quote:

---

Originally posted by Kaplan Corday:
[...] I think my worst work ever was a holiday job during my university years, which involved squirting fibre glass particles though a hose into roof cavities as insulation. [...]

---

I read that as "squirting fibre glass particles though a horse"... - still, sounds bad enough.

I'm surprised they didn't give you protective clothing. That can't be right, clearly! Grrr!
 

---

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
A temp job on a miles out of the way industrial estate in the parts department of a maker/supplier of fork-lift trucks and industrial runabouts.

Person I was replacing laid great emphasis on how busy they were - somedays not a moment to think, hard-pressed to finish, etc, etc, etc.

Well - either they had alerted everyone to the fact of their holiday, or not a single truck needed anything doing to an unprecedented 3 weeks, or they were onto one of the cushiest jobs ever.

If I went really slowly I could spin out the job to last for about 2 hours: that left 6½ hours to kill before I could escape because, being so remote, they operated a mini-bus at the ends of the day but nothing at lunchtime (and no canteen either).

The first week was hell - manager much in evidence and v. suspicious that I seemed to have nothing to do.

Second and third weeks better only in that (a) older hand told me to always keep one order back on a clipboard and have at the ready; (b) I managed to find a cubbyhole where I could read; (c) the chaps in the yard took pity and taught me to drive a fork-lift; (d) the weather improved so I could go outside.

Having nothing to do sounds idyllic but being paid a pittance with nothing to do can be hell.
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
My first ever job was as a Saturday assistant in a florist’s. As the junior, my job was to wash out and refill all the pots the flowers had been standing in during the week. This meant lugging great heavy pots full of stinking green water out to the back, tipping this down the loo and then cleaning them out and refilling them, and throwing away the unsaleable flowers. By the end of the morning my hands stank and as often as not my clothes and shoes were splashed with rotting vegetation.

In the afternoon I was allowed to join the others in the main part of the shop selling flowers. Customers would choose what flowers they wanted and I needed to keep a running tally. However, our boss expected this to be done by mental arithmetic – no calculators or writing anything down – which for someone who was in the process of failing O level maths for the nth time wasn’t ideal.

“I’ll have four of these carnations at 28p each and three of these roses at 75p each and – oh, wait a minute, make that five carnations, let’s put back one of the roses and have three gerbera and some of the gypsophila instead. Do you think that looks all right or should I add some of that pink thing over there and put the carnations back?”

The euphoria of my very own first job and actually being paid real notes and coins mostly carried me through until they transferred a permanent member of staff up from the other branch a few weeks later and there was no need for me any more. By then the joy was wearing off and I wasn’t sorry to go.

[ 13. May 2013, 11:25: Message edited by: Ariel ]
 

---

Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by L'organist:
Having nothing to do sounds idyllic but being paid a pittance with nothing to do can be hell.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bob Two-Owls:
Worst job I ever had was quality control at a Christmas Pudding factory. All deliveries had to be physically tasted which was fine when the Whisky and Brandy was being delivered but the most frequent deliveries were suet, lard or pasteurised liquid egg. My line manager was a card, he used to make delivery day fly by shouting "if you don't eat your lard you can't have any suet" in a Floydian kind of way.

---

 

---

Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :
 
Waiting tables. I just do not have the right personality for that sort of job, and it showed.

In second place comes doing the filing for a large insurance company. Taking folders off shelves then putting them back again for eight hours a day every day of the week. "Boring" simply isn't a strong enough word.
 

---

Posted by Lucia (# 15201) on :
 
As a student I once spent a summer wrapping gift boxes of toiletries to be sold in Marks and Spencer's at Christmas. Repetitive present wrapping for hours - tedious. The inane chatter of the regular staff - bitchy. The local radio station piped into the working area - soon knew every comment on every record by heart. My sanity was saved by a 'Walkman' (remember those?) and books on tape from our local library to while away the time!
 

---

Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :
 
An old lady of my acquaintance used to work at the Campbell's soup factory. They would be rotated around chopping up the various ingredients for the soup.

Every so often she would have to spend her entire working day chopping onions ( and made you STINK by time you got home).
 

