OT: Your worst job ever...

[OttoMets]

I would have to say when I was 14, I was hired by the school district to do janitorial work in the high school. I spent a lot of time scrapping gum off the underside of about every possible object, along with all the other not so nice work our underpaid custodians have to do on a daily basis.

I did that very job for part of a summer when I was 21. Got pretty good with a putty knife. Not sure I can call that my worst job ever, though - will have to think harder about that.

 

[SUfaninAZ]

Working on a muck farm at age 15 loading boxes of lettuce for $3.35 an hour from 6am till 9pm with only 1/2 hour for lunch. Oh yeah... and had to pedal my BMX bike 4 miles to get there.

 

[Orangetradition44]

Going in to my freshman year of college, I took the first job offered to me (I hate looking for a job)... A farmhand. Farmhand's, like waiters, can be paid LESS than minimum wage (which I was... $3.25 if I remember correctly)... But WITHOUT the tips.

My first day, the senior farm hands dropped me off in a weed covered field and handed me a hoe. A wooden handled hoe. They said start at this end and work your way across and then back again, and so on and so forth.

Even with gloves, my hands were covered with blisters by the end of the day. Between the sun and the constant hoeing (I didn't come close to finishing it in day 1), I was exhausted and threw up as soon as I got home.

On day 2, they dropped me back in the same field, and it started all over again and ended the same way... Me, nearly passing out after puking all night.

Only time in my life I've had a tan, but it was the WORST. JOB. EVER.

 

[JarHeadJim]

The worst part about it was the thought of all my friend enjoying their freshmen year of college while I did it. They're getting hammered every night and chasing chicks full time while I guess what everyone ate for dinner the night before.

Like all the other craziness you're subjected to in the military, you adapt and drive on.

I remember one of the Marimes on stuff detail with me said " look at all that corn" LOL

 

[omg_cuse_rules]

From ages 16-18 mostly worked washing dishes for a variety of restaurants, the worst being the retreat in Liverpool. Low pay, grossly overworked, ahole servers and cooks, more bad things than I want to list but will restrain myself because I go there every weekend now. I love the outdoor patio bar, food, and the girls.

Sent from my LG-VM696 using Tapatalk 2

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I've enjoyed the jobs I've had for the most part, even the more labor intensive ones.

The worst I've ever felt working though was when I stopped believing in the leadership at one of the company's I worked for. There's a fine line between trusting leadership to make the best decision possible knowing that you don't have access to all of the information they have, and putting a stake in the ground about not doing something you just outright consider unethical that they encourage. When your management then holds you accountable for not doing that unethical thing... well, it was clear to me it was time to leave.

Stressful time.

 

[tee1222]

I worked at a drug store when I was really young, 13 or 14? Something like that. Delivering prescriptions well into the night that usually resulted in small tips as they were for elderly people. Not cheap, but they were mostly on fixed budgets I'm guessing. They were always nice, but I was working for pennies to begin with, so it was rough to come home with very little money.

Lackluster, I know. But considering I really liked the dishwasher for Mexican food truck job, I was reaching.

 

[VaBeachOrFan]

I've had some great and unusual jobs: hanging draperies in a convent in Mission San Jose; stacking champagne bottles at Paul Masson winery; hauling cooler pails of liquid nitrogen at Stanford's linear accelerator. The "worst" job happened the first year we moved to California and our family went on vacation the first week of July. We soon learned that anyone with five apricot trees in their yard in the Santa Clara Valley should never go anywhere on that particular week when the apricots ripen. Five trees of rotting apricots attract mold, earwigs and bees, all worsened by the occasional 100-degree weather. Nothing to do but dig holes, shovel the oozing mass into them, and try not to tick off the bees too much. I know, that's pretty lame compared with all the yucky jobs mentioned above, but that's the best (worst) I can do. Thanks for sharing.-VBOF

 

[JarHeadJim]

When I was Staioned in Leximgton KY part of my Duties was a Cauality Assistance Officer. I would have to go to the parents of a Marine who was killed or severely wounded and deliver the news to them. I had to do this nine times. The single hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

 

[tee1222]

When I was Staioned in Leximgton KY part of my Duties was a Cauality Assistance Officer. I would have to to the parents of a Marine who was killed or severely wounded and deliver the news to them. I had to do this nine times. The single hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

Hands down, worst job ever.
Sorry, Jim.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

When I was Staioned in Leximgton KY part of my Duties was a Cauality Assistance Officer. I would have to to the parents of a Marine who was killed or severely wounded and deliver the news to them. I had to do this nine times. The single hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

I'm sure if you did it another 50 times it would still not be easy. Nothing that involves death is.

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[bevosu]

I had some bad ones when i was young. The worst was at CTO's old company General Electric.

