Worse Job You Ever Had
PrimeCutsLtd
jersey fresh 2,632 Posts
I'm sure some of you got me beat. It's a toss up between janitor at a styrophome company (do you know how hard it is to sweep up tiny styrofoam balls?) or telemarketer selling lawn care to people in the winter. I have to go with telemarketer. I would hate going in there and I made no sales. Some jerkoff who could hardly read made a sale and I didn't. 
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sweatbox!
On top of all that, I worked with lazy people, so I would see more transactions per day than most, which meant that I encountered a greater share of rude people, including a dude who held me up at gunpoint. That really shook me because I was mortified by the thought of dying at such a shitty job.
By the end of my time there, I kept a letter of resignation, signed and sealed, in my shirt pocket. I wore it like a chip on my shoulder, waiting to quit at a moment's notice. The next time I got shit for something from my boss, I calmly handed her the letter.
The job wasn't bad when I was in college, but I stayed there for a couples years after, writing shitty screenplays and going hungry some days. The irony of me being surrounded by money was not lost on me. I've had harder jobs and worse paying jobs, but I got absolutely no satisfaction from my work, which made it intolerable.
Thats kind of a gangster move. I wonder if anyone walks around with a break-up letter in their pocket, just in case they get in a fight with their girl?
I am now feeling thoroughly guilty for losing my patience with my local teller girl recently. My bank (Citibank) is just about the worst organization ever though, second only to DirecTV.
Any one work for them?
What a coincidence. Yesterday, I was called up for a group interview in Encino for a WF teller job. I sent in an application online after I was laid off last month and there are several available spots right now. I don't know, maybe it might be good for someone in my position and age, the benefits look good and who knows what it might lead to as it's a stable company. However, when the rather peppy recruiter/interviewer lady informed us all that $10.50 is the base pay, I became a little hesitant. The "wear a suit & tie" thing and the thought about dealing with pissy rich folk reinforced that. I'm waiting for the phone call back to see if I made it to the "second phase". I'm still plugging away at the classified ads. Thinking about what the hell I want to do with my life exactly overwhelms me sometimes.
But yeah, telemarketing sucks.
Don't get me wrong, a shitty job is better than no job. I could've found something better sooner, but I also didn't know what I wanted to do (I was writing, but had no idea what to fall back on when it wasn't working).
I also worked as a grip on film sets, sometimes for free. It's actually great (yet difficult) work, if you can get into the union, Local 80. Those guys banked great money, but many blew most of it on cocaine. Gripping is very physical work with weird hours, and when the shoots were in the Valley (no I never worked on porn sets), those were some hot days for that kind of work.
Still, even when I wasn't making money, I found it interesting to be on set, and I saw how a lot of things worked just by paying attention around me. I wouldn't list being a grip as one of my worst jobs, even though I barely made money at it, because it was a unique thing to have done.
Same with me right now. Instead of writing, it's trying to get past that high school level of Spanish and learning music theory while deciding if I want to get my bachelors in accounting (everyone and their dog seems to want a degree in that, but it seems like sweet work) or behind-the-scenes film work (as in digitizing old prints of movies, etc...I don't know if I'm going to be staying in L.A. forever, though). Trying to figure out what is best kept at a hobby/on the side level and what is something I should dole out cash for a college education and soild career choice is my "problem"
I don't miss that line of work. When everything is straight commission with no base salary...
Here's a sampling of my shit jobs:
1. Picking tobacco down in hot-ass Elizabethtown, NC during summertime.
2. Furniture deliverer (carrying a big-ass china cabinet up 10-flights of stairs makes you go back to college and quit fuckin' around).
3. Bagged groceries for tips at the Fort Bragg Commissary.
4. Drove an ice-cream truck during summers (no air conditioning down in hot-ass North Carolina).
5. Worked up UPS on the unload (i.e., unloading parcels from transfer trucks) and pre-load (loading those brown delivery vans).
-The docks always had outdoor temperatures, hot as hell in summer and cold in winter (no climate control-related).
6. Cut lawns as a kid (North Carolina. Hot!!!!).
7. Telemarketer for Ohio Business Machines (for about 2 weeks).
-This brunette receptionist was a sweet piece of eye-candy, though. Boobalicious too!!!
