What was your worst job ever and why?

I have so many from which to choose. LOL!

I'm trying now to get a good job with a good privately owned company (midsized) for the next 25 yrs. And it doesn't have to be great, just good.

Why is that so hard to find?

Of course Bluetea you will share one of your worst???

Easy. I was an order picker for maybe two weeks during a summer in college. It was in a warehouse and consisted of taking a palette on a forklift down aisles of boxes and putting x number of boxes of things on the manifest onto the palette. Horrific, back breaking work in a hot, stuffy warehouse. It was miserable. I wore through a pair of gloves in a week. I quit in the second week. The work, the people, everything was just miserable. I can't recall what I was paid. It was through an agency. Probably something like $4.50/hour at the time.

I've had worse jobs but it was the one I hated the most. I was hired by a major corporation, one you all have heard of, out of college.

I showed up for my first day of work and sat next to another guy in the lobby for an hour. No one knew we were coming. They take us up stairs, toss us into a cube that was used for storage, and that's home. I get sent to watch a company training video, when I hear an alarm, it didn't sound like a fire so I kept watching the video. It was our lunch bell.

I had to wear a suit and tie.

About a month later they give me the job of one of the temps there and fired him. He was also one of my few friends there. Sorry, bro. The job consists of two very important things. Creating journal entries on bad material for pennies. Yes, I was creating journal entries, in a multinational corporation for less than a dollar.

The second part was to make copies. And when I say make copies, I mean COPIES. People would come by, drop stacks of paper with a post-it saying (4 or 5 or 8 and give them to whomever). Literally, the stack could be over a foot tall. I used to be at the copy machine for a couple of hours and people were always "I just need one." "Well, I just need 5,000, walk down the hallway to the other one".

I quit just before my 90 day review.

In some ways, I wish I could have stayed. They payed well, their 401K was something like a 3 or 4 to 1 match on the company stock and lets just say that this company has done, very well over the years. I might be a millionaire today had I lasted 20 years. On the other hand, they streamlined all of it several years ago and I'm sure plenty of people like me were launched.

The worst thing I ever had done to me was working at the Good Guys. The managers would lock the door at closing time and not let us out. They'd get sued into the ground today but got away with it back then.

-Clean up crew after butchers in a meat department.
-huge skeleton head waving at highway traffic trying to get them to come into a party store during halloween.
-waiter at Friendly's (lasted 3 months)
-worked for a guy who thought it was fun to call customers names loudly enough for me to hear and just barely soft enough for them to not hear (I still think some of them did).

Nick in Linden, New Jersey said: -Clean up crew after butchers in a meat department.
-huge skeleton head waving at highway traffic trying to get them to come into a party store during halloween.
-waiter at Friendly's (lasted 3 months)
-worked for a guy who thought it was fun to call customers names loudly enough for me to hear and just barely soft enough for them to not hear (I still think some of them did).

During tax season I saw people dressed up as statue of liberty holding a sign to come in to get there taxes done....the name of the tax place was liberty taxes.....that's degrading...

- Cutting T-Shirts into rags that were sold in bulk.(8hrs a day)
- Punching holes in belts at a belt factory.(8hrs a day)
- Dishwasher (my drug years)
- Roofing laborer (recently)
- At least 3 warehouse jobs (teenage jobs)

I'm corporate slave now but the most fun I've had on the job was being a Forklift Driver.

Theres a big difference between jobs that are difficult and those that flat out suck. and these days, Id be open to either one short term ;)

But clearly the worst was at a company that hires out the mail/file room services at law offices, corporations, etc. The clients were fine, and in most cases very easy to work for. It was each area manager. I was a floater, and had to call each morning at 6 to see where I was working, mostly at places 20 miles distant through heavy traffic ( easy 70 minute drive). On top of that, my direct supervisor didnt have any education (doubt she graduated high school), was completely disorganized, and had a habit of saying anything to get what she wanted (such as promising a raise or day off, than forget/deny it was ever said.

On top of that, the are managers received yearly bonuses based on regional spending ans savings. It wasnt uncommon to for tem to state a freeze on raises on year, than give a whopping .05 cents the next. Im certain that all the savings went directly to the area managers vacation home fund.

