The Worst Job You Ever Had!?!?

[bucktalk]

One summer while in high school I worked for a 'blow in' insulation company. I was required to keep the feeder/hopper full of insulation, make sure the feeder hose never had a kink in it, climb in the attic to check on the other worker and keep track of how many bags of insulation we used. It happen that particular summer was one of the hottest in the Tulsa area. It was, by far, the worst job I ever had. What about you?

[BBatesokc]

I bet I've had over 100 jobs in my lifetime so far (mostly side jobs for extra money to buy non-essential stuff) and a handful of career jobs.

Fortunately, I've liked virtually all of them. Even the ones I would never do again, I found made for interesting learning experiences and memories.

The one I hated the worst was when I moved out as a teenager and took a night job as a telemarketer for Soap Opera Digest magazine. I hated calling people (though it wasn't a cold call, they were all subscribers), my co-workers were WEIRD and everyone in the office smoked while working. It was a mental nightmare. I was there for maybe a month until I found something else.

I liked all my restaurant gigs - but only because I was young and it wasn't a bad gig for my age.

I've worked at a lot of bars over the years and the only one I hated was when I worked for one of the Brewer kids when he ran Rock-A-Billies in Bricktown.

[HewenttoJared]

I used to work tech support for dsl back when it was really, really new. I wouldn't work in a call center again for twice my current salary.

[Pete]

I had a summer job in high school working at a graveyard.

It was maintenance work, not grave-digging but still I hated it. Working in the middle of all those dead bodies and weeping visitors was not what I wanted to be doing at 16.

I remember the guy that ran the place told me there was lots of money in that business and it was the first time I realized that there were much more important things than money and material possessions.

[mmonroe]

I was the General Manager for a childrens indoor party and play center... besides the whiny parents, teenaged work force, horrible owners (now divorced), and eventually calling to quit that job on a sunday at the Rio over brunch in Las Vegas, my favorite part was calling and quitting then enjoying Vegas for another week before heading back home to find a new job.

[MadMonk]

I once worked a summer job for a heavy equipment rental company washing the equipment (bulldozers, front loaders, forklifts, etc.) after they were returned and spraying them with diesel fuel to prevent rust. They were always filthy and it was a disgusting job. To this day, I cannot stand the smell of diesel. The only fun part of that job was being able to drive that stuff around in the yard.

[jn1780]

One summer while in high school I worked for a 'blow in' insulation company. I was required to keep the feeder/hopper full of insulation, make sure the feeder hose never had a kink in it, climb in the attic to check on the other worker and keep track of how many bags of insulation we used. It happen that particular summer was one of the hottest in the Tulsa area. It was, by far, the worst job I ever had. What about you?

I bet you came home itchy too.

[Larry OKC]

Have to 2nd the call center job, knew it wasn't going to work out so I didn't come back after lunch. The worst job I had was my first one as a graphic designer. While I loved what I was doing and the vast majority of the office staff, the owner and vice-president were both hateful, mean, spiteful individuals (who allegedly were having an affair with each other, if true, they soooooo deserved each other). They would go out of their way to ask staff things they knew they didnt know the answer of just to belittle them. My stomach would tie up in knots the closer I would get to the building...often thought of missing my exit and just keep on driving. But did the smart thing and waited until I had another job lined up. One of the happiest days was when I turned in my 2 week notice and was told he wouldn't accept 2 weeks (not enough time, even though when I was hired they insisted a start that day without giving my employer any notice), was fired on the spot, he followed me into my office while I cleaned out my desk and escorted me to the car. That company went out of business and about a year after I left, discovered he was the night shift manager at the local 7-11. He didn't recognize me but I had a hard time not saying anything to him. Just put my items and money on the counter and left. Still brings a smile to my face 10 + yrs later...that there is some justice in the world.

[BBatesokc]

Have to 2nd the call center job, knew it wasn't going to work out so I didn't come back after lunch. The worst job I had was my first one as a graphic designer. While I loved what I was doing and the vast majority of the office staff, the owner and vice-president were both hateful, mean, spiteful individuals (who allegedly were having an affair with each other, if true, they soooooo deserved each other). They would go out of their way to ask staff things they knew they didnt know the answer of just to belittle them. My stomach would tie up in knots the closer I would get to the building...often thought of missing my exit and just keep on driving. But did the smart thing and waited until I had another job lined up. One of the happiest days was when I turned in my 2 week notice and was told he wouldn't accept 2 weeks (not enough time, even though when I was hired they insisted a start that day without giving my employer any notice), was fired on the spot, he followed me into my office while I cleaned out my desk and escorted me to the car. That company went out of business and about a year after I left, discovered he was the night shift manager at the local 7-11. He didn't recognize me but I had a hard time not saying anything to him. Just put my items and money on the counter and left. Still brings a smile to my face 10 + yrs later...that there is some justice in the world.

