To ask what is the worst job you ever had?

[Joey1471]

I would say the worst job I ever I ever had was selling door to door , 90% of them refused to even consider buying anything , plus it was raining too.

I've done some quite 'novel' jobs before but the worst by far was a very traditional office job. The person who hired me had a very specific idea of the project she wanted me to complete. She left the week after I joined having had a massive bust up with the director, who totally disagreed with her 'vision' and was not interested in this project at all. I then reported to someone else who had no idea what to do with me, my colleagues weren't sure why I was there, I wasn't really sure why I was there. I ended up as a general 'helper' picking up fairly pointless projects and tasks and reading MN a lot It was dull and depressing and I lost a lot of confidence very quickly.

I stuck it out for a year which was, on reflection, far too long. I shudder when I think back to that time!

Packing popcorn into cellophane bags in an attic space above a sweetshop. It was grim, unhygienic & the owner gave me the creeps (I was about 13). I didn't eat popcorn for years

Packing ridiculously expensive teddies to send abroad to Japanese collectors. The business owner hated to waste an inch of cardboard so insisted we cut down the boxes with stanley knives and then taped them in a very particular way. Cut my fingers frequently and the place was freezing cold.

Oh aa stint as a cleaner at a hotel while a Uni student cleaning... that was grim!

Pulling ragwort out of fields for £80 for six weeks.

15 working in a hairdressers just cleaning making tea etc.

Was laying out new magazines and a client asked me which style I thought was nicer and I said I liked “1” best that’s what I’d choose for example and my boss screamed saying I wasn’t allowed to speak to clients my opinion doesn’t matter and I’m there as a trainee. I felt humiliated surely it would have been rude to ignore the lady.

I got a job as a wedding coordinator in a beautiful hotel when I was 20. I was so excited.
The first month went well, had my 4 week review, glowing report etc.
Then I went on holiday for a week.
In that week, I don’t know WHAT happened, but it was like the entire team turned on me.
The revenue manager was the head of the office, and she cane over to my desk shoved a load of forms in my face, and announced I had been uploading them to the site wrong. I had been doing them the exact same way before I went on holiday

From then on it was like a witch hunt. Non-one spoke to me, apart from to criticise what I had done, if I spoke, they would sigh roll their eyes and speak to me really condescendingly. As they were all in late 30s to 50s women, I felt really intimidated.

It all concluded with the revenue manager, in front of the whole office, snarling at me I’ve just read an email you sent to a customer, you hardly tried hard enough to secure that business! DO YOU EVEN CARE ABOUT THIS COMPANY AT ALL - then ran out crying, with her little minion assistant running after her.

At that point, I simply thought to myself ‘Fuck this’ put on my coat and walked out.

I spoke to HR the next day and agreed to leave.

I thought that would be the end of it - BUT NO.

Jobless, and feeling a bit broken, I applied for other jobs.

I managed to secure an interview for a hotel sales job. The interview was in this business unit in the middle of nowhere - at the time I didn’t drive so had to get a bus too the closer stop then walk. I was nervous, but I went to interview, it seemed to go well, me and the assistant manager seemed to get on, so when I received a call to ask me to go to a 2nd interview I was thrilled.

I arrived for interview, and the manager lead me into a room where a receptionist was also working then started the interview. From the off, she was extremely aggressive, contradicting everything I said. I was unnerved, but thought this must be her interview style.
The interview drew to a close, and she escorted me to the door, and finished with ‘So, you must know revenue managers name then? I said yes and she pushed her face in mine and sneered ‘well, she’s one of my very good friends’
I had no response to that, she then added “Oh look it’s started to rain - you’ll be ok getting back won’t you? Oh no, wait - you can’t drive!” Then slammed the door in my face.

I still consider walking home in the torrential rain, slipping out of my sodden ballet office shoes and crying one of my lowest points.

As an adult - making appointments in an office where I was staring at the wall all day (have realised I do need a decent view).

As a student - working in a motorway service station, cleaning tables. Good and fag butts went in the same receptacle (grim).

food not good!

This thread keeps appearing above the “second hand sofa” thread for me and I keep reading it as “what is the worst hand job you’ve ever had?”

