Current Events > What's the worst job you've ever had?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I worked for a little over two months for a company that took care of disabled people. I would work 7am to 7pm Saturday and Sunday working in this house in the ghetto that had two disabled people in it.

One of them would lose his shit and punch holes in the wall and break things, and sometimes run away. I'd have to go driving around and find him, he wasn't allowed to be alone.

The other one set fires in the house sometimes. One day towards the end of my shift for NO REASON when we had a really fun day he took a brick and put a dent in the back of my car and then threw small rocks at me and my car.

The last day I worked there he lost his shit over nothing and got a sharp object (no idea how he got this we had no sharp objects in the house) and he was going on and on about how there was "going to be a blood bath" and I for the millionth time had to call the cops on him. He got arrested and then taken to the mental hospital. I had to drive there and explain what happened and then I quit, no two weeks notice either.

Telemarketing for MCI, by far

We were selling people long distance phone service back in the days when you'd get like 200 long distance minutes for some kinda price or some crap like that.

They were upset because we could hardly ever sell service in Texas. Our cheapest price in Texas for 200 long distance minutes was $50/month. This was right around the time Vonage started offering unlimited long distance for $24.99/month. I told them about Vonage and they just said we weren't selling hard enough.

Also one of the dudes in my training class threatened to kill people.
---

Clay pigeon loader at a gun range for trap shooting. Say in a bunker while old men shoot shotguns over your head. I suffered minor hearing damage from it for $5.15 an hour. Also really dirty where every item of clothing you wore there was permanently ruined.
---

That tops mine. My worst was doing internal tech support for a company. Not as bad as external tech support but still bad.
---

Either full-time cashier, which was hell, or this supermarket I worked at for 3 years, and I was bullied and harrassed there more than all my other jobs combined.
---

Slicing up old chicken for dog food in a depressing factory that was just coated with old raw meat. The owner and most of the bosses sucked. It was hell.

Most of my coworkers were alright but they were all like either illegal immigrants or on prison work release, goes to show how desirable this job was lol.
---

MeIon Bread posted...

Either full-time cashier, which was hell, or this supermarket I worked at for 3 years, and I was bullied and harrassed there more than all my other jobs combined.

I'm a cashier at Panera Bread and I actually think it's pretty easy. We don't get as busy as super markets though.

Working retail after that was a godsend. I dont get how people complain about retail, it is easy and you dont have to get super dirty or anything.
---

People usually complain about assholes in retail. If you had a good time, you're in the lucky minority.
---

Probably food 4 less.
Fuck that place.
---

I went to a temp agency once when I was younger because I didn't know any better. I ended up arriving to my job in this factory that made cottage cheese plastic containers. The entire facility looked dirty and smelled like straight up cancer waiting to happen. I got to this post and this lady that was probably in her 60s. Looking down I quickly noticed she had her hands all torn up with dead skin and she was quickly pulling these containers out of what looked like a really dangerous contraption. She was pretty stressed out looking and had an air about her like she might have been here a few decades too long.

Anyways she begins to show me the "timing" on how to pull these containers out of the contraption without being injured severely while warning me multiple times about the consequences. She shows me in detail how to get the containers out and I replicate it exactly fearing for my own well being, but obviously the reason why her hands are all torn up with dead skin is because she has cut herself a million times. Naturally I cut myself on the plastic almost immediately and she starts screaming at me and freaking out when the blood starts.

At this point I figured I had enough. I walked out to my car, left and never returned.
---

all my jobs have been fairly chill

first job was catering in college. part time, hours were v flexible and paid 12/hr which is pretty damn good

next was a web developer role where I got free lunch and dinner

currently a software engineer getting a lot more money get lunch and have good hours

the constant is free food
---

Trigger_Volnutt posted...

People usually complain about assholes in retail. If you had a good time, you're in the lucky minority.

I mean anyone time there are people with power over you there is a good chance they act like an asshole. Hal the secret to having a good time is ignoring assholes.
---

Eh, my supervisor is pretty chill about me and lets me do whatever (mostly because he's lazy). But let's not act as if retail horrors are rare. It is not weird for most people to come out scarred from it.
---

Here's another one. I took a job at an assembly line putting shampoo into boxes and assembling them into respective displays. This is the kind of miserable repetitive work that is better off automated. We would often stand in the same position for hours doing these repetitive tasks over and over and the temperature in the facility would regularly reach a blistering 125F. It's the kind of temperature where you would expect people to die of heat exhaustion.