Your story reminded me of some love/hate jobs i've had. Loved the job, hated the boss or employees.

My most memorable was when I worked for Children's and University Hospital in marketing and public relations. My boss, Jake, was an unqualified buffoon who would say some of the most horrendous things - Once an obviously distraught family ended up on our floor trying to locate their child in critical condition. They ran into Jake in the hall and asked him "What's the quickest way to the ICU?" and he replied "I could hit you in the face really hard!" He'd call the media and give them confidential information "off the record" and even watched hardcore porn in his office on a state computer and couldn't care less if other employees came in and out ands saw it. Near the end, when the hospitals were being privatized, he and I were the last two employees in the department. I couldn't stand him so much our offices had to be relocated to different parts of the hospital. I heard he bounced around from one job to the other (OSU OKC, Heart Association) and now works for himself barely scrapping by. Couldn't have happened to a better person.

[jn1780]

Have to 2nd the call center job, knew it wasn't going to work out so I didn't come back after lunch. The worst job I had was my first one as a graphic designer. While I loved what I was doing and the vast majority of the office staff, the owner and vice-president were both hateful, mean, spiteful individuals (who allegedly were having an affair with each other, if true, they soooooo deserved each other). They would go out of their way to ask staff things they knew they didnt know the answer of just to belittle them. My stomach would tie up in knots the closer I would get to the building...often thought of missing my exit and just keep on driving. But did the smart thing and waited until I had another job lined up. One of the happiest days was when I turned in my 2 week notice and was told he wouldn't accept 2 weeks (not enough time, even though when I was hired they insisted a start that day without giving my employer any notice), was fired on the spot, he followed me into my office while I cleaned out my desk and escorted me to the car. That company went out of business and about a year after I left, discovered he was the night shift manager at the local 7-11. He didn't recognize me but I had a hard time not saying anything to him. Just put my items and money on the counter and left. Still brings a smile to my face 10 + yrs later...that there is some justice in the world.

What an idiot. Two weeks isn't enough notice so you fire your employee right then and there. Hmm.. I wonder why they went out of business. Talk about not being able to roll with the punches. lol

[kevinpate]

I... The only fun part of that job was being able to drive that stuff around in the yard.

Brought back a smile. In my youth I was a lot hand for a auto dealership. Wash them, shine them, etc. The lot also sold some farm equipment and we seemed to always have a dump truck or three available for sale on our back lot. Keeping the rides on the front lot shiny was nice work, and everyone treated me well, but taking care of the back lot, yeah, that was a hoot and a half and by far the best part of that job. I probably shoulda done that part off the clock as much fun as it was. And the bosses could get real from time to time, but they were never truly mean.

[ou48A]

I worked on an oil field swabbing unit for 6 months.
For those of you who may not know the job involved pulling fluids from oil and gas wells.

Rare was the day when I wasn’t pretty well coated from head to toe with fluids that could be crude oil, salt water, or acid used in acidizing wells. The acid would make you itch a lot worse than diesel, in fact the acid ruined any clothing that wasn’t rubber.

Rigging the unit up or down required lot of muscle power and 16 lb. sledge hammering. This was all weather job where a bull dozer would sometimes be called in to pull our unit on site though the mud. Walking for hours in near knee deep mud was a chore.
We worked as many as 100 hours a week, usually about 75. I was a lean 6’1” 240 lb.’s. There were also many spirited characters and land owners to deal with. With our rig tower lighting was about the only thing that really scared me.

As miserable as the work could be was I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. It taught me a lot about hard work and helped me become a much tougher and more mature person. We worked along side other companies, all this taught me a lot about the various aspects of the industry that I had not seen. All these years later I still draw on this knowledge when making oil & gas investments.

The high school summer job that I had installing duct work in attics wasn’t too much fun.

[bucktalk]

I bet you came home itchy too.

Indeed! Plus I had asthma issues during the time period. Shheesssh....the fun of being poor lol.

[Easy180]

19 working a summer shining golf shoes at a country club

[Celebrator]

Abercrombie+Fitch...folding clothes......Christmas break in college, 1997...my buddy wanted to work there to meet girls and I didn't have a car and needed a job...he had a car...so guess where I had to work?.....they actually encouraged us NOT to talk to customers because "the clothes sell themselves" Miserable.

[Ginkasa]

Interestingly, another forum I participate in had this same exact topic just a couple of days ago. Below is what I posted there. The theme park was, of course, Frontier City.

*****

I worked at a local amusement park in the "food" department for a little over four months during high school. At first, it was pretty alright as far as high school summer jobs go. The "restaurant" I worked at was was in the back of the park and all on its own (the building was lovingly called The Lone Buffalo). It got busy sometimes, but never too busy. I worked with the same 4 or 5 people, most of which were pretty alright. We had a "supervisor," but he was also just a high school kid and, fortunately, not one who let his supposed authority go to his head. We did our job, but we never felt that anyone was breathing down our necks or anything. It was alright.

