What Is The Worst Job/s You Have Ever Worked

[RankStranger]

@Rick Stranger, I've never had a job that bad, but people in professional environments complaining makes me scratch my head too, sometimes. A coworker went crying to our supervisor because I asked her why she wanted me to do something. I've heard people complain that they have to drive through traffic to get to work. A friend of mine quit her job because she was tired of answering the phone (she admits now that she made a mistake by leaving). A lot of people say they just can't do the nine to five thing. 

 

I work in a CPA office where I proofread reports, do word processing and quality control. It's not exciting, but it's a steady job with decent pay and benefits. And yet it's really hard to find good admin help. People want cool jobs. They want to wear jeans to work every day in a professional downtown office, even though it's just as easy to put on slacks in the morning--and slacks are cheaper and more durable. They whine if the break room is out of free chips. Yeah, I don't think any of these people have ever worked in an non-professional environment.

 

I think this is just kinda human nature.  There's a vast range of conditions that people can become accustomed to.  There are jobs out there FAR worse than being a heavy equipment mechanic- and people make it work.  And they also manage to be really unhappy at really easy and well-compensated jobs.

 

One thing I've noticed over the years is that there really isn't much correlation between working conditions and the amount of bitching that people engage in.  People get used to a certain baseline and adjust their expectations accordingly.  Some of the biggest complainers I've ever worked with were union men who had EXCELLENT pay, benefits, working conditions, and job security compared to most mechanics in their industry.  And I've worked at places where we did similar work in FAR worse conditions, for half the pay- and people overall were a lot happier.  

 

I'm not immune to it either- I catch myself these days complaining about things I would've found laughable just a few years ago.  But 16 years in a far more difficult and lower-paying line of work... that helps me keep perspective.  My situation is similar to yours in that this is NOT an exciting job.  Sure I can make it sound exciting- I design mechanical parts, test equipment, and test procedures for jets!  Woohoo!  And it's true enough- but I spend FAR more time sending emails, going to meetings, doing paperwork, re-designing, re-writing, nitpicking, tweaking, etc. than any actual engineering.  Lots of the younger people I work with act like they're too good for all this- in their minds they should be designing fighter jets and mars-landers while snowboarding the rockies on weekends.  I figure that that's their business... but I also think they have a very thin grasp on reality.  If I ever had that kind of ambition, it was beat outta me years ago.  Easy work, decent pay, looks good on a resume... that's really more than I ever expected find in a job.

[Sheerbliss]

I used to be a mechanical engineer. "Not very exciting" is putting it mildly. The accounting firm where I work now is like Animal House by comparison.

 

And your coworkers think they're too good for mechanical engineering jobs, given how competitive the field is? Wow. Without highly specialized, in-demand skills, you can be replaced in a minute. Don't they know that? Or do they assume that all those unemployed engineers who worked their butts off in school, passed the EIT and PE exams, networked and sent out hundreds of resumes just aren't trying very hard? I left engineering partly because I couldn't find work in the field.

[RankStranger]

I used to be a mechanical engineer. "Not very exciting" is putting it mildly. The accounting firm where I work now is like Animal House by comparison.

 

And your coworkers think they're too good for mechanical engineering jobs, given how competitive the field is? Wow. Without highly specialized, in-demand skills, you can be replaced in a minute. Don't they know that? Or do they assume that all those unemployed engineers who worked their butts off in school, passed the EIT and PE exams, networked and sent out hundreds of resumes just aren't trying very hard? I left engineering partly because I couldn't find work in the field.

 

My co-workers with this attitude are all people in their 20's who have little if any work experience prior to this job.  They're all very intelligent, and they 'know' as well as anybody that layoffs can happen without notice to anybody in the aircraft industry.  But they haven't experienced it- life hasn't kicked them in the ass yet.  It likely will at some point, and they'll likely learn from it.  But we're talking about young professionals who grew up upper middle class- had their education paid for by parents/scholarships, etc... and then landed in a cushy job right outta school.  They've been told all their lives that they're the best and brightest- and things have gone pretty damn well for them thusfar.  They can't help but think pretty highly of themselves at this point.

 

Not saying they're bad people or anything- but yeah, I think they're naive.

