What was the worst job(s) you've ever had?

[cheerfulgreek]

I thought there may have been a thread about this, so I did a search, but I didn't see anything. So, I thought it would be kinda fun to chit chat about it.

I think a lot of us on here are either headed towards our career goals, or have already made it there. But before we reached those career goals, I'm sure most of us have had the "summer" job and some of us had to work while going to school. Are there any really, really bad jobs you've had that were SO bad that you just can't forget them?

1.What kind of job was it?
2.What did you do?
3.Was it a summer job?
4.Was it a job while you were in school?
5.What made the job so bad?
6.Was it the job itself? or Was it the people you worked with or both?
7.Did you leave without a notice?

Discuss.

[LucyKKG]

I worked as a house cleaner for about 2 months when I was either a freshman or a sophomore in college. Cleaning houses wasn't super, but the management drove me nuts. I can't even remember now why they annoyed me so much but I hated it. I did give them notice, but I didn't have to hang in there and work anymore. I was basically off the hook the moment I told them.

[knight_shadow]

1. Interviewer for a marketing research firm
2. Called people (solicited and unsolicited) to have them complete surveys for different clients.
3. Yes (summer between freshman and sophomore year of college).
4. Technically, I was in school, but I was on summer break.
5. I didn't really like it because I didn't want to get into Marketing Research after graduation. Plus, being on the front lines in any call center is bad news. For our cigarette client, the calls were generally smooth (~10-15 minutes, no one really got upset). With our retail client, though, I almost shot myself in the foot. The interview itself was ~30-45 minutes, and we couldn't take any "shortcuts" when asking questions (to keep the surveys valid).
6. The job mostly, but some of the people were WAY to into the job. That got annoying from time to time.
7. No. I told them I'd be leaving to go back to school.

[cheerfulgreek]

I had two really bad ones. I mentioned one of them on here on another thread, but I forgot about the other one. When I was in highschool, I got this job as a pretzel maker at Auntie Anne's soft pretzels. I knew in the interview that I was going to hate that job. I only took the job because I was waiting for a job as an information girl from the zoo (that I didn't think I was going to get). I worked at Auntie Anne's for only one day. My mom told me the zoo called, so I called them back that day and I got the job. I was supposed to go to Auntie Anne's the next day to open with the manager, but I didn't show up. I would have given a notice, it's just that the zoo wanted me to start that same day too. I also worked as a counter girl at a restaurant. That job really sucked, bad. The customers who sat at the counter, most of them were perverts, plus I didn't like the manager. I wasn't there long. However, I did give a two week notice though. The rest of the jobs I've had were related to my career goals.

[lovespink88]

Okay, so I've got one. I worked there for two summers and a Christmas break. I actually loved it the first summer, but when I worked the first Christmas break...I just hated every moment...and the follow summer was bad too...

1.What kind of job was it? Sales Associate at Victoria's Secret
2.What did you do? Assisting customers...
3.Was it a summer job? Yep
4.Was it a job while you were in school? Nope
5.What made the job so bad? Many things.
- All the dumb goals we had to meet. We were supposed to get 2 customers to sign up for credit cards every 4 hours you worked. That's why you get asked 13847972 times if you have the credit card when you shop there.
- IDIOT customers. "The customer's always right" my ass! For example....
- No ma'am, you really are a 38D, not a 34C. Trust me, I have the tape measurer in my hand. Maybe you USED to be, but you've clearly gained weight. I'm sorry you don't want to admit that to yourself, but for the love of God, just suck it up and buy the bigger bra, if you want it to fit correctly.
- I also hated when people would dig through the panty bar (you know that table in Pink, yes that's what it's called), like there was money hidden at the bottom. Be civilized, look at the tags, especially when I'm standing there watching you absolutely destroy what I just spent a half an hour fixing.
- No, the free panty coupon only works on black, white, nude, and pink. It's flippin' free, are you going to keep complaining or are you going to take your panty and leave????
6.Was it the job itself? or Was it the people you worked with or both? The people I worked with were generally nice. Nothing outstanding, but nice. It was mostly the customers.
7.Did you leave without a notice? No, I let them know when I was returning to school.

[aggieAXO]

I am embarrassed to admit this, but it was ...McDonalds (I tried to get a job at a vet clinic but no one would hire me since I had no experience, I was 16)
1.What kind of job was it? see above
2.What did you do? drive through
3.Was it a summer job? yes
4.Was it a job while you were in school? no
5.What made the job so bad? people treated you like crap, to this day I am the NICEST person to all fast food employees, even if they aren't the brightest
6.Was it the job itself? or Was it the people you worked with or both? both, the job in itself sucked and the management was mean
7.Did you leave without a notice? no I gave 2 weeks notice

[aephi alum]

I'm sure there's been a thread like this before.

