What did you do at your WORST job?

kensnelling · Apr 11, 2012

I retired at 51. When I was 53 I got a call from a motorcycle dealership to be service manager, and some motorcycle sales. It was a living #$&? working at a place where there were 7 employees, 3 of them owners with differing opinions. After a year of that for the first time in my life I told 'em to stuff it and walked out.

What I thought was a bad job looked good compared ti that. Throwing straw on a concrete floor, clean/strip the cows before hooking up the milk machines, then hand shoveling the soiled straw out the door to load in the manure wagon. Twice a day, before school and after school I always knew what I was doing.

It was a lot easier dealing with that snit than the snit at the bike shop.

Ken

Sterff · Apr 11, 2012

My best job was working on a dairy farm. I did everything you could imagine and enjoyed it all. My worst job was working as a sewer line opener. I didn't mind the work too much believe it or not but, the hours were dumb. I was on call so Id start at different times everyday.

forgeblast · Apr 11, 2012

Worked as a therapist in a geriatric locked ward facility. It was difficult we had patients that would cycle through, some that passed away while there, and others that were violent. Many who were violent were dementia patients. They just didnt know where or what was going on.
What made it worse was seeing how much pain these people were in for so long and how the meds that helped them took a toll on their bodies. It was humbling.

300UGUY · Apr 11, 2012

I did a stint as a 1st line supervisor in a auto plant. Since I had been transferred into the plant, I was not a "home boy". Due to low sales of our product ( engines ), they needed to lay off the afternoon shift. I was transferred onto afternoons, and I layed off the entire 2nd shift, one department every 2 weeks or so. I was given a script to read to every employee, and the folks on afternoons were the lowest senority group in the plant, so they didn't get much in the way of bennies after a layoff. The local supervisors were pulled out of each department in turn, I was sent in, and layed off the group. Most guys took the news ok, some cussed me out, that didn't bother me, but the guys that cried almost made a alky outta me. I was less popular than the industrial engineers......

crankshaft21 · Apr 11, 2012

Viet Nam, 1969. No matter how bad it gets and you think it can`t get any worse, believe me it can.

PILOON · Apr 11, 2012

2 that come to mind, both summer jobs.
One was at an ice cream factory where weekly the delivered about 2 tons of sugar in 100 lb sacks. They slid down a chute and I had to hand load a hand cart, move and stack them. This was min pay scale job.

The other was (I kid U not) manually putting wire handles on gallon paint cans.
The environment was over the hill noisy and the air permeated with oil fumes (for lubrication). Pay was like 3-4 x min at that time.
The upside was that most student workers actually earned enough to buy a brand new car before returning to classes.(mid 50`s)

PILOON · Apr 11, 2012

LOL
After reading most posts, this sounds like Mike Rowe`s DIRTY JOBS.

Depmandog · Apr 12, 2012

Worst job, right out of high school was a night time jailer / special deputy at the county jail.

I was the only one on shift, would answer the phone if it ever rang, dispatch (always a call-out - no deputies were ever on duty) and every 30 minutes I would have to enter the cell block to do a jail check. Most of the time, we only had 8-10 guests, and they we're behind another set of bars...but it still was MIGHTY uncomfortable opening up that steel door and locking yourself in with the inmates knowing that NO ONE was there to watch your back.

It was 30 minutes of boredom then 5 minutes of gut wrenching adrenalin fueled fear then back to 30 minutes of boredom.

On the rare occasion the city police would arrest someone - that wasn't too bad. City cops would be there to help process the prisoner....then back to the boredom.

I had been hearing a clanking noise. Been going on for several days. No way to look and see what they were doing. I reported it to the Sherrif, but nothing got done about it. I was supposed to work one night, but traded shifts with another guy. I drove past the jail that night - every cop car, Sherrif vehicle and state trooper was there. I stopped to see what the excitement was. They were doing a shakedown.

Turns out the clanking I heard was an inmate using a brass cover from the floor drain beating on the door lock of an evidence locker (yes - great design having an evidence locker in the cell block). The replacement jailer smelled pot, called for a shakedown. Turns out they gained access to the evidence locker, armed themselves with found knives and was planning a breakout. They had been stuffing paper in the cell lock, testing it every day. Their plan would have worked had they not smoked the dope they found in the locker. Would have been my shift too!!!!

I later dispatched for the local PD, that was tons of fun - but I hated the jail.

tmc_31 · Apr 12, 2012

I guess I have been lucky over my working career, my first job was the worst and compared to most of your worst jobs mine was a walk in the park (literally). I worked the summer of my freshman (high school) year for the city parks department. My job was to water the flowers in the medians of the boulevards. They would stand me out in a 20'X20' flower patch in the morning with a water hose and pick me up for lunch. Same in the afternoon. Once I thought I would take the initiative and move to the next flower patch when the water was running down the street on the patch I was watering. Never again, boss told me to water that patch until he told me to quit. Extremely boring, finished out the summer, never looked back. The next summer I got a job working at a go kart track, I was happy as a pig in sh*t.

Tim