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View Full Version : The worst job you ever had.


Kitsa
Sep 11th, 2009, 03:42 PM
Mine's a tie.

I used to do a ton of babysitting. I was recommended to this family by a lady who was pretty psychotic herself, so none of this should have surprised me. My parents dropped me off and the woman was standing in her yard with a 2 or 3 year old girl. As I walked up, the girl went over to poke at a dead squirrel under a tree and got backhanded across the face so hard it knocked her off her feet. I was about 13 at the time and didn't know what the hell to say to that.

We went inside, and the woman placed a stack of cash on her microwave. She whipped around and told me that if any of it was gone, she'd know I stole it. Then she left. That woman scared the shit out of me and that afternoon watching the kids was pure hell, even though they were relatively well-behaved. The dad got home before the mom did and paid me from the stack of money on the microwave.

She never called me back, not that I would have gone. To this day I wonder if she blamed me for the missing microwave money. :hypno




The other job was more extended misery. At about the same age, my mom started farming me out to this woman who lived across the street. We lived in a neighborhood where everyone seemed to think a lot of themselves, a lot of professionals and professionals' wives who thought they were very high-society.

This particular woman was of the snotty, fluttery "I don't have time to care about anyone but myself" variety. I was a pretty stereotypical nerd and she thought that was a hoot. She crashed my 12th birthday party wearing a t-shirt that said NERD PROM, for example. I disliked her. Whenever she needed someone to do something, though, my mom always sent me right on over.

I spent hours scrubbing the marble floor tiles of her kitchen individually, by hand, with her Mexican maid. That's how I learned Spanish early, words like puta. One summer she borrowed me to pull waterlilies from the dock in front of her lake house. I pulled tendons in my arms, cut my foot on a rusty can at the bottom of the trashy lake and felt snakes and fish bump against my legs as I stuffed wet weeds in trashbags.

She didn't have any kids of her own, but she had nieces who were just like her. I swear to God, one was even named Muffy or Buffy or something. In that capacity, I was always supposed to go along as the ugly, nerdy one so that her nieces would look better by comparison. I'm not kidding about that. Nothing enhances your adolescent self-esteem like knowing you're only being dragged along so she can say something like, "No, big girls need to stand behind the skinny ones" when she took a group picture. I wasn't fat by a long shot, but it made her nieces feel pretty and skinny. :\

I think the lowest thing she ever did to me was bring me along to a basketball game after I got out of the hospital and had a halo brace (http://radiographics.rsna.org/content/24/1/257/F35.large.jpg) on. I don't particularly like basketball and wondered what the hell I was going for. Then I noticed she was making loops of the crowded lot, looking for something. She finally spotted what she wanted...the security guard...and pulled up alongside him. She flagged him down and gave him some big story about her poor "niece", just out of the hospital, and could she please park in the handicapped space. He took one look at my ugly neck brace and said okay, and she smugly edged her Cadillac into the best space in the parking lot. That's the whole reason I was there.

In case you're curious, I was paid in her castoff clothes (which I threw away) and Market Day (http://www.marketday.com/Index.aspx) pudding cups from her basement freezer.

I never did figure out why my mom kept loaning me out to the woman like that. I always fought it and always lost. To this day my mother doesn't seem to understand why I hate that lady.

Wiffles
Sep 11th, 2009, 04:12 PM
Wow thats pretty crazy. Maybe your mom wanted to make connections in "high society" so she did favors for that lady.

Worst jobs I probably had was

-Fast food, I still work there part time. It will crush your very essence. Its ok though, It taught me alot about society and people ^.^

-This one wasnt really a job more of an assignment. I was tasked for picking up this family at the airport because the lady supposed to do it couldnt make it. Anyway It was ok, I waited for them and stuff and we were off our merry way. The family was average I guess, they thought they were high society too for some reason, the kids were teenage girls aged 14 and 15. Its very annoying and distracting to have them behind me and ask me snide questions and giggling themselves and stuff. I try to be friendly tho. What I didnt like was they were hungry and stuff. The parents were obese so they asked me to do a little snack shopping for them at a nearby grocery. I kinda felt like a maid which they sent on an errand. Being nice that I am. I still did it :/

Dixie
Sep 11th, 2009, 04:22 PM
Theme park.

