The worst job you ever had...

elannis · October 2011

What is the worst job you've ever had?

I would say mine was being a janitor for the university. I would have weeks where I was assigned to a building and from 9 PM - 1:30 AM my only job was to clean 10 floors of bathrooms. Yuck!

Also at this job, I got to encounter cockroaches and those really gross millipede things. And then of course, there are the gross people who have to ...release their bowels ... and they end up smearing it all over the walls of the stall, on the toilet, on the floor, and pretty much every surface inside the stall.

On top of that, the boss was the biggest dweeb ever and was only the boss because his father-in-law was head of the department. That was my worst job.

tuarceatha · October 2011

elannis! that sounds friggin' horrible!

Worst job I ever had... I was a hostess in a restaurant in downtown Boston, and I sucked at it. I had no idea when the Red Sox were playing, or how to give directions to BU, and I didn't know how to make a latté. I tried to be good at that job, but I'm just not Boston enough. I just made more work for those around me. Blah! Bad memories.

elannis · October 2011

I have to agree that you both sound like you've had absolutely horrible jobs! I always feel incredibly overwhelmed when I don't know what I'm doing and I'm making things harder for others. And working with people like that is also very defeating. I don't blame you for quitting, Yaga. My boss for facility services was an idiot, but at least I only had to see him a few minutes out of the shift. The rest of the people were pretty cool, so that helped, but people really need to be considerate of those that clean the bathrooms.

ETA: Actually, I think everyone in general could use a lesson in compassion towards others. I think that would solve a lot of problems. If we all had to spend an amount of time working in different real-life jobs, instead of taking the gen. ed classes that we don't care about, I think we'd learn what others go through and try to be more considerate and understanding. I know that since I've worked at a restaurant, I now make sure not to leave a mess when I leave. And I translate surveys now, so I for sure will never write a sloppy survey. People just don't seem to care about each other any more. There's my rant, lol.

becunning2 · October 2011

I used to clean hotel rooms when I was a teenager. It was pretty much awful. People do awful stuff in hotel rooms (awful!). And I worked in a college town. I cleaned up some remnants of some awful parties. And you have to be super careful about how you clean the bathrooms because if you leave so much as one pubic hair in the bathtub, a guest will flip out, and you'll get reamed. And believe me, people shed up a storm in hotels. It's also back-breaking labor for next to no money. I eventually moved to front desk--but there was a day where a drug dealer got arrested at the hotel. There was apparently a lot of really awful stuff in that room... like human blood and needles and gunk. It was foul. I felt for the lady who had to clean that room. (So did the manager, who gave her a bonus that day...)

sparkles88 · October 2011

Yaga, BF worked in the chemistry department at our university for his previous job, and he also said there were always a few graduate students from outside of the US that had some sexist views.

I think my worst job was working as a hostess. I only made it two weeks. I thought it might be a good stepping stone into the events field, because the company offered catering, but I learned I wouldn't get to do anything with that. I felt like a robot. The most unbelievable part was when I took a couple to their table, and a grown woman in her 50s actually stomped her foot at me and called her table "yucky," and said it wouldn't work. She wanted a booth but made no request for one until after she threw a tantrum.

I also worked as a janitor/maid like you, Elannis! Oddly enough, I really liked that job. My university would shut down the dorms over the summer and rent them out as cheap hotel rooms to groups with conventions on our campus. We would go in and clean out the rooms after they left. I worked with an awesome team, and my boss was super cool, so I think that made a huge difference.

polkadot111 · October 2011

Hahaha, sounds sucky ely!

Picking weeds from a rich woman's yard. For sure the worst job ever. She didn't believe in mowing or fertalizing. So I would literally have to take one of those old fashion knife on a stick looking things and whip it around, then go and pick out hundreds of weeds. TERRIBLE.

elannis · October 2011

Sounds like the people you work with can really make or break it.

Cleaning up needles and stuff sounds potentially dangerous. I'm surprised the cops didn't have a clean up crew for stuff like that...or maybe I just have seen too many bad movies, lol.

Blue & White · October 2011

yaga, I'm with you on the working in a research lab fail. Except my postdoc wasn't sexist, my boss was. Oh, and she was an American woman. So I don't really get it at all.

I am so so so so so so so happy not to be a slave anymore

peekaboo2011 · October 2011

My current job. I've been verbally abused for doing absolutely nothing wrong mutliple times. And one woman almost had me in tears the other day. Apparently we're allowed to not take it, but I can't hang up on someone (personal issues). Yeah, it's not fun. To top it all off, my boss participates in the gossip, which is some of the nastiest stuff I've ever heard. The only thing that's saved me from the chopping block is that my boss's boss adores me.

bsidebella · October 2011

I worked at a movie theater for 5 years. Awful. Terrible pay, long hours, no days off, being treated like scum by patrons, and really high expectations. You were basically trained to work 4 different jobs - floor (cleaning/maintenance staff), box office, concession and door (ticket taking). You could be working at least two during one shift. Sometimes you were working concession, door and box office by yourself. People were disgusting, throwing food and popcorn everywhere, dumping it on the floor.

It got to the point that I hated going to work so much, I would sit in my car and cry before going in, or have a panic attack. I applied for a promotion three times and each time, someone who had been there less time than me was promoted instead.

I once helped train a dude who was several years younger than me. I had been there 3 years at this point. Within 6 months he was a supervisor and within the year, he was a manager. That was the beginning of the end for me. The tipping point was when I was accused of stealing - I found a $50 bill on the floor and put it in my pocket, thinking "Hey, free money!" (we kept found money all the time, especially if it was left in a theater). Turns out it was from someone's cash drawer that was dropped and the register was short $50. That was the last straw, so I forked over the $50 after a long drawn out argument and said, "I quit. Bye."

