Hardest job you've had?

PandaPoo

I recently started working in retail again, just a temporary Christmas job. It's 9 hour shifts, on my feet the entire time and holy sh*t, it's tiring.

I don't know what is harder, the customers I deal with and their batsh*t craziness, seeing people steal numerous times a day and nothing done about it or the standing all day, sometimes for hours with nothing to do.

I know it's not comparable to being a nurse or a builder, which would both be a lot tougher...but I thought it would be really easy!

What is the hardest job you've had? Mentally or physically...

Archeron

Chewing bread for the gummy ducks in St Stephens Green, gets damn cold in winter.

PandaPoo

Archeron wrote: »

Chewing bread for the gummy ducks in St Stephens Green, gets damn cold in winter.

At least you had your career in comedy to fall back on!

boardsuser1

Delivering to Dunnes and Super Valu

Redser87

Part time job in a toy shop coming up to Christmas. I am always kind to retail workers as I know how tough it can be!

Tilikum

Sucking farts out of the cinema seats here in Galway’s eye cinema.

Exhausting.

freshpopcorn

Being a moderator at 2am when people keep on re-registering!

juneg

Working in a bar on christmas eve and stephens night!

KatW4

Redser87 wrote: »

Part time job in a toy shop coming up to Christmas. I am always kind to retail workers as I know how tough it can be!

I had the exact same job at the age of 16. I hated every second of it.

Dr.Sanchez

Going to sea during my very brief stint in the Navy, followed by working on an oil rig in the North Sea.

Neither particularly physically difficult, more so mentally. I feel sorry for anyone in the Navy nowadays, spending half the year at sea for something like €2 a day extra. At least on the rig there was a cinema and the pay was good.

justfillmein

Redser87 wrote: »

Part time job in a toy shop coming up to Christmas

try working in a toy shop that had only opened up a while before christmas and parents going mental because we hadn't the stock in that was in the catalogue:p

mikemac2

Kitchen porter. Your back will be broken standing over a sink for hours, cleaning floors, washing bins, having chefs roar at you and the waiting staff moaning about low tips while you are dripping sweat :rolleyes: I got no tips

Waste food was put in a bin and the pig farmerr would arrive to collect. 17 year old scrawny 9 stone me would struggle to lift a bin full of food & liquid that weighed more than I did while the ignorant farmer wouldn’t help and told me I was slow :mad:

If you ever wondered why there are so few Irish people in Irish hotels it’s because pay is low, management are bullies and anything like stocking shelves in Tesco is a far more attractive job

MAJJ

mikemac2 wrote: »

Kitchen porter. Your back will be broken standing over a sink for hours, cleaning floors, washing bins, having chefs roar at you and the waiting staff moaning about low tips while you are dripping sweat :rolleyes: I got no tips

Waste food was put in a bin and the pig farmerr would arrive to collect. 17 year old scrawny 9 stone me would struggle to lift a bin full of food & liquid that weighed more than me while the ignorant farmer wouldn’t help and told me I was slow :mad:

If you ever wondered why there are so few Irish people in Irish hotels it’s because pay is low, management are bullies and anything like stocking shelves in Tesco is a far more attractive job

Yep same for me, no pigs but same crap. Also, non stop all day orders, stock, also glasses in bar and kegs. Almost, 30 years ago and I remember how tough and bad it was.

Gunslinger92

Cleaning hotel rooms. Some people are just pure filth. My mom did the job for 20 odd years, I'll never fathom how she put up with it

PandaPoo

Gunslinger92 wrote: »

Cleaning hotel rooms. Some people are just pure filth. My mom did the job for 20 odd years, I'll never fathom how she put up with it

I can only imagine.....tell us some of the worst things!

Lia_lia

juneg wrote: »

Working in a bar on christmas eve and stephens night!

Yeah, this. Also hotel work in general. Working 7am-11am, going for a nap, back in 6pm-2am and then the same thing the next day! One day off a week during the summers. But sure when you're young (under 25) it's grand.

Between the ages of 16-18 I worked in a kiddies club in a hotel. There would often be 6 of us in charge of about 70 kids. Was mental.

