Worst job you've had?

Garzard

Would be interested to hear your worst, or at least most hated job - just a thought I had the other day. To get the ball rolling, mine was definitely last year when I landed a clerical officer role in a large Dublin hospital. My previous job as a trainee accountant wasn't really working out, but I parted with the company on great terms and started at the hospital the following Monday, looking forward to the new start.

Arrived into the place excited, as you do, eager to put my previous office experience to use, and learn the ropes of the department's operations, but soon discovered that my duties were confined to carting trollies of medical files around the office and filing rooms, and absolutely nothing else. It was blooding mind-numbing stuff, involving none of the other admin duties set out in my contract; wasn't even assigned to a desk, so essentially I was being used as a porter as opposed to my title as a clerical officer. I quickly realized I was probably only there because it was a menial, all day chore which clearly no one else wanted to be seen doing. All throughout my time there, I felt as if I was a non-person. People talked at me, not to me. It was obvious to the other office staff that I was at the very bottom rung of the food chain, and quite a few of them treated me accordingly. It felt as if all the great experience I'd built up in previous office jobs over the years such as retail, legal and accounting meant absolutely nothing here. Now, I was reduced to mindlessly pushing trolleys around and packing medical charts onto shelves all day, which was enough to make anyone question their sanity - pretty much a dogsbody for a crowd of clinical administrators. There was a considerable turnover of new staff like myself, as they were made feel unwelcome by the long-established members of the department, not trained further into their roles and were kept assigned to only the menial tasks.

What I remember most about that job was that I woke up in the mornings angry, I went to work angry, I spent each day getting angrier and left in the evenings feeling absolutely poisonous. I came extremely close to walking out on a few occasions and telling certain pricks who worked there exactly what I thought of them.

I do acknowledge that unlike many people, I was fortunate to have a job at all during the pandemic, so I decided it was best to keep the head down, work hard, stay and keep it all professional until I found something else, but I hated every minute of it to be honest. I was stuck there for most of 2020, but thankfully I'm gone now onto something much better, that I love doing, and I'm still thankful to see the back of the last place. Never even got so much as the slightest kind of send off / card from my colleagues, but surprisingly, did receive a genuine thanks from my manager when I left.

tabby aspreme

Ye never worked down the mines lad

galwayguy85

I was offered an IT-related job (in another EU country that I moved to). I was told that my role would mostly involve customer support etc and that it would primarily be a ‘home-office’ setup - this was all long before COVID.

Anyway, I went to their office on my first day. One of my colleagues was passive aggressive from the second I started there, refusing to greet me in the morning, long aggressive stares etc. Just generally being a prick. I later found out one of my other colleagues (being as matter of fact as possible, an eastern European lady who had basically agreed to marry him and leave her own country and family behind her) was married to the dude! The ‘home office’ part of the job never came into being. With them (and a small handful of others) on-site for 40 hours a week, doing the more menial tasks such as cleaning computers etc.

I have a background in computer science and volunteered my expertise with writing scripts to help the business run more efficiently, but got fcuk-all thanks when Christmas bonus time came around. That was the end of that!

At some point along the journey, there was some form of a cold going around the office. Approx late December 2018. The response of the mail-order bride was (rather dangerously) to leave the electric heaters on 24/7. This made the air unpleasantly dry (10 - 15%)! This went on for months and I’m certain it damaged my respiratory system. I seem to have constant mucus running from my nose into my throat. I’ve never smoked and nor did I have constant urge to clear my throat before this point. Still have it, nearly 3 years later

I like to call this white, slimy gunk “My Little Taste of Chernobyl”!! Not entirely untrue.

In any case I was offered a better job elsewhere. The boss man tried to misquote employment law when I handed in my resignation letter by telling me he needed 3 months notice (instead of the one, required by law, based on how you’ve been working there).

Found out recently too the boss man’s wife (mid 30’s) had shuffled off her mortal coil. These things happen….

Happier in my new position, although any employer or manager can have their ‘off’ days!

retalivity

Worst job I had I didn't even start properly, commission-based door to door selling of Air conditioning units. They sent me a pack to read then told me to show up for training the next day, lasted 2 hours of that and walked out. Basically giving tips on hard selling and target old vulnerable people with nonsense to get them to buy.

