bad jobs

[eds1275]

So mostly what I do for work is mix audio. Audio never needs mixing at a reasonable hour. So in an attempt to normalize my life, I took a regular job at a recycling facility. It is the worst job I've ever had but it was monday to friday normal hours 7-330.

So yesterday I was out in the sun and got heatstroke, spent most of the evening throwing up and having a fever. I was still rough this morning and called in to say I couldn't make it. My shoulders are burnt so bad I can barely move my arms. I told them I wouldn't be in and that was that. 20 minutes later, the owner called me to tell me to come in or never show up again. Well, who wants to work for someone like that. I don't need this crap job that pays less than we agreed on when I was hired. I am going to go back to making 3x more money but having no life for the short term.

So what about everyone else? Ever had a crappy job wading through expired meat for wax covered cardboard so it can be composted? Or worse?

[shponglefan]

I've worked in tech support.  You're constantly dealing with people at their most frustrated and those people direct their frustration onto you, even though you are trying to help them.

I make it a point to be nice to tech support people.

[Howard_Casto]

I've worked in tech support.  You're constantly dealing with people at their most frustrated and those people direct their frustration onto you, even though you are trying to help them.

I make it a point to be nice to tech support people.

^This^

I did it in college and that was enough for me.  The bulk of your customers fall into two categories.... people who are so technologically illiterate that they should just give up and go full Amish, or people who think they know what they are doing but obviously don't.  You can be as patient as a saint and still be ready to murder everyone on the planet after one bad call. 

[thomas_surles]

I currently work at a gas station. All time low in my life for me. And it's the night shift with is why I post at odds hours. Also it's near the cheap motels so I mostly get crack and meth heads in my store.

[menace]

Worst job I ever had was picking strawberries and getting paid per flat (8 quarts)  Mind you this was a long time (late 80's) ago but I think it was $1.75 per flat.  Me and a buddy worked for some A-hole farmer--8 hr day and my buddy made $5.25 and I made $10.75 LOL

[Malenko]

Worst job? Ive had a bunch, but you do what you have to to get by.

Worked at a mom and pop video store, FunCoLand, membership counter at CostoCo, midnight mail sorter at USPS, even did roofing, concrete work, and landscaping with my dad & uncles.....

but my worst two would have to have been:

working in the "pool" at Chrysler (Newark Assembly Plant) so when someone would call out I'd have to learn their job in like an hour and do it until they came back in (sometimes hours sometimes weeks). Wasn't too bad in body shop especially since I was one of the few people that could tig and mig weld. It super sucked when I'd get lent out to other departments like chassis and trim and get put on some mega ---fouled up beyond all recognition--- up job. Ended my time there in "pre-trim" basically putting fasteners inside the car that other stuff screwed into, installing roof rails, wiring harnesses, and sun roofs. I dont miss the work (especially in the summer) but I do miss a lot of the people.

When I changed careers and got a job as internet and phone tech support at Comcast. The only thing worse than the customers were the supervisors.  It didn't help that they'd also hire incompetent tards to man the phones.
The focused changed from helping customers to sales, as in our metrics no longer focused on average call time and repeat calls but was all about sales pitch percentage (offers divided by calls), upgrades sold (add TV or Phone service), and bolt on sold (like HBO, STARZ, etc) thats when I had enough and started working at a crummy managed service provider.

I still work in IT to this day and pretty much everything said up there is accurate. I do IT a little differently. I'm really big on user education; sometimes its easier said than done and I really hate people who try to use the excuse/cop-out of "Im too old" or "Im computer illiterate" but Ive been at my current gig 2 1/2 years and the sheer amount of drop off in layer 8 issues is amazing.

[pbj]

Last job was an interesting one.  I respected everyone individually, and learned a hell of a lot, but collectively it was a nightmare.  I used to keep a tally of how many people yelled at me every day over things I couldn't control.  (record was four)  After being jerked around twice, I decided I was leaving if I got jerked around a third time on a promotion.  Got the news on a Monday, started applying Tuesday, was interviewing Thursday, had another offer Monday.  God bless Houston, TX and its economic opportunities.