Working for a tenant-owned housing association. The offices were disgustingly filthy and management attitudes towards the tenants shocked me. The tenants paid their over inflated wages.

I was bullied in my first job. Supervisor hated me from the off. She wanted the other girl and not me! Made my life hell. Left and had a bit of breakdown at 17. Then got another job for 13 years! I loved that job.
Sometimes you have to experience the bad to enjoy the better times.

I worked at the HQ of a very large bank in Canary Wharf as a PA to someone senior. He was quite nice, the other staff weren’t! Nobody spoke to each other and it was all very corporate. I didn’t really do anything all day.

After reading about some of your experiences I feel lucky!

Call centre. Fucking awful and the management constantly expected you to hit targets that were impossible.
Also worked for a very rich couple - always forgetting to pay me (they were always out on pay day so I could never get it sorted) didn't last long there. Worked for a coach company at the tender age of 17 and one of the older women just hated me on sight, had me in tears most days for no valid reason. Worked for an egg farm as a teenager, freezing, no proper uniform, cash in hand (very dodgy- the guy was arrested some time after a left the town) just ugly. Took me years before I could eat eggs again.

There was also a hotel where I was meant to be bar supervisor but ended up cleaning rooms. The owner refused to call us anything other than Boy/Girl because "they all leave after a few weeks what's the point of learning names."
She had five eastern European men living in a bungalow in the garden, who she didn't pay, only provided food and the house.

A property manager. The abuse I received from residents and stress of workload was not worth it. People seemed to forget or not realise I didn't make the rules or covenants they agreed to abide by when they signed their leases or the legislation of our leasehold system.

As a newly qualified 16 year old lifeguard I worked at a community outdoor pool. It was run by one massive extended family from the local council estate and the patrons were basically just them and their friends. The kids bahaved awfully and were not properly supervised by their parents. There were no official operating procedures or emergency action plans. I had little to no authority over anyone in the pool. On reflection, if there had been an emergency, I would have been completely fucked. I could well have ended up massively sued or even potentially with criminal convictions if someone had died or been seriously injured.

I had a temp job once at the council offices - contract was 8 weeks over the summer. I was to organise one of the architects offices. It was stuffed full of papers, drawings, over 40 years worth of stuff.

He told me on the first day that he would approve my time sheets every week but if I was to move even a single paper in his office he'd have me fired. He had me pop in once per week to have my time-sheet signed for the entire week. I did no work whatsoever, he said there is no point 'you getting under my feet, hanging around the office'

Got paid for 8 weeks and did diddly squat. And he gave me a reference!!!

So many! The first was a temp job in the 70s working for a brewery. The Ullage barrels (ullage is spoiled beer) are returned and the tickets are brought upstairs to my department. I had to categorise, alphabetically and numerically, the tickets. They all stank of sour beer, some had huge squashed spiders and moths on them. Cobwebs. Urgh. Hundreds of the fuckers, day after day. And that was the beginning of my wonderful career

I cut out Tesco finest gingerbread men for two days. Started taking my education a bit more seriously after that!

I packed cooked chicken in a factory during uni hols . I still eat chicken , it was very clean .

My first job one was in a clothes factory doing ironing . £60 a week for 40 hours at 16 .
Made me want to continue at school even though I didn’t particularly enjoy it .

I worked in Mothercare doing bra fittings. It was one horrendous ground hog day type whirl of naked-from-the-waist-up angry, hormonal pregnant women. None of them ever agreed with what the measuring tape said - they were nearly always convinced they couldn't possibly be that big. I frequently came close to screaming that if you know what size you want to wear -whether it fits or not - why the hell are you wasting my time?
That and the constant stream of people who would observe me, tape measure round my neck, standing in the bra changing room area and ask me a technical question on how a car seat attaches to a base or some such then get annoyed when I didn't know the answer.

Noise Abatement Officer for a London council in the early 90s. Was chased down the street a couple of times. Had a knife pulled on me. Constant verbal abuse. No real thought for safety for lone female workers. I did it for 3 long years and it made me properly ill in the end and I needed counselling and medication! Every job since has been a dream - even teaching SEN teens with behavioural problems

Working in a Christmas pudding factory.

I fucking hate Christmas pudding.