The worst job you ever had.

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  • Madame_Goldbricker
    Madame_Goldbricker Posts: 1,625 Member
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    I did two supplementary jobs over 6weeks in the summer when I was 19. One was working in a chip shop/chinese. I used to stink to high heaven of grease after a shift. Plus I always got the fun job of scrubbing out the industrial sized curry pots over a drain by the garages out back.

    Second job was as a cleaner in the school I'd attended. Boys toilets have to be the worst smell on earth, & then there was the 4 shifts I spent with a paint scraper taking all the chewing gum off the bottom of the chairs & tables at the end of term :angry:
  • Sandytoes71
    Sandytoes71 Posts: 463 Member
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    Bump to read later
  • matchbox_girl
    matchbox_girl Posts: 535 Member
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    Here in Idaho, a potato plant called Simplot. Twelve hour shifts, 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., picking out bad fries, freezing in the frozen room, getting all wet and smelly from the wet vegetable belts....not to mention the 1.5 hour bus ride there and back, so it was like being at work for 14 hours instead.

    Hated it. Lasted less than a month. Not an all-night person and NOT a factory worker.
  • matchbox_girl
    matchbox_girl Posts: 535 Member
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    When I was 13 worked at a racehorse track, the job was a lot of fun. But I had to help with the horses being put down, that was so sad because I spent a lot of time with the horses.

    That's something I wanted to do for a long time, and I love horse racing, but the sport is so dangerous for the horses it makes my heart hurt.

    (And to think I'm in Emergency Medicine now for PEOPLE. Psh.)
  • mammamaurer
    mammamaurer Posts: 418 Member
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    gas station cook..... we made "fried chicken"(aka fried salmonella) pizza(actually edible some how) and subs(aka ptomaine on bread)..


    bacon:flowerforyou:
  • Articeluvsmemphis
    Articeluvsmemphis Posts: 1,987 Member
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    waitress. hated it. not altogether but for the most part is sucked.

    had anywhere from 2-5 store managers working at one time and they could never coordinate similar ways they wanted you to work.

    the other waitresses would steal tips. people think waitresses have any kind of control on how fast or slow food cooks, we don't.

    consistent attitude from people who are hungry, sorry but you wanted to wait 20 minutes for a table, i am not the greeter, nor do i have control on how fast people eat to get them out the restaurant.

    low tippers, no tippers. people, we DON'T cook the food.

    I have other tables aside from you.

    I am not chit-chatting for my health, i have to talk to everyone in order to not be rude, but i will get to you as fast as possible.

    I have other duties, at the very least 2 hours worth of side work, and rolling silverware that no one sees but makes the restaurant run smoothly.

    we get treated badly for the most part.

    i had to be on my feet all day

    shifts that were 4 hours were not really 4 hours, more like 7

    they would make you work a double and not bat an eyelash

    ugh, no tippers, rude people

    rude co-workers who would let you help them, rarely help you

    THANK GOD for a degree, that is all behind me.

    please tip your waitress well 9/10 they are not the cause if you somehow have a bad dining experience.
  • ideang
    ideang Posts: 95
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    I think my worst job was at a factory that made parts for snowmobiles. I worked the ski department, which consisted of pouring dyed plastic powder into a molding machine, then after it cured pulling the burning hot ski out of the machine. The worst part was we ran hundreds of molding machines that heated to 300+ degrees in a non air-conditioned building. It was 90 degrees inside even if it was 30 below outside, and 110 degrees or more in the summer. Oh, and it was 12 hour shifts.
  • meltrigg
    meltrigg Posts: 20
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    Cotton chipping...outback Australia, in summer. This involved walking up and down the rows of cotton that had been planted and cutting out the weeds with a hoe. We worked from 4am until 2pm to beat the worst of the heat (40 + degrees Celsius). We would have been walking at least 15km a day. It was ok money, I was on my summer break from University at the time.
  • MSeel1984
    MSeel1984 Posts: 2,297 Member
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    I was in college. I loved animals so I decided to work at a pet store. My first day, I was bitten by a rat, had to clean fish cages, watched baby gerbils being thrown into a freezer (alive) to be fed to snakes and was told that I'd have to figure out how to clean the snake cages (snakes still had fangs) as well as the tarantula cages...

    I believe what I said was...

    I like animals too much to be working here and...

    349676dme3md1nzt.gif

    Screw you guys...I'm going home.

    Edited to add *My first day was also my LAST day*

    oh OH! AND THERE WERE NO KITTENS OR PUPPIES. Horrible.
  • StarChanger
    StarChanger Posts: 605 Member
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    When I was 13 worked at a racehorse track, the job was a lot of fun. But I had to help with the horses being put down, that was so sad because I spent a lot of time with the horses.

    That's something I wanted to do for a long time, and I love horse racing, but the sport is so dangerous for the horses it makes my heart hurt.

