[Pauler]

my first job ever was as a telemarketer in high school. we were collecting funds for the Missouri police chief's association. i hated it so much...and people on the phone hated me too. i worked there a couple of months...ugh...why do they have to pay so well (for high school wages).

[AdamAPHC]

Originally Posted by jthomas1600

The worst job I ever had was also the best job I ever had. I was a commercial fisherman off the west coast for 15 years. It was dirty and hard. We often times worked for 6 days on less than four hours of sleep a day. It killed my back and knees. I broke fingers, smashed fingers, sustained multiple serious lasserations, stuck a hole in my foot and then fished four more days with a wounded foot and a boot full of water, fished for a week one time and because we didn't catch enough fish to cover expenses I went in owing the boat $100, spent a Christmas on a crab boat in Neha Bay (a small Indian village on the Washington/Canada boarder), had to abandon ship once, have the coast guard fly my out a pump once to keep the boat from sinking and heres the best story. We had an equipment failure causing the boat to lay over and was on the verge of capsizing. We were with in cell phone range so I called my Pastor and said "I can't talk now, but we are in serious trouble--please pray". I then called my wife and said "we have some work to do, but I just had a minute and wanted to call you and say I love you". It took a while but we righted the ship and I called my wife and told her what had realy happened. She was kind of ticked off but I told her I didn't say what was wrong because I didn't want to scare her, but I didn't want to die with out telling her one more time I loved her. All that being said I wouldn't trade those experiences for nothing. One cool thing that happened was after the near capsizing event one of the other guys on the boat said "I know you're a Chirstian. Can you tell me how to know Jesus?" Nothining like a near death experience to open a guy up to the gospel.

...

I will never complain about my job ever again.


Worst thing I can come up with is working at Discount Tire unloading 18-wheelers full of giant truck tires in 100 degree El Paso summer heat.

[tlj009]

My worst job was working in a machine shop in high school. I worked for two years 4 hours a week at 5 dollars an hour. Then I quit. Several months after I quit, the owner's logging company went bankrupt and so he had his lawyers and accountants going over all of the books. I hadn't paid taxes on anything because he always paid me off the books. Anyway, several months after I quit, I got a W-2 or W-9 or whatever the form was and ended up having to pay $2,000 in taxes. I paid it and went on because I really didn't know what to do about it at the time. But paying $2,000 in taxes for an income of $2,500 spread out over 2 years is not good. I estimate $2,500 because I did work more than 4 hours occasionally but very, very rarely.

[BillSPrestonEsq]

Working for a roofer one summer in Victorville, CA.

Also didn't really get paid. The day I quit my boss had a psychotic break or something and was chasing demons around on the roof with a razorback shovel. At one point I was a "demon." Ended up sliding down the ladder, and leaving the job site never to return. He ended up owing me about $2500.00 I never saw.

But the work was miserable too. Heat at well over 150 degrees on the roof on the black tar paper. As the day would progress, the shingles would begin to melt, and so would your shoes.

[jthomas1600]

Originally Posted by BillSPrestonEsq

Working for a roofer one summer in Victorville, CA.

Also didn't really get paid. The day I quit my boss had a psychotic break or something and was chasing demons around on the roof with a razorback shovel. At one point I was a "demon." Ended up sliding down the ladder, and leaving the job site never to return. He ended up owing me about $2500.00 I never saw.

But the work was miserable too. Heat at well over 150 degrees on the roof on the black tar paper. As the day would progress, the shingles would begin to melt, and so would your shoes.

You could never pay me enough to be a roofer. I have known a few though and I'm wondering if his "psychotic" break might have been induced by recreational chemical use.

[tlj009]

Working for a roofer one summer in Victorville, CA.

Also didn't really get paid. The day I quit my boss had a psychotic break or something and was chasing demons around on the roof with a razorback shovel. At one point I was a "demon." Ended up sliding down the ladder, and leaving the job site never to return. He ended up owing me about $2500.00 I never saw.

But the work was miserable too. Heat at well over 150 degrees on the roof on the black tar paper. As the day would progress, the shingles would begin to melt, and so would your shoes.

Yeah, roofing is a pain. I used to do a lot of it when I was younger. But the last time that I did it, I discovered just exactly how out of shape I have become.

[BillSPrestonEsq]

Originally Posted by jthomas1600

You could never pay me enough to be a roofer. I have known a few though and I'm wondering if his "psychotic" break might have been induced by recreational chemical use.

Maybe, he was an old roofer, and I wonder if work chemicals and actual heat, may have literally fried his brain. I can attest he didn't do any drugs that day, but he was bordering on insane on a good day. (for instance he fired a man for being left handed)

He was, shall we say, beyond weird. I think that literally he had long ago lost more than half his deck when I met him.

Victorville is in the Mojave desert, and personally, when I think of hell, I picture that job. It was hot as you could take. I on several occasions got second degree burns on my feet through shoes. You felt like you pushed the limits of how much a body could take per day.

[scared2mosh]

I cant manage to get a real job, but I would have to say:

Babysitting for my uncle once... it was supposed to be 6-10pm and it turned into 6pm-3am. Did I mention my little cousin was throwing up the whole time? And my uncle was drunk when he got home and would only pay me 20$

[niangelo]

I worked in a production factory building huge fiberglass tanks that are used for storing gasoline underneath service stations. It involved grinding fiberglass, mixing fiberglass resin with a chemical catalyst and acetone to thin it. The chemical fumes were bad enough, but the day I quit I had heat exhaustion from the plant bosses running big heaters to save money on catalyst on a hot summer day.

But the worst part by far was having fiberglass dust over every single part of my body, day and night. No way to wash it off, it dug itself into my skin and made me itch constantly when I worked there.

[Fandrew]

Originally Posted by BSPE

Working for a roofer one summer in Victorville, CA.

Also didn't really get paid. The day I quit my boss had a psychotic break or something and was chasing demons around on the roof with a razorback shovel. At one point I was a "demon." Ended up sliding down the ladder, and leaving the job site never to return. He ended up owing me about $2500.00 I never saw.

But the work was miserable too. Heat at well over 150 degrees on the roof on the black tar paper. As the day would progress, the shingles would begin to melt, and so would your shoes.

I've roughed in Memphis and in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Memphis was incredibly hot and humid, Tulsa was a hot, dry heat. Yeah, the melting shoe syndrome is the worst.

My worst job? Well, Ruby Tuesday inventory control was pretty bad, spending a few hours in the Freezer with a clipboard, and just hoping coworkers wouldn't still stuff. But, I had a substitute teaching assignment the other week that was simply horrible. I think I ran out of that classroom at the bell quicker than the students did.

[tigerfan88]

Probably working at my school's information desk. Back-stabbing co-workers who rat you out to the boss for having to use your cell phone during work due to a family emergency, constantly being short on 1s (with customers who always want to break a 20), being short on money at the end of the day (and having your boss blame you when the register was short before you even came into work for the day), and having to handle food. I was so glad when I left that job and 6 months later ended up in the department at school that I always wanted to be in. I pass my old workplace pretty often and can't help but think how lucky I am to be employed