---

Posted by BessHiggs (# 15176) on :
 
The worst job I ever had was office manager/personal assistant at a mom & pop interior landscape firm. The office manager bit was fine, it was the personal assistant gig that killed me. The couple were trying to have a child, doing the whole IVF thing, and one of my tasks was to help the wife keep track of things in that department... I'm no prude by any means, but I really really didn't need to know quite that much about my employers' sex life.
 

---

Posted by Chapelhead (# 21) on :
 
Not something I do myself, and it isn't the worst job out there, but I was thinking about this subject just the other day after seeing a BBC news item, and wondering how many children dream of growing up to become a rhino poo tester.
 

---

Posted by ExclamationMark (# 14715) on :
 
In charge of the pluck bin at an abattoir. Promotion? The creme de la creme worked in the gut room.
 

---

Posted by Porridge (# 15405) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
. . . In second place comes doing the filing for a large insurance company. Taking folders off shelves then putting them back again for eight hours a day every day of the week. "Boring" simply isn't a strong enough word.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by la vie en rouge:
Every so often she would have to spend her entire working day chopping onions ( and made you STINK by time you got home).

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
My first ever job was as a Saturday assistant in a florist’s. As the junior, my job was to wash out and refill all the pots the flowers had been standing in during the week. This meant lugging great heavy pots full of stinking green water out to the back, tipping this down the loo and then cleaning them out and refilling them, and throwing away the unsaleable flowers. By the end of the morning my hands stank and as often as not my clothes and shoes were splashed with rotting vegetation.

---

My wife is a florist. That is pretty much where you start, and if you want to stay on the good side of the store owner, you have to be willing to take on physical tasks like that no matter how senior you are. She has very impressive biceps after three years of lugging buckets around; she even laughs at the people who pay money to join cross-fit gyms, as she gets paid to do essentially the same work out.
 

---

Posted by vw man (# 13951) on :
 
25 years ago I
ed as a hospital chef,my face just did not fit,and my life has hell,but the good thing is that I handed managed to get transferd to a hospital that was closing down got made redunt and a change in jobs les me to the best job I have ever had working in social services
 

---

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
The joys of working in a 1970s children's home: Work 6 days a week for £6 a week, live on-site so no real time off, no key so had to rely on goodwill of someone to let you back in again if you went out, kids got shouted at, staff got shouted at, hardly any toys or materials to do things with kids, long periods of boredom and no stimulation, nobody allowed to know what was going on or what would happen next, staff and kids had to be seen but not heard, high changeover of staff, some leaving without notice in the middle of the night.

But at least at that place, as far as I know, no sexual child abuse. Which was fortunate as it was by no means rare.
 

---

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
I painted spots on ladybirds - yes, really!

It was a summer job when I lived in Birmingham and was home from university, in a jewelry factory. We were given 1000 charms and had to paint them. The first 20 or so were OK, after that it was impossibly tedious.

To relieve the tedium I would paint the occasional multi-coloured one, then run through to quality control and packing to let them through. The canaries in cages were the worst - so tiny it strained the eyes!

The only diversion was a boy in the polishing room who fancied me desperately.


 

---

Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
He looked at you and saw how you painted a dot on a ladybird. His heart missed a beat...

My worst job was doing quality check on tulip bulbs (yes, very Dutch). The bulbs would pass by me on a conveyer belt and I had to pick the bad ones out. After a couple of days, even my friend's head started to look like a tulip bulb!
 

---

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
I also once helped out with a mailshot.

This meant turning up to spend the entire working day in a small airless room by myself 1) collating papers to put in envelope, 2) stuffing envelope, 3) sealing envelope, 4) sticking on pre-printed address label.

Repeat continously for the next 7 hours and carry on doing that for 2 weeks (it was a massive mailshot), with nobody to help you, or talk to.

Sometimes I shifted the piles of envelopes around or arranged them in different ways. Some of the papers went in upside down for a change. I experimented with sticking labels on vertically instead of horizontally, then with using the address label to seal the envelope. Periodically I changed chairs so as to have a different view of wall to look at. There is only so much you can do, though.
 

---

Posted by Edith (# 16978) on :
 
Sewing buttons on Pinky and Perky pyjamas at a factory when I was a student. And then I did six dozen back to front and nearly got the sack. But the overlooker discovered that I was the only person who could spell Directoire Knickers so I was put to labelling the boxes instead.
 

