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Original poster

What was your worst job?

29 replies

marthamoo · 14/10/2003 17:22

I thought of this thread after reading on the mooncup thread that you can send them back after 3 months for a refund - someone said who would want that job?!

When I was a student I spent 3 months over the Summer working for Great Universal Stores in their distribtion warehouse. I started off packing tacky jewellery and "Constance Carroll" type make up sets but as the other students dropped like flies (glass roofed factory, very hot summer, no bl**dy sticking power!) I got promoted to the dizzy heights of catalogue returns.

You know that gorgeous range of lingerie known as "Miss Mary of Sweden" (corsets, BIG girls reinforced pants, bras with more girders than the Forth bridge?) Well it was my job to open the returns, see if they were fit for re-sale, and repackage them or discard them appropriately. You would not believe the state of some of the pants people would send back for refunds (we are talking bloodstains here).

But the best bit came when I was surveying one lovely pantie-girdle type creation which somehow had a "worn" air about it, though no obvious signs of wear. I asked an experienced co-worker what she thought and, without batting an eyelid, she told me to "sniff the crotch."

Needless to say I didn't.

OP posts:
lilibet · 14/10/2003 17:23

yuck yuck yuckity yuck bleurgh!!!

makes putting bubblies in scewballs very tame by comparison.

CountessDracula · 14/10/2003 17:24

OH NO OH NO
Can't believe it you poor thing.

My worst was working in a factory putting the tops on bottles of contact lens stuff when I was a student. I lasted 2 hours before I left.

My sil had a job doing telesales - selling hearing aids! LOL what a silly way to sell them, over the phone. She sold none.

fio2 · 14/10/2003 17:26

Uurgh!!! How gross marthamoo! My worst job was working at a burger king on M6 services People were so f-in rude!

tinyfeet · 14/10/2003 17:26

Mine was serving food at a nursing home. If I didn't move fast enough, the senior citizens (mostly octagenarians) would pound their cutlery and cups on the table, demanding that we move faster. Sound familiar, anyone? At least I got paid for that job. . .

CnR · 14/10/2003 17:30

Mine was my part time job whilst in sixth form - I worked at Wimpy which changed to BurgerKing) and used to be the children's party hostess at weekends. Imagine being 17 with a raging hangover, been out all Saturdsay night, and then having to start doing 4 seperate parties one after the other the next day I used to feel so ill.

Mind I think my friend might have had it worse. She used to do it with me and because she joined after me I trained her - so she got to dress up as Mr Wimpy/that Burgerking character with all the little kids kicking her

cazzybabs · 14/10/2003 17:35

Working as a waitress in a hosiptal canteen with uip them selves doctors and the chiefs suddenly at someone they could look down on (me!!!). It was soo hot and they were so horrid and they would lock me in the fridge (a walk in one but the light went off when the door was locked - still least it was cold) and I was forever messing up on the till etc...erghh horrid. Really put me off working...

Oh and my first year teaching..I was pregant and so many people looked down on me (saying i was going to be an unfit mother - parents and collegues) and I had a really horrible class that I couldn't cope with and didn't get any support with and now as they move up the school everyone says god what a diffucult year group! YES And they were all in my class. anyway have some sweeties this year!

ks · 14/10/2003 17:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Angeliz · 14/10/2003 18:40

marthamoo......eurgh!!!!!!!!!!One of my worst, (though i think of it with a smile) was working in a Greek fish restaurant serving 4 coachloads of German tourists who didn't speak a word of English or Greek and used to shout alot! We'd see the coaches arriving(me and 1 other waitress) take a deep breath and go on automatic pilot for 2-3 hours!! It was so funny though.Fawlty Towers

forestfly · 14/10/2003 18:46

A fish and chip shop. One day i was carrying a tray of raw stinking cod up the stairs and some of the juice spilled out on to my stomach. It went straight through to my skin and then my knickers I've had loads and loads of crap jobs in fact they all have been

Marthamoo yours sound pretty revolting!

fisil · 14/10/2003 18:54

On work experience I had to hole reinforce every piece of paper in their filing cabinet.

suzyj · 14/10/2003 18:58

not me but a college friend of a girl i worked with had to collect pig semen......by hand, if you know what i mean. apparently they have corkscrew willies!

Jenie · 14/10/2003 19:07

Worked in a theatre bar during my student years and hated being leared at by the overly rich, fat, perverted, drunken men nightly. One man who was particually horrid in all departments that I could see said "is it free tonight" implying me, as I was handing out free champagne.

I had my bum pinched and felt frequently and even had five pounds stuffed down my bra, then I left. The problem was that I didn't want to cause a scene as you never knew who it was doing it and I'd probobly have gotten the sack.

ninja · 14/10/2003 19:12

chambermaiding was pretty bad - and I know you don't want to hear this but they got us to clean the bathroom first (using the dirty towels) then wash the cup and saucer (yes you've guessed it same dirty towels) YUK!