So happy I'm not there anymore.

jemmini6 · October 2011

My worst job was my first one and I was a cashier at Kmart. The job itself was pretty typical as far as being a cashier in a big store, but one of the shift managers was a GIANT douche.

My aunt and my sister both worked there too (my aunt had worked there for over 25 years) and we had all been taking some time off when my uncle (the one with Down Syndrome - we were extremely close to him) was in the hospital. After a few days, my sister and I decided to go ahead and go to work. She was working 4 - 10 and I worked 6 - 10, so I went back to the hospital before I left for work. Well at 5:30, my uncle passed away. I called into work crying saying that I wasn't coming in because my uncle died and for them to NOT tell my sister (we didn't want her to get the news from them) and that my dad was going to come pick her up because he didn't want her driving.

So after all that, he just yelled into the phone "I understand you've had a death in the family, but I've got a store to run! You guys are both scheduled to close and it was only an uncle. You need to get here!" I responded back with "Fvck you!!" And then I hung up (which at 16, my mom heard. She wasn't mad because she knew he must have said something awful).

My dad still picked up my sister, I still didn't go in and I told my aunt what he said. She told the store manager, the regional manager and the CEO and they made him issue a formal written apology to me and my entire family and he personally sent a big floral arrangement to the funeral. I refused to talk to him anytime after that when we worked the same shift.

elannis · October 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_worst-job-ever?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:9a8b6f18-71b1-40cc-8467-fbf1561055fdPost:7a7904f1-d338-483c-aacd-9a6aad4296ec">Re: The worst job you ever had...</a>:
[QUOTE]My worst job was my first one and I was a cashier at Kmart. The job itself was pretty typical as far as being a cashier in a big store, but one of the shift managers was a GIANT douche. My aunt and my sister both worked there too (my aunt had worked there for over 25 years) and we had all been taking some time off when my uncle (the one with Down Syndrome - we were extremely close to him) was in the hospital. After a few days, my sister and I decided to go ahead and go to work. She was working 4 - 10 and I worked 6 - 10, so I went back to the hospital before I left for work. Well at 5:30, my uncle passed away. I called into work crying saying that I wasn't coming in because my uncle died and for them to NOT tell my sister (we didn't want her to get the news from them) and that my dad was going to come pick her up because he didn't want her driving. So after all that, he just yelled into the phone "I understand you've had a death in the family, but I've got a store to run! You guys are both scheduled to close and it was only an uncle. You need to get here!" I responded back with "Fvck you!!" And then I hung up (which at 16, my mom heard. She wasn't mad because she knew he must have said something awful). My dad still picked up my sister, I still didn't go in and I told my aunt what he said. She told the store manager, the regional manager and the CEO and they made him issue a formal written apology to me and my entire family and he personally sent a big floral arrangement to the funeral. I refused to talk to him anytime after that when we worked the same shift.
Posted by jemmini6[/QUOTE]

That's horrible. I know what you mean though. I remember working for Miejer (very similar to KMart) and they basically told me that they normally don't excuse for funerals unless it is a parent or a grandparent. They let me off that one time, but that was because I didn't know. I don't think they should get to determine who is close enough to you for you to be allowed to go to the funeral.

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_worst-job-ever?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:9a8b6f18-71b1-40cc-8467-fbf1561055fdPost:25faa653-f455-4a95-a380-fa5483dfd965">Re: The worst job you ever had...</a>:
[QUOTE]The worst job I ever had was working in a Medicaid managed care plan call center. I was tethered to a phone and yelled at by people all day for things over which I had no control. People threatened to sue me personally for things not being covered. I had one lady say she was going to kill me; a man said he was going to come rape all the women in our building; and a woman discussed how she would commit suicide while I tried to get an ambulance to her apartment. The stories I could tell about that place...
Posted by MeganLindsay5685[/QUOTE]

I don't think I could handle that kind of drama.

[Deleted User] · October 2011

Worst job... well, I've had a few bad ones... but selling Kirby vaccumms door to door has got to be the worst. I had people let their dogs loose on me, I had people slam doors in my face, one guy spit in my face, people would yell at us, curse at us, threaten the police on us, I had to walk for blocks and blocks, no breaks, no bathrooms (obviously) and the worst part? it was commission only. I made a total of $75 in 2 months. I was in such a horrible place in my life, I believed their brainwashing crap and thought if I kept sticking with it, I'd make some money. (I was also on welfare and about to be kicked off because I didnt' have a job... very scary time for me, when the economy first started falling) I was saved by a couple that worked there with me who were just there until their business took off... which it did and they hired me to work for them... until it broke into a million pieces 3 months later... that's when I talked to my social worker about going back to school.

there's so many bad jobs out there, and bad bosses, it amazes me how some places keep in business!

deburnin · October 2011

It's a tie between housekeeping and a deli.

The housekeeping was just plain gross. People are disgusting. Nothing like having someone shell peanuts in their room and just shoving them where ever they please. It took me hours to clean up that room. But that was just frustrating. The grossest was someone taking a shiit in the bathtub...

The deli was just horrible. No breaks. My first week I worked over eight hours and was on my feet moving the entire time. Also my first week, they had me close by myself (I was there till almost midnight cleaning when they close at 7pm). And there's nothing like coming home smelling like every piece of meat you touched that day. Blah.

The worst job you ever had...

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