GTKY - What was the worst job you ever had?

missnacholover · August 2014

For me, I worked as an admin assistant for a big, well known Outlet Mall. The job itself wasn't awful - admin stuff, customer service, etc. However, my boss was a nightmare. She told me that I use the bathroom too much (Hi, diabetes, and, well I just pee a lot) and started having me write down a log of every time I was away from my desk to use the bathroom - what time I left and what time I came back. WTF?

Also, I'd finish my daily tasks within about 2-3 hours into my 7 hour day. She refused to let me bring in a book. And then she blocked the internet! WTF?! So I had to sit there and pick my ass for 5 hours/day.

And she told me that I couldn't fill up my water bottle with the water cooler within the last couple of hours of work because I'd take whatever I didn't drink home with me and the water was meant to be drank at work.

NLJ82 · August 2014

OLAN MILLS! *Queue Horror Scream*

I was the studio manager with one other photographer and 2 part time salesman under me. I had to do all customer service, take the photos, go through all the photos, pitch the packages, make the sale, do all office (money,reports,etc) duties, go through a daily 6 page packet of people to try to get them to come in for pictures, & deal with the most horrific boss with the most obnoxious southern accent and buck teeth

This may not sound too terrible but it's the #1 reason I'm scared of being too harsh on my child because after that job I have NO tolerance for kids. I've been known to make some ridiculous faces and noises to get a kid to just shut up. The screaming or children and ignorance of parents still haunt me O_O

I've been verbally beaten for not making a morbidly obese person look skinny, for making a sale and then after the sale was final the customer said "I was tricked! I want half my money back!", for not being able to get perfect pictures after a two hour session during a baby's nap time, for calling the cops on parents who were doing drugs in my lobby and passing out WITH their baby, and for having to use multiple backgrounds. I can't even.....

The customers controlled everything I did and that's what was allowed by my boss. If I had to work 2 hours over because someone was extremely late for their appointment, then I had to stay. All walk ins on top off a full schedule were allowed, there were no limits on clothing changes and this was a 2 studio place. Literally the size of my living room.

~X(

lizgrace03 · August 2014

Definitely working for the state of Michigan as a temp. I had a lady yell at me for wearing the wrong color pantyhose and spent all day in an office with no windows sorting mail.

Second runner up is bartender at a restaurant called the British Isles that never got any customers.

Celticlass6 · August 2014

No truly awful jobs, except one task while I was a file clerk at a law firm I had to copy hundreds of pages of documents that had been sitting in boxes in a warehouse that had water damage. The smell was so bad I had to wear a face mask, and rubber gloves to protect my skin.

I also had a bossy who did "cubicle checks" to make sure we were on time, micro managed every bit of our work, and told us to suck it up when we said there was just too much work for the three of us. I lasted there 6 years somehow.

NunyaBennis · August 2014

Repairing and selling vacuums. It wouldn't have been as bad if I could have just stayed in the shop alone replacing motors and fans, but to run back and forth between the demo floor, tune ups, sales, stocking, and bookkeeping... from open to close with no lunch break for a measly salary? No thanks! After I quit (talk about some two-week syndrome!) I had to file with the labor board to get my last month's check. I still shudder when I drive by that store.
Close second: telemarketing.

SarahHeck · August 2014

I was a caregiver for a very sweet non verbal 13 year old girl. I took her in outings, changed her diapers (baby diapers don't phase me) and fed her meals. Her parents were constantly fighting. They were hoarders. The house was filthy. The mother asked me if I liked it when her 600 lb husband flirted with me (he didn't, but she was uber jealous). she also constantly accused my co worker of stealing, because she was Thai and didn't speak English well. Anyway, I stayed in that job for 2 years. It was pretty well paying for a first time job and I thought it was normal for people to hate their jobs. I had just bought a car, was in jr college, had just started dating my husband. I didn't have a lot of time to look for a new job and I had to have something ready to go before I quit that one. I was super depressed and burned out, but I had been raised to be financially responsible and I had no other frame of reference of what I real job was supposed to be like. Well, The dad of the girl ended up committing suicide in our church parking lot (yes our families went to the same church) and that was a big enough that my mom said that she didn't care that she had to take over all my bills she quit that job for me.

SarahHeck · August 2014

@missnacholover‌, she sounds like a witch. Glad we all got out of those jobs. Life is too short!

brooklyngirl18 · August 2014

my first real job was a 'runner' at tiffany and co. I was super excited, being 16 and working in a beautiful jewelry store. basically what i had to do was stand around holding a wooden box waiting to transport jewelry to another area. the way each sales person would call for a runner was to tap their keys on the glass case. so all day all i heard was the tap tap tap tap tap tap of metal on glass. OMG it drove me insane!!

