What's the shortest time you've stayed in a job you hated?

Not me, but we once had a new EA in the team opposite us. Boss was awful. She quite after half a day.

About 3 hours

As a job as a chalet hostess in France

Does not actually starting the job count? I was a lab technician in the pharmaceutical industry. Basically analytical chemistry. Newly married we moved to South Africa for an ‘adventure’. The only lab job I could land was in a condom factory. Level of work was putting condoms on a tap, and turning on water to look for pinholes (quality control). Fortunately the day before I was due to start I got a proper lab technician job in pharmaceuticals and stayed there for 3 years.

1 day!

I saw this at my local council. It was honestly really upsetting.

6 days at a recruitment agency.

Couldn’t handle the lies they used to get leads.

I do agency work and there are some places - only a handful in a career that's in its 3rd decade - that I refuse to go back to after just one day there. I was in a role with a fixed-term contract for 1 year but spent 1/3 of it signed off.

A job that you enjoy, even if it only just covers the bills, is much, much better than a job you hate but that pays well. You have plenty of money but have that feeling of dread that weighs in your gut like a boulder that won't shift and this is no way to live.

Many years ago I moved to a live in job 3 hours from home, worked a full day, packed up my stuff that same evening and went home. It was absolutlely vile.

3 years.

I really needed the money, but 20 years later I still wonder if it was worth it. Well, it wasn't as in it didn't pay much but I was in an abusive relationship as well so was just trying to survive at the time.

5 months but I had a month of sick and two weeks gardening leave at the end 😥

Around a month but I’d done a few weeks unpaid training too. It was as a home carer.

They knew the hours I could work but my phone would be ringing none stop with the managers asking me to attend calls at all hours. They would want me to do 7am - 11pm when I was a young single mum. Yes there was some gaps inbetween but you didn’t get paid unless you were at the clients house. I also didn’t drive.

I had old men grab me.
Incontinence pads thrown at me countless times
Old women farting like animals as a sign of disrespect at me being there
Going to hoarders houses and walking into naked old people who couldn’t look after themselves and we would sometimes only have 5 min slots.
Some had barely any food in and we had to sort something.

It was awful.

Managed an hour selling utilities door to door. Needed the money as a student but not enough to do that. We were told to hound an elderly couple who I could see through the window were barely able to make it to the door. Said I had enough and went home.

One shift.

one fucking awful, soul-destroying shift.

That they docked me 11p for.

About 5-6 months. It was a really unwelcoming team where your face had to fit and it became obvious really early that mine didn't. The training was crap too. I tried to make it work but a role I really wanted came up after I'd been there about 4 months and I went for it and got it. (Same organisation).

When I left, there was no leaving card or anything (not that I wanted/expected it) and not one person acknowledged it at all. I still see members of that team around the office and they just blank me. 😂

It was very reassuring that I'd made the right decision! Also I've had several people since comment that it's known as being a very odd team. Wish I'd known before!

Hard to know whether to classify it as a week or a day, as the first week wasn't really working. But basically started a job, was completely and utterly ignored for a week, despite emailing, trying to contact on teams etc, apart from a snippy reply basically don't bother me do the training, which id already completed. Then when the manager finally decided to talk to me, on the Monday after that week, I saw it wasn't going anywhere good and sent an email quitting and asking where to send the laptop back to etc

About an hour.

Started as a head chef. Was told by the owner I had to use fish and meat that was in the fridge . Meat cooked but undated so I had no idea how long it had been there. Fish 5 days out of date. I refused . He insisted. I walked out.

... 1 and a half hours

2 hours. Retail shop. It was foul.

I have never been in a care position where I wouldn't receive daily requests for extra hours. Honestly, you'd be swatting them calls away as they seemingly want you to work 24/7. I wouldn't worry about that nor about what anyone else thinks about it as a career choice. Why does it matter what someone thinks if you enjoy doing it?

A few weeks, it wasn't the hours they stated at interview and was going to end up being a pain in the arse to get there as it was rural and they were making me work much, much later. I just left it off my cv completly.

6 months and i panicked at it ruining my CV for about 5 years after!

Similar experience in telesales many years ago. Was given a phone book and told to ring people/anyone to give away a free mobile phone. Back in the day when they were a newish concept.
Team leader would walk up and down the staff barking orders and targets, horrendous.

The shortest I lasted was 1 day. I didn't go back the next day. The job was dull but it was the coworkers, they were vile.

2 days