Worst job ever, and feel for many that are stuck there. Perhaps thats what I get for refusing to

Nick in Linden, New Jersey said: -Clean up crew after butchers in a meat department.
-huge skeleton head waving at highway traffic trying to get them to come into a party store during halloween.
-waiter at Friendly's (lasted 3 months)
-worked for a guy who thought it was fun to call customers names loudly enough for me to hear and just barely soft enough for them to not hear (I still think some of them did).

you mean setting up candy displays wasn't at the bottom

Working out in the direct sun, physical labor (not just standing there like a flagmen) at 95+ degrees, high humidity

Corollary... working in a swamp under the same conditions

Warehouse when I was young wasn't too horrible. Trying it a couple years ago was past horrible.

Working in a swamp??? What??? LOL!!!

Was it like the "The Longest Yard", the swamp scene.

John,

Tell me you weren't in prison working on a chain gang in a swamp?

In surveying, some properties, indeed, have swamps. The property might be subdivided and sometimes getting through the swamp was the only way....

I don't think I've ever seen "The Longest Yard".

Everyone has seen Burt Reynolds in the football/prison movie The Longest Yard.

cold calling telemarketing was the worst. nothing like a boiler room. hot sweaty guys all close to having a heart attack from not making the sales.

Joe Gagill in Monticello, New York said: John,

Tell me you weren't in prison working on a chain gang in a swamp?

No prison gangs for me. Would that be of help on "The Crew"?

And WTF, WTF, I had to create an account with indeed to respond in forums now??????!!!!!!!! What is going on with these "wonderful" people???!!!

Joe Gagill in Monticello, New York said: you mean setting up candy displays wasn't at the bottom

I'm trying to be nice to a company with a boss who I actually got a good reference from. =D

It wasn't a *terrible* job...but let's put it this way, they have trouble filling spots even in this economy.

Joe Gagill in Monticello, New York said: During tax season I saw people dressed up as statue of liberty holding a sign to come in to get there taxes done....the name of the tax place was liberty taxes.....that's degrading...

I've also seen these poor schlubs. Mine was my first job ever at like 15 years old, so that's a little better. At least I wasn't a grown adult in that thing.

Pizza Delivery guy....The customers make you feel so small and unimportant....hated it...

Well one job that I knew that was not for me was waitressing. They have my utmost respect and if they are good, they get a 20% tip from me. That was definitely not for me.

A few years ago, I worked for an outfit that did emergency property repair: (fire, vandalism, water damage even crime scene clean-up). We rotated the phones since we were oncall 24/7. The problem was that we didn't do business with all homeowners policies. Certain insurance companies had their own people. Course the homeowner didn't know this. Neither did I. Who reads insurance policies?

How do you tell a homeowner who is standing in 3 feet of water at 3 in the morning to call his insurance adjuster? Sorry pal can't help ya. They really get upset. Fortunately, this was only a temp assignment but I couldn't wait for it to end.

bob adams in Minnesota said: Pizza Delivery guy....The customers make you feel so small and unimportant....hated it...

You are the most important person in my life Can I get an antipasto salad with that? Thanks, you're a doll. LOL!

putting up gutters one summer was as bad as it can get. it is so HOT on a roof. i rather be waterboarded than sit on a hot roof.

John in Catonsville, Maryland said:

And WTF, WTF, I had to create an account with indeed to respond in forums now??????!!!!!!!! What is going on with these "wonderful" people???!!!

indeed didn't like what 2 people posted on this thread so they removed the 2 comments and are watching carefully now john.

Thanks for the heads up. It would not surprise me one little bit if "some powers that be" were keeping track of my internet activity.....

Mine was as a laborer at a coal-burning power plant for a summer during college breaks. Sweeping and shoveling coal dust all day in extremely hot, dark, tight passages (imagine various scenes from the Aliens movies). My day wasn't spent in fear of falling from the high walkways--I was always watching my back for the many redneck bullies who loved to abuse college boys. (Otherwise, I was listening to my music and pursuing methods of escaping physically and mentally.)

Generally any large corporate environment has been my worst jobs, I've come to despise the typical corporate culture. It's like a bunch of zombies at many of these places, talk the same...walk the same...act the same...dress the same. I wouldn't make a good cult member. Anyway, I'm now looking for smaller outfits.

