employees, and if they had a button undone, or didn't ask if these people wanted a large drink, they'd mark it down, along with the name, and tell the management about it later. What a life...

There were the incredibly stupid uniforms we had to wear, and a manager of mine once pestered me about my shoes, since they were dark brown and he INSISTED that I wear black ones. I didn't do anything about it, and he never noticed again (who the f%@& would notice that, anyway?).

There were the theaters we had to clean, filled with crap all over the place, even though we made sure to put HUGE trash barrels at all the exits, just to make it easy for people. Not only were they unwilling/unable to throw their trash out, they would frequently sneak in shit from other places, and leave it for us.

There were the damn fool customers.

Since we were understaffed, some were jerks that needed to be served RIGHT THIS INSTANT, when a kids' movie came out and we had lines out the door. One was so ridiculous that my manager even snapped at him.

Some would order something without looking at the price, then balk at the price and leave without paying, wasting the soda or popcorn or whatever that I just got for them.

Even though working the door and taking tickets was my dream job there, some customers would "need to use the bathroom" and spend, oh, about 2 hours in there.

To top it off? The entire time I worked there, maybe ONE good movie came out. When it came time to quit, and they asked me to fill out a termination form "just in case you ever come back", I made sure to deliberately avoid having anything to do with such a form, trying to send them a message that the only way I'd come back is with free movie tickets.

[Puglover]

31. My first job

Dishwasher at a huge resort. I lasted about 2 weeks.

[Crazy Dave]

32. Working for the City

The pay sucked, on average for a skilled position you can make $200 more a week in the private sector, $200 MORE I said, the benefits were not that good but they try to brainwash you into thinking they are, I only pay $14.95 a week for my health insurance now but out of that extra $200 I hardly notice it, you are surrounded by the most bitter and laziest people around who can't function in society or hold a real job making more than minimum wage, they only want to work 4 hours tops out of an 8 hour day, in my opinion, stealing and their so-called pension plan was a farce.
The funniest thing I used to see was the "how dare you ask me to give the tax payers their money's worth of work, screw them", but when they needed city services themselves, it was "stop the whole world and pay attention to me", I used to tell them that the asshole behind the counter or phone where they needed help was probably an asshole just like them who might have just finished his 4 hour quota for the day. :P

[revolutionrock]

35. One time I had to move a porta-john. It was a hot summer day.

[bikebloke]

38. Chicken Incubator

On a kibbutz. We had to use a high pressure hose to clean the hatching trays. They were gunked up with egg yoke and a few dead chooks. Some were alive and we had to dump them in a dumpster first with the shells. I tried letting some free. But as soon as I did, cats as big as lions would leap out from under the building and eat them. So I put a few in the drain pipe over head. And because we started so early, they served us breakfast during the workday. Eggs.

[Maine Mary]

41. God, there are too many contenders

They were all bad in different ways but in this one I had just turned 13. One of our neighbors came over and appealed to my mother for day care help w/her 3 kids. It was only going to be a part time job, she said and would pay $15/week. These folks were poor having moved to Maine with nothing and were working on their house whenever they got money. My mother said I fine. MM will do it.

The boys were 5, 4, and 2 and there was no indoor plumbing in the house or electricity when I showed up that first morning. Not only that, their damed goat had butted me in the rear a couple of times as I ran to their place at 5:35 am. The boys were a nightmare. Fighting, kicking, screaming and picking on the 2 year old. I'd send them outside but then they'd stand on the open well-head and when I tried to stop them the goat would attack me. Meanwhile the 2 year old is inside w/a dirty diaper, wanting a bottle and flies, mosquito's, copper-heads, black flies and bees would all converge on me and the kids. They had no screen doors. They usually had water handy for me but it was to be used sparingly. I cooked and cleaned with that. I wouldn't have bothered cleaning except I had nothing else to do.

They got electricity and a small black and white tv about 4 weeks into my time there. With 'Rabbit Ears' I was able to get CBS and that was it... OH and I forgot to mention; that "part-time" job was and always had been full time and it takes almost an hour 2 and from- so I was I was putting in about 50 hour weeks. She paid me the $15 the first week and $8 the second. She told me that she'd make it up on her next payday. She didn't, but then said she'd pay all of it at the end of the summer. With a 13 year old girl's naivete, I believed her.

One time I got really sick with strep. and had a friend fill in. She couldn't stand it (the boys) and demanded she be paid 9 bucks (a dollar an hour)right then and there and would NOT do it the next day. My parents payed her but were real pissed at me. I don't know if they thought I was faking it or not but when even the doc said it was strep it didn't seem to ease my dad's anger. I only missed that one damn day! Plus I got the kids sick. Ironically that was the only easy time. BTW I had to pay them the 9 bucks back.

Bottom Line. It was a long, awful summer and the total of what I was paid ($23) was erased by ($9) so I earned a total of $12 for an entire summer of hell


Nother bad job story? Nah? That's probably more then enough. But I've more if you want :evilgrin:

[izzybeans]

43. G.E. factory one summer in college.

I eventually got dusted with a mysterious powder, skin burned and broke out on the spot, now have a reoccuring rash. No recourse because they went into an immediate CYA mode. the staff doctor claimed I got a bacterial infection from swimming in a lake. My family physician said, yeah what he said. Good Stuff. My dad still works there. It happens all the time.