Oddest job was selling monkeys. 

Can't really complain, it's mostly been a soft touch life of moderate pay and white collar jobs.

[Le Chuck]

Does stirring a burning barrel of human feces count as a job?  It was more of an additional duty but yeah that was bad.  Guarding a burning hole in the ground full of batteries, waste, and god knows what else?  That was bad.  What about the job where I had to strap a 90lb backpack on over combat equipment and hump through harsh terrain while being shot at or occasionally blown up?  That was bad too. 

[Slippyblade]

...to sales, as in our metrics no longer focused on average call time and repeat calls but was all about sales pitch percentage (offers divided by calls), upgrades sold (add TV or Phone service), and bolt on sold (like HBO, STARZ, etc)...

Yeah.  Drives me bonkers when I call tech-support and the bulk of their script is trying to sell me ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.  I mean, seriously, what asshat in corporate decided that when something breaks is a good time to upsell the customer?  That's why I pretty much refuse to do "tech support" any more.  I won't do any phone work anymore if it involves sales.

[knave]

Does stirring a burning barrel of human feces count as a job?  It was more of an additional duty but yeah that was bad.  Guarding a burning hole in the ground full of batteries, waste, and god knows what else?  That was bad.  What about the job where I had to strap a 90lb backpack on over combat equipment and hump through harsh terrain while being shot at or occasionally blown up?  That was bad too.

It counts as part of both the best and worst job.

[SNAAKE]

waiter job was pretty sad..forgot how long I lasted maybe a week

picked apples part time when I was like 13-14 I think. dont know if it was even allowed or they just gave anyone the job. it was alright considering I didn't really have any "allowance" like most kids do. I kind of had...nothing

[Le Chuck]

Does stirring a burning barrel of human feces count as a job?  It was more of an additional duty but yeah that was bad.  Guarding a burning hole in the ground full of batteries, waste, and god knows what else?  That was bad.  What about the job where I had to strap a 90lb backpack on over combat equipment and hump through harsh terrain while being shot at or occasionally blown up?  That was bad too.

It counts as part of both the best and worst job.

I know right?  90% of the time it's totally unfair that they are even paying me...

but that other 10% tho

[eds1275]

I kind of had...nothing

When I was like 22 or 23 I was like "hey wait a minute, those weren't family walks to the store... we were poor and had no car!!!!"

[ark_ader]

...to sales, as in our metrics no longer focused on average call time and repeat calls but was all about sales pitch percentage (offers divided by calls), upgrades sold (add TV or Phone service), and bolt on sold (like HBO, STARZ, etc)...

Yeah.  Drives me bonkers when I call tech-support and the bulk of their script is trying to sell me ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.  I mean, seriously, what asshat in corporate decided that when something breaks is a good time to upsell the customer?  That's why I pretty much refuse to do "tech support" any more.  I won't do any phone work anymore if it involves sales.

I agree especially when they are in a bad mood, even when you fixed the problem.  But selling up is where I make the most money.  If their gear breaks I offer them a discount and they get the next version of whatever crap they are interested in.  Retention is a joke, as everyone complains to get free ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.  I don't offer them anything, and still I get the upgrades, and I'm not in sales.  I support every phone, tablet, laptop and PC under the sun, and I even had a palm pilot today that I had to sort out.  People are so grateful that you resolved their problem, that an upgrade is like picking low fruit off a tree.  Well this is America and everyone has to make a buck.  Take advantage I say.   

[dkersten]

Never had a bad job, just bad bosses.

Honestly, I would stir burning ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- if the people I worked for were good bosses (and the money was good of course). 

It's all about people. 

[nitrogen_widget]

I've worked in tech support.  You're constantly dealing with people at their most frustrated and those people direct their frustration onto you, even though you are trying to help them.