8. Sold Chanello's Pizza food (from a large hot-pack) and beverages on Fort Bragg military base.
-The driver dude would drop me off and I'd walk around the barracks areas (single folk's military housing) and sell grub to the soldiers.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
I worked FED EX shipping not ground, throwing those smaller boxes in trailers and after one day I walked out. It was just time for me to really finish school and get serious about a career.
You should cook, wait tables, or bar tend. The latter two can pay the bills pretty decently, and you'll work with lots of people who are trying to do other things. Cooking is no way to get rich, but can be imminently satisfying if you have any leanings in that direction. Plus, you'll never go hungry when you work in a kitchen.
My mom discouraged me from bar tending back in those days, making it seem like a lowly profession, serving booze to drunks. Of course, she was oblivious to my own unruly behavior at that time. I'm not sure why I listened to her about that one, since I was living on my own. I still wish I had done it, but I did end up cooking, which was cool.
Middle of the summer heat and I'm not fond of heights.
Also put lids on jelly jars by hand for a temp agency...was very Lucille Ball-like.
And I also spent a month setting up and tearing down circus tents.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
My grandfather dropped out of school at age 10 to pick tobacco full-time just outside Greensboro.....he started chewing Beech-Nut at about the same time....he lived to be 98 years old. Went totally blind in his 30's and the family secret was that it happened when he drank bad moonshine....wood alcohol instead of grain.
Yo Rock,
Shine is no joke. A neighbor kid gave me some when I was a teenage. It looked like Aquafina and burned like fire goin' down. Ah!!!!!! It sounds like grandpops was a tough dude! My father's pop drank like a fish and lived to about 82 years old, yet Jim Fixx died of a heart attack while jogging. WTF???
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
for a few years. Each was independently owned, people would bounce
around from cart job to cart job, serving time with each whacko
boss and their unique mental imbalance. The most fun one was selling
plated chain on spools as bracelets and necklaces. I would have to measure
out their piece, cut it and link the clasp on. At first the crafty side
of it was cool, and fitting tennis bracelets on fine women's ankles was
alright, but it got old fast. I did have this huge blatantly fake dookie
joint that I would wear on weekend afternoons working the cart that was cool.
Sorry, that was the good one, but others included a popcorn cart where you
had to keep making it the entire 8 hours and throwing it away, to keep the smell
in the air, so you would stand in 90 degree weather over a constantly running
greasy 450 degree oven for 7 hours straight. And another one at a t-shirt stand
selling BOSTON, MA sweatshirts to tourists seemed cool, but all these people
started warning me that the owner would start accusing me of stealing or saying
things are missing, and dock my pay, and sure enough after 3 weeks he started
trying to take money out my paycheck and I was not having it.
They all sucked anyway because you had to get the pushcart out of the warehouse
in the morning and push this overloaded creaking beast at least 3 and as many as
7 blocks through the crowded downtown sidewalks. I hit like 3 people every day.
for those that don't know, it's a restaurant that serves "healthy" food -- huge bowls of salad and sandwiches -- constantly busy, with a line usually to the door or out the door. basically, i was making a huge tossed salad and a sandwich every 1.5 - 2 minutes. the hard part was all of the components. the salads all had to be tossed in a dressing and then have beans, diced hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, half an avocado, sprouts and croutons. sandwiches were equally complex -- most had to have mustard, mayonnaise, cheese, some sort of protein, lettuce, tomato, sprouts, etc. to top it off, the space in which you had to work was about 10 feet long and 3-4 ft deep -- with 4-5 other people.
the real prize was the managers, who would just sit down in their basement office -- watching you on camera. if you were working too slow, they'd call up on the phone and tell whomever answered to tell you that you needed to work faster.
did i mention the place was infested with cockroaches and rats?
Speaking of which, worst adult work: Working on a 3000 word project for iChunes. Absolutely soul-killing and not remotely worth the money. It made my most hackneyed days penning for Hurb seem dreamy by comparison.