There were a lot of people my age working there. Young people out of High School that had no better opportunities locally and decided that it might be a good idea to skip out on college (not recommended). Anyways I ended up getting close to many people in the job and talking to a lot of interesting characters. After about a month I had talked to maybe 4-5 women that were fucking the line manager in hotels on lunch break. I think my manager grew overly suspicious of me because he could see who I was talking to and he began to try to find anything he could to fire me.

At one point he directed me to sit on some boxes and legit tried to rat me out to someone above him for not working and sitting on the job, which I would have never done unless he explicitly directed me to do so. Luckily his boss thought he was scummy and actually believed me over him. I didn't even bring up anything he was doing during this fiasco.

Anyways I kept the job for a few months before I got tired of it and decided to go to college. He never managed to fire me but I found out a few months later from a girl I still talked to that a bunch of them got together and outed him. He ended up getting fired and lost his wife, who took custody of his children.
---

I worked for an ice delivery company in the summer. They gave us a busted dolly and had us deliver ice to places where with that dolly you'd drop all the ice especially when most places have those double doors with one opening inwards and other one outwards. I'd have to go from really hot climate(outside) to a really cold one(in the coolers) often times my sweat drenched clothing would stiffen up and crust over making me feel really awkward. The pay was terrible, it was commission based on how much ice you delivered and I'd have to start at 6am and wouldn't finish til 7 or 8pm. I still can't believe I worked this job for 3 months, but it was all I could get at the time.

Telemarketing. I've tried it on two different ocassions. The first time I stayed the whole day, the second time I lasted for like two hours before we went on break and I just got in my car and went home.
---

zookeeper aid. it mostly amounted to shoveling ungodly amounts of elephant crap, running in and out of a walk in freezer (it was averaging ~100f outside), and being left to move large constrictors by myself. helped me develop a fear of ostrich too, soulless beady eyed monsters.
---

Kombucha posted...

Naturally I cut myself on the plastic almost immediately and she starts screaming at me and freaking out when the blood starts.

I laughed way too hard at this.
---

Call center. I wanted to die every day I woke up for work.
---

happibivouac posted...

Call center. I wanted to die every day I woke up for work.

How long did you stick it out?
---

PMarth2002 posted...

happibivouac posted...

Call center. I wanted to die every day I woke up for work.

How long did you stick it out?

Almost a year. Honestly don't know how I made it that far.
---

I've only had 2 jobs (three if being a TA counts but not really)

Working as a sales associate at Frys Electronics for just one summer was enough to convince me to never ever again apply to or aim for a position where I would have to interact with customers. Or stand on my feet a lot
---

Wow some pretty good stories here.

Another job I had I didn't mention is I worked produce for Kroger and I had this guy who was like the de facto assistant manager who would scream at us and make people cry all the time, I worked this job RIGHT before I worked for the job in my OP

Now I work at Panera and it's basically the bets job I've ever had rofl

bump for more bad jobs
---

Grinding down plastic pieces into a fine dust. Lasted about 3 months before I developed a deep lung infection since all they gave you was a basic white breathing mask that didn't work for shit. Missed work while on meds and sick but as I was on probation still they just fired me for not showing up.
I was happy to lose that job. Only one I wasn't even a little regretful of losing.
---

Weight loss counselor.

Mostly the company was an absolute shit show and very shady. Had about 15 locations in a total of 3 states.

I was the office manager for one office and the state director was batshit crazy. She's one of those people that run on a certain emotion when they wake up every morning (like hate, anger, etc). Hers was mental instability and insanity. You could see it in her eyes. She also has no idea wtf she was talking about and clearly had never read a science textbook when she makes up buzzwords like "electrolyte replenishers."

Anyway, sales are shit around the state and we recently tried to expand to California and it flopped really fucking hard. Upper management is disgruntled and can't figure out why, nor can they figure out that hit and run cash grabs instead of a large pool of stable customers has something to do with it.

I'm in a meeting and have pretty much had enough. I ask the director of my state if she knows what electrolytes are and why she just makes up words. Another office manager (who has no business being here, in this industry your body is your billboard) tries to butt in, I ask her how long she's been with the company "3 years." I then ask how many pounds she has left to lose. Things go quiet and then return to normal. Or atleast as normal as they can be after I've made it apparent upper management has no idea wtf they're doing and look like shit to boot.

