What is the worst job you have ever had?
Discussion
Two for me.
Aged 14 in 1987 had a job delivering free papers. I got paid a penny a paper! When I'd finished my 500 my hands were black with ink (some of the more enterprising scrotes used to just dump them behind the local council garages).
IT lecturer in the local FE college. What made it worse was I voluntarily left a really cushy job in a the IT section of South Hams Council to go and try my hand at teaching. Dumped straight in the deep end with no training, it was an utter frigging nightmare for two years.
Fortunately managed to get out and it led to where I am now so not all bad.
Aged 14 in 1987 had a job delivering free papers. I got paid a penny a paper! When I'd finished my 500 my hands were black with ink (some of the more enterprising scrotes used to just dump them behind the local council garages).
IT lecturer in the local FE college. What made it worse was I voluntarily left a really cushy job in a the IT section of South Hams Council to go and try my hand at teaching. Dumped straight in the deep end with no training, it was an utter frigging nightmare for two years.
Fortunately managed to get out and it led to where I am now so not all bad.
soad said:
bazza white said:
Cold calling on the phone selling windows.
Coldseal? Used a phone book...wimmin (office staff) were super fit.Didn't help that my first call, the one monitored by the boss and everyone in the room, started "Hello Mr Smith" to which I was interrupted by the other end saying "It's Mrs Smith actually!" S/he was either born a man or was a very heavy smoker.
I also worked at Mcdonald's as a student. I can still smell the horrible smell from the kitchen but lasted a couple of months part time so it wasn't as bad as cold calling. They never let me face the public though and just kept me in the kitchen, I didn't complain.
School holiday jobs.
First (at around 15) was working for a local mill in the maintenance department. My introduction was to be given a wire brush and shown some very large old rusty machines and told to get all the rust off - cue 2 weeks of solid cleaning. There were more interesting tasks a bit later - including refurbishing an old water tank - cleaning, painting it with iron oxide paint and constructing a new roof for it. Only issue was said tank was around 200 foot up in the air on the top of a large tower. Just ladders to get up (a la Fred Dibner approach) and no safety kit...
Following summer I worked in a large photo processing lab/factory. Initial mind numbing job was opening envelopes with 110 film containers in, putting a numbered label on the film container and matching label on the envelope, then putting the film containers on a rack holding 100 films and putting a rubber band on the envelopes to form a batch. Then on to the next one, all day long.
As I showed a bit of interest, I soon got taught how to do the next stage by Dave the blind guy. It has to be one of the jobs that being blind was absolutely no disadvantage. Basically, you took the rack with the 100 film containers on and went through a revolving door into a darkroom. The job was to splice all 100 films together into a long reel of film - all in total darkness. You'd split the film container open, then pull out the film in one hand and a backing paper in the other. Throw the backing paper over your shoulder and feed the correct end of the film the right way up into a splicing machine (using touch to work out which way up). Once you'd done all 100, you'd unload the reel of film into a lightproof case, and leave the room to get the next batch. Only tricky part was that the backing paper was very similar to the film and when you (very) occasionally chucked a film over your shoulder and kept hold of the paper by mistake, finding the film in the big pile of curled up backing papers on the floor behind you in total darkness was a bit of a challenge.
Did that for most of the summer, then heard about a job at a dust extraction company. They'd never taken on a student but it was a great laugh putting in extraction ducting in factories. In 2 weeks I earned more than the previous 8 at the photo place. Worked in Barrow, Darlington, Derby and got to drive a flat backed Transit around.
Since then it's all been "proper" jobs.
First (at around 15) was working for a local mill in the maintenance department. My introduction was to be given a wire brush and shown some very large old rusty machines and told to get all the rust off - cue 2 weeks of solid cleaning. There were more interesting tasks a bit later - including refurbishing an old water tank - cleaning, painting it with iron oxide paint and constructing a new roof for it. Only issue was said tank was around 200 foot up in the air on the top of a large tower. Just ladders to get up (a la Fred Dibner approach) and no safety kit...
Following summer I worked in a large photo processing lab/factory. Initial mind numbing job was opening envelopes with 110 film containers in, putting a numbered label on the film container and matching label on the envelope, then putting the film containers on a rack holding 100 films and putting a rubber band on the envelopes to form a batch. Then on to the next one, all day long.