[Guest Furball]

I have others but another one was unloading heavy bags of rocks for hours or unloading heavy anything from c rates. uhg

[Tezia]

I've only worked in one place (I'm a young adult btw) at age 19. It was Dominoes Pizza. Worst mistake ever. But what made this point so significant is that around this period in my life, I was on the fence about theism in general. I guess after praying to make things better and only ending up taken advantage of by the managers and eventually being fired I guess that's what killed the last bit of my interest in Christianity and theism.

[JadedAtheist]

I've only really had one job that I really hated getting up in the morning for, the rest have sorta been a mix of the bad with the good. In the job that I hated, my boss constantly fucked people over. Trying not to pay people for the first couple weeks because of "training", firing a women because she got pregnant and she was too young and uninformed to know she could have sued his ass. He lied to customers and charged them money for things he didn't do, salvage parts from other people's stuff who wouldn't pay to be used in those that would. We had to constantly lie to people about everything, and I absolutely hated working there. On top of this one of the guys there was a neanderthal bully who would physically intimidate almost everyone and it really sucked. It took a lot of effort coming into work. My boss was an absolute asshole and when I found out he sold his business for essentially no money (the guy buying it took on the debt) I was so fucking happy in a way you wouldn't believe. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.

 

In most other places if there were shitty things about it, they were outweighed by the good generally. In one job it was an overall good environment but it had some manual labor involved and I had to clear out a couple of offices during the summer when I first started which sucked really hard as the air con didn't work and they were 40 degree plus days (100ish in farenheit I believe). On top of that I'd often have to work in areas that had been infested with mice and thus had to thoroughly cleanse myself in case I inadvertently touched their shit. Gross. Despite that, the good more than outweighed the bad.

[Sybaris]

I worked at a mortuary when I was a kid. Sometimes I'd go with the mortician to retrieve bodies. The people that died outside in the winter weren't so bad. Usually they were elderly that lived alone and fell or something when they'd go out to feed their dog or were coming in from their car and they'd freeze. We'd have to set them out on the table and crank up the heat and thaw 'em out cause they'd freeze in all sorts of odd positions. Happened a couple times a winter. The suicide one's in summer were the worst. One time we had to go out to the forestry to get this guy who had killed himself in his car. It way back on a fire road so nobody found him for weeks and it had been smokin' hot that summer, several days above 100. Had to use spatulas and ice scoops to get him out. A lot of him had just soaked into the seat and down into the floorboards. It was like soupy jello and you could pull the bones out easy.

[Thrive]

Sybaris, ewww!  There is not enough money in the world for me to do that job.

 

In my previous career as a heavy equipment mechanic, I've had several jobs that required some really shitty tasks.  Some were worse than others- but really this kind of thing has been true of ALL of them except the one union job I had for a few years.  I've had to work on machinery when the snow is flying, it's WELL below 0 degrees F with a 30mph wind.  So goddamn cold that the diesel fuel would turn to jelly.  Or when it's 110+ degrees out with no shade for MILES around... and a 30mph wind kicking up dust.  I've had to crawl down into the guts of combines with a blowtorch in one hand and a water bottle in the other- cutting out steel parts WHILE putting out the fire... 'cause those things WILL catch on fire and that's a $250,000+ dollar machine.  I've worked on garbage trucks dripping puddles of fetid liquid- where maggots would just magically appear.  

So this is what motivated me to finally finish college.  And lemme tell you- a professional environment is a completely different world.  No comparison whatsoever.  It's funny to me when I hear my co-workers bitching about this or that- they have NO IDEA what's out there.  They practically work in disneyland by my standards, and will bitch about things like the a/c not working well enough, or some company policy about keeping their desk clean.  They don't know what work IS. 

 

My ex was a boilermaker working on power plants, so we lived on the road moving from job to job.  Some of the working conditions they were in were crazy.  Winter in Nebraska well below 0, summer in New Mexico having to weld inside a small metal container, on top of an metal structure in a lightning storm.  The pay was amazing and his skills were in demand, but it was hell on his body.

 

My worst job was as an assistant at a law firm. One of the partners was a monster.  He was very physically intimidating and he would back you into a corner, leaning over you as he yelled at you.  Nothing was ever done right, even if I printed out his emails to show I followed instructions to the letter it was still wrong.  He screamed at me in front of co-workers for half an hour for ordering cut up instead of whole fruit for a meeting.  He would regularly search our desks and computers then lecture about what he found.  He would call me stupid, or ask me "Who do you think you are? Why would you think you were smart enough to make that decision on your own? Why do I keep you around when I can't trust you to do anything right?" Or the really fun one where he would throw a stack of papers across the room and then make me pick them up and find the one mistake he thought I made in one of the documents.  He'd lean over me while I was on the floor picking them up, yelling some more.  I was expected to answer my phone or check emails after work and on weekends and without pay.  It was my first job after being a stay at home mom and it had taken me months to find it.  I stayed for a year just to have it show on my resume and then I was gone the first chance I got.

