What's the worst job you've ever held?

[Sprry75]

Jeez, Jesse, I want to buy the 11 year old you a beer in the worst way.

My worst job was when I was 16 or so.  My big brother had gotten a streak of ambition and applied for about a thousand jobs.  About that same time my mom and dad were strongly hinting it was time for me to find a part time job as well since it was the school year and I was only working at the mall during the holidays and summer (that was at a record store, and that job kicked ass).

My brother got offered a job that he accepted, but about a day later another one of the places he applied called and offered him a job.  I was sitting in the room and heard the phone conversation, "I'm sorry, I've accepted another job, but I've got a little brother who's looking for work and he'd be perfect!"

It was a bad sign when they hired me without ever seeing me.

It was at this weird outlet grocery store called "Foods Etc."  Basically, it would buy salvaged groceries from trucks that had crashed or whatever and sell them at a discount.  My job was to go in at night after the store closed, root through the boxes of demolished groceries, clean off the not-quite-so-destroyed items, price them, and put them on the shelf.

I wanted to make a good impression on my first day, so I rushed home from track practice to shower and change and get ready.  I got to the place and they led me into a back room that smelled like the dirty diapers of Satan's offspring.  A truck carrying a bunch of catfood had crashed, and the "Foods Etc." team had bought it.  I unloaded the first box, opened it up, and was overcome with the stench of moldy, rotten, disgusting cat food and rot.  The gushing muck was crawling with maggots, and I had to reach into the box, feel around for cans, pull the cans out and wipe them off to see if they were damaged.  Of the hundred or so cans that were in the first crate, I salvaged about five.

For five hours I dug through similar boxes.  You'd think that eventually you'd get used to the smell, but you didn't.  Every time I dug into the filthy vomitous mush, I'd release a cacophony of putrid aromas. 

Needless to say, my post workout shower was in vain.

The next day, as the time to go back got closer, my guts tightened up and I just couldn't bear to go back in.  I called the guy and said I wouldn't be back and that I was sorry for the inconvenience.  He told me he wouldn't pay me for the night before if I quit on him, and I said I didn't care, wished him luck, and said goodbye.

[Jesse James]

Thanks...  Yeah, I re-read my post and laughed at my own words because it's all true and makes me sort of depressed the **** that I dealt with.  Sounds like everyone has had some pretty crummy jobs...  Working retail is a distinctly close 2nd for me though, to working that paper route.

Retailing was always thankless, paid ****, and I could've killed various customers with my bare hands because of how they behaved.  Lots of thefts too, despite being in a very nice area.  Go figure.

[Paul]

This is hard to post since you guys have all had "real" jobs...so my "worst" job will not sound near as bad in comparison...

In College and During Grad School I worked summers and any break possible (Christmas/winter etc)... at the Frito-Lay plant here in town.

I was responsible for putting bags of potato chips in boxes, then putting the boxes on skids.  That part of the job...not so bad..

Whenever we would change flavors, we would climb the 3 story machine that conveys the chips to the bagging machine.  It was noticiably WARM..like 100 + degrees.  What made it worse was if we were switching from regular chips to Sour Cream and Onion, Bar B Que or the all time worst...Salt and Vinegar..it would sting everything it or its vapors came in contact with. 

Also as part of the job we got to cut taters that were too big into smaller parts (once saw a potato as big as a human head), but this job was about 10 feet from the frier..so it was great on the skin..

Another great day was when the semi truck full of potatos was accidentally dropped off the giant lift that would normally "dump" them into the hopper.  So I got to spend a nice Texas summer afternoon shovelling potato.

The other deal is that the Potato Chip factory runs NON-stop from April till September, no days off.

Plus I worked 2nd Shift...2:30pm to 10:30..meaning I didn't get to do a darn thing all summer.

The grease ate through several pairs of shoes as well.

In retrospect it was not that bad...I made a ton of money, cuz I was too tired to spend it and had mandatory overtime and to this day (13 years later) my watch alarm is set to beep when I was suppossed to get ready to go in... reminds me that no matter how bad the current gig might be (and it doesn't suck per se) it's not the Chip Job.  It was about 3 years ago before I ate Potato Chips though...and I'll never eat a cheeto again.

[Matt_Fury]

I've been thinking about this one, and I really don't think I've had a job that I absolutely hated.  Sure there's been positives and negatives about the ones I've had, but overall they were fun:
Age 14-15 -- Paper route...easy first job.

