Whats the worst job you ever had?

McDonald’s. Grill. Stink like the place when you get off work.

pizza hut.

Secretary for a woman who did PR. for the then avant-guard art world in NY. Her office was in her tiny bedroom; I couldn’t type very well, the typewriter was vintage 1943 and she kept disappearing for lunches w. Andy Warhol, the Texas DeMenils and Christo. I stayed in the br. using up bottles of white-out.

For those of you born in the keyboard era, consider yourself lucky.

I was a janitor at a large office building for about three months. I pretty much spent eight hours a day cleaning bathrooms. I am still confused about how poop gets on the walls. That happens more often than you would think.

And why do women shred the toilet paper? It usually looked like a damn ticker-tape parade went through the stalls.

i didn’t know women were shredders.

It doesn’t compare, I’m sure, but I worked at a prosumer-grade video production and editing shop (in the VHS/Beta days). The boss was a total asshole who barked all the time and never passed up the opportunity to make himself a video loop of someone getting shot, smoking crack or whatever from videos that other people brought in (often for court evidence). The one girl who worked there always thought I was trying to hit on her when I was just making conversation. The coffee cups were kept in the bathroom on top of the toilet tank. The Asian nail shop two doors down vented their toxic atmosphere into our shop, and the used video game shop next door was a front for a drug dealer and his teenage girlfriend who would periodically get into screaming matches. All that for 6 bucks an hour with no benefits and no chance for advancement. (And the boss had the gall to lecture me about my generation’s lack of company loyalty.)

Admittedly, it didn’t help that I didn’t pick up on some of the basics of running some of the equipment. It was old equipment (an old Amiga, for example) and there weren’t any manuals to read.

mcdonalds, also cleaning dealerships

(I expect no sympathy for this answer whatsoever.)

My first job out of college was tutoring for a test prep company. My boss was a batshit insane douchebag with a serious personality disorder. He constantly lied to his employees and students in an attempt to cut corners and save a buck. He expected everyone to work overtime without overtime pay, so I was working a minimum of 60 hours a week while also trying to hold down another part-time job.

He was the top banana in the office so he worked 3 or 4 day weeks (maximum) and called in “sick” with made-up illnesses the rest of the time.

I had never taken a single day off in three years with the company until I woke up with horrible stomach pains and a high fever. A doctor friend told me to go straight to the emergency room. I found a substitute for the class I was supposed to teach that night and let my boss know the situation. He was furious because he thought the substitute would somehow lower the evaluations I got from the class….which determined the size of his end of year bonus.

He told another teacher that if his evaluations were good, said teacher could “blow 4 loads in my mouth”.

Another time, he said (in front of a new teacher I was training), “I’m so busy I haven’t had time to take a shit today!”

So really not the worst job ever, just the worst boss, I guess.

Yeah, I think you get some kind of prize for that one. That must have been a nightmare.

Working at an unnamed, Swedish furniture retailer….oh man the customers there treat you like absolute garbage…“But I want the white candles….the white candles are in your catalog, I don’t care if you’re out now get me your manager!!”....“Miss?” “I’ll be right with you, these people were first….” “WHICH WAY IS THE FUC*ING BATHROOM?!”

I seriously felt like I had a sticker on my back that said, “If it makes YOU feel beter, treat me like crap! Have a nice day!”

After about 4 weeks there was a “family emergency” and I never looked back ;)

telemarketer in Arizona trying to sell newspapers in Ohio… For anyone who hates telemarketers, just say, “please take me off your list” and you shouldn’t have to worry about them again. No need for the cursing, I didnt know you were eating dinner!

Eating flesh! Haha just Messin with ya buster!

As a cashier for a supermarket. You had to stand and scan groceries in a 2’ x 2’ area, work 6–7 hours straight without a break, smile, listen when people vented, be friendly, and sometimes bag the orders. We weren’t allowed to have any drinks with us up there either, not even water. All this and your drawer better not come up short… (this was of course way back, when you couldn’t charge groceries)

Once I had a job with a carpet cleaning company. I was in a little coven of women taking phone orders. We had a scheduling sheet that bore no relationship to the outgrown picking-up capacity of the trucks that went out to bring in the dirty carpets. Instead of buying one more truck and hiring one more driver (drivers earned real money), they hired people like me to a) continue to book infinite numbers of pickups; b) apologize for the late deliveries (which was all of them); and c) shout down the complainants. I’ve had jobs I hated more – we actually laughed a lot – but this one was the stupidest.

@susanc: I love anyone who uses “coven.” (But you knew that.)

My families vegetable farm. I worked with old people all day and there was no air conditioner in their hot shed. All i did was sort out tomatoes all day. Now tomatoes haunt my dreams.

Coldstone Creamery. The people sucked, I always smelled like cones, I gained 15 lbs and I got paid minimum wage.

Ha ha! Did you have to shout those stupid cheers?

detasseling corn to produce hybred seed corn in Illinois in high humidity and higher temperatures.

At a Grill. Ruined most of my clothes because we didn’t have uniforms – the smell of a deep fat fryer is just so incredibly disgusting, it still makes my stomach turn.

Working for a Casino…2:00am to 10:00am…

@johnpowell your posting made me crack up so loud man…...so funny “I am still confused about how poop gets on the walls” Hey you are not alone on this one.
I did work for a mechanic shop doing a bit of everything…. back then it was interesting….. now looking back it was so dirty, got grease all over my clothes then at home, on the carpet, the walls, man! I am glad I didn’t stay there that long. It was time to move on.

Oh the ColdStone cheers! The singing! I just feel do damned embarrassed for the folks working behind the counter. I can’t even go there anymore it’s so bad. Singing on demand!? Aaaaaahhh!

A sales manager job at a hotel that I was “promoted” to 7 months ago and just quit 3 hrs ago. May not sound like a bad job but I have never been so miserable at a job. Feel like a new person now.

Good for you! Congrats on your newfound freedom :)

Years ago…Incinerating “Infectious Waste” from Hospitals….