~X(

absolutelymaybe · August 2014

Worst Job Due To Customers:
I worked in the junior's department of Macy's for about nine months right after college. It made me realize I hate most people. Hard. From people who let their kids run through the racks of clothing and knock stuff over, people who would show up 5 minutes before closing time and want to try on EVERYTHING, people who intentionally damaged clothing so they could ask for a discount, people who argued with you on sales prices like it was somehow your fault something got placed on the wrong rack, people who bought clothes and wore them only to return them smelling like smoke and fried food.... yeah. We all hated our lives.

Worst Job Due To Boss:
I had just gotten married and DH and I moved to a nearby city when what I thought was a great opportunity presented itself. A local magazine was looking for an reporter/editor and I had quite a bit of experience by that time. It was a small staff and the boss seemed like a no-nonsense type of guy, but that's pretty common in the industry with publishers. I deal well in that environment.

Turns out, he was a bloody egotistic, bigoted, bipolar, psycho jerk.

He would frequently tell me to go run tasks for him, but when I'd get back he'd yell at me for leaving and say, "I never told you to do that."
He would go on political rants about how it's not his fault people weren't successful enough to afford insurance, so he shouldn't have to provide it (and he didn't).
The entire office was in one room and he would ask me to spy on his other employees (via instant messenger).
Once, during a meeting, he complained that he didn't have enough money or he could afford to hire a "real editor" (so, I guess I was a fake one?)
I had to listen to him brag about his hot girlfriend in China who was apparently so subservient to him...blah blah blah.

Yeah, I lasted six weeks and THANKFULLY I found my current job (we'd just bought a house so I couldn't just quit). From what I heard from other people (after working there) he goes through about 20-30 employees a year. There were only ever like 2-4 people on staff at a time. Every time I see the magazine on the news stand I get the urge to draw devil horns on the cover.

lovingaddi · August 2014

Oh man...Fuddruckers. I couldn't handle it & ended up quitting after 2 hours. Working a food line was not for me.

freetobekristin · August 2014

Auto Insurance Fraud Rep. I had to call people at night & act like I was just doing a courtesy household check while really I was asking questions to find out if they would give conflicting information regarding their claims or policies. I liked the challenge, but I felt shady.

mslynn2012 · August 2014

Administrative assistant in a head hunting company. Only 12 employees, all of which were male - and me (young 29-something).

Never been in such a sexist environment in all my life!

Lilwatz · August 2014

I'd say mine were both of my food service jobs--but it was never the work, it was the other people. I was a waitress in high school for a local family chain. The owner was well known for berating people for the smallest thing in front of the customers. It was humiliating.

Then, after I graduated college and was waiting for my job offer to complete for my first career(!!!), I hostessed at an Uno's. The other staff there were all college kids (so, not that much younger than me) and treated me like I was beneath them because I was newer. One taped a sign to my back. I didn't know how to respond to that because at the time I was 22, not 11.

I thoroughly enjoyed quitting both of those jobs.

silverwings72 · August 2014

In college I worked in a tourist shop that sold a bunch of t-shirts and sweatshirts with the city scrawled across the fronts. I had to fold and restock over and over again. I would have everything looking just right then some customer would uproot the entire pile. Bus loads of tourists would be dropped off in front and take over the store. The owner was so obsessed with people trying to steal his merchandise that he would come into the shop and attempt to steal an item to see if we noticed. If we didn't catch him in the act or notice an item was gone we would endure a long ass lecture. The pay was crap and the work was tedious and tiring. So glad I love my career now!

Celticlass6 · August 2014

This thread makes me thankful for the experiences I've had, even if a current boss is a flaky woman who gives women professionals a bad name.

jlove253 · August 2014

Oh geez. There are lots of bad experiences here. I couldn't love tit any of them because it seemed to cruel.

My worst job was working as the Easter bunny at the mall. The pay was really good, but my boss was annoying and wanted me during slow times to go into nearby stores and joke with people (nms even a little) for the sake of his own entertainment. Then the costume was sooooooo hot. I wore a vest with ice packs, but they'd melt in a couple hours. And by the end of the day my vision would be crazy because of looking through the mesh eye holes. And finally- the customers. People with have me hold their kids with poopy diapers!! And sometimes they'd balance the little babies on my head (with parents holding them from behind so it was safe) and some of those kids would have poopy diapers!! Ugh! Then there were the kids that were terrified of the Easter bunny and I had to sneak into the picture with them. I hated knowing that I was responsible for instilling fear in kids. I lasted a week.

minibean16 · August 2014

I dint think there is such a thing as a job you love every minute of every day (unless you have no co-workers, because each job has at least one doozy of a co-worker) but I've been pretty lucky. At the same school for 10 years now and love it.