Juran

On my knees in dirt digging Turmeric out of the ground on a small organic farm in Queensland, Australia. Back breaking, finger breaking, hot, humid, dug up sleeping huge toads a few times .. and the farmer constantly telling us (me and another Irish guy) that we were too slow, and insulted the guy around the clock. He paid us at the end of the day in cash and said, be here at 7am tomorrow. He never saw us again.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118305165#Comment_118305165

"Juran yer own" sez you

thefallingman

Funny mine was picking zucchini’s in Australia in bundaberg, back breaking work but the owner threw us out after we had a party that night so only lasted one day

Galwayguy35

On a building site in England when I was 17, money was good but by the time 6 o clock came I was knackered.

completedit

Anything that involved me having to perform any sort of task with machinery. I remember I got a job in a really nice marina cleaning boats while living away. At the time it felt like a dream job, the weather was good, marina looked amazing and the hours were okay. Anyway, my first day on the job they just hand me the power washer to clean the boats and left me to my own devices. About 30 minutes later the guy that employed me comes running across shouting at me telling me I am doing it wrong and that I'll damage the boats. Then he showed me for a while before letting me back to it. At the end of the shift I was putting away the machine but I couldn't manage to wrap the lead back correctly. I remember catching a glimpse of your man watching me and feeling so humiliated. He just kept watching even as I clearly couldn't wrap it up the right way. Eventually he came down and did it and at the end of the day left me on a 'we'll see going forward'. By that point I had decided that my career as a power washing boat cleaner had met its end and next day just text him to say I would not be back as I didn't feel that I had the competencies to perform the job.

I'm sure I'd have been fine but I just needed a bit of understanding that it was the first time using the equipment.

Shilock

Dragging Christmas trees down the side of a big hill in 1995 in Cork for a Dutch guy who sold them from his garden centre...I was dragging them in the pissing rain and no raingear or proper boots.

It was pure hardship, although I was mad into the club scene and I needed money for yolks as Sir Henry's was hopping back then. I don't regret it but I was covered in wet cold mud and freezing. He gave me 150 quid for 5 days work. He dropped me home on the Friday night and, straight into the bath...the clothes were so filthy I couldn't even put them in the washing machine. Great time's, he asked me again the following year but I told him I was too busy....

Capt'n Midnight

I worked in a care home for disabled people including those who needed help going to the toilet and couldn't wipe their own bottoms.

Working in a call centre was by far the worst.

TheValeyard

Not mine but, reddits.....

My job is so fcuking unbelievable.

I'll try to sum it up by first telling you about the folks I work with:

First, there is this supermodel wanna-be chick. Yeah, okay, she is pretty hot, but damn is she completely useless. The girl is constantly fixing her hair or putting on makeup. She is extremely self-centered and has never once considered the needs or wants of anyone but herself. She is as dumb as a box of rocks, and I still find it surprising that she has enough brain power to continue to breathe.

The next chick is completely the opposite. She might even be one of the smartest people on the planet. Her career opportunities are endless, and yet she is here with us. She is a zero on a scale of 1 to 10. I'm not sure she even showers, much less shaves her "womanly" parts. I think she might be a lesbian, because every time we drive by the hardware store, she moans like a cat in heat.

But the jewel of the crowd has got to be the fcuking stoner. And this guy is more than just your average pothead. In fact, he is baked before he comes to work, during work, and I'm sure after work. He probably hasn't been sober anytime in the last ten years, and he's only 22. He dresses like a beatnik throwback from the 1960's, and to make things worse, he brings his big **** dog to work. Every fcuking day I have to look at this huge Great Dane walk around half-stoned from the second-hand smoke. Hell, sometimes I even think it's trying to talk with its constant bellowing. Also, both of them are constantly hungry, requiring multiple stops to McDonalds and Burger King, every single **** day.

Anyway, I drive these fucktards around in my van and we solve mysteries and sh1t

krusty411

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118304228#Comment_118304228

Have you?

bnt

In-between jobs, in London, I took a 1-day contract in a warehouse to rearrange stock, on a Monday. Should have been a doddle, since I was fit enough. However: on the way there, rushing to catch a Tube train, I sprained my ankle - quite badly, as it turned out. I managed to struggle through most of the day but had to leave a bit early out of concern for my ankle. Limped home and was laid up for the rest of the week. I could barely walk by the weekend when I had a concert to go to. I never heard from that agency again, for some reason.