Bill in Kansas City, Missouri said: Generally any large corporate environment has been my worst jobs, I've come to despise the typical corporate culture. It's like a bunch of zombies at many of these places, talk the same...walk the same...act the same...dress the same. I wouldn't make a good cult member. Anyway, I'm now looking for smaller outfits.

I posted earlier on this thread but because of one little harmless sentence Indeed deleted my post.

Again, I was in Sales for a publicly traded corporation, I'll never work in this environment again. It's ALL about the stock price and not the customer nor the employee. STRESS, STRESS, and MORE STRESS.

You don't want to work for too small of a company though because the money is usually not there. Unless it's your own of course.

A medium size privately own company is the best in my opinion.

Bill in Kansas City, Missouri said: Generally any large corporate environment has been my worst jobs, I've come to despise the typical corporate culture. It's like a bunch of zombies at many of these places, talk the same...walk the same...act the same...dress the same. I wouldn't make a good cult member. Anyway, I'm now looking for smaller outfits.

My last employer was referred to as The Stepford Company. Very large, very sterile. Image was everything but you had to really watch what you said.

Joe Gagill in Monticello, New York said:
A medium size privately own company is the best in my opinion.

I like those too. In large companies, your job often depends on last quarter's earnings. You are always checking the stock price.

I don't mind small companies but not family owned ones.

The worst thing I ever had done to me was working at the Good Guys. The managers would lock the door at closing time and not let us out. They'd get sued into the ground today but got away with it back then.

So if the manager locked to door and wouldn't let you out what was he making you do? How long did you wait? Why did he do it? Sounds like illegal stuff to me at any cost.

FogCityGirl in San Francisco, California said: The worst thing I ever had done to me was working at the Good Guys. The managers would lock the door at closing time and not let us out. They'd get sued into the ground today but got away with it back then.

So if the manager locked to door and wouldn't let you out what was he making you do? How long did you wait? Why did he do it? Sounds like illegal stuff to me at any cost.

I'm pretty sure that some places still do this. While technically illegal, complaining about it can get you fired. Good luck proving that this was the reason why you got fired, too. Employers could get away with murder these days, and tell the cops that you fell off a ladder that you weren't supposed to use without a spotter. =X

Bluetea in Texas said: I like those too. In large companies, your job often depends on last quarter's earnings. You are always checking the stock price.

I don't mind small companies but not family owned ones.

Medium sized privately owned companies aren't perfect BUT not every penny is looked at and it's ok to tell a dirty joke once in awhile. Decisions are not based on the stock price but what is right and wrong.

You have to watch the small companies. The owners tend to be borderline psychos (you are in their world and what they say goes) and the pay is usually low.

If your young, idealistic, and want the big name on the resume go with the large publicly owned corporations. But, you will soon get tired of the endless meetings, the ridiculous policies, etc, etc,

Put it this way....In a large corp when you leave they shoot out an email saying, "Bluetea is no longer with us please direct all of her calls to her Manager." The End.

With a medium sized privately owned company an email also goes out but it says, "Bluetea is no longer with us, she has moved on, we wish her the best of luck, she did tremendous work here, please stop by HR where there is a card to sign for her."

And when you are on the front line in Sales for a large corp you see the BS so much more.

I worked at a couple of REALLY bad places...

1. can't remember the name but it was a medical plastic item place.the super would have me doing jobs without the proper info needed.one of the jobs was separating GOOD and BAD thermometer cases.they couldn't have ANY bubbles at all in them. well i had 2 large boxes of BADs and 2 GOOD cases, NOT 2 BOXES, 2 CASES. the super was pissed at me. luckly i was there for 1 day.

2. JANCO...they made picture frames for KMART/ETC. where i was there were 2 assembly lines with 20 people on each 1. basically 2 people put the frame on the line. then the next 2 put the glass inthe frame. so on and so on. i'm at the end stapling cardboard corners to the frames.anyway several times people six rows up from me are messing up so here i am getting frames that aren't EVEN finished. so i have to pull them off and send them back. needless to say that super wasn't happy. his solution was to turn the conveyor belt speed up faster.

btw. both were temp jobs.

needanjob in Saint Louis, Missouri said: I worked at a couple of REALLY bad places...