After about a month and a half, when school started, things started to go down hill. A couple of our staff quit which was also indicative of the rest of the park. Since everybody was quitting, the higher ups decided to close down the Lone Buffalo and move the few of us that remained from there to other restaurants within the park (this was in hindsight probably fortunate since the roof collapsed just a few days later). This, at first, was also not so bad. It was a little awkward trying to get integrated with the rest of the "food department." Most of the eateries in the park were pretty close together, so they moved around between them a lot and knew each other pretty well. The Buffalo was pretty self contained in comparison. I didn't really see any of the people I had worked with again, but the people I started working with were cool, too.

So far, not so bad. Then I got placed in the corn dog booth.

The corn dog booth was a little booth located near the entrance to the park. It was the only place in the theme park that sold corn dogs. I felt this was an odd decision because corn dogs seem like an inherent theme park/fair type food. Indeed, the booth was insanely busy. Additionally, since it was just a little booth, they only ever staffed one person in there. Maybe they staffed two during the summer when they had more staff to schedule, but I only ever worked solo. The booth always always had a line.

Worse, the corn dogs took a relatively long time to make. I really don't remember how long it was; I just remember it was longer than pretty much anything else I had to make at that theme park. It was also only possible to cook 8 a time in the corn dog fryers. One could dump some corns dogs in the basket fryers to increase production, but that was discouraged unless absolutely necessary. It was absolutely necessary all the time.

The booth was so busy so constantly that I consistently fell behind in production versus demand. I had to create my own numbered system to ensure I gave corn dogs to the right people in the right order when they had to wait for the corn dogs to finish cooking. It wasn't unheard of for people to have to wait through two or three batches of corn dogs before it was their turn. This was, of course, in addition to running the register itself. I also had to sell other typical things as well: fries, nachos, pretzels, etc. So I had to make sure they were prepared in addition to those corn dogs.

It became worse as the season inched closer to the end. During the last month of business or so, management would start shutting down certain pieces of equipment so they could be cleaned and covered for storage during the winter. This included my basket fryer which was not only a last resort in trying to keep up with the corn dog demand, but also how I made my french fries (which I also sold a lot of, of course). Alas, business only increased due to the park's annual Oktoberfest and Fright Fest during October. I had to rely on the restaurant next door to supply me with french fries for my customers. They weren't always reliable in getting it to me, though, so I often had to remind them to make me fries which, of course, demanded that I abandon my post for a brief second to duck my head out the door and shout, "I need fries!" which only decreased the speed in which I could get through the line and increased the time it took for me to get the corn dogs out.

To make matters even worse, the theme park, as a fundraiser and a last resort to make up for all the lost staff due to school, started "hiring" soccer moms and their soccer clubs on a temporary basis to run some of the restaurants including the one next door. I'm not going to speculate why, but they sucked at the job and would frequently "forget" to give me fries even after I had asked and then demanded them. So now I had a waiting list for both corn dogs and chili cheese fries.

Additionally, my work schedule was typically (and by typically, I mean every week from when the park went to weekends only to the final blessed day it was open for the season): 5:00pm to midnight on Fridays; 10:00am to 12:00am on Saturdays; and 10:00am to 10:00pm on Sundays. In addition to school and the various functions that contained.

So, suffice to say, I didn't return management's call when they tried to recruit me again the next year. Instead, I went to work for a movie theatre which was much nicer.

tl;dr - Theme park. Corn dogs. PAIN.

[oneforone]

I have two. The very first one was an under the table job. I begged my parents to let me get a job because I wanted the freedom of having my own income. They finally let me go work for a friend of theirs who had a friend that needed help cleaning carpets. My job was to guide the hose, empty the machine and spray the pre treatment chemical. The guy I was working for had contracts with Red Lobster and Steak and Ale. My first day on the job I almost fell out of the truck in busy traffic. The idiot I was working with forgot to tell me the latch did not work and the bungee cord on the dash was supposed to keep the door closed.

I went on and worked my butt off for two weeks and only made $40. I took three weeks after that to get the guy to cough up my first paycheck. My parents were not happy with the friend of theirs to say the least.

A few months later I started working at local BBQ place that is now defunct washing dishes. The guy running the place was a tyrant. He would yell at the male staff for the dumbest things and scheme on the females. As time went on, I moved on to my junior year of high school where I did a CO-OP program through school because I had no interest in going on to college at the time. Not to mention, I got out of school two hours earlier to go to work. So I signed up. The school told me dishwashing was not going to qualify so they set up with interviews at a couple of employers around the city. Walmart was one of the places I was in the running for a position. They called my boss at the BBQ place asking about my history. (I gave them permission to do it.) The job was not going to start until August and I interviewed in May. Therefore, I did not see a need to tell my boss ahead of time. I figured if I got the job. I would tell him then. Needless to say he blew a gasket and fired me.