I make it a point to be nice to tech support people.

^This^

I did it in college and that was enough for me.  The bulk of your customers fall into two categories.... people who are so technologically illiterate that they should just give up and go full Amish, or people who think they know what they are doing but obviously don't.  You can be as patient as a saint and still be ready to murder everyone on the planet after one bad call.

I do desktop support now.
But I am not Help Desk.
I'm the guy they can call so they don't have to deal with the help desk.
almost everyone is nice to me at work because if they piss me off they can go call the helpdesk and nobody wants to do that.

That said the people who know just enough to fubar their system are the worst to deal with.
They obviously did something to their computer and know what they did but don't want to tell me.
When I try to fix what they did, they try to tell me how to fix it.
Well, if you know how to fix it why did you call me? 

I actually love my job. lol.


worst job I had was when the temp agency sent me to be an "electroplater" while on summer break from college.
that turned out to be dipping the plates from giant pasteurization machines into acid until the gaskets degraded to the point of scraping them off.

I had no idea i'd be doing that and they threw me into the job with gloves & goggles and nothing else.
I showed up in jeans and a t-shirt and by lunch time i had multiple minor acid burns on my arms and holes burned into my clothes.

I stuck the day out but never went back & the temp agency fired me because I refused to finish out the week.
I was pissed they lied to me about what the job actually was and I wasn't given proper attire on the job.

[SNAAKE]

I kind of had...nothing

When I was like 22 or 23 I was like "hey wait a minute, those weren't family walks to the store... we were poor and had no car!!!!"

there were no family walks either lol

[lilshawn]

selling fraud protection services and the "payment protector plan"  for Chase Manhattan Bank credit cards. convincing people they NEED it.

automated cold calls... literally 100's a day... mostly scripted...and badly done. most of the lead up was ad-lib so it was good, but the recorded script where we verify the customer information and go over what they will receive... must be said word for word and how it was worded (incorrectly at that) often killed some people's interest in the product.

Chances are, if you have/had a chase bank credit card 2005/06...I've called you.

I've said the closing line (required by FCC for cold calls to clients)

...thank you for your time, if you have any comments or questions about the Chase  payment protection plan, you can call us at 18777528572 thank you have a good day.

to dead air after people have hung up more times than i care to even estimate counting. that telephone number will forever be ingrained in my brain.

[ChadTower]

Easily the most frustrating job I've ever had was college phone based helpdesk work.  During the day I'd get calls from professors who were outraged that they had to call a student to resolve their computer issues.  A typical prof would start out by insulting me, spend 10 minutes describing how they are among the foremost minds on the planet in their field, list off how many books they've written, and tell you you'd better treat them with the proper amount of respect. All before even telling you their problem.  I'd be sitting there thinking "maybe you are one of the world's leaders in agricultural biochemistry but I'm not sure how that is supposed to help you figure out why your PPP connection isn't working."  But if you said even the slightest thing, or failed to just absorb all the abuse, the prof would go into a vendetta and ensure you were suspended for a week.  When you're only making $50/week that hurts.


Then at night the drunk students would start calling in.  I once spent an hour trying to debug this guy's PC over the phone only to eventually figure out that his keyboard was shorted because his roommate pissed on it.  Wouldn't boot because his function key to get into the bios was shorted.


Least favorite job, though, was software engineering at Kodak.  The job was okay, the pay was decent during a horrible economy, but my god the people there were ---uvulas---.  One night they asked me to stay overnight to keep an eye on some automated processes that needed immediate attention if they had problems.  Okay, I was the only one paid by the hour, no problem.  My badge only gave me access to the facility from 7-7, though, and the bathroom was outside the security door.   Tons of stuff like that at Kodak.

[thomas_surles]

Praise jeebus my manager was fired today. This bad job just got less bad.

[Ginsu Victim]

So mostly what I do for work is mix audio. Audio never needs mixing at a reasonable hour. So in an attempt to normalize my life, I took a regular job at a recycling facility. It is the worst job I've ever had but it was monday to friday normal hours 7-330.

