What was the worst job you ever had?

[The Grovers Corners Yenta]

Posted: 8/24/06 at 10:37pm

I worked as a Medical Assistant in an STD clinic. I assisted at exams, took specimens to the lab, and listen to people lie about how they got an STD.

[justme2]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 1:01am

UGH...I was an "arbitrator" at a litigation services company for a spell.

My job? To make at least 200 calls a day to people that had been sued for records to insist they comply and come up with the records. One line was people hanging up on me, the other line was attorneys calling for status on records, and in the background was a bitch making sure we were always on the phone and had at least a 50% RTPU rate with our calls. RTPU? Ready to Pick up the records.

SUCKED and I actually quit this job...the only job I quit.

[Color and Light]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 1:06am

Telemarketing. Hands down.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 1:09am

working for fazolis...end of story.

[liotte]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 1:10am

Customer Service Rep for the IRS.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 1:18am

I currently work for a gen-u-wine crazy person. He tells you what direction he wants to move in, he gives you specific (and sometimes rather non-specific) directions to move in, and then spends all of his available time sabatoging your efforts while contributing nothing himself.

Frankly, some of the more detailed examples I'm not ready to delve into. I'm on the verge of a new job soon, and I truly fear that once I'm out of this situation I'm going to need therapy to make sense of it all. The closer I get to being out of it, the more astounded I am by how toxic it is.

[justme2]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 1:29am

Yuck! Customer Service rep for IRS sounds pretty damn bad.

[aspen]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 1:50am

I don't think mine is as bad as everyone else's, but...

I work in an ice cream shop. One week this summer, the AC went out (in south Texas, meaning the store was around 105+ degrees, for an EIGHT HOUR shift) and we ran out of vanilla ice cream, meaning we had only chocolate. The owners stupidly made us work. We probably lost about half of our regular customers because the ice cream was all soft. It sucks to have a person covered in sticky melted ice cream yelling at you to give them a refund for their $1 cone.

edit: spelling

Updated On: 8/25/06 at 01:50 AM

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 1:55am

That actually made me laugh. You were trying to sell melted Ice Cream.

[justme2]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 1:59am

How can an ice cream shop have only vanilla or chocolate as choices?

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 2:01am

Depends. If you're talking about customers, Foley's was the worst. Foley's customers really like to haggle over prices. And in my experience, nothing brings out the worst in people like a Red Apple sale. Those damn coupons...Word to the wise: If you want it, it almost certainly isn't covered by the coupon, and arguing with the associate ain't going to change things. One especially memorable customer implied that I was retarded because I forgot to ring up a pair of pants that she told me she didn't want.

If you're talking management, Express sucks out loud. The average age of managers is about 25, most of them are fresh out of school (if they even went to college) and they have no idea what they're doing. So you get a lot of conflicting rules and a lot of corporate bulls**t. And if you've ever set foot in a Limited Brands store, you know how the staff is required to follow you around, badgering you with stupid questions and testimonials. I hated doing that.

[aspen]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 2:06am

I dunno, but the owners grossed 1/2 million last year, so it can't be hurting them too much *shrug*

The stupid thing is, we charge $3.40 for a hot fudge sundae, which is two scoops of ice cream with one ounce of hot fudge and a cherry on top. 1oz of pecans/peanuts costs another 82 cents, and we don't even have whipped cream.

That sundae is our biggest seller, along with similarly shoddy root beer float for $3.75. People are idiots, I guess.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 2:09am

Wait you only had two flavors?

[justme2]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 2:13am

That's what I asked!

I work at the Corporate headquarters of a LARGE DENIM BASED company in the Bay Area...and you are so right about how people are trained for Store Management rose McShane!

[CanadianSnowbird]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 6:17am

This summer I worked in a jar factory. I worked there last year, but I was also stressed out trying to do night school as well. This year I began realizing what a crap job it was. There was no air conditioning and the boss expected me to do a lot of heavy lifting. It only paid $9.50. The guy was a jerk, and I continuously called him that behind his back, which led to me being fired in July.

Now I work in my dad's office. I take a banker's box of old orders, spend five hours taking out all the staples that have been there for years. Then I scan then all through the photocopier that keeps jamming. At least it's air conditioned and I make $11.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 6:33am

I believe Dairy Queen has only two flavors of ice cream -- chocolate and vanilla.

Anyway, my worst job was as a dishwasher at a Four Points hotel. I only lasted one shift. I showed up on the day I was supposed to start working (which was a Friday) and they told me that I wasn't supposed to come in until Monday. Apparently, they had changed the date but neglected to inform me. Since I was already there, they told me to hang out for a few hours until I could get trained. Finally, four hours later they had me put on a smock of some type and the guy that was supposed to train me quickly went through the motions of operating the machine, and that was that. To make matters worse, it was prom night and they were extra busy. After spending an entire night working under pressure, being yelled at to hurry up, and unsure of how to function the dishwasher, I made the irrevocable decision to resign.

Updated On: 8/25/06 at 06:33 AM

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 6:47am

The job I may be fired from today is the worst Job. I sit in a 3x8 room from midnight to 8am. i want to kill myself at work. But last night my alarm didn't go off and i missed my shift, so I may not have that job any more.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 9:07am

While I was starting out as a "poor struggling actor" in NYC, I took a brief job as a telemarketer...

...for three days, until I realized they were scamming customers into thinking they had already ordered products.

To this day, I regret not turning them in. I just abruptly quit the job once I figured out what was going on (hey I was slow), and I didn't collect my paycheck. The whole thing made me sick, and I was young and stupid at the time. (Not old and stupid, like I am now!) And it was Christmas time, and I was broke. But I couldn't take a check from them, once I knew what was going on.

I REALLY wish I would have had the brains to turn them in, though!

Updated On: 8/25/06 at 09:07 AM

[katygrace84]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 10:20am

I went from working in the retail stores for a company to working in their corporate office. When my new boss hired me, she knew that I didn't have the experience and skills for the job, but I had the right attitude. The problem was that it was one of those companies where they're too cheap to hire the people they need, so everyone was doing the job of about 3 people. This included me, doing a job for which I wasn't trained and that I couldn't get the help I needed because my boss was even busier than I was. I was also working 60 hour weeks and only getting paid for 40 hours. No lunch break, no overtime. I was literally working myself sick and couldn't even afford to pay my bills. I stayed because I needed a job and my coworkers really were great people. I went to work everyday convinced I was going to get fired. Eventually I was. It was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Now I do less and make more money as a temp.

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 10:21am

Lifeguard at an inner-city public pool. Nothing can compare.

[harris007]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 10:35am

phone sex operator

[katygrace84]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 10:39am

I have a friend who is a phone sex operator. She really likes it. Although she says dealing with all those men makes her glad she's a lesbian.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 10:41am

oh my God yenta, was that YOU??? lolol

[Elphaba]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 10:50am

when I was 16 I worked for Burger Chef, which few of you have ever heard of, but this was long before Burger King, Jack in the Box, Wendy's....in fact I believe Red Barn and McDonald's was the only competition, and we know which of the three made it to the big show.

Anyway, one of the things my shift had to do was clean the damn chain that the burgers......it was like a big bicycle chain, the burgers went on it and cooked "over an open flame"........it was horrible to clean this thing, and while I loved the burgers, I walked out one night........leaving this poor newbie by himself.......

Burger Chef

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 8/25/06 at 11:18am

Unfortunately, I cannot use the past tense. The worst job I ever had is the one I currently have. I've had bad employers in good jobs in the past, terrible, bi-polar bosses who forced me out of positions that weren't so bad. But this one takes the cake for terrible management conditions.