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Your worst working experience ever?

  • 14-10-2009 04:22PM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,680 ✭✭✭


    As much as I hate vegetating in the callcenter, a 2 month stint in McDonalds back when I was 16/17 was definitely the worst working experience of my life. Firstly, there was the general work that was required such as;

    Cleaning up tables after the usual crowd of 13 year olds decide to play a game of mess **** the **** up

    Going from the roasting heat of standing over the fryer vats to heading up to the subzero freezer rooms

    The constant burns you would receive from the fry baskets

    Having to keep a straight face when dealing with customers who order extra large meals along with a diet coke (this happens far more often than you can imagine)

    Having to deal with members of a certain nomadic Irish community who would order food - eat it all, then return to the counter screaming and shouting about getting given the wrong food, and demand a refund/more food.

    Having to kick out drunks who insisted on smoking inside

    ..etc etc.

    But the worst part of it was the crowd I worked in. Save for one or two sound chaps, the staff were the biggest contributors to me knuckling the **** down and getting a decent leaving cert after my stint there. A few select stories;

    One man with very poor English demanding that instead of "Staff", we were called "The A-Team". There is nothing less enjoyable than associating the A-Team with cooking fries for around €6 an hour.

    A spitter. No, not the good-but-could-be-better kind. A kid who dropped out of school for the McDonalds lifestyle - obviously hated it, and felt the need to express this by spitting in burgers. Thankfully he was ****ed out shortly after we copped on to him.

    An overweight boss who insisted on eating everything in sight in the Kitchen. Cook up 18 Nuggets to fill 3 orders, and you'd be lucky to have enough left for one after this prick.

    The severe lack of employee's washing their hands.

    Children's allowance day - most depressing days I've had in there. Full families constantly piled in to load themselves and their kids with that crap we called food with their welfare money.

    The McD 4 Life patrol - those who believe that McDonalds is the 4 Seasons of dining experiences, and is very srs business. Got a meeting off one of these blokes before - worked for 6 hours without a break due to understaffing, was starving myself so munched down a chicken nugget while on the floor. I then had a 15 minute meeting to explain the consequences of the business losing money from me eating a chicken nugget. I offered them the 20c but this didnt help my case :(

    The above again - was feeling a bit too generous with the dressing and sauces on burgers one day. Official meeting with 2 of the bosses in there, informed I am damaging the company with excessive costs in dressing. Was warned that this would be taken into account for my 3-monthly performance review, and that "my future with the McDonalds franchise looks grim".

    A man, who did nothing but eat all the chicken. Seriously. I don't know how he fit it all into him. Worked in the kitchen, and literally deepthroated the **** down within seconds whenever the boss left the floor. His very poor English, cookie monster noises, and pride in doing this made it the only thing worth going to work for. "FRIEND, LOOK THE CHICKEN OM NOM NOM".

    A bit of an odd case bloke who was caught having a toss in the store room one day - by staff thankfully, not a customer. This is the source of one of the only good employee references this McDonald's establishment has ever given one of the staff - the girl who walked in on him threatened to sue the company for harassment if one wasn't given.

    Likewise, the fat boss mentioned previously recently had to make an out of court settlement on a sexual harassment suit due to his own stupidity. This is the 2nd he has had legal action taken against him due to reports of sexual harassment.

    Oh, and walking out of there smelling like the place. Nothing worse than going directly from McDonalds to the pub, smelling like burgers and chicken nuggets. The women do love the pants though.

    So, what has been your worst working experience ever?

    inb4 I'd take any job like that now & professional AH proof reader.


«13

Comments

  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,300 ✭✭✭✭Seaneh


    I took part in a TV show a few years ago on a national channel, two weeks of hell putting up with the biggest fruitcake I've ever met, never again would I let someone talk to me like that for longer than 10 seconds without absolutely destroying their nose with my fist. He was an absolute cúnt! Worked 18 hours a day for two solid weeks and not once a word of encouragement from him despite his staff telling me I was "obvoiusly talented and they would gladly have me work with them".


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 642 ✭✭✭Kalashnikov_Kid


    Repeatedly trying to explain to some bint in a Renault Megane Coupe that the €35 petrol the polish attendant pumped into her car didn't evaporate into thin air before reaching her tank, but in fact the orange light still on her dashboard was probably due to an electrical fault (shock horror) common to those cars.