So yesterday I was out in the sun and got heatstroke, spent most of the evening throwing up and having a fever. I was still rough this morning and called in to say I couldn't make it. My shoulders are burnt so bad I can barely move my arms. I told them I wouldn't be in and that was that. 20 minutes later, the owner called me to tell me to come in or never show up again. Well, who wants to work for someone like that. I don't need this crap job that pays less than we agreed on when I was hired. I am going to go back to making 3x more money but having no life for the short term.

So what about everyone else? Ever had a crappy job wading through expired meat for wax covered cardboard so it can be composted? Or worse?

I work for the unemployment office, and I've heard this story so many times it's ridiculous. The bad thing is, the oil industry is in a slump in this area, there are no jobs to refer people to, and the only new business to come in lately....is a recycling center.

[Howard_Casto]

I think you won the contest of the worst job.  At least with most crappy jobs, at the end of the day at least, you feel like you've done something to help people.  Having to turn people away that want to work would be soul crushing as a day to day job. 

[ChadTower]

Is it all people looking for jobs or is it also people trying to manage their unemployment benefits?  I remember getting dragged there as a kid with my father and he was always looking for a way out of getting a job.

[lilshawn]

i think lots of people who end up losing their job and end up with unemployment benefits see it as a paid vacation. they see it as they paid into UI (or EI or whatever you call it wherever you are) you should get some of it back.... so they run it as long as they can until they either get kicked off or the benefits run out.

EI is a pain in the ass. My Wife drives special needs school bus so during summer break, she gets essentially "laid off". so we apply for EI benefits EVERY YEAR. (in fact right...about........nnnnnNOW!)

But because my wife is considered a "frequent claimant" she has to attend classes and workshops and other look for work garbage even though in 9 weeks, she will be back to work again.

[pbj]

But because my wife is considered a "frequent claimant" she has to attend classes and workshops and other look for work garbage even though in 9 weeks, she will be back to work again.

Yeah, yeah, but then you get a nice, big retroactive check so quit yer bitchin.  And every nine months is pretty frequent, bro.

[TopJimmyCooks]

all my jobs I can remember:
Cutting grass/self employed - age 13
sales at locally owned bookstore - high school
DJ- bars and clubs - college.  Never mobile thank God.
Dorm room painter - college
Drafting - college
Admin, then sales at executive suites company
Admin at General Contractor
Assistant Project Manager at different General contractor
PM at general contractor
PM and general manager at family owned General contractor business
PM at different GC
Self employed commercial GC and selling metal buildings
PM for community college
now, director of construction for college. 

I just thought through every job I ever had and none of them sucked.  Nice.  I do appreciate those who pull feces immolation duty in the military, and I'm always nice to tech support and CSR.  And waitstaff. 

[yotsuya]

I've been at the same school for 20 years.  I guess I'm  good.

[harveybirdman]

I'm the soul sucking banker you think you know but have no clue.

13 years in, 1st job out of college promoted twice and realized I hate people management and back to selling to people again.

Man you guys think tech support is bad? Try selling consumer banking products when 80% of your market is financially illiterate and the other 20% doesn't trust you because 2008 and other equally unfair character assumptions.

[lilshawn]

But because my wife is considered a "frequent claimant" she has to attend classes and workshops and other look for work garbage even though in 9 weeks, she will be back to work again.

Yeah, yeah, but then you get a nice, big retroactive check so quit yer bitchin.  And every nine months is pretty frequent, bro.

the frequent claimant thing was only initiated last year. It was more to hassle people who were working temp jobs literally just long enough to qualify for benefits. (where I am currently happens to be 660 hours but could be as low as 420 hours in some places) then collect benefits and do nothing for anywhere from 15 to 38 weeks. repeat ad nauseum.

[markc74]

So - i don't think this is in any way near as bad as some of you guys but...