One of the jobs was dressing up as a clown (!!) with full clown makeup at 7am and entertaining the kids whilst them and their families were queuing for breakfast. Not fun when you are a hungover 17 year old. I did love the job at the time but couldn't do anything like it now..

Gunslinger92

PandaPoo wrote: »

I can only imagine.....tell us some of the worst things!

A room quite literally smeared in ****.

Used sanitary products just fecked in the bin (if at all), not even an attempt at wrapping them up or anything.

This isn't related to cleaning, but one time I had to go into a room full of guys on a stag and one of them was spread-eagled on a bed, bollock naked

justfillmein

mikemac2 wrote: »

Kitchen porter.


If you ever wondered why there are so few Irish people in Irish hotels it’s because pay is low, management are bullies

funny enough, I worked in a kitchen years ago for a while and I swear to this day it was the best buzz I ever had in a job. maybe it was because of the other staff, because it was actually hard work. but the day always flew past.

I did notice how some of the chinese staff were treated. they were always the last ones to leave, even when myself and others had said we would stay til all the work was done. I hated that

jonon9

Installed a new patio for a client two years ago, their back garden was a big heap of mud, rock and grass I had to dig out roughly 6 ton of earth and this is the kicker they had no side gate neither did there neighbors so I had to bucket the earth out through the house. Managed to get it done in one long day. And the next day was bring stone in to create the base. It was grueling.

mad m

Down a manhole one Christmas trying to clear a choke as some poor ****er was getting flooded by ****e as he was last on line.

AllForIt

Working 60 hours a week as an assistant cook in a very busy restaurant in a swanky part of London. They paid me a pittance as well it was downright criminal. On weekends I worked for 10 hours straight sat and sunday without a break and in summer I would make my way home some evenings with my jeans completely wet such was the temperate in the sweatbox kitchen.

han2000

Worked in retail for 8 years, been working in an office for a year now thankfully. I've seen retail (or more specifically customers) crush the spirits of some of the happiest people I've known.

Mongfinder General

mikemac2 wrote: »

Kitchen porter. Your back will be broken standing over a sink for hours, cleaning floors, washing bins, having chefs roar at you and the waiting staff moaning about low tips while you are dripping sweat :rolleyes: I got no tips

Waste food was put in a bin and the pig farmerr would arrive to collect. 17 year old scrawny 9 stone me would struggle to lift a bin full of food & liquid that weighed more than I did while the ignorant farmer wouldn’t help and told me I was slow :mad:

If you ever wondered why there are so few Irish people in Irish hotels it’s because pay is low, management are bullies and anything like stocking shelves in Tesco is a far more attractive job

Bad Ass Cafe?

Pretzill

Have never had a tough job - can relate to being on my feet all day but I was at the age that it didn't bother me. Can also relate to busy Christmas shifts but there was craic to be had - and always enjoyed the downtime!
Also worked in retail and remember the robbers and the almost daily attempts to stop the pilfering - they did get away with some things the bastards!

I remember working 36 hours in a row to meet a deadline - that was probably the hardest - we were so tired -

job seeker

justfillmein wrote: »

funny enough, I worked in a kitchen years ago for a while and I swear to this day it was the best buzz I ever had in a job. maybe it was because of the other staff, because it was actually hard work. but the day always flew past.

I did notice how some of the chinese staff were treated. they were always the last ones to leave, even when myself and others had said we would stay til all the work was done. I hated that

I trained as a commis chef. Biggest load of bollox ever! Sh1t working conditions, awful pay, constantly being worked to the bone, working around the clock and no breaks.. I'm in the process of changing my career path and I never want to stand in an industrial kitchen after that.. Complete horse sh1t.

anewme

Worked as a lounge girl. Aged 16 or so. Not able for it. No one should put up with it. Would sub my nieces rather than let them put up with this ****.

job seeker

I'm seeing a hospitality trend here.. Hardly surprising though..

OnDraught

Working for an oil distribution place beside the Point. Bottling 2 stroke oil for hours was the worst. The fumes would have you sick as a dog. Filling and moving massive drums of whatever was in them was back breaking and equally as sickening. Climbing up empty barrels 40 feet in the warehouse to knock down the ones from the top was stupidly dangerous. I was 16 and it was 1999. Got paid a few pounds an hour in cash and had to leg it up the quays from the Point on a Friday without getting robbed.