The next morning my States director stops by and asks me to resign. I told her no, you can fire me lol.

Fast forward, this company is doing horribly (multiple offices have closed lol) and on life support due to shady business practices and the super bosses not knowing jack shit about sales or how to run a business in general, in addition to anything Fitness/health/weight loss related.
---

How much longer did you last at the company after that?
---

KILBOTz posted...

How much longer did you last at the company after that?

Till around 10am next day after the management meeting lol.
---

I spent a summer busting up concrete out of cement mixers with a jack hammer. Those things are basically ovens. I had to hunch over the entire time with a light dangling and the jack hammer reveberating in the damn thing all while I baked like a thanksgiving turkey in there. I dont think Ill ever undervalue an air conditioned job after that.
---

Trigger_Volnutt posted...

People usually complain about assholes in retail. If you had a good time, you're in the lucky minority.

I think Im just less likely than others to get personally offended by it. So I dont mind dealing with the nuts when they come around.
---

monkmith posted...

zookeeper aid. it mostly amounted to shoveling ungodly amounts of elephant crap, running in and out of a walk in freezer (it was averaging ~100f outside), and being left to move large constrictors by myself. helped me develop a fear of ostrich too, soulless beady eyed monsters.

Wtf. Were they at least friendly snakes? I had a boa once.
---

southcoast09 posted...

monkmith posted...

zookeeper aid. it mostly amounted to shoveling ungodly amounts of elephant crap, running in and out of a walk in freezer (it was averaging ~100f outside), and being left to move large constrictors by myself. helped me develop a fear of ostrich too, soulless beady eyed monsters.

Wtf. Were they at least friendly snakes? I had a boa once.

some were used for presentations in classrooms. one was about 12 feet long and was pissed off that he was in a bag. i got that job because i was one of the few people comfortable handling snakes, didn't realize it would leave me by myself doing it.
---

Wal-Mart inventory associate.

The other workers informed me it as a fast-paced job...they weren't kidding. The workload was absurd and the other workers were rude to me
---

happibivouac posted...

Call center. I wanted to die every day I woke up for work.

I know exactly how that goes haha. a call center for AT&T was deff my worst job
---

Working as an accountant at an apartment rental place down in Detroit. Legit quit that job and took a pizza delivery job for a few weeks till I found another gig.
---

Kombucha posted...

I went to a temp agency once when I was younger because I didn't know any better. I ended up arriving to my job in this factory that made cottage cheese plastic containers. The entire facility looked dirty and smelled like straight up cancer waiting to happen. I got to this post and this lady that was probably in her 60s. Looking down I quickly noticed she had her hands all torn up with dead skin and she was quickly pulling these containers out of what looked like a really dangerous contraption. She was pretty stressed out looking and had an air about her like she might have been here a few decades too long.

Anyways she begins to show me the "timing" on how to pull these containers out of the contraption without being injured severely while warning me multiple times about the consequences. She shows me in detail how to get the containers out and I replicate it exactly fearing for my own well being, but obviously the reason why her hands are all torn up with dead skin is because she has cut herself a million times. Naturally I cut myself on the plastic almost immediately and she starts screaming at me and freaking out when the blood starts.

At this point I figured I had enough. I walked out to my car, left and never returned.

EternalDivide posted...

Grinding down plastic pieces into a fine dust. Lasted about 3 months before I developed a deep lung infection since all they gave you was a basic white breathing mask that didn't work for shit. Missed work while on meds and sick but as I was on probation still they just fired me for not showing up.
I was happy to lose that job. Only one I wasn't even a little regretful of losing.

Did either of you report them to OSHA?
---

1337toothbrush posted...

Did either of you report them to OSHA?

No.
---

@nativengine posted...

Working as an accountant at an apartment rental place down in Detroit. Legit quit that job and took a pizza delivery job for a few weeks till I found another gig.

Something I hear often from friends who had accountant jobs. Whats your horror story?
---

@EdgeMaster posted...

@nativengine posted...

Working as an accountant at an apartment rental place down in Detroit. Legit quit that job and took a pizza delivery job for a few weeks till I found another gig.

Something I hear often from friends who had accountant jobs. Whats your horror story?

My boss was on coke all the damn time. Only job I was left death threat messages, always had to argue with said coked our boss to get paid. Car was broken into several times, shit like that. My current job is much better. I sell LEDs and do my companys accounting and shipping stuff.
---