MajorScales
Sep 11th, 2009, 05:14 PM
Parking attendant. A security guard would park his car without paying and one day I went to tell him that it wasn't cool and he head butted me. The parking garage smelling like pee and being payed minimum wage did not help either.

DougClayton4231
Sep 11th, 2009, 05:21 PM
Working at a combination KFC\Taco Bell pretty much summed up what living in hell would feel like. I still bear the scars. Also, Bed Bath and Beyond was ridiculous. I weighed 130lbs at the time I worked there and I had to stock 100+lb boxes 20+ft in the air by lifting them up a rickety ladder. Nothing beats sadism like Bed Bath and Beyond.

MajorScales
Sep 11th, 2009, 05:26 PM
Working at a combination KFC\Taco Bell pretty much summed up what living in hell would feel like. I still bear the scars. Also, Bed Bath and Beyond was ridiculous. I weighed 130lbs at the time I worked there and I had to stock 100+lb boxes 20+ft in the air by lifting them up a rickety ladder. Nothing beats sadism like Bed Bath and Beyond.

You must smell like a scented candle and know where to hang a that perfect picture :)

DougClayton4231
Sep 11th, 2009, 05:35 PM
You must smell like a scented candle and know where to hang a that perfect picture :)

lololol, Women would ask me for stuff like that and I would just look at them like "I know I work here but I'm not a homosexual" and they would give a look back like "Yeah, Right!"

MajorScales
Sep 11th, 2009, 05:38 PM
yeah right :\

10,000 Volt Ghost
Sep 11th, 2009, 06:44 PM
Keybank National Association Telephone Customer service.

1-800-KEY2YOU

To me it was the hardest thing to tell people they overdrew their bank account because of the "Time Order Posting" system of purchases while trying to get them to sign up for new accounts or home equity lines of credit.

It was good experience for my current job and it was a job at the time because Media Play went out of business on me.

Aimless
Sep 11th, 2009, 07:43 PM
I worked in a candy packaging place for about a week when I was 18. It was like a cult or something, they all congregated around to discuss whether or not I would be allowed to stay in their happy work environment. There was a handicap kid in the corner counting out licorice and every once in a while I would see him mowing down two or three, he came over and gave me one... I ate it politely. I was not happy enough to stay there.

It sort of seems like a bad dream now.

DougClayton4231
Sep 11th, 2009, 08:07 PM
I worked in a candy packaging place for about a week when I was 18. It was like a cult or something, they all congregated around to discuss whether or not I would be allowed to stay in their happy work environment. There was a handicap kid in the corner counting out licorice and every once in a while I would see him mowing down two or three, he came over and gave me one... I ate it politely. I was not happy enough to stay there.

It sort of seems like a bad dream now.

That doesn't sound too horrible. They didn't try to probe you with licorice did they?

Aimless
Sep 11th, 2009, 08:10 PM
It was horrible, they gave me the creeps. I thought they were going to turn me into swedish fish.

Fathom Zero
Sep 11th, 2009, 08:15 PM
because Media Play went out of business on me.

R.I.P. Media Play Man

10,000 Volt Ghost
Sep 11th, 2009, 09:23 PM
R.I.P. Media Play Man


He'll live forever more in my kitchen....with T.O.ooooooooooo's
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c375/Locke9999/DSCN0233.jpg

Hangie
Sep 11th, 2009, 09:30 PM
Never had a job, gonna try to avoid this as long as I can untill I have too.

However I know a friend who has to grind up bones at the roche bros. butchery. It sounds fucking awesome, but he constantly tries to tell me it's horrible.

Kitsa
Sep 11th, 2009, 09:41 PM
My bf's had lots of bizarre jobs (like the cat skinning job) but he said his worst one was cleaning out vats at a pickle factory. It was so disgusting that he only lasted one afternoon.

Zhukov
Sep 12th, 2009, 12:28 AM
I really hate my current job of working in a garden center selling plants and lawnmowers, but that is entirely because of the people I work for, rather than the job itself.

My worst job was when I was 18 working as a security guard at a visitor center far, far out in the Tasmanian wilderness. It was at least four hours drive (not that I had a car) to the nearest excuse for civilisation, and I did 8 hour night shifts by myself trying not to fall asleep (actually it was WORSE the one time I was with someone else; they would not shut up the whole time) I spent most of my time sitting inside next to the heater reading Viz comics.