[violetbutterfly]

Retail when I was a teenager. Enough said.

[traveller2]

A mental healthcare facility I worked in once.The job seemed to attract workers who were brimming with mental health problems themselves.Nothing so wrong with that::I have my own but I don't act them out in the workplace.Never in my life have I seen 'proffesionals' behave like that.

 

Tho I have to say a restaurant kitchen when I was 16 as my first job was very bad too.

 

In London I worked for a maintenance company and I hated going to hotels.Do you know that even in a top class hotel some of the staff are the most unclean individuals you will meet?

[ax345]

I tried to shift careers into teaching science, which I was not convinced I was cut out for, but felt was worth a try.  I ended up in one of the worst jobs I could have asked for.  I took a new position at a school for special education for 9th graders who were sent away from their respective school districts due to severe learning and/or behavioral disorders.  That by itself is difficult enough, but the school never offered the 9th grade before that year and they were using a newly-rented facility that was, frankly, too small.  I had NO help from experienced teachers, as they were also under-staffed.  

 

I lasted for merely two months because I tried too hard to be an "excellent teacher" right away.  In hindsight, I probably would have lasted much longer had I decided to take it slowly and cut out a lot of things - for instance, I should not have assigned any homework until I was able to figure out the curriculum and how I was going to grade everything and account for all the kids getting pulled out of class for therapy and what-not. (Actually, that group of kids probably would have been better off never getting homework at all...it was an act of futility anyway).  I was behind the 8-ball from the get-go, and being so out of my element, the kids' bad behaviors were able to wear me down to a nearly psychotic state.  I bailed to preserve my own mental and physical well-being.

[Deva]

My worst job was as an assistant at a law firm. ...

 

As a career paralegal/legal assistant, you don't know how much I identify with this, having had a similar experience. You should get a medal for hanging in there for a year.

[milesaway]

My worst job was at this hole in the wall print shop that's since relocated under entirely new ownership. We were on extremely hard times financially, and I think that was part of why they hired me. I was between a rock and a hard place. Long story short, I sat there and put up with 9 months of emotional abuse from them. I dealt with sexual harassment from a couple customers, training that amounted to me training myself, being dragged in on a whim, and the owner would come in to scream at me periodically over something that wasn't worth it. In front of customers, no less. 

 

They laid me off when the school year was over since it was summer vacation. They tried to get me to come back when school started up again, and by then I was elsewhere. 

[gall]

IT Helpdesk, Volkswagen Bank.

 

At first it was stressful but also fun. The users would actually try to figure out things on their own quite often and only call us in times of real need.

 

Then... something changed.

 

Almost from one day to another, everyone became arrogant dumbfucks. Blatantly lying arrogant dumbfucks. Of course in such a job not everyone's telling the truth all the time but the lies became so painfully obvious it still blows my mind remembering it. And we had to smile audibly via the phone and assure the caller that of course she's right, naturally we're all assholes who just twiddle our thumbs and drink coffee all day and should be tortured to death, blah yadda... you get the idea. Also, whenever someone wanted something that wasn't allowed, or was technically impossible, at the slightest hint that it won't work that way everyone was "What's the name of your superior?" (imagine that in a properly evil hissing tone). Fucking everyone. Oh, and nearly everyone started their calls to our number not with "my name is..." or "I'm having the following issue", but with "But it's URGENT!". I kid you not.

 

And the day that happened, the workload exploded too. Which, in compliance with manager S. O. P., the Bank folks chose to resolve by simply ignoring it. Our team head compiled the literally same statistics at least 15 times, and every time they got rejected by the bank because they proved that some bank manager had fucked up with his decision.

 

Support is never a heavenly task, but in the more than eleven years I've been working for VW companies in that field, this shit still takes the cake (and pisses on it).

 

It really is funny what lies users try to pass of to help desks or tech department staff. I have done all these jobs and I have heard some totally stupid lies. Really so you didn't get it wet? Is that why I had to bring a bin to your desk to put it in so I didn't get the floor wet all the way back to my office? it really is sad that they think no one notices that they won't take responsibility for anything.