1. can't remember the name but it was a medical plastic item place.the super would have me doing jobs without the proper info needed.one of the jobs was separating GOOD and BAD thermometer cases.they couldn't have ANY bubbles at all in them. well i had 2 large boxes of BADs and 2 GOOD cases, NOT 2 BOXES, 2 CASES. the super was pissed at me. luckly i was there for 1 day.

2. JANCO...they made picture frames for KMART/ETC. where i was there were 2 assembly lines with 20 people on each 1. basically 2 people put the frame on the line. then the next 2 put the glass inthe frame. so on and so on. i'm at the end stapling cardboard corners to the frames.anyway several times people six rows up from me are messing up so here i am getting frames that aren't EVEN finished. so i have to pull them off and send them back. needless to say that super wasn't happy. his solution was to turn the conveyor belt speed up faster.

btw. both were temp jobs.

When I was in high school, I worked on an assembly line for a company that made egg beaters. Heh! I wasn't fast enough. I was there for 2 weeks and quit. I never even went back for my paycheck. LOL!

I think my next job will be my worst job ever.

I'll soon have to take anything.

Joe Gagill in Loch Sheldrake, New York said: I think my next job will be my worst job ever.

I'll soon have to take anything.

I'm quite sure I could find a job at the warehouse I left after 6 months.

Worst job or worst boss? I can decide.

Worst job was working at a factory that made foam cushions. It was very physically demanding and always hot in there.

-We couldn't wear shorts in the heat.
-Not much in the way of ventilation or fans.
-Lots of crabby people yelling and cussing at you. No one was happy.
-Constant pounding, rolling, throwing, bending and picking up parts. Thousands of parts a day.
-Often falling behind on work because they wouldn't hire enough people or people quit a lot.
-They thought 10 cents was a generous raise.
-There were 3 of us that worked in all the areas and we couldn't get higher pay for having more responsibilities that the others.
-The owner was a spoiled rich guy that inherited a ton of money. He paid us very low wages.
-The parts were sorted by throwing them on the floor into several different packing areas. I hated being the sorter. It did wonders for your back.
-Working the trim line sucked. It went so fast no one could keep up. We'd all end up at the end of the line which we called the hole. There was a drop off 3 feet below with only a little chain holding us back from the hole. We'd all be piled up on top of each other trying to keep from falling off into the hole while racing to trim the parts faster. Did I mention that we were all holding scissors while doing this? I have the scars to prove it.
-The tables in the lunch room were so gross that I don't think they ever got washed. ewwww!
-When I quit, I put in my one day notice (most didn't even give any notice). The angry boss asked me how I could do that "after all they had done for me." Yeah, right.
-Best part about my last day there was packing every part that was made, whether it was good or not. I didn't care and I laughed as I packed really bad parts. Let the customer complain a month after I was gone. That was fun.

Another job I mentioned before was the little print shop of horrors where the boss was a lunatic.

-Witch lady brought her 4 year old to work with her. I called him the devil child.
-Grabbed in crotch, butt, breasts and having bra straps pulled by the devil child. Think he tried to bite me once too. He liked to steal my chair when I got up until one day I dumped the chair over with him in it. He never took my chair again. LOL
-The witch would yell and belittle us constantly. You didn't dare set off the crazy person.
-Witch would answer questions with a snotty "What do ya think??" or "We just had this conversation yesterday!"
-Witch started arguments with husband using my phone in my office.
-Witch would swear and yell at her kid, even when he cut himself bad on a razor blade left on the table.
-I got yelled at one day for going to the bathroom right after lunch.
-All the customers were idiots, stupid and always "ask for f***n me." That's what the witch said.
-The witch would come stomping into my office and stand behind me smacking her lips and try to grab the mouse from my hand.
-I was constantly interrupted and then they wondered why work wasn't done.

To top it all off, the witch made up all kind of lies about me to try and get out of paying me unemployment. They lost and I got my checks, but what a hassle. I worked there for a year...one long year.