Age 15-17 -- I had a summer job working at a camp ground.  I liked the group I worked with and we did a lot of various maintenance stuff...the worst part of that was cleaning out septic tanks on various trailers...but it didn't take too long and the pump did most of the work.

Age 17-22 -- I worked at a bowling alley doing pinchaser/maintenance.  Long hours and stuff, but I got to bowl for free and the people I worked with were great.

Age 19-22 -- I had a summer job working as a teacher's aid with multiply-handicapped children.  It would wipe me out, but it was extremely rewarding work.

Age 20-21 -- I worked as night security for the dorms at UCF.  It gave me time to study and I was a bit of a nightowl at the time.

Age 22-present -- US Air Force.  Starting out as an A!C and working my way up to Captain I've had several jobs and assignments:

'93-99 -- After basic training and tech school, I worked as an Autotracking radar journeyman.  It was a neat job because we maintained and operated radars that simulated AAA and SAMs.  We would lock up on the fighters and give them a realistic training environment by "shooting them down".  To be truly effective at the job we had to learn enemy weapons and tactics.  Not something I thought I'd be doing in an electronics career field.  Plus we were stationed on the outer banks of North Carolina.  I plan on possibly retiring there someday.

'99-02 -- I was reassigned to Eielson AFB, Alaska!  Since my Autotrack job was being contracted out, my primary duty there was Quality Assurance Evaluator (QAE).  I wasn't too fond of watching contractors do my job, but luckily, we had additional duties of range improvement and various other engineering projects, plus we hosted COPE THUNDER -- PACAF's premier inter-service exercise.  I got to be involved in planning and executing an air war from beginning to end, plus I got to work with various different units and even foreign services!  Add to that I got to ride around the Alaska interior on track vehicles, 4-wheelers, snow machines, and even by helicopter!  I was in heaven!  I also would love to move back there someday!

'02-03 -- After getting my BS degree from University of Alaska Fairbanks, I went to OTS and spent a year training as a space and missile officer at Vandenberg AFB, California.  It's a great area, and the surfing's better than the East Coast, but I was eager to get back to the operational world.  Still, I had a lot of fun there.

'03-07 -- I was a missile officer at FE Warren AFB, WY.  I loved the first two years as part of the 400th Missile Squadron.  I pulled combat alert duty with the Peacekeeper weapon system.  We also deactivated that weapon system as part of a treaty with the Russians.  I worked with some of the most team-oriented people ever, plus it was my third, small-unique unit I've been in and loved how everyone took care of eachother.  After the deactivation, I went to the Minuteman II weapon system.  The teamwork aspect just wasn't as prevalent as it was in PK, add to that I worked for a commander that I did not really like or respect, it made the second half of my tour there a lot tougher.  I still worked with some great people, and it was probably one of the most important jobs I've had, so I still liked it overall.  Plus, I lived in Ft Collins, Co where I met my wife and got to meet a couple of Forum Members!   

'07 -- present -- After a 4 month stint at Vandenberg, I am now a Mission Commander for the 2nd Space Operations Squadron at Schriever AFB, Co.  We do all the command and control of the GPS constellation.  The crew life is better than missiles, and I work with a great team of enlisted and officers, plus the location is awesome!  We have a great house, with an awesome view of the Rockies (Pike's Peak in particular), plus a shorter commute than I had from Ft Collins to Cheyenne.  My only regret is I am trading off a technical role for a leadership one.  I'm learning all I can about what these satellites do as well as the systems that control them, but being the crew leader is also fun.

[Darth Kenobi]

Seeing as I only had two jobs, I would say my worst job would be working as a Courtesy Clerk at Vons grocery store.  I loved most of the people I work with but there were times when I couldn't stand it because of sick people who figure they could do whatever they wanted to do since they didn't have to clean up the mess.  For an example some lady had her young son pee on the floor of one of the food asile.   Luckly I didn't have to clean up one of my other coworkers had to.

[JediJman]

When I was 15 I sold concessions at college football stadiums.  I had to wear a silly paper hat (which came off the second I was out of sight of the concession stand) and yell "Coke Here!" for a good three hours.  Totally thankless job and hardly paid anything - we made $2 for every flat of 20 cokes we sold.