As I showed a bit of interest, I soon got taught how to do the next stage by Dave the blind guy. It has to be one of the jobs that being blind was absolutely no disadvantage. Basically, you took the rack with the 100 film containers on and went through a revolving door into a darkroom. The job was to splice all 100 films together into a long reel of film - all in total darkness. You'd split the film container open, then pull out the film in one hand and a backing paper in the other. Throw the backing paper over your shoulder and feed the correct end of the film the right way up into a splicing machine (using touch to work out which way up). Once you'd done all 100, you'd unload the reel of film into a lightproof case, and leave the room to get the next batch. Only tricky part was that the backing paper was very similar to the film and when you (very) occasionally chucked a film over your shoulder and kept hold of the paper by mistake, finding the film in the big pile of curled up backing papers on the floor behind you in total darkness was a bit of a challenge.
Did that for most of the summer, then heard about a job at a dust extraction company. They'd never taken on a student but it was a great laugh putting in extraction ducting in factories. In 2 weeks I earned more than the previous 8 at the photo place. Worked in Barrow, Darlington, Derby and got to drive a flat backed Transit around.
Since then it's all been "proper" jobs.
BigMon said:
Two for me.
Aged 14 in 1987 had a job delivering free papers. I got paid a penny a paper! When I'd finished my 500 my hands were black with ink (some of the more enterprising scrotes used to just dump them behind the local council garages).
I recycled, at my local Sainsbury’s, my allocation of the Sunderland Star that I received for delivery every week for about 2yrsAged 14 in 1987 had a job delivering free papers. I got paid a penny a paper! When I'd finished my 500 my hands were black with ink (some of the more enterprising scrotes used to just dump them behind the local council garages).
never got caught or questioned about it lol
Edited by alorotom on Sunday 25th February 13:34
alorotom said:
BigMon said:
Two for me.
Aged 14 in 1987 had a job delivering free papers. I got paid a penny a paper! When I'd finished my 500 my hands were black with ink (some of the more enterprising scrotes used to just dump them behind the local council garages).
I recycled, at my local Sainsbury’s, my allocation of the Sunderland Star that I received for delivery every week for about 2yrsAged 14 in 1987 had a job delivering free papers. I got paid a penny a paper! When I'd finished my 500 my hands were black with ink (some of the more enterprising scrotes used to just dump them behind the local council garages).
never got caught or questioned about it lol
Edited by alorotom on Sunday 25th February 13:34
I was paid 1 or 2 pence a paper as I recall.
alorotom said:
I recycled, at my local Sainsbury’s, my allocation of the Sunderland Star that I received for delivery every week for about 2yrs
never got caught or questioned about it lol
Used to find piles of them dumped in Boldon , my old man used that as an excuse for not paying for his advertising bill , double whammy.never got caught or questioned about it lol
Edited by alorotom on Sunday 25th February 13:34
Mind you the Echo were f
king useless as well , no wonder newspapers have gone to the wallPremier Transport in Bristol, early 70s probably.
7am to 7pm
Sides of bacon wrapped in sacking. Surprising heavy. Not as heavy as the Vinolay though. That was stored vertically and was so bd heavy that you had to get it balanced on the sack trucks just right, too upright and it would come off the trucks and like as not fall away from you, damage something and still need to be picked up meaning you had to get someone else to help you. Too much towards you and it would just tip and keep on coming, nasty stuff.
Worst of the lot was the Farley's rusks. There was a team of about 4 of us unloading a 40ft trailer packed with boxes of rusks. We had to stack them neatly on pallets. Starting off it was great, they really flew off. Halfway along the trailer and it was too far to throw them (being light the air resistance would stop them no matter how hard you threw them. Formed a bucket brigade but there wasn't enough of us to do that effectively and by the time we got to the front end it was turning out to be ridiculously difficult. If the trailer had been backed up to a loading bay it would have been easy to truck the pallet into the trailer but unfortunately it wasn't.
Lasted three days.
7am to 7pm
Sides of bacon wrapped in sacking. Surprising heavy. Not as heavy as the Vinolay though. That was stored vertically and was so b
d heavy that you had to get it balanced on the sack trucks just right, too upright and it would come off the trucks and like as not fall away from you, damage something and still need to be picked up meaning you had to get someone else to help you. Too much towards you and it would just tip and keep on coming, nasty stuff. Worst of the lot was the Farley's rusks. There was a team of about 4 of us unloading a 40ft trailer packed with boxes of rusks. We had to stack them neatly on pallets. Starting off it was great, they really flew off. Halfway along the trailer and it was too far to throw them (being light the air resistance would stop them no matter how hard you threw them. Formed a bucket brigade but there wasn't enough of us to do that effectively and by the time we got to the front end it was turning out to be ridiculously difficult. If the trailer had been backed up to a loading bay it would have been easy to truck the pallet into the trailer but unfortunately it wasn't.