 

The real fun thing is coworkers in those jobs who do as little as they can to get the problem solved, document nothing and then when asked can't remember how they fixed it...I love having to start over each and every time

[Positivist]

1. An herb farm (summer job). I was "let go" because the boss thought I thought I was better than everyone else because I was a Christian. WTF?

2. A Christian organization. My boss said, "Your job is to make me look good." and "I love you in the Lord but I don't like you at all".... and more f*(kedupness.

[Guest Furball]

2. A Christian organization. My boss said, "Your job is to make me look good." and "I love you in the Lord but I don't like you at all".... and more f*(kedupness.

What a horrible person. I'm so sorry pos.

[expat674]

I worked in a directory inquiries for 5 months. Speaking to people on the phone for eight hours a day, couldn't speak for an hour after work. Bad company that monitored when you went to the toilet and the pay was bad. I was called every name under the sun.....

[themonkeyman]

Most jobs I've had as a software engineer I've had are good but Retail when I was in college sucked

[decafaholic]

I've had two jobs that really took a toll on me mentally. I worked in a nursing home for 11 months (high turnover, low morale, lots of human misery), and I tried teaching high school music (smart-ass teenagers) and quit after 3.5 months. 

 

I think it's funny that the nursing home job involved feces, urine, infectious diseases, dementia, screaming patients, crying patients, and sometimes crushing boredom and I lasted 11 months, but put me in a room with 30 teenagers and I'm homicidal before the semester is over!

[◊ crazyguy123 ◊]

I can't honestly say that I've had a job that I could consider "the worst I've ever worked". I worked in a steal factory once, but for only a few days, since I wasn't used to working 10-12 hours a day and was too obsessed with getting my work "perfect", and ended up getting "let go" for being too slow and started having chest pains that sent me to the ER out of a concern for my health. I was diagnosed with something called "Pneumomediastinum", after that.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumomediastinum

 

I imagine if I had stayed with that job for more than a year, I'd have come to hate it, because the job would have become my whole life.

 

The job I currently have, which is working for a local janitorial service, I have a sort of love/hate relationship with. Sometimes it can be very rewarding, not just because of the pay check, since there's something special about giving someone else's business a thorough cleaning and knowing that I was the one who did it. There are also times when the job makes me want to rip out my hair and/or run people over with a floor scrubber, however.

 

I guess I would consider my first job to have been the worst, but I don't feel like I was there long enough to really judge it. It certainly paid well and I'd have way more money than I currently do if I'd stayed there longer, but I like my current one better since it pays well too, but allows me to have more time available for college and hanging out with family and friends.

[Orbit]

...for Merry Maids, cleaning houses was my worst job, perhaps tied with working in the young men's sportswear department at the May Co. The young men were total slobs in the dressing rooms. I used to find all kinds of stuff in there...trash, food...

[Thurisaz]

...for Merry Maids, cleaning houses was my worst job, perhaps tied with working in the young men's sportswear department at the May Co. The young men were total slobs in the dressing rooms. I used to find all kinds of stuff in there...trash, food...

 

...these are the times I feel ashamed for my half of humanity, struggling to accept that probably the one who told the story is NOT joking...

[AManWithOutAGod]

Mattress warehouse.

[♦ nivek ♦]

Working for myself as in "the buck stops here".
Trying to decide all those damming details of daily work months ahead. Fitting crews together when personalities clashed and everyone just hated each other. Work produced was to or above expected, KUSStomer happy.. Me? Brain was like pan fried fishing worms.

Not too sure what was worse job for the daMan was. Think a full time after high school was at a cherry processing facility on night shift. Chemical stench, long hours, untended equipment in poor dangerous condition. Getting home well after 0200 hours to be up at 0645 later that morning.. 
Had money in pocket, dated the girls, went where other kids couldn't, had a motorcycle AND a truck.

Now I'm early 50's, wish I had slacked off more when a lot younger, worked not so much less hard, but taken much more time to visit and tourista. Got yer whole life ahead of you to make it big and rich...

 

kevin,beenrichasamuthfukker,L

[par4dcourse]

I worked in an ice plant in my hi skul years. Aside from being ball clangin' cold, it was also slick, had dangerous machinery, and was very physical. Dere surs, I qwit.