What's the worst job you've ever had?

[blind-fitter]

Just that. Tell us about the worst job you ever had.

(Fictitious accounts may be acceptable, if sufficiently entertaining)

[Jenny]

Working for a veterinarian when I was in college. He was a complete jerk, didn't train me well and basically all I did was straighten up and mop. He had a strong accent and had a fit in front of one of the clients because I didn't understand him. He wanted a tourniquet, but with his accent, I heard "torn-a-key". It took me a couple of times to understand what he wanted (no, there was no blood gushing everywhere, or I would have gotten it sooner). I grew up in a family with people who had strong accents, so I have the patience, but still...I don't always get it the first time.

[_Laurie_]

When I was in school I had a summer job cleaning motel rooms...It was awful. Some people are such slobs, some of those rooms were just absolutely gross....One time I forgot to empty an ashtray and my boss screamed at me about it....I left on my lunch break that day and never went back....

[Steel2Velvet]

Commissioned sales was, by far, worse than any job I have ever had that may have placed physical or mental demands upon me. The utter frustration of trying to sell something to someone who is doing all they can to resist makes for an unhappy S2V.

[RonJonSurfer]

The rodeo was coming to town; a strange thing since I lived in a big city in New Jersey. But, anyway, the rodeo was coming and tickets were sold over the phone to residents of the city that wanted to attend.

I was a teenager at the time and the job of bringing tickets to the homes of people that bought tickets and collecting the money seemed pretty easy.

It's amazing how many people seemed to forget that they bought rodeo tickets in the first place.

[RockyRaccoon]

I worked at a watch kiosk in our local mall. It was a very small company, they started in northern Virginia and spread into Maryland a little bit until they landed in Annapolis. Working there was either phenomenally boring or ridiculously difficult. My job was to sell and do minor repairs (replacing batteries, watch bands) on watches.

First of all, the customers pretty much hated us. No idea why, but they did. People would come up to me with a ziploc baggie full of 7 or 8 crappy kmart electronic watches (which are the hardest to replace batteries on) and plop it on our counter and say "I need batteries in all of these". I would say "It's gonna be about 45 minutes" and they would either complain or say "That's fine, I'll just wait here" and loom over my shoulder. That's not including the numerous times I had angry customers get angry over nothing. I had one guy who plopped a busted watch on our counter and demanded we fix it for free because he bought it there, even after I explained to him we didn't cover warranties but the watch company would. Or the woman who called my coworker racist because he showed her the $15-20 watchbands rather than the $50-200 watchbands for her kmart watch.

And THEN there was the management. My managers were nice guys. But corporate? Terrible. I got literally one day of training and then I was by myself my next shift. At one point our paychecks started bouncing. Eventually the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and laid all of us off.

Not my favorite job ever.

[TheLizard]

My first job, working at a sports merchandise place in the mall. And when I say merchandise, I don't mean things you use to play sports like balls and bats and sneakers and such. I mean licensed MLB, NFL, etc. gear. And this was when the recession finally got so bad that those-in-high-places were finally forced to actually use the word "recession. Meanwhile, here we were trying to sell jerseys with famous athletes' names on them for $150-300 to people who can barely make ends meet. People would come in and look around in an obvious "one day when I have money, I'll buy this sort of stuff" way. But of course, I get blamed for declining sales. So after a while of thankless minimum waging it and getting chewed out daily for not being "friendly enough" to sell useless, overpriced crap, I suggested we lower the prices to compete with internet retailers who were undercutting us. We would have still made a profit with my suggestions. The owner, the most pompous douche I've ever met, looked at me like I was crazy. This was the summer before my freshman year of college. When I came home for winter break that same year, the store had gone out of business. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get some sort of mean happiness out of that.

[MindCrime]

One job I had as a data analyzer when I was younger, because I got caught downloading porn on the corporate hard drive.

[TheLizard]

At least you didn't get caught, er, enjoying the porn while on the job.

[miamisammy29]

At least you didn't get caught, er, enjoying the porn while on the job.

...or did you?

[MindCrime]

Does break-time count as on the job?

[miamisammy29]

It's only wrong if you get caught.

:rock: :rock:

[Ombre Vivante]

... The utter frustration of trying to sell something to someone who is doing all they can to resist makes for an unhappy S2V.

Hey, this sounds like a regular night out at the clubs and bars for Bitter Almonds

I hate work, but the worst one I had was when I was 13 as a janitor. I got some fake papers that said I was 18 and managed to get part-time work from 08:00pm to midnight, Monday through Friday, cleaning medical offices (at 4.60/hour! Hahah). Cleaning toilets was awful, but dealing with the sneering looks from some doctors and office personnel was what made this job the worst. Man, you could tell how f****d-up these dregs of society were when I pretended to be ignorant... no hablo Inglés, señor. There was a particular doctor, one "Dr. Hwang," who reeeeeally stood out as the biggest loser and bastard of them all. I felt sorry for his wife and kids. Damn. I lasted doing that for over 2 years until I had enough saved up to buy a beater car when I was 15 (I pretty much bought my own video games, clothes, books, and food from that time on)

[edna]

I was a lawyer' s secretary for some months, some 30 years ago, one summer...

[blind-fitter]

I only lasted two weeks at the helium factory; I just wasn't going to be spoken to in that tone of voice.

[TheLizard]

Did you make this whole thread as a set-up for that terrible joke?

[chutzpah]

I only lasted two weeks at the helium factory; I just wasn't going to be spoken to in that tone of voice.

that's funny

[RyanTurtle]

Pouring asphalt in the middle of the summer.

[Ombre Vivante]

Did you make this whole thread as a set-up for that terrible joke?

He shouldn't quit his day-job

[RockyRaccoon]

He shouldn't quit his day-job

Unless his day job is a comedian

[Tenacious_Peaches]

Many moons ago, I worked at a place I shall not name that rhymes with Squall-Fart. I was the receiving manager and therefore was responsible for the cleanliness of the stock room and the outside of the back of the building, including the area around the dumpster. I distinctly remember one summer afternoon sweeping up hot garbage from around the dumpster.

There are days when I get a bit frustrated with the job I have now. Then I look around my nice air conditioned corner office and tell myself to shut the *&^% up.

[TheLizard]

I actually worked at Squall-Fart. It was wet and stinky.

[Tenacious_Peaches]

Ew.

[skybluesky]

Shut the front door Mary! I worked at said rhyming establishment whenst I was in college! I was domestics, meaning I sold sheets, blinds, curtains, etc. And it sucked out loud.

[Tenacious_Peaches]

In the immortal words of Bart Simpson, is it possible for something to suck and blow at the same time?