Lasted three days.
Once got a week long job sweeping up a steel warehouse. Induction was being handed a broom and a dust mask and being walked to the far end of the place and being told to work back to the front. Was with one of those mid-50s blokes who unquestioningly would do anything you told him to but quite slowly. The kind who would be easy to take advantage of.
It was gross, the staff were smoking on the job and wouldn't speak to you. It was noisy, you were given no H+S advice about anything and had girders going over your head all day being supported by magnets. The swarf you were sweeping up was fking heavy if you had any size pile of it. I used to completely take the piss, arrive late, take a huge lunch break and leave early and nobody noticed. I was filthy by the time I went home so didn't care.
It was gross, the staff were smoking on the job and wouldn't speak to you. It was noisy, you were given no H+S advice about anything and had girders going over your head all day being supported by magnets. The swarf you were sweeping up was f
king heavy if you had any size pile of it. I used to completely take the piss, arrive late, take a huge lunch break and leave early and nobody noticed. I was filthy by the time I went home so didn't care.poing said:
I did this too, can't remember the company name but it was similar for sure. I managed one day before telling how crap the place was.
Didn't help that my first call, the one monitored by the boss and everyone in the room, started "Hello Mr Smith" to which I was interrupted by the other end saying "It's Mrs Smith actually!" S/he was either born a man or was a very heavy smoker.
I also worked at Mcdonald's as a student. I can still smell the horrible smell from the kitchen but lasted a couple of months part time so it wasn't as bad as cold calling. They never let me face the public though and just kept me in the kitchen, I didn't complain.
There should be a support group for those of us who endured both McDonald's and call centre jobs.Didn't help that my first call, the one monitored by the boss and everyone in the room, started "Hello Mr Smith" to which I was interrupted by the other end saying "It's Mrs Smith actually!" S/he was either born a man or was a very heavy smoker.
I also worked at Mcdonald's as a student. I can still smell the horrible smell from the kitchen but lasted a couple of months part time so it wasn't as bad as cold calling. They never let me face the public though and just kept me in the kitchen, I didn't complain.
McDonald's when I was 16/17, put up with it for a year, it paid marginally better than mates' supermarket jobs, but what a depressing experience. The smell, the customers, the "long term" staff... Ugh.
Later on I spent a couple of half terms cold calling and, although it didn't stink, it was the most tedious and soul-destroying job. Trying to flog some lousy life insurance product to the public, no doubt subject to a misrepresentation claim by now!
On paper the worst should have been a summer job at a transport firm cleaning refrigerated trailers, but actually that turned out to be my favourite student job ever. Slotted in as part of the maintenance crew who were a cracking bunch of lads, and soon found that degreasing the outside of trailers in the sunshine with the radio on really wasn't a bad way to earn a crust. If the boys needed an extra pair of hands on a repair job they'd shout me over, which got me involved in some interesting jobs, and all the parts runs fell to me as well - trundling around Doncaster in a battered "smiley" Transit picking up lorry bits, tyres, oil etc, hardly even felt like work!
The following year they'd taken on a permanent bloke for that position and my old boss couldn't wangle an opening for me, so I ended up in B&Q's distribution centre unloading lorries. Didn't mind the work, but couldn't stand the fat loudmouthed one-eyed imbecile who was the supervisor. After a few weeks I moved to a factory job making fibre optics: dull and repetitive work but vastly more civilised!
I was unemployed for a year in 2011 and was applying for everything. Ended up going for an "interview" at a door to door sales place based in Glasgow (right next to Central Station if anyone knows it). They are very careful not to use the words "door to door sales" though, and fill you with ideas of being in the "top seat in 12 months, you'll own a flash car" etc etc.
Came back the next day for my trial period with one of their regular staff and 3 other candidates. We all piled into his car and drove to the outskirts of Glasgow where we followed him walking around the estates knocking on doors trying to sell Sky.
It was pretty soul destroying, doors slammed in your face, the odd laugh with a "fk off" thrown in, one old lady had just buried her husband the day before and was clearly still upset and here we were trying to flog her Sky. Add in the fact that it was snowing heavily, winter, and we were wearing suits and office shoes, it wasn't a pleasant day.
Got the train back to their office at the end of the day, where surprise surprise, we had all passed and were offered jobs starting the next day. Never went back, nor did any of the other people I left the office with.
Came back the next day for my trial period with one of their regular staff and 3 other candidates. We all piled into his car and drove to the outskirts of Glasgow where we followed him walking around the estates knocking on doors trying to sell Sky.