My first job was at a pharmacy during university. The job itself was okay, but the uniform was my favourite thing ever.

Red polyester palazzo pants. Red and white stripped short sleeve blouse. Red polyester bib (front AND back) that went down to my knees. I was GORGEOUS!

violetsmom22 · August 2014

IParty during Halloween was its own special type or torture. There were way too many screaming children running around knocking things over, and the parents just watched and didn't even attempt to pick up after their kids. Not to mention every time we didn't have the right costume I was yelled at like as if it was my fault the company failed to order the right ones. And the cherry on top was my witch of a boss who would flip if you were not supervising the children running through the aisles to make sure they didn't steal anything as if it was my job to run after people's children, I understand about them not stealing but I'm not these peoples babysitter. Def did not get paid enough

jmichlik · August 2014

I've never had any really bad jobs like it sounds like some of you have, but if I had to pick a worst job it would be the grocery story I worked at while I was in high school. I actually really liked the job at first but it wore on me over time. Customers yelled at me for things that were not my fault all the time and treated me like shit because they thought they were better than me. There was a lot of weird drama with other employees too. People sleeping with each other in back rooms, one woman got knocked up by the Pepsi delivery guy, women sneaking into the men's room to grab guys' parts, people stealing things all the time, it was just a bit too much trash TV for me.

creativesoul83 · August 2014

worst was cocktail waitress at a strip club... I stress WAITRESS not on a stage and always clothed mind you it was well over ten years ago and 60lbs lighter.
I had a man who was a usual give me a hug and when I stepped away my arm rubbed across something slimy near my elbow on my blouse! I quit that evening and was freaked out!! so gross!!!

second was maid at hotel. I am a clean freak, people disgust me and I am very conscious how I leave a room now.

third worst was telemarketer for a funeral home doing cold calls nope no thank you!!!

Dumbgurl04 · August 2014

Worst job would have to be when I work at Traffic Court. At first it wasn't to bad cause I didn't have to deal with people just enter tickets into the system. Then when they moved me up to the front to help people who came in to take care of their tickets it when down hill. Getting yelled at because people where mad about getting tickets and not paying them blah blah blah. Not to mention the boss was a jerk. That place just pretty much sucked any good mood you could have right out of you.

JSwinford · August 2014

Worst job ever...I'm a lawyer. Enough said. Other than that though, I was a server in a restaurant for about 30 minutes once....I envy those who can do this job, they are stronger than I am.

shan24 · August 2014

Tim Horton's (I know, I know. I'm a bad Canadian).

It was terrible. It was the summer in between first and second year university. My friend's father owned 4 Timmies in town and my dad asked him if he had any jobs available for me. I had to interview with the manager, but it was a given that I would be hired.

The manager HATED me for that and gave me the worst tasks because of it. I lived in a very bilingual community and most of the other employees were French. I grew up speaking English at home, but I learned French at school. The manager and the other employees would talk about me in front of me in French because they assumed that I only knew enough to take an order and make change in French. One day, I had enough and, in front of everyone, struck up a conversation in French with a customer. The other employees, and the manager, just looked at each other. One of them said to me "you speak French?" Yep was my reply and I stared every one of them down. Things calmed down after that, but not by much.

On top of that, I worked at an older Tim Horton's. We had no air conditioning. This was back when things were actually baked fresh on-site and the ovens opened up behind the cash registers. With that and the coffee pots and the soup station, it would get incredibly hot in there. I ended up with heat exhaustion and had to take 2 days off work. Oh, and you could still smoke inside, then, too. So I would go home stinking of old coffee and cigarette smoke every day. No fun.

Kehlepop · August 2014

My first job, still in high school. I worked at a tourist shop that sold overpriced crap on the bayfront. Everything smelled like patchouli and dead fish. They expected me to be able to lift the 50 lbs boxes that came from China, the markup was 400%+!!!

I only lasted a month before my teenage brain decided I didn't need the extra cash.

KMW08 · August 2014

I worked as a nurse assistant/med tech at a family practice. While I liked my job and the patients, the management was shady.

I worked there for 18mos and I was person #11 to leave. Another girl had been there for 4 years, she left a week before me, but could come up with 52 people that had quit during her 4yrs. This was an office of 10 people.

Some shady stuff: they would force you to use pto, even if you made your time up. So if I needed to leave 2hrs early, but skipped lunch or filled in 2hrs elsewhere, they would automatically pay me my time + the pto hrs.

There was a bunch of stuff that made me angry, buts that all I can think of atm. It was an awful environment.

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