I once worked at as a cook when I was 14 at this pizza place called "Crystal Pistol Pizza Palace" in this really really ghetto amusement park called "Frontier Town" which was like... some wierd "back in the days" type shit that was real close to my house that had like a massive massive camping area where like... a whole colony of crazy rednecks would live for the Summer to be close to the beach in their trailers. And they'd all eat at the pizza place everyday... man... I cant even explain the type of people I saw there. Talking... 1 piece Jumpsuit camouflage outfits with neon orange stone cold steve austin 3:14 sown into the chest. With a matching camo hat with the bright orange sewing. Little kids wearing some really lude shirts. Classy stuff... This was all on the Eastern Shore of Maryland... which is a pretty amazingly rednecky area.
home depot. i got fired for threatening a customer. that guy was an asshole and it was worth it.
video store clerk.
drywall. that will kill your soul.
worked at a crappy hippie campus pub w/ dstill808 for a while. that place was bad. you smelled like fried food constantly when you worked there.
office supply delivery. basically could be described as "carrying boxes of paper up flights of stairs."
unloading trucks for williams-sonoma/west elm. it was like big stacks' description of ups loading, except in reverse.
a job i had forever that was both good and bad: tire installation @ costco. every car had equal potential to be a nightmare or a small life victory. and that place was never slow.
edit: i forgot, hardwood/pergo/linoleum installation. your knees will hurt. very bad. no-ayo.
other shitty jobs:
cabinet shop: had to stain and laquer the insides of kitchen cabinets...all they gave you for the fumes was a cheap ass cloth fiber mask!
SWAP program- dragging tree branches and feeding them into a chipper on the side of the highway.
Recycling center- separating soggy ass beer cans from bottles all day...
Best Western - housekeeper for my 16th summer at a skeezy Eureka motel
Wherehouse on Union st. - Danielle Steele's hired help and pushy rich old ladies in designer gear.
BULB FARMS.
Oysterbed in Potrero...worked for the biggest BATCH ever...after a few months I walked out on a lunch break and never went back...
Stories please.
I always suspected Intermezzo wasn't the cleanest of all foodspots...
I have really only ever worked in the service/restaurant industry with the exception of the 2.5 years I spent at RBM doing data entry and learning the ropes. In 15 years I can only account for a 6-8 month period of not having a job. There really is no Worst job as I learned something and took something from each and every one. I have been pretty lucky in that I have mostly worked for private businesses and small companies and have been able to pick and choose more or less.
I guess the worst job was the first couple months working at the eco-resort in the V.I.
I worked from 6am-Noon and then back the same day at 5pm-till about 12:30am doing dishes for about 400 people twice a day, including all the prep and cook pans. It Frickin' sucked. All my co-workers and room mates would get done with dinner around 8 and head into town to get their drink on, only to return about 1 am when I was just getting done. Dirtiest , Sickest Kitchen I've ever seen in my life . I drank on the job a lot, so I do suppose that could have added to my finishing time now that I think about it, but it was needed. But I still don't think of it as a bad experience by any means. It was just gross and grueling.
Japanese tourism company - First full-time employment, low pay, heavy work load, three insanely erratic female co-workers in the accounting department (where i worked).
Any other general accounting function - People in it are usually boring and bitchy. Hopefully this will be my back-up plan, as I am intending it to be.
Low-paying but fulfilling jobs:
Supermarket cashier/Stocker- Busy, but somehow fulfilling.
Fundraiser at my college - bonus was earned off calling perennial donors. piece of cake. i used to flirt with my supervisor who was hella cute. joked around. it wasn't really work.
I still refuse to let the stuff into my house till this day.
Apart from that did 3 days doing telesales for Double Glazing which I found I was good at but, considering being good at it meant having the ability to badger and bully elderly people out of their pensions, I found it truly soul destroying.
That does sound awful, I don't know what would be worse, A Fish Cannery or A Potpourri Factory. Both murder on the senses I'm sure.
A couple months ago I spent a few hours reading about CTS DECON.
Its kind of freaky and morbid, but knowing what in entails has me convinced that
THAT is probably the Worst, but one of the BEST paying Jobs Ever. Not for the faint of Heart.
If you don't know what it is you probably don't want to know what it is.
It is a steady and growing industry, however it has a very quick and very high turn over ( no pun intended )