I thought it was great at the time. Every job I've had since has been a piece of piss.

justfillmein

job seeker wrote: »

I trained as a commis chef. Biggest load of bollox ever! Sh1t working conditions, awful pay, constantly being worked to the bone, working around the clock and no breaks.. I'm in the process of changing my career path and I never want to stand in an industrial kitchen after that.. Complete horse sh1t.

I was a porter and wasn't there long so I probably would have a different view if I had been there a long time.
I do still look back and think of how much I enjoyed that job at the time.
I was younger and one of the first jobs I had had so maybe it was just the fact of having a job at all:)..

monkeysnapper

I once had a job as a duty manager for a local supermarket , that wasn't so bad but owner was also local undertaker and often would come looking to help out in the other side of the business , freaked me out !!!

On a funnier note,we had a meeting one day and he was asking us managers for a slogan/ideas for paddy's day float , I told him " under the tree at spar" and have a big model corsp under a tree , my idea was met with a lot of distaste. I thought it was good.

Vladimir Poontang

Retail.

Makes you hate the public because most of them are utter *****.

wakka12

Retail and waiting jobs are hard, and extremely tiring. I worked many years in those kind of jobs during college, now I'm in a 'professional' job and its much easier, yet Im paid more,its much less demanding physically and mentally, people don't treat you like ****..I work much less hard than I did in those jobs tbh but still do as much as is expected in the job though
Bit unfair really

Every day of work in every job is tiring to some extent but the only job where Ive been nearly dead after a shift is waiting tables for 8 hours straight !

eviltwin

Working on a trauma helpline. I'd be fairly good at keeping boundaries and not letting stuff get to me but I ended up needing counselling after that job.

steve-collins

I've worked in fast food, as a postman in the mun, an apprentice plumber and a fireman/paramedic.

Apprentice plumber hands down the toughest . Hated it from the minute I joined. Working in the joy didn't help absolute dump. Also long hours and cold winters on the opposite side of the city which meant getting 2 buses at 6 in the morning all for 140 a week didn't help. ****ing slave labour.

Working 16 hours on a Dublin ambulance is mentally and physically draining especially with some of the people you have to deal with but I'd take it all day over apprentice plumbing.

NinjaTruncs

Picking stones in a field after the spuds have been harvested as a kid, we did it every year for for about two weeks. Turns out the field was over a quary so that job was never going to end.

the_pen_turner

iv had some terrible jobs
iv worked for a guy insulating attics. you would be rolling around in small spaces covered in itchy fiberglass sometimes in attics where rats have been or bees have a hive.

I worked for a guy where we would occasionally have to go out an jet some sewer lines with a power washer jetter. talk about a ****ty job

or redoing septic tanks and percolations .. only someone who has do that will know that smell


saying all that the worst job has to be being self employed and dealing with the public
listening to their ****e , looking for my money , putting up with their superiority complex's , dealing with all that stress and working really long hours for terrible money.
I would take minimum wage in MacDonald's any day and have a stress free day

punisher5112

Basically anything that deals with the public....


Job I'm in now is exactly that dealing with them and its mind numbing how utter stupid people really are.

Snotty

anewme wrote: »

Worked as a lounge girl. Aged 16 or so. Not able for it. No one should put up with it. Would sub my nieces rather than let them put up with this ****.

Being young and sticking it out builds a resilience that you would have carried all your life, you should be encouraging your nieces and every other job for the rest of their life will be a pleasure compared to hotel work.

I was 15 years old, 1986 and finished my last intercert exam at 4pm, started my first lounge boy job at 5pm, worked straight through to 4am and back the next day at 12pm through till 4am, I swore my feet were just going to fall off but you just kept going, worked in hotels all the way through college.
Now if the tea machine was broken in my floor at work and I had to walk to the next floor, there would be war.

con___manx1

punisher5112 wrote: »

Basically anything that deals with the public....


Job I'm in now is exactly that dealing with them and its mind numbing how utter stupid people really are.