One night I heard a crash, so I went outside to have a look; I was scared shitless because it was pitch black dark and I was the only human for kilometers, supposedly. I kept thinking about serial killers living out in the bush. As I walked away from the dim light of the visitor center I realised I left my torch inside, I went back to grab it and found out I had locked myself out (I did this a few times at other security jobs, actually).

Didn't find out what the crash was, but I did get to spend the next five or six hours shivering on a concrete step in the middle of nowhere, dreaming of murderers killing tourists and evading the law by living in such dense bushland. The boss didn't send anyone to give me a lift back like he was supposed to, so I had to hitch hike home with tourists.

Wiffles
Sep 12th, 2009, 12:34 AM
Maybe it was a UFO that crashed. Also I dunno why they would bother sending a security guard in the middle of nowhere. Unless that place was a cover for a top secret facility or something ^^;

good stories nontheless

Zhukov
Sep 12th, 2009, 12:43 AM
Well there were a lot of expensive computers and stuff there. If I had known that there was no security I would make a trip out to get it all for sure.

Sam
Sep 12th, 2009, 03:12 AM
I want to be the Media Play Man. :(

Babs
Sep 12th, 2009, 04:34 AM
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/417BBVMPK2L._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Colonel Flagg
Sep 12th, 2009, 05:29 AM
Teaching Assistant - Freshman Chemistry.

I made no money, was expected to teach the kids what they slept through in class, and was required to hold office hours, where the pre-meds lined up to grub for points they lost on homework because they were too stupid to crack the books. Oh, and by the way the kids went out of their way to point out that they had far more money than I ever would in my lifetime.

Fortunately, it was only for a couple of years, until I qualified for funding. Then it got better - I was able to tell them all to sod the hell off.

10,000 Volt Ghost
Sep 12th, 2009, 09:37 AM
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/417BBVMPK2L._SL500_AA280_.jpg

When I worked at Blockbuster my Assistant MNGR rented this because she thought the guy on the box was good looking and not realizing what "fluffing" was. Hilarious conversation when she returned it.

Pentegarn
Sep 12th, 2009, 09:46 AM
Media Play went out of business

Worst. Day. Ever. I loved Media Play. Best Buy is a pale substitute in my opinion.


I think easily my worst job was at a bottle factory named GK Packaging. The machines ran at a cool 400 degrees fahrenheit, there was no Air conditioning, you weren't allowed to leave the factory for lunch (not kidding), the shift was 12 hours, you couldn't leave the machine for water (lest it back up too much) and I had to do 2-3 jobs at one time (they were too cheap to get help).

It came to a head when I collapsed from heat exhaustion (surprise) and then got yelled at for it the next day. Luckily shortly there after my friend got me a job in the fire protection industry and I left the bottle factory and never looked back.

darkvare
Sep 12th, 2009, 12:14 PM
i've had 3 jobs in my life the first one was talking to a hindu lady in french to help her learn french it was 10$ canadians an hour so it rocked, the second was repairing cellphones with my godfather 10$ us a day, it was really good and fun experience and the thrid was at a network company of one of my fathers friends it was payless but it was still an awesome job :)

Chojin
Sep 12th, 2009, 10:48 PM
i've had 3 jobs in my life the first one was talking to a hindu lady in french to help her learn french it was 10$ canadians an hour so it rocked, the second was repairing cellphones with my godfather 10$ us a day, it was really good and fun experience and the thrid was at a network company of one of my fathers friends it was payless but it was still an awesome job :)

i was thinking landscaping or duct work

darkvare
Sep 13th, 2009, 12:07 AM
belive it or not i don't know how to do any of thosse things

Fathom Zero
Sep 13th, 2009, 01:37 AM
lolololol

My first job. I was a bagger at a grocery and it was utter shit. It being a military town, there were a shitload of Koreans, and man, they brought out the racist in me. Based on personal experience, I now tend to dislike old Korean ladies. They're mean and short, nasty little leprechaun things. ALL OF THEM. Not a single one of them was a good person.

And I got accused of stealing food, so I told them that I didn't have to put up with all this shit.