During uni i worked in a data centre. Basically staring at 12 green screens waiting for a 2 numbers to come up. First number was the tape, second number was the machine it had to be loaded on. Warehouse had about 200 000 tapes and you found it, picked it out and loaded it, leading the tape through a machine and spinning it onto a reel.

80% of the time it was mindless drone work only made interesting by the conversations you had with your colleagues. Rest of the time was spent finding tapes that had been mislaid or worse, overwritten which meant you spent days trawling through a dusty warehouse with rats and huge spider beasties knowing that the tape didn't exist any more but there was a £5000 penalty if the tape was lost so they made you look anyway.

Soul destroying busy work.

Don't know if i have the patience to work in sales/support. I feel for you guys.

[ark_ader]

So - i don't think this is in any way near as bad as some of you guys but...

During uni i worked in a data centre. Basically staring at 12 green screens waiting for a 2 numbers to come up. First number was the tape, second number was the machine it had to be loaded on. Warehouse had about 200 000 tapes and you found it, picked it out and loaded it, leading the tape through a machine and spinning it onto a reel.

80% of the time it was mindless drone work only made interesting by the conversations you had with your colleagues. Rest of the time was spent finding tapes that had been mislaid or worse, overwritten which meant you spent days trawling through a dusty warehouse with rats and huge spider beasties knowing that the tape didn't exist any more but there was a £5000 penalty if the tape was lost so they made you look anyway.

Soul destroying busy work.

Don't know if i have the patience to work in sales/support. I feel for you guys.

I don't know how bad that was but if you can remember three quarter Blackwatch tape, my first job after getting my GED was working as a tape tester.  You load the tape into a reader and then stare at a tiny screen looking for anomalies, the noise in that room was terrible, but I persevered.  It was a family owned business which gave me insight into PC sales and networking, thus staring my own business of building XT and AT machines in my garage. The funny thing about the machine that was doing the testing was, a Commodore PET.  I also worked for the Dept of War Pensions and I know all to well of those data warehouses where those little critters live.  We had a huge one outside of Manchester, and the vault reeked with damp and other...things.


Ahh the old days at the summer camp called the British Civil Service.   

[markc74]

Yeah that looks like it. I remember my first day and and the gaffer showing me how to load it and thinking - surely this kind of ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- can be automated - but nope. Also remember having to travel with tapes to Southampton (i was 300 miles away in Sunderland) just to make sure the tapes didn't get damaged on way.

I tell my boy about it and he shrugs telling me what a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- job it was and then goes and earns minimum wage in a bar.

Kids these days. Pfft.

[pbj]

I had two tech support jobs in college.  One was fairly awful... 50 cents above minimum wage and you had to deal with, "can't you just do my homework for me?" students.  39.5 hours a week and no benefits.

The other one was being "computer guy" to a state government office with about 80 women spread over three locations.  Job was basically, "don't make the central IT office answer the phone or come in."  $10.50/hr back in 2000, everyone liked me, enough work to keep it interesting, and a ton of autonomy. 

A couple times a week I used to take the fleet vehicle over to central IT for 'training' - we would watch South Park, smoke cheap cigarettes, and grill sausages from the campus meat store on the roof of the building.  We eventually set up a gazebo and picnic table up there so we could be comfortable while watching the coeds walk by.  One of the guys landed a Mexican girlfriend and kept us in fresh flour tortillas.  They were running a Diablo 2 server on state computers and we all had free dial up internet access

One of those few situations where we all knew how good we had it at the time.  The historic building was eventually condemned and we were told to, "get that ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- off the roof before the media gets here and if we see you up there again you're fired." 

Can't imagine getting away with anything like that these days....  all the free surplus computer parts you wanted except for hard drives and cases.  (hard drives had to be destroyed, cases were tagged as state property)  Fun ride while it lasted.

[ChadTower]

Can't imagine getting away with anything like that these days....  all the free surplus computer parts you wanted except for hard drives and cases.  (hard drives had to be destroyed, cases were tagged as state property)  Fun ride while it lasted.