My job: shovel platic pellets out of a boiler room that had a pipe with a leak in it. 3 tons a day leak: sometimes it was shut off so I could catch up. When I caught up with the leak, recycle it through a sifting machine and box it. One week I put on waders and waded through the water treatment plant shoveling in plastic pellets that got washed down the drain. Some company bought their shit soaked product. Probably the company that makes your coffee cups or plastic spoons or something. Good Stuff.

[suzbaby]

44. Maid in a Best Western Hotel

*shudder* It was such a horrible job. There are simply no words to describe the utter disgustingness of wiping up other people's bodily hairs out of the tub, scrubbing their bodily functions out of the toilet, and so forth.

Plus, we were heavily understaffed and had to clean 25 rooms a day (a reasonable amount would be 12). It was physically backbreaking and my hand were always dry, cracked and bleeding from the chemicals we use.

It was such a thankless job. The lesson here? ALWAYS tip the maid!

[MindPilot]

47. I always at least straighten up a hotel room before I leave

my SO thinks I'm nuts, but I don't want the housekeeping staff to think I'm a slob.

[suzbaby]

50. I always greatly appreciated

the people who were relatively neat and didn't leave a ton of work for me.
Good for you! :)

[kwassa]

45. Steel mill, siphoning asbestos out of large ingot molds without respirator

I demanded, and got a respirator, it just wasn't good for asbestos.

The job also involved stepping off a platform twenty feet off the ground with a t-shaped air siphon, essentially a large metal T-shaped tube with a high power air hose blowing across the top of the T, creating suction at the bottom of the T. I stuck this tube, maybe eight feet long, down into the ingot mold that was still hot from the steel ingot that was just pulled from it. The siphon sucked the crumbeled asbestos ingot liner out of the bottom, and blew it out in a huge cloud of asbestos dust all around me.

I only had this particular job for a couple of days, fortunately. I went on to other things at the mill, a summer job while I was in college. Many easy ways to get killed or maimed in this mill.

[HEyHEY]

46. Selling advertising

GOD that was a stressful job, and having Satan as a boss didn't help

[SpeedwayDemocrat]

48. Strip club marketer in the conservative Midwest...

My job was to fill the seats in the club so the ladies would have someone to dance for (and perhaps tip them). Dancers thought I was competition (I'm a college-educated female, smart and well-dressed), so they shunned me until I confronted them in the dressing room about how hard it was to actually get guys to come into the club. "I'm here to help you make money, but if you're too stupid to see that, then go shake your moneymaker for that empty room!" Alternated between feeling sorry for some of the girls (those who had to work there) and hating the ones with the big EGOS.
Needless to say, that's one job you won't see on the ole resume...
Did learn some cool things to do on the pole, though...

[HEyHEY]

49. You shoulda said....

"What, they'll be Christian stuff all over the walls and on stage." WHenever some Con gave you trouble about it.

[skygazer]

52. Chambermaid

Ran away from home at 16 and got a job at a Maine resort town cleaning rooms at a motel chain. They were shorthanded so they'd have us work all morning cleaning one motel then bus us up the coast to the next town to clean their motel there. We were working 14 hour days and my friend and I had no money to get anything to eat until we got paid so on the second day, she fainted. The boss gave us 10 bucks to get some lunch then we came back and went back to work.

People are total slobs in motels. I find myself making the bed and picking up after myself to this day because I don't want to leave what I got left with.

[shanti]

53. telemarketer

i lasted a whole day! one of my sons is amazing at it tho. :shrug:

[Maine Mary]

55. I lasted 2 and1/2 years @ MBNA

It was a piece of cake compared to most of my other jobs. They all sucked bit this was a pretty decent one compared to the others overall. They all are demeaning but you just gotta suck it up. :-)

[Maine Mary]

56. I lasted 2 and1/2 years @ MBNA

It was a piece of cake compared to most of my other jobs. They all sucked bit this was a pretty decent one compared to the others overall. They all are demeaning but you just gotta suck it up. :-)

[SmokingJacket]

54. Tomato sorter, cardboard box folder, nurse's aide.

Night cleaner at a medical building -- I didn't mind that, actually. The toilets weren't so dirty, but cleaning up the urine samples grossed me out.

Personnel secretary at a cardboard factory: that sucked hard. The odor was atrocious.

Chain-link fence painter -- that was okay, except for getting the paint out of my hair.

Nurse's aide would have to win for the absolute worst job. Every day something tragic or miserably heartbreaking would happen. Watching young people die of Huntington's chorea, old people lose interest in life, people who had lived long and interesting lives reduced to crapping their pants.

[Ramsey]

57. Washing dishes

At a fast food pizza joint.

Ick! That really sucked. I hope that doesn't sound too elite, but washing other people's dirty dishes is really gross.