I learned alot about people from working with the public in retail. I did it for a year when i was younger. I often felt like jumping over the counter and flooring a few customer's with a box.
I have alot of respect for people who work in retail as i know the utter idiots they have to deal with on a daily basis.

Nekarsulm

the_pen_turner wrote: »

iv had some terrible jobs


or redoing septic tanks and percolations .. only someone who has do that will know that smell

You never forget that peppery smell.��

Weeks grading spuds in a cold warehouse, endlessly watching them rolling past and your would be hypnotized. Pulling out the frosted and rotten ones, fingers falling off you, and for a bit of relief from that end of ghe job,pulling the sacks off the scales and wire tieing them and throwing them onto pallets.

eviltwin

It was a dedicated helpline for domestic violence victims so there would be a lot of stories of physical and sexual violence but strangely enough I could handle that, it was the psychological abuse that was really messed up - people having their pets killed, being locked in rooms without food and water for long periods of time, nasty stuff.

diomed

Digging potatoes and picking them.
Trying to stand up straight at the end of the day was impossible.

I-like-eggs,mmm

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned nursing. A highly stressful and demanding job. Thankless too. There’s too much to mention that I wouldn’t know where to start.

13+ hour shifts. Being treated like a slave. Abusive and aggressive patients including their families too. Having to wipe sh*tty arses all the time. Patients ripping off their colostomy bags and throwing them at you. Usually no time to take breaks. Worked to the bone. If we don’t document at least twice what we did, it’s considered not done which can get you in big trouble. There’s just so much...

I’d take being a kitchen porter over being a nurse.

PandaPoo

I-like-eggs,mmm wrote: »

I’d take being a kitchen porter over being a nurse.

Be a kitchen porter then it's not a who has it harder thread, just curious about the difficult jobs people have had. I included nurses in the OP, they definitely have it very hard.

I-like-eggs,mmm

PandaPoo wrote: »

Be a kitchen porter then it's not a who has it harder thread, just curious about the difficult jobs people have had. I included nurses in the OP, they definitely have it very hard.

Yeah I get that and sorry if it looked like I made it look like a “who has it harder” post. Didn’t mean to. Haven’t had my coffee yet so I’m not right!!

I did kitchen portering as a teen... wouldn’t go back to that either. The worst part wasn’t cleaning all the pots and dishes but how abusive the chefs were...

SusieBlue

Bar work, by a mile. Closely followed by retail. Bar work won because I would be dealing with the same f*ckwits in the bar as I would encounter by day in retail, but these people are 14382901083 times more annoying, rude, and stupid with copious amounts of drink in them.
Honest to god the amount of patience it took not to punch the lights out of these people was insane. I get chills thinking back to it.

Agricola

General dogsbody in a supermarket. When an 18 year old needs special shoes to keep their feet from falling to pieces, you know your in the wrong job!

Akrasia

I worked in a call center for an insurance company doing 'outbound declines'
My job was to call people all day long every day and tell them that their insurance claim has been declined and then wait for the love to roll in.

inforfun

Not so much a job as i didnt have a choice, since i have a penis, but my 14 months in the Dutch army were kind of hard.

Between the 2 weeks in -15 degrees with wind force 6 in Germany, a few marches of 40km, the absolute mind numbing stupidity of professional army personnel who didnt seem to understand why i wasn't highly motivated, even after explaining that i had to give up a job that paid me 2,5x what the army paid me for a lot less suffering.

Did like the shooting range though

Army_of_One

unloading frozen boxes of fish from factory ships in a port called Ijmuiden in holland.

The crew was very rough and we worked in the holds were the temp was -28 degrees. The pallets would sometimes hit the side of the hold and fall back in.Seriously dangerous.Quit after a polish lad got crushed when chains snapped lifting up the hold doors and he had thrown down a pallet before the doors were fully open.

road_high

Gunslinger92 wrote: »

Cleaning hotel rooms. Some people are just pure filth. My mom did the job for 20 odd years, I'll never fathom how she put up with it

I think some of my parents generation (I'm in my 30s) put up with some absolutely terrible jobs, pay and conditions.
Some of the stuff my parent did (farmers) would never be done now. They put up with it to feed us, I admire that.
Education and development of the economy has been a wonderful thing for many of us. My standard of living is much much higher than they ever had.