My second to last employer did something similar. He laid me off and told the unemployment folks that I didn't know what I was doing. I had worked there 10 months..... if I didn't have a clue, it would have been found out before then. I got my unemployment.

designer bee in Waukesha, Wisconsin said: To top it all off, the witch made up all kind of lies about me to try and get out of paying me unemployment. They lost and I got my checks, but what a hassle. I worked there for a year...one long year.

When I worked in a call center, they said that 20% of the population suffers from some kind of mental illness. From some of the calls, I got, I would say that is a conservative estimate.

I think I've worked with a number of those people.

designer bee in Waukesha, Wisconsin said: I think I've worked with a number of those people.

Some more of them live on my street.... seriously.......

designer bee in Waukesha, Wisconsin said: I think I've worked with a number of those people.

I think I'm becoming one of those people. Unemploymt does it to a person.

They thought 10 cents was a generous raise.

hey BEE, that other comment i made about JANCO...well they were the same way.as a temp i made $5.50hr on the line but the forklift drivers STARTED out at $4.50hr.plus anyone working there, according to the notice in the breakroom,HAD to work there 3yrs before they got a 25 cent raise.

That will make you rich.

The little print shop of horrors I worked at for a year I knew I'd never get a raised if I had stayed. The other lady that worked there told me she got two 25 cent raises in the 5 years she worked there. The company had filed for bankruptcy before I had worked there. I don't think I'd get a raise with that going on. Psycho lady wouldn't allow that.

needanjob in Saint Louis, Missouri said: I worked at a couple of REALLY bad places...

1. can't remember the name but it was a medical plastic item place.the super would have me doing jobs without the proper info needed.one of the jobs was separating GOOD and BAD thermometer cases.they couldn't have ANY bubbles at all in them. well i had 2 large boxes of BADs and 2 GOOD cases, NOT 2 BOXES, 2 CASES. the super was pissed at me. luckly i was there for 1 day.

FORGOT the best part while working at another job, i was talking to someone else who worked at the medical place after me. she said they fired her because she "DROVE" one of the forklifts even thought she wasn't suppose to.she told me the super asked her to grab something off the forklift for him and i'm guessing "TOUCHING" the forklift is considered "DRIVING" to the company.

Assistant manager/manager trainee for a mall-based retail store. I had this job back in the late 90s and I thought it would be the death of me. Waaaaay too much stress. It didn't help matters that there were 8 employees and FIVE of them hated me, including the manager. They were all betweeen the ages of 18 and 25 and I was the grand old lady at 37. Very clear I didn't fit in. I toughed it out about six months before I finally found something else. Takeaway lesson? NEVER be seduced by a title!

My worst job ever was my last one, at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. NSIDC is the poster child for the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Working there was like having fallen into a parallel universe. Everything that I was ever taught NOT to do in my programming classes was SOP there. People were promoted on the basis of doing work that wouldn't have been acceptable in Programming 101. One scientist that I worked for ordered me to fake data to make his research results would look better.

NSIDC was about as clique-ish as your typical suburban high school. Gossiping, back-stabbing, and scheming were rampant. Entire staff meetings were devoted to talking about people who weren't in attendance. One particularly narcissistic manager fired everyone who wouldn't look up to her as the authority on programming, even though she was the most incompetent programmer that I've ever worked with. The director made all of his decisions without input from anyone else. Anyone who disagreed with any of his decisions was fired. Half the people they hired were gone within 3 years. Almost no one retired from NSIDC. Anyone with any ability got frustrated and found a new job.

I have not had a really bad job, but I had a boss who was HORRIBLE. She had some kind of untreated mental disorder (maybe SEVERE bipolar) and was a recovering addict. I think the drugs had messed up her brain and combined with the disorder, she was a real treat. She would scream on some days and hug you on others. She rewarded the people who were bad workers and wrote up the ones who did a great job. I was always getting called in her office, and it got to a point that I just went in there laughing. I have an excellent work ethic, and she did not like that. She HATED any one who was competent, bc she was not-I don't think she could be because of her mindset or lack thereof. In one year, she lost half her staff because she was so horrible. Several years after I left, she was fired-finally. Unfortunately, she managed to get hired somewhere else and has a super cushy position. Sigh.