    (And to think I'm in Emergency Medicine now for PEOPLE. Psh.)

    Ahhh, yes. The difference is that many (most?) of the calls you respond to are self-inflicted by the human you are trying to save (morbidly obese heart attack victim, drunk-driving MVA, domestic violence / fight victims, etc ) Humans often put themselves in harms way and make REALLY stupid decisions. Yes, many accidents are just that...and you feel really bad for those folks (I do, anyway) but MOST people....very little empathy because there seems to be so little personal responsibility anymore.

    I can remain pretty "professionally distant" with most patients....something I was never able to do as a vet tech and zoo keeper. Most injuries to animals occur at the hands or, or due to the negligence of, humans....and that used to just piss me off to no end. It's why I'm not a veterinarian now.
  • apedeb09
    apedeb09 Posts: 805 Member
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    Working overnight shift at Tim Hortons in a shady part of town (canadians will know what im talking about :P)

    Lol, mine is Tim Hortons too! Except I was on morning shift. People are real *kitten* before they get their morning coffee.. plus my coworkers sucked.
  • primal_cupcakes
    primal_cupcakes Posts: 280 Member
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    Working at a restaurant owned by the Dalai Lama's sister-in-law. She was so mean.
  • celadontea
    celadontea Posts: 335 Member
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    Balloon salesperson in the middle of a very crowded mall. I have social anxiety disorder. :|
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
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    Packing lunch meat at Armor Star in the mid 70's. It was a scene right of I Love Lucy with the chocolate on the conveyer belt. I never complained about college homework again.
  • chelstakencharge
    chelstakencharge Posts: 1,021 Member
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    I was hired to be a receptionist at a vets office while in college. Second day on the job the vet decides to make me his assistant.....um holding puppies up while he cut their tails off (breed of dog that gets tails snipped off). After having to hold 10 of those poor puppies I quit!!!
  • Quix82
    Quix82 Posts: 99 Member
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    Sanding (refurbish) metal shelves 8 hours a day. The paint dust was so thick - you couldn't see 5 feet in front of you.
  • Mario_Az
    Mario_Az Posts: 1,331 Member
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    in high school had a part time job working for fedex loading and unloading trucks the 52 foot trucks front to back making walls out of package and the summers sucked cause it was 115 degrees in those trucks loading boxes .and you had to be fast cause if you let the packages build up it would jam all other loaders was non stop
  • EmilyJackCO
    EmilyJackCO Posts: 621 Member
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    I honestly have nothing to add... not even my one short term fast food job compares. Thank you all for making me feel incredibly lucky for the career I've built... even the worst experiences, including physical assault and sexual harassment bordering on abuse nothing even maybe compares to these stories.

    The one that I have that doesn't even approach these by a mile? Girl Scout Camp Counselor for 2 summers at 8500' elevation. 2 hours 'off' a day and 1 day off a week for 3 months straight. But seriously - I loved most of it, except the meager pay. :P


    Edit: English fail.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    The worst job was also the best, depending on the assignment: teaching high school. Some years you get an awesome schedule and you just love to come to work every day and interact with the kids. Other years are just pure hell - you get the tough classes(unmotivated, discipline problems, etc.), you have to rove from room to room, you end up with an unsupportive admin., etc.

    Two years in a row I won the lottery for the dreaded "catch up" classes for kids behind on credits and who were also discipline issues. Some of those kids were sweethearts who just made bad choices, but others were downright scary. Most of them had monthly appointments with probation officers. They'd pull them out in the middle of class. They brought dogs in randomly for searches. It could get violent at times. I had the deputy on speed dial. It's just demoralizing and sometimes you wonder what the heck you were thinking. On the other hand, when you get the great assignments, it makes you feel proud of your job.

    If not for summer, I think a lot of us would literally go insane. I don't recommend this job if you don't deal well with stress. A ton of people burn out. It's extremely rewarding when you see positive outcomes, but it can be frustrating and heartbreaking as well. :ohwell:
  • aylajane
    aylajane Posts: 979 Member
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    Telemarketer for Sears selling maintenance agreements for major appliances. But I was the lucky one who was the "3rd call". I.e. - not only did you turn us down on the maintenance agreement when you bought your dishwasher, but you also turned us down the two prior times we called and tried to sell it to you again. THEN I get to call you one last time and say "ARE YOU *SURE* YOU DONT WANT IT?!" Needless to say I had the lowest quota of everyone, and one sale a month would hit it. But talk about a crappy job - calling angry people for a month with the hope that ONE person would eventually be a total moron and buy the thing.

    I made it about 3 months. I used to stand outside the building waiting to go inside trying to *will* the universe to implode, at least in that one spot. The last week I was there I simply could not face calling another human soul, so I spent a few days calling my home answering machine (before the days of recording calls) and pretending to talk to someone (it was always fun to come home and have to listen to it again). My final day I spent calling other jobs and setting up interviews. Then I quit.

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