Walmart called back and let me know, I was approved to be hired however, they had to cut back the number of student workers at the request of the new store manager. That ended up being the best thing that could ever happen too me. The second interview was at Pratt Foods on Walker. The store director hired me on the spot. I loved that job and I met some really cool people and they became my second family. The people that landed the Walmart jobs hated it and quit when the school year was over. I stayed with Pratts until I entered the military in 1995.

I have to admit my first two jobs were hell but, it made me a better worker. Because on my worst days I remind myself... You could be soaking wet head to toe smelling like BBQ and deep fryer grease. It took over 5 years to come back around to liking BBQ again. I think everybody needs a job like that, the one that tests your limits. Just simply because it makes the rubberband a little more durable when your doing something you love. I have to admit, I love my job. It could always pay better but, the people I serve, the people I work with and the people I work for make it work every minute of it.

[bandnerd]

It's a toss-up between two summer jobs: Working with children at the school-age on-site camp at the YMCA, and working at a plant nursery. At one, I was beaten up by children every day from noon to 5. At the other, I was treated like a child, called "honey" and "sweetie" by my boss, and was likely paid under the table for all I know.

Though, come to think of it, my time spent teaching private piano and flute lessons at a performing arts center was also pretty horrible. The boss said they were going to hold our paychecks if our rooms weren't clean and that our "Christmas bonus" was the fact that we got paid at all, because the employer was having a hard time making ends meet after entering their daughter in a bunch of local beauty pageants. When I left, all I got was, "Someone applied for your job today."

[BlackmoreRulz]

Back in the 70's there was a place just north of Reno on Agnew called Sheriff Manufacturing that made wooden office furniture. My job was to run a radial arm saw making cuts for the various components. Other than the sawdust it really wasn't that bad, however about 15 feet away from the saw station there was a wall that had a large clock on it that was directly in my line of sight...drove me absolutely crazy. I would try so hard not to look at it but it was impossible. I'd keep my head down and make cut after cut trying not to look at the clock, I'd swear that that twenty or thirty minutes had elapsed from the last time I had actually looked, only to be severely disappointed that a total of three minutes had ticked off the clock. I made it three days before I could take it no longer and quit.

[RadicalModerate]

I think the worst job I ever had was my first full-time job: running an old-fashioned, manual, turret lathe, cranking out pieces of partially threaded/beveled/cut-to-length, bar stock for the big--like 1" in diameter--versions of a product called "Wej-Its" or "Wedg-Its". This was the first step in making what were, basically, expansion bolts for heavy construction. There was a long row of incessantly loud automatic screw machines cranking out smaller versions of the product and other (loud) machines in the place that did various chopping, shearing and shaving steps in the process.

I had to make between 100 and 110 pieces during a shift.

Other than the mind numbing repetition and noise, the worst part was having to spray cutting oil on the stock during the threading, beveling and cutting-to-length. No matter how hard I tried to avoid it, I went home soaked with cutting oil every day.

I think I might have lasted maybe a month and a half.
Perhaps not even that long.
Damn that job sucked.

[ou48A]

Radical Moderate that is mind numbing work. I worked as a production machinist for a while using a manual lathe. To keep going I kept telling myself at least I was indoors. I enjoyed tool and die work and working with exotic materials much better. Some of our work had tolerances as low as .0001

[RadicalModerate]

My dad was a Machinist/Tool and Die Maker who got his start at Ford Motor Company--in Michigan =)--went on to work at the Naval Gun Factory near Washington DC during WW2 then got with The National Bureau of Standards. Over the years, he was "promoted" to "Scientific Instrument Maker" and made parts for the original Cesium Beam Atomic Clock.

He might have started out doing the type of work I described, but I just wasn't cut out for it.

I decided that driving a truck was a lot less insufferable--at least for a few years.

Later, I realized that my REAL skills were related to carpentry and construction.
(Mostly the type of Carpentry in which the type of tolerances are about 1/16" plus or minus. =)

[kevinpate]

... a wall that had a large clock on it that was directly in my line of sight...drove me absolutely crazy. I would try so hard not to look at it but it was impossible. I'd keep my head down ... trying not to look at the clock, I'd swear that that twenty or thirty minutes had elapsed from the last time I had actually looked, only to be severely disappointed that a total of three minutes had ticked off the clock. ...

I think everyone, irrespective of trade or profession, can relate to clock hands that just.will.NOT.freaking.move

[Sheetkeecker]

The greatest learned skill in life is, being able to compress (mentally) the time while doing things you do not want/like to do and expanding the time you have in your own world doing as you please.

Quite possible, and will bring to you contentment beyond imagining.