    More recently, being stared down by 2 of off-duty Surrey Police's finest after refusing to serve them after legal closing time.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,030 ✭✭✭✭Cuddlesworth


    Cleaning Blocked Sewers. Gotta watch the spray back from those jets.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 121 ✭✭ChillyJilly


    Worked in a factory that made artificial christmas trees one summer when I was a student.

    Nothing, I repeat, nothing would make you hate christmas more than packing decorations in July.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,178 ✭✭✭✭NothingMan


    I actually didn't mind my 2 month stint in McD's when I was 16. Staff were decent though.

    Worst job was probably Dunnes night packing. Staying back til 2 or 3 on Thursdays and Fridays because the a55h0le manager was out in his car doing god knows what and noone knew what needed doing.

    Plus I was in college and missed all the good Thursday night events!


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 22,559 ✭✭✭✭AnonoBoy


    I was a prostitute in Ipswich near the end of 2006.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,689 ✭✭✭Vain


    I work for the government, once a month I have to go into town and sign on. Im really not getting paid enough for all my effort.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 6,820 ✭✭✭Archeron


    I once worked in a recycling company and on one occasion, found myself waist deep in the contents of a huge freshly emptied trash compactor. Its incredibly hard to move when you are surrounded by bags of waste food and used tissues.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 16,397 ✭✭✭✭Degsy


    My worst **** experience ever was when i...shiit misread the thread!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,729 ✭✭✭Acoshla


    Working in a Toasted Sandwich place in Toronto 2 summers ago, us Day Staff kept the place clean but the Night Staff were crap, never cleaned up properly and as a result we got ourselves a nice little mouse infestation....followed swiftly by some rats. The other Day guy quit so I spent a few weeks working on my own, well except for my furry companions.

    Some highlights of that time were:

    Sitting down having my lunch wearing flip flops, only to look down and see (and feel, shudder) a teeny tiny mouse wandering over my foot.

    Going to get my phone out of bag only for another mouse to hop out at me.

    Coming in one morning, going to take the bin bag out of the bin and having the biggest f-ing rat jump out at me, I dropped the bag, ran screaming, and the rat freaked out too, started squeaking and running in circles.

    Finding a decomposing mouse in a trap under the sink.

    And the BEST was the day I called the boss, told him the rats were coming to get me and that he needed to get traps or *something*, he wanted to only use glue traps so his answer was "Well you know, even if I put down traps they`ll still be alive when you get to work and you`ll have to beat their heads in to kill them anyway, so you might as well just try and shoo them out the back door" :eek:

    I quit that day and called Environmental Health.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 241 ✭✭Paddycrumlinman


    A kitchen porter while I was in college.

    I would name and shame the place but may get into trouble.....

    Anyway, washing pots and pans with **** bag chefs and waiters thinking their ****ing brain surgeons...

    A seafood restaurant it was and the chef would smoke while cooking the best sea food in Dublin. The other chef would come back after lunch, drunk and would be picking at his arse the whole shift. The both would have passed as homeless as they were so disgusting....

    I fooking hated that job. 3.50 Irish Punts an hour, under the table...

    The owners daughter, who was ugly as sin who had a silver spoon up her arse always like to throw her weight around every so often.

    She caught me one night and brought 1 cup to me out of 400 I washed and gave me **** for not cleaning it. As she walked out of the Kitchen, I threw the cup at her aiming to miss just to fook with her. Splatter of the wall in a million pieces and told her to go fook her cup.

    She flipped, I gladly picked up coat and told them all to go stick their dishes up their fat arses....

    ****ty job, but it got me through college and i had my say in the end.

    I also worked in a box factory. 10 hours a day putting together Pringle Boxes... My god.. my brain drop several IQ points working in that place.

    Walked in one morning with a hangover, the other two people I worked with also had hangovers. 7am, we walked out, and hit the early house and told them to fook their boxes again up their holes....

    Good days, bad jobs, but character was built.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,159 ✭✭✭✭phasers


    I order a diet coke with a large meal because I like the taste of diet coke

    Where's the funny part?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,154 ✭✭✭Rented Mule


    Piss boy in Dáil Éireann ......there is literally no end to those pricks.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16,391 ✭✭✭✭mikom


    My worst job was in a charity shop sorting the old woman's knickers into clean and unclean.
    It was not to be sniffed at.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,558 ✭✭✭netwhizkid


    I have to concur Chefs are total ****, I worked in a fine restaurant once after much bossing around I just told the head fella to just stuff his work up his hole and left in a tear. Never in all my life would I subject another human being to such sh1te as I endured.

    Another time I was managing an event (outdoors) and was manning an entrance another guy came and asked me were some people there and doing stuff and I answered no and he went of and literally ate the head of me, despite I having nothing to do with it, before he had finished he had got an uppercut straight into the jaw and floored him. I told him to go F himself and went up to my supervisor and told him go down to that wnkr X as I just laid him out, he got fired that day and I resigned!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,467 ✭✭✭Wazdakka


    AnonoBoy wrote: »
    I was a prostitute in Ipswich near the end of 2006.

    :eek: Mom??


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 15,515 ✭✭✭✭admiralofthefleet


    lounge boy was i was 15.
    had to put up with the most ignorant lazy wastes of space barstaff on the planet. we were paid £2 an hour and werent paid after 11.30 even though you would be there til at least 1am and well after 2.30 am on a saturday night. the bar staff did nothing and one fat bastard used to rob rolls and blame the lounge staff.
    hated it but at the time every pub was doing it
    a couple of years after i left all the lounge staff walked out on a saturday night and left the pigs behind the bar to do some work


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 241 ✭✭Paddycrumlinman


    A kitchen porter while I was in college.

    I would name and shame the place but may get into trouble.....

    Anyway, washing pots and pans with **** bag chefs and waiters thinking their ****ing brain surgeons...

    A seafood restaurant it was and the chef would smoke while cooking the best sea food in Dublin. The other chef would come back after lunch, drunk and would be picking at his arse the whole shift. The both would have passed as homeless as they were so disgusting....

    I fooking hated that job. 3.50 Irish Punts an hour, under the table...

    The owners daughter, who was ugly as sin who had a silver spoon up her arse always like to throw her weight around every so often.

    She caught me one night and brought 1 cup to me out of 400 I washed and gave me **** for not cleaning it. As she walked out of the Kitchen, I threw the cup at her aiming to miss just to fook with her. Splatter of the wall in a million pieces and told her to go fook her cup.

    She flipped, I gladly picked up coat and told them all to go stick their dishes up their fat arses....

    ****ty job, but it got me through college and i had my say in the end.

    I also worked in a box factory. 10 hours a day putting together Pringle Boxes... My god.. my brain drop several IQ points working in that place.

    Walked in one morning with a hangover, the other two people I worked with also had hangovers. 7am, we walked out, and hit the early house and told them to fook their boxes again up their holes....

    Good days, bad jobs, but character was built.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13 dmaher1


    Nice stories PaddyCrumlin man!

    My worst was sticking electronic components for a computer together. You took the base of a capacitor, a rectangular box about 1 cm long which had 3 holes on the corners and you inserted the lid with 3 legs on to this. Did this for 12 hrs a day in Munich with very serious Germans and a few Irish students. Nearly lost my mind doing it.
    Worst thing was trying to stay awake after a few hours of this


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,324 ✭✭✭Oh The Humanity


    One day I came to work and they wanted me to...........do work.
    They held a meeting with 'action points' which turned out to be..............jobs for me to do....:eek:

    I went straight to my Union Rep, he was in the canteen eating sausage rolls and trying to remember what his feet looked like....anyway...he said I never joined the union or paid and dues or some such fiddle-dee-dee.....

    I gave him a burger and a bag full of €100 notes and he said leave it all to me.

    The next day I came in and everything had returned to normal. 'They' apologised to me for the trauma and explained the meeting and the action points had all been a horrible misunderstanding.

    Phew.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 420 ✭✭Diageio_Man


    worst job i ever had one summer was making fake breasts in a factory sounds good on paper but feck me it was soul destroying me and about 20 oul1's, the oul1's just bitched at each other, and i swear 2 or 3 of them used to come in black and blue after being bet up by there husbands. went out for lunch one day and never returned wouldent even go back to get my jacket i left befor i went to lunch. never again.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,293 ✭✭✭✭Mint Sauce


    kitchen assistance for the summer when i was 16, during one of the hottest summers london seen in my life time

    sorry, washer up, server, cashier, sandwich maker, cleaner, opener, closer, etc etc

    :(


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 176 ✭✭tiernanobrien


    Penneys in Dundrum at christmas. Was there 3 weekends and hated it so much i called in 3/6 of those days before i never came back. Soul destroying stuff!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,336 ✭✭✭furiousox


    Worst job l ever had was working for a "troubled" telecoms company that begins with the letter S and ends with the letter T.

    Job itself was ok but the most incompetent management l've ever witnessed ran the place into the ground.

    l got no pay review or pay rise in the 6 years l worked there.

    The only reason l didn't walk was to make sure l got a decent redundancy cheque out of the b@stards... and l did!

    You are a khaki coloured bombardier, it's Hiroshima that you're nearing.



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 777 ✭✭✭Mayoegian


    furiousox wrote: »
    Worst job l ever had was working for a "troubled" telecoms company that begins with the letter S and ends with the letter T.

    Job itself was ok but the most incompetent management l've ever witnessed ran the place into the ground.

    l got no pay review or pay rise in the 6 years l worked there.

    The only reason l didn't walk was to make sure l got a decent redundancy cheque out of the b@stards... and l did!

    I'm still clueless......SEIRCOMT?


  • Subscribers Posts: 32,937 ✭✭✭✭5starpool


    I worked random jobs for a few days at a time while in Australia. The worst of them was probably working for a week dismantling a water cooler or filter or some sort of thing which had asbestos in it. Hardly the worst thing in the world for a few days, but I've never done anything as soul destroying as working in a mcddonalds thankfully (yet at least!!!).


  • Subscribers Posts: 32,937 ✭✭✭✭5starpool


    Mayoegian wrote: »
    I'm still clueless......SEIRCOMT?

    Instead of the eircom in there, try MAR. That might help a bit.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 809 ✭✭✭dylano_k


    Nobody has had it worse than i had. Few years ago i was a cycle courier and was made to wear THIS and if i didnt i wouldn't get my 15% bonus. Went a month before i called it a day. I didn't get one bird that month and it was in summer...my strongest month !!!!


  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 10,464 Mod ✭✭✭✭xzanti


    Wasn't there a Spirit Telecom at one stage aswel? :confused:

    Too many to choose from for me.. worked in Burger King part time while I was still at school.. thank God I never did it full time.. horribe horrible job :( I remember they put me on the tills after about an hour of training, on my own, at Christmas.. I hadn't a clue what to do, completely thrown in at the deep end, 15 years old and taking **** off obese bastards who couldn't wait 5minutes for their 3 double whopper meals :rolleyes:

    Had a few factory jobs aswel after I'd left school, this was when the boom was just taking off and I had my pick of the big American corporations who were just setting up shop here.. think I worked in half of the places in the local Industrial Estate in the space of a couple of years.. Walk in interviews all round.. Seems like a million years ago now..

    None of the above goes on my cv btw..


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 19,967 ✭✭✭✭mikemac


    Ever get lipstick or mascara on your clothes?
    Good for you as it's a bitch to get out. Get waterproof mascara on your jeans or shoes and they're as good as ruined.
    Worked in a cosmetics factory, Max Factor, Hugo Boss, Ellen Betrix, we made it all.

    Never had a job so manual and boring.
    "Labeller is bust guys, here is a roll of stickers and now label 10,000 over the next shift"
    My fingers would be bleeding from scratching labels from a roll by the end of a shift and my shoulders had jabbing pains from doing the same movement for 8 hours straight.

    More managers then workers there!
    And every lazy self-important waster would wander around with a clipboards but in reality doing **** all and leaving the quieter people to do the work
    And to think I had to do three interviews, two aptitude tests and a medical to get that job!
    The saying was "you need to be a brain surgeon to get in and brain dead to stay".


    Oh and worked as a kitchen porter.
    I can't add to the other kitchen porter posts but all I'll say is some chefs are downright bullies! :mad:
    Tellox wrote: »
    Having to keep a straight face when dealing with customers who order extra large meals along with a diet coke (this happens far more often than you can imagine)

    I've never ordered an XL meal, I wouldn't be able for it and it'd be a waste of money for me.
    But I do go to some fast food place maybe once or twice a month after the cinema and get a meal with Diet Coke, nothing wrong with it at all :)


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