---

Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
Repeat continously for the next 7 hours and carry on doing that for 2 weeks (it was a massive mailshot), with nobody to help you, or talk to.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
I also once helped out with a mailshot.

This meant turning up to spend the entire working day in a small airless room by myself 1) collating papers to put in envelope, 2) stuffing envelope, 3) sealing envelope, 4) sticking on pre-printed address label.

Repeat continously for the next 7 hours and carry on doing that for 2 weeks (it was a massive mailshot), with nobody to help you, or talk to.

Sometimes I shifted the piles of envelopes around or arranged them in different ways. Some of the papers went in upside down for a change. I experimented with sticking labels on vertically instead of horizontally, then with using the address label to seal the envelope. Periodically I changed chairs so as to have a different view of wall to look at. There is only so much you can do, though.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
There haven't been anything like enough mentions of physical hard work, which is bloody unpleasant even if you are young and fit.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ariel:
I also once helped out with a mailshot.

This meant turning up to spend the entire working day in a small airless room by myself 1) collating papers to put in envelope, 2) stuffing envelope, 3) sealing envelope, 4) sticking on pre-printed address label.

---

As a kid I used to do that most summers to help my mother with conferences she was organising. I got to do it at home with some music or the Test Match on in the background though, so it really wasn't too bad. And when you're 14 three quid an hour is worth working for!
 

---

Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :
 
I worked for a year in the offices of a metal-bashing firm during the early 90s recession, in an inner-city (remember that?) location in Northern England.

On day 1 I took a 10% pay cut. Budgetary constraints meant I was given a disciplinary for using too much of the milk the firm bought for tea breaks - I lived in insecure accomodation where not only most of my posessions but also my food were stolen, and I had to eat cornflakes at work.

I had to keep transport running to get to work, despite nearly zero disposable income. Every time a kid smashed my van window or I had to buy more cheap oil, another week's effort at work dissappeared.

I got something like shell-shock from the fear of crime - loud noises made me jump, and I've never slept heavily since.

And I was there because I had been offered a year placement in Copenhagen, but couldn't bear to be parted from my love for that long. She who out-manouevered me, and found a placement for herself in Holland, regardless.


Actually, it was all deeply character-building
 

---

Posted by chive (# 208) on :
 
The worst job I ever had was a cleaner at a fish factory. Truly horrible. I used to go home every day, strip into a bin bag, tie it up til the next day and have a bath but I still stank.

The second worst job I had was putting model aeroplanes into boxes. The boss was a bitch, the supervisor was a bitch and the only good point was that you could smoke in the loo. About a week after I left a disgruntled employee burned the place down. The police came and interviewed me as an ex employee and all I could say was that I hadn't done it but I could understand why someone did.
 

---

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by chive:
The worst job I ever had was a cleaner at a fish factory. Truly horrible. I used to go home every day, strip into a bin bag, tie it up til the next day and have a bath but I still stank.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
I also learned to block my nose without touching it and still breathe, a very useful skill!

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mr Clingford:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
I also learned to block my nose without touching it and still breathe, a very useful skill!

---

This intrigues me - how did you do it?

---

I use a muscle (somewhere in the top of my mouth/palate - I think) which I push upwards and it blocks any air from entering the nasal passage.

Great skill for use when nappy changing, I discovered much later!
 

---

Posted by Nenya (# 16427) on :
 
I've done cleaning, in houses which involved cleaning a toilet, but not simply toilet cleaning which I think must be pretty awful. I hate cleaning at the best of times so it wasn't good.

The most difficult job I've ever done was my return to work after having the children, when I worked in a payroll office. I'm a meticulous attender-to-detail but almost innumerate so while I seldom made mistakes everything took me three times longer than it took anyone else. Plus the boss was horrible, one of the other workers was sharp-tongued and bitchy, and in certain weather conditions the place stank because it had a septic tank.

Nen - fan of the mains sewage system.
 

---

Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Boogie:
The second worst job I ever had was at university. I used to get up at 7am every morning to clean the loos in the students union bar. I can not begin to describe how foul that was - and yes, the mens loos were far, far worse - the aim gets worse with every pint! (see the toilet thread!)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Higgs Bosun:
How about this?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by bib:
I can remember that when I was a young child I was horrified to hear that a night cart collector called at our house each night to collect the dunny can.

---

© Ship of Fools 2016


UBB.classic^TM 6.5.0