One of the things they had me do at Kodak was "asset retirement".  It was the remnants of their MA film product support facility.  95% of the staff had been laid off but they still had two solid floors of a huge building leased and the whole facility was still set up.  It was like a ghost town full of pretty cool industrial photography equipment and imaging hardware.  Commercial printers, scanners, everything you could think of from Kodak, all just sitting gathering up dust.  Piece by piece the facilities guy and I would catalog the hardware, pallet it up, and ship it off to be physically destroyed so it could be written off as obsoleted equipment.  We sent off so much really nice equipment to the crushers and weren't allowed to recycle or take so much as a paper clip under threat of being immediately fired in the middle of the .com crash. 

[dkersten]

I've been working regular jobs since I was 14 and haven't gone more than a few weeks without a job since I was about 16.  17 years and counting at my current one and spent about 9 years in the last (although that was split between two different companies doing the same thing).  Even in college I always had a job, although some weeks I had less than 10 hours. I can't imagine NOT having a job.

Sure, doing the minimum wage work always sucked but it was work and I got paid for it.  Beat the alternative.

I could always "turn off" the moment I was off the clock and start enjoying life regardless of how bad the day was.  It's harder these days, mostly because I work for family, and partly because in all reality I have been on call 24x7 for the last 17 years, and I have yet to have a vacation where I don't get at least one call.  99% of all emergencies happen when I am on vacation, so if a server is going to crash, it will be when I am in a car full of kids driving through Nebraska with spotty cell phone service and no internet.

I guess, looking back, working for family is the worst part of a job.  The perks of being family are far outweighed by having to be the example for all other employees to follow - you never get any slack and are held to an impossible standard.  No matter how good you do, there will never be recognition for it because it is expected.  And if you make a mistake, no matter how small, it is as if you just cost half your employees their job. 

[Ginsu Victim]

they see it as they paid into UI (or EI or whatever you call it wherever you are) you should get some of it back.

Your employer pays into it, not you. Why else would some employers fight it?

[lilshawn]

they see it as they paid into UI (or EI or whatever you call it wherever you are) you should get some of it back.

Your employer pays into it, not you. Why else would some employers fight it?

the employer pays it yes, but it's deducted from your cheque. same with pension plan payments. it's straight off the top, you never see it.

Employers don't "fight" it here, they just screw you so you don't get it by filling out your ROE that you quit or were fired (both make you ineligible for EI)  or they will make the "talking to" before you are let go... ambiguous... so that you leave but you have technically "quit" even if you are just being laid off. (which if you are laid off you are eligible)

your district may vary.

[Ginsu Victim]

they see it as they paid into UI (or EI or whatever you call it wherever you are) you should get some of it back.

Your employer pays into it, not you. Why else would some employers fight it?

the employer pays it yes, but it's deducted from your cheque. same with pension plan payments. it's straight off the top, you never see it.

Employers don't "fight" it here, they just screw you so you don't get it by filling out your ROE that you quit or were fired (both make you ineligible for EI)  or they will make the "talking to" before you are let go... ambiguous... so that you leave but you have technically "quit" even if you are just being laid off. (which if you are laid off you are eligible)

your district may vary.

In most states (so I'm talking about the US), that money comes from a tax on employers. Businesses pay a certain amount of money into an unemployment insurance trust fund, based on the number of employees they have, their history of laying people off, and the current tax rate. That trust fund then provides the money needed for benefits.

[pbj]

Yes, which in turn reduces what they are able to pay.  Doesn't really matter where they slice it off, it's felt by the workers.

If you're ever unemployed, file for it.  If denied, appeal it.  It isn't that much money.

[shponglefan]

they see it as they paid into UI (or EI or whatever you call it wherever you are) you should get some of it back.

Your employer pays into it, not you. Why else would some employers fight it?

In Canada, both employees and employers pay into EI.  Does it not work like that in the U.S.?