It's a toss-up between:

- Job at a major firm (you'd recognize the name if I told you) where I was saddled with a misogynist boss. As the only woman on the team, I got the crap assignments. I was informed of the support rota after the rest of the team decided on it without my input. I was chastised for not moving heaven and earth to get to the office during the 2005 NYC transit strike - AFTER my boss had told me that I could work from home for the duration of the strike. (Apparently, I was expected to walk from Grand Central to Wall Street.) I pushed back. And I was informed to suck it up or leave the firm. So I left.

- Consulting gig at a crappy little start-up where the CEO decided that paying me was optional. I had to threaten to take him to court for non-payment. He was also verbally abusive, not just to me, but also to employees, including his own wife. I found out later that most software consultants in the area will not do business with him.

Ahhhhhh... that felt good.

[dreamseeker]

1.What kind of job was it? I was an auditor at a mid size CPA firm
2.What did you do? Auditing & Tax
3.Was it a summer job? Nope, full time hell
4.Was it a job while you were in school? see above
5.What made the job so bad?
5a. 52 hr work weeks (which is actually tolerable to a 70hr work week at a bigger firm, but there was also..)
5b. racism --> leading to little or no work to do
5c. sexism
5d. homophobia
5e. grown men with childish mindsets (going to happy hour and getting trashed, peeing in a sink)
i was so stressed and unhappy that i developed acid reflux issues.
6.Was it the job itself? or Was it the people you worked with or both? both, it was boring too
7.Did you leave without a notice? nah gave 2 weeks.

[dreamseeker]

Originally Posted by aephi alum

(Apparently, I was expected to walk from Grand Central to Wall Street.)

LOL. Must be relatives of the same people that expect me to come to work in a snow storm.

[BrandNewAdvisor]

1.What kind of job was it?
It was a deli in a town full of retirement villages
2.What did you do?
Made sandwiches, short order cooked, cashier and waitressed
3.Was it a summer job?
Every summer during high school
4.Was it a job while you were in school?
Only during Christmas vacation and spring break
5.What made the job so bad?
The old people would forget what they ordered and tell you whatever you brought them was wrong. They were disgustingly picky about everything (like the sandwich needed to be cut exactly in half or there could only be 1 piece of cheese 2 pieces of meat and a teaspoon of mayo). No one ever knew what they wanted to order, I can't tell you how many peoples lunches I had to pick out for them.
My co-workers were either idiot incompetent rednecks or senile. I never knew making a sandwich is hard for people.
6.Was it the job itself? or Was it the people you worked with or both?
Both. I worked with some of the laziest people of all time. The fulltime cook was awesome but angry everytime you gave him an order he didn't like you'd get yelled at.
7.Did you leave without a notice?
No I was going away to college so I had a set date.

[APhi Sailorgirl]

1.What kind of job was it? Office job

2.What did you do? receptionist

3.Was it a summer job? no, during my senior year of college

4.Was it a job while you were in school? yes

5.What made the job so bad? It was a family run company and I had never had experience with that before. They were all rude to the employees and treated them like crap. If you weren't part of the family, then you weren't worth their time. Also I would get yelled at a lot for things I didn't do. I can't help they wouldn't pay for voicemail for people and they never checked their paper messages.

6.Was it the job itself? or Was it the people you worked with or both? Both, the job was stupid and so were the people.

7.Did you leave without a notice? Yes, because I was graduating.

Oh and my first real job was a fun one too. I had a boss who like the sexually harass all the ladies, including asking me to spend the night with him one time, I declined. Then we reorganized and I ended up with a lady who had the reputation of being a C U Next Tuesday kind of lady. I was so glad to get out of place.

[littleowl33]

Oh man, I've had some interesting jobs. (This is a little graphic)

In high school, I worked for an SPCA for four years. It was actually the most rewarding job I've ever had, and overall, I loved it. But working with people giving up animals was the worst. They treated us like dirt and expected us to kiss their asses for dumping their unwanted pets with us. A lot of times these animals were sick, pregnant, very old, what-have-you and it took a lot of self-restraint not to strangle some of these idiots. One woman would bring us a litter of kittens every month or two, like clock-work, and refused to get her cats fixed. Another family tied up a litter of puppies outside the door in the middle of the night in November in New England - luckily they were still alive when we got there at 7:30am. Another person brought in a cat and booked it before we could ask him anything about her... and when we got in the back room and picked her up, the employee's hand went inside the cat. She had a mammary tumor that had gone untreated, then basically became a gaping hole in her belly. I could go on, but you get the idea. I became very cynical about human beings while working that job. I left when I graduated high school and went to college.