Bldg 6 Electronics Pk. bulb wash.The midnight to dawn shift.

Hard to describe the actual job..on my feet for 8 hours. Three massive rotating gizmos that you'd load and unload empty TV cathode ray tubes into..19 and 21 inchers at that time..conveyer lines on each side of that rotating monster..take the tubes off one, put them in the machine..take a clean one out, put it on the other conveyer. It never stopped.

All the while a mist of some god awful spray of chemicals (cleaner stuff) was in the air. I had that job for 3 months and with 3 total stations each manned by one person, I was the only one who lasted more than a week. OSHA where were you?

Thank god I was laid off..a month and half later they called me back ...Bldg 5...maintenance ...walked the production floor with little or no supervision. Day shift...one of the easiest jobs I ever had. Quit after 6 months.

 

[cto]

I had some bad ones when i was young. The worst was at CTO's old company General Electric.

Bldg 6 Electronics Pk. bulb wash.The midnight to dawn shift.

Hard to describe the actual job..on my feet for 8 hours. Three massive rotating gizmos that you'd load and unload empty TV cathode ray tubes into..19 and 21 inchers at that time..conveyer lines on each side of that rotating monster..take the tubes off one, put them in the machine..take a clean one out, put it on the other conveyer. It never stopped.

All the while a mist of some god awful spray of chemicals (cleaner stuff) was in the air. I had that job for 3 months and with 3 total stations each manned by one person, I was the only one who lasted more than a week. OSHA where were you?

Thank god I was laid off..a month and half later they called me back ...Bldg 5...maintenance ...walked the production floor with little or no supervision. Day shift...one of the easiest jobs I ever had. Quit after 6 months.

That's funny. Years later, everyone in Central New York moaned and complained when GE pulled out of Electronics Park, and the tv assembly operation was closed. The world of work is a funny place, depending on the eyes of the beholder. A person can (understandably) hate a job... but an entire region gets angry when that job no longer exists.

 

[Bortukal]

I spent about 6 months during 2011 teaching English to soldiers for the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Defense and Aviation Forces at Al Hada Armed Forces Hospital in Taif, KSA. I was provided photos of a spacious, clean, comfortable apartment representative of where I would be housed.

In reality, this was my "apartment":

The kitchen sink:

My stove:

And my students:

I gave up on the job after about 3 months, but hung around 3 more for the paycheck. The Saudis paid well and on time, I'll give them that. I told them I was going on "vacation" for two weeks and arranged for my exit visa. I got on the plane and never looked back. Whenever I'm having a bad day I think, "Well, it could be worse; I could be back in Saudi Arabia."

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Here is how the world has changed over the years. During my formative years, I worked as a playground director for six summers for the City of Albany. My summer after my freshman year of college, I decided I needed money to buy a nice stereo so I took a second job working at McDonalds. The training was really bad and as you can imagine they were always shorthanded and called me every day to come in for extra hours. I really felt bad for the people eating the burgers that I was cooking, and as soon as I made enough money for that stereo, I quit Mickey D's.

Looking back at it 30+ years later, I ate enough free big macs that summer to last a lifetime.

 

[Geode]

The summer between graduating college and starting grad school. The eventual to be Mrs. Geode and I had spent all of our graduation money driving to the Midwest and putting deposits down for apartment, utilities, etc. the TA didn't begin until the spring semester so I headed to the school employment office to find a job. Environmental Technician sounded interesting so I applied and got the job @ a local hospital.

Well lets just say someone has to clean up an operating room after surgery. I literally picked up pieces of human beings and would have to scrub the room from ceiling to floor. I was given an OSHA blood borne pathogen class and sent to work. It was awful work.

 

[njcuse]

I worked for three summers on garbage trucks in high school. At the time it was both perhaps the worst and best job to have. As one might imagine, the sights and smells took some getting used to, often depending on the neighborhood. In an elderly neighborhood, we found nicely wrapped packages. In poor neighborhoods, some really banged up cans with maggots and such fighting for their next meal. Then there was my mom telling me to strip when I got home so she could throw my clothes into the laundry or in some cases burn them. On the best side, I made more money than almost any other kids my age, and I was off by 1pm or earlier every day and off to the beach or whatever else I might like to do for the day. My best job: tending bar during college. Made great money, met many young women, and enjoyed the after hours shots with my follow staff. I have never had more freedom and available cash to meet my current needs (like dates and out with the guys and well, more of the same) than my years in college.

 

[njcuse]

A second worst job, at least for one twenty-four hour period. I was in basic training and my squad was assigned to KP. I was on pot cleaning. The "chef" decided that all of the pots in the kitchen needed extra cleaning, like the whole twenty-four hours of cleaning, three rounds of cleaning. The water was about 180 degrees, honest. I was wearing these heavy duty rubber gloves. Somewhere around the eighteenth hour I gave some serious thought to taking off the gloves and just plunging my hands into the water. But aside from the pain and injury, I decided against such a drastic act because I could be brought up on a section 8 for intentionally taking myself out of commission.