Also packed christmas hampers, that straw was terrible for the hands

I've also packed men's underwear and done telesales

Sometimes I still think the worst one is teaching 15 year olds

yoko · 14/10/2003 19:14

collecting phelgm samples from rough sleepers to be tested for tb.and people wonder why i became a sahm??

polly28 · 14/10/2003 19:41

Working on a psychiatric ward and changing the young mens sheets in the morning,they were always wet ,and it wasn't wee.urgh!

WideWebWitch · 14/10/2003 19:49

ninja, I was a chambermaid too when I was 15 and I remember drying the bath with dirty towels and then using them to dry up the cups and saucers too. I've ALWAYS re-washed my cup and saucer in hotels since. Gross isn't it? Marthamoo, eeewww at pants being sent back - what are these people on? Wouldn't say it was a really terrible job but I was a sandwich board for a few days once when I was 17 (well, YKWIM, I walked around with one on).

lucy123 · 14/10/2003 19:52

yuk! I won't be able to stop thinking about those pants now!

Not my worst job, but I did used to work in a bookies in a very run-down part of town. Spent all day smiling at scumbags. Worst part was cleaning up and finding some of the seats wet.

(worst job was sorting carrots: picking out the bendy ones. Not very interesting).

Lara2 · 14/10/2003 20:17

suzyj, your post reminded me off a sketch I saw on tv years ago about a zoo keeper who collected panda semen. The 2 pandas were wondering what he put on his passport - panda wanker??

Queenie · 14/10/2003 20:37

Marthamoo, you made me laugh because when I was 16 I had a saturday job in a ladies clothes shop owned by a really miserable geezer. If anyone brought jeans back to exchange them he would sniff the crotch right in front of them and tell them they had been worn!!

Tortington · 14/10/2003 20:45

ewwwwww yoko......collecting phlem

you know the disney posters you all buy your kids with a crappy little packey of crayons and 4 posters of the latest disney film ?? well i used to pack those full time whilst i was at university full time too!
as we were classed as self employed, we were paid 2pence per tube - which included putting the top on the bottom on - stuffing with 4 posters and crayons - 2 pence - we each tried hard to do a pallet a day of 25 boxes. this got you £25 a day!! - i get that for a couple of hours work ...not really moving my arse now!

i also worked at mcdonalds when i left school - that was awful - the people were mean

i also worked at boots the chemist on the photographic counter. i was pants really bob - i used to lose peoples photos and everything - i went back to sixth form before i got sacked.

Thunderbird · 14/10/2003 21:02

I was a secretary for over 15 years (on the way became a PA and then an admin asst!). Could tell you lots about leering, vile bosses Worst thing I heard was another sec I knew who had to cut her bosses toenails because he was too fat to reach and his wife was pregnant

oliveoil · 15/10/2003 11:15

Folding jumpers in Benetton. Again. And again. And again. Bad at the best of times but especially when straight from a club.

waterbaby · 15/10/2003 11:25

LOL Thunderbird! The things we've all done... I worked in a couple of pubs/restaurants which weren't awful, just physically hard, however with a nice bunch of people, so that was ok. The worst was packing strawberries at a strawberry farm - the strawberries came in punnets on a conveyerbelt and we had to pick them up, check quickly for mould /squashed strawberries etc, then slap a lid and a sticker on. It was so boring & long hours standing up. We did have a bit of a laugh, and got to keep any mis-shaped strawberries, putting them in a huge bucket. about six of us used to pile into a renault to drive home, with these buckets full of strawberries clutched on our laps. I used to dread breaking suddenly....

Northerner · 15/10/2003 11:28

My worst job was when I was working as an event manager and had organised a memorial dinner for some old giffer from the Conservative party. Margaret Thatcher was the guest of honour. My boss at the time was well aware of my political leanings (ie NOT Tory!, and decided to put me in the line up so I had to greet Mts T and shake her hand and generally be nice to her. He also made me wait on the top table where she and Dennis were sitting.

The dinner was in a hotel and the staff had been instructed to remove the mini bar from the Thatchers room, and we were under instruction not to top her wine glass up all too often!

Also workinging as a hotel chamber maid when i was 16/17. One guest had a s**t in the bath, and I ahd to clen it.

Clarinet60 · 15/10/2003 19:29

Worked in a hairdressers when I was 16 and on busy Saturdays, there was no time for even a coffee break, let alone lunch. So we used to stand in one spot all day long doing blowdry after blowdry (not qualified, so no cutting), from 8:30 till 5:30. (Finished at 8:30pm on some weekdays, but not as busy. Talk about slave labour!).

Sometimes I would leave a client and sneak into the coffee room for a blast of caffeine & sugar, but if we were caught, there was hell to pay. I used to go home practically hallucinating with hunger.
Bar-stewards!