It was pretty soul destroying, doors slammed in your face, the odd laugh with a "f
k off" thrown in, one old lady had just buried her husband the day before and was clearly still upset and here we were trying to flog her Sky. Add in the fact that it was snowing heavily, winter, and we were wearing suits and office shoes, it wasn't a pleasant day. Got the train back to their office at the end of the day, where surprise surprise, we had all passed and were offered jobs starting the next day. Never went back, nor did any of the other people I left the office with.
speedtwelve said:
Doing daily shifts, week on week with the SAME muzak tape played throughout the hotel on a continuous loop without ever being changed was actually one of the worst parts. I think the management eventually did some consulting to the people that ran Guantanamo. Before I joined the hotel some dumb waiter climbed into the kitchen dumb waiter lift for a laugh and suffered fatal traumatic amputation. It used to prey on my mind whenever I was next to it making toast in the morning. I used to think "better not climb into that". Eventually I packed it in after some utter sheath of a manager tried to coach me on cutlery drying techniques.
My first every job was in Wilkinsons over the Christmas period - 5 festive songs. On repeat. Every. Single. Day.percymk4 said:
I was unemployed for a year in 2011 and was applying for everything. Ended up going for an "interview" at a door to door sales place based in Glasgow (right next to Central Station if anyone knows it). They are very careful not to use the words "door to door sales" though, and fill you with ideas of being in the "top seat in 12 months, you'll own a flash car" etc etc.
Looking back there is nothing worse than reaching that stage where you are applying for dross jobs like this. It happened to me about 15 years ago when there was a big downturn in the IT market, lots of jobs had been offshored and the market was flooded with Indian IT labour. Depressing, and I don't think wages ever truly recovered. Back on crap jobs - this wasn't really a crap job but unrealistic expectations made it unworkable.
I got a job doing web design for an escort agency - very upmarket, girls like supermodels (about £300/hour). Office right in the poshest street in Manchester. If I was there late there'd be all this totty running round in various states of undress, and sometimes in the morning there'd be a few left who would be waiting for a driver to take them home (we had drivers, you couldn't let them go in taxis). I arranged photo shoots and so on. Interestingly most of the girls on the website were not "real", as such. They were stock photos, so if some bloke rang up asking for "Lucy" off the site he just got sent a lass who was vaguely the same.
This only went on for a few months - alarm bells were ringing on the first afternoon when the boss came in to me and said "so, number one on Google by the end of the week?". Oh dear. It's a fiercely competitive market and getting to number one is tricky. In the end I just gave up and left.
Jonny_ said:
On paper the worst should have been a summer job at a transport firm cleaning refrigerated trailers, but actually that turned out to be my favourite student job ever. Slotted in as part of the maintenance crew who were a cracking bunch of lads, and soon found that degreasing the outside of trailers in the sunshine with the radio on really wasn't a bad way to earn a crust. If the boys needed an extra pair of hands on a repair job they'd shout me over, which got me involved in some interesting jobs, and all the parts runs fell to me as well - trundling around Doncaster in a battered "smiley" Transit picking up lorry bits, tyres, oil etc, hardly even felt like work!
I have always found good people make a crap job tolerable or even enjoyable. I recently spent a few weeks picking fruit to make a few dollars and if it wasn't for the people who were there I would have walked on the first day.Dog Star said:
I got a job doing web design for an escort agency - very upmarket, girls like supermodels (about £300/hour). Office right in the poshest street in Manchester. If I was there late there'd be all this totty running round in various states of undress, and sometimes in the morning there'd be a few left who would be waiting for a driver to take them home (we had drivers, you couldn't let them go in taxis). I arranged photo shoots and so on. Interestingly most of the girls on the website were not "real", as such. They were stock photos, so if some bloke rang up asking for "Lucy" off the site he just got sent a lass who was vaguely the same.
This only went on for a few months - alarm bells were ringing on the first afternoon when the boss came in to me and said "so, number one on Google by the end of the week?". Oh dear. It's a fiercely competitive market and getting to number one is tricky. In the end I just gave up and left.
Did you get any, ahem, 'fringe benefits'? This only went on for a few months - alarm bells were ringing on the first afternoon when the boss came in to me and said "so, number one on Google by the end of the week?". Oh dear. It's a fiercely competitive market and getting to number one is tricky. In the end I just gave up and left.
I've always worked for vaguely legit employers, but have always wondered what it must be like to work in what you might politely call 'the underworld'.
Presumably (know matter how they dress it up with respectability), the 'boss' here was living off 'immoral' earnings? Not that I personally think there is anything immoral about it, oldest profession and all that, but I'd imagine places like this are operating just within the boundaries of the law?
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