 

[tee1222]

Ooh, that last one reminds me.
Although not the worst job since it was very rewarding (got to play with many kittens and pups at the end of the day), for one of my company's volunteer work me and a good buddy drew washing litter box duty.

And guess who didn't get the spray gun?
I got the sponge, rubber gloves, and steamed eyeglasses after my friend intentionally sprayed litterbox goodness on me. It was all in fun (for him mostly), but I was a good sport.

We flipped a coin for it, but he has always been a prankster. I knew it was going to be ugly. You should have seen the look of people walking by with easier duties. It wasn't as nasty as it sounds, but it wasn't peaches and cream either.

Oh, lawwwwwwwd.

 

[edowd26]

I worked in the mailroom for a company in the summer months. It wasn't a bad job, just boring and mind numbing.

 

[stuckinbig11]

I have mostly liked all the real jobs I have had as an adult, but when I was a kid, I did a lot of farm work for my grandparents and various neighbors. Throwing hay bales when it is 85 degrees and 85% humidity is not fun, but I would take it any day instead of cleaning hen houses. Hen manure (urea) that spends a winter collecting in layers of straw releases an overwhelming ammonia smell when a pitch fork turns over the straw to load it into a bushel basket to be carried out to the manure spreader. It is amazing how quickly you can fill a basket and get back outside while holding your breath.

 

[Flacusian]

When I was in High School a neighbor of mine got me a job to help out this old widow who's deceased husband had been a close friend of his. I had some experience working with a general contractor the prior couple summers and knew how to do roofing and other basic contracting skills. He told me she needed a new roof and had a "Leak" in her basement. He also said that she had taken to the bottle since her husband had died and was in pretty rough shape. He told me he'd supply the materials and would pay me cash to help her out. I went over with 2 buddies and it turns out the woman was an Agoraphobic. She did not leave the house at all. The roof was toast as was the sheathing under it. The leak in the cellar turned out to be a backed up septic line and a portion of the basement was filled with about a six inches of sewage! The entire house emanated a nauseating stench and the woman acted as though all systems were normal.

As we were stripping the shingles off the roof I fell through the sheathing and landed sitting down in the bathtub in the bathroom below! It's a miracle I didn't get seriously injured. The woman came in after hearing the crash and began to ask me what all that white stuff on the ceiling was. She was blitzed and what she was looking at was the sunlight pouring through the gaping hole in the roof which I had just created upon my entry into the bathroom. We managed to get the roof redone but the "leak" in the cellar was clearly beyond my ability to rectify. She was also a hoarder and it was the first time in my life I had ever seen something as deplorable as the living conditions she was in. The whole experience left me shaken and although I suppose I knew that things like that were out there in the world, to see it first hand in an affluent Connecticut shoreline community was not something I expected.

 

[Jake]

Summer of my junior year of high school, I get a call from the school (Solvay) offering me a job I never applied for (should have been my first hint) working the lawn crew for the district. I don't even know if I asked specifics, but I was envisioning spending gone summer on a rider catching rays.

So I say yes and report two days later.

I get there and the drive me to the football bowl..,not the field, but the top of the bowl.

Me and another classmate spent the summer lowering a mower by rope anout 100 feet down the side of the bowl and pulling it back up. $3.35/ hour.

Totally sucked ass.

 

[otisco]

Summer after high school graduation and before frosh year of college. Mucking horse stalls at the Great NYS Fair. 10 hours per day, every day, five days a week for the entire summer. Occasional trashpicking for weekend events. Then during the Fair, when most of my close friends were working cushy Fair jobs via nepotism making way more than minimum wage, it upped to 15-18 hours/day every single day of the Fair. Worst was when there was a changeover and all the horses were moved overnight from one building to the next. Stall after stall after stall after stall, that is all we did, on a crew that included several prison inmates. $4.25/hour.

Not sweet.

 

[Shenexon]

I worked for a member of the Greek "mafia" in Ithaca installing in ground swimming pools. The work was fun but not the owner. He took a lot of shortcuts and did a lot of shoddy work. My job ended up fixing his errors from previous years and putting the best face I could on the foolish things he did to save a few bucks. He'd add extra water to concrete when he hadn't ordered enough, insist on starting a stage of construction before defects from previous steps had been corrected, hired drunks for day labor by offering them beer as we drove by, and generally made it difficult to feel anything but bad about our quality of work. He was a crook and I worked for him. I quit after a few months but 35 years later I still feel guilt over having participated in his business for even a small fraction of my life.