When I got to college I really wanted to go into veterinary medicine, so the summer after my freshman year I worked at two different clinics. One was very rural (out in the midwest) and mainly served farmers. The people were very sweet and I enjoyed working with them, and most of the calls to the farms were interesting. However, a big part of the work was in hog barns where they raise hogs for meat. Very "outside" few people ever get to go in there, and if you do you have to shower and completely sterilize before going in to avoid introducing disease. I got in as the vet's assistant. The buildings have no windows, and the floor is slats that all the pigs' urine and feces fall through to a pit below. The smell is pretty bad, and the noise is deafening. We were taking blood samples to test for disease, and we would be in there for a few hours at a time a few times a week. I won't go into detail, but I saw stuff way worse than what they talk about in the PETA fliers. When you're treating animals as commodities, not living things, it's very different. The vet was nothing but professional, but some of the people working the hog barns are a different story. Anyway, I left at the end of the summer when classes started up again and I had no complaints about the clinic or vets, but I learned that I definitely don't want to be a large animal/agricultural vet.

My sophomore year in college I got an office job - the first job I've ever had that didn't involve cleaning up animal poop/vomit/blood/whatever for a significant part of the workday. It's cleaner, but a lot more boring... and I do miss working with animals.

[lilzetakitten]

1. Administrative job.
2. Filing. Lots and lots and lots of filing.
3. No.
4. No.
5/6. The work, the people, the management... everything. Today's example: I'm a temp. Apparently my supervisor is unhappy with me. I say apparently because she told my co-worker, who I share an office with, that I now have to meet with her daily, but has she told me this? No. She just told my co-worker to tell me.
7. I'm still here. I hate this job so much.

[chickenoodle]

Originally Posted by littleowl33

Oh man, I've had some interesting jobs. (This is a little graphic)

In high school, I worked for an SPCA for four years. It was actually the most rewarding job I've ever had, and overall, I loved it. But working with people giving up animals was the worst. They treated us like dirt and expected us to kiss their asses for dumping their unwanted pets with us. A lot of times these animals were sick, pregnant, very old, what-have-you and it took a lot of self-restraint not to strangle some of these idiots. One woman would bring us a litter of kittens every month or two, like clock-work, and refused to get her cats fixed. Another family tied up a litter of puppies outside the door in the middle of the night in November in New England - luckily they were still alive when we got there at 7:30am. Another person brought in a cat and booked it before we could ask him anything about her... and when we got in the back room and picked her up, the employee's hand went inside the cat. She had a mammary tumor that had gone untreated, then basically became a gaping hole in her belly. I could go on, but you get the idea. I became very cynical about human beings while working that job.

I could not handle working with animals for the exact reasons you mentioned. This sounds like a really tough job

I worked at gas station for a couple of years while going to school. I got lucky with my pay so I stuck around through some serious BS:

1) I've had bums come in, steal beer and proceed to drink it while on the property. They wanted to get arrested so they would have a place to sleep that night. And a free beer.
2) [This is GRAPHIC] Some kid came in, stole a tire gauge and used it to shoot up his drug of choice. How do I know? I found the gauge in the bathroom while cleaning up his blood from the bathroom floor and walls.
3) Scratch off tickets are *not* microwaveable.
4) I've had change thrown at me, offers to "party" and chased thieves out of the store.

I finally got fed up with this crap and quit with 3 days notice.

[aggieAXO]

[QUOTE=littleowl33;1853511]Oh man, I've had some interesting jobs. (This is a little graphic)

In high school, I worked for an SPCA for four years. It was actually the most rewarding job I've ever had, and overall, I loved it. But working with people giving up animals was the worst. They treated us like dirt and expected us to kiss their asses for dumping their unwanted pets with us. A lot of times these animals were sick, pregnant, very old, what-have-you and it took a lot of self-restraint not to strangle some of these idiots. One woman would bring us a litter of kittens every month or two, like clock-work, and refused to get her cats fixed. Another family tied up a litter of puppies outside the door in the middle of the night in November in New England - luckily they were still alive when we got there at 7:30am. Another person brought in a cat and booked it before we could ask him anything about her... and when we got in the back room and picked her up, the employee's hand went inside the cat. She had a mammary tumor that had gone untreated, then basically became a gaping hole in her belly. I could go on, but you get the idea. I became very cynical about human beings while working that job. I left when I graduated high school and went to college.

QUOTE]

This is why I will not be able to work as vet full time for another 20 years (have already been doing it almost 13). And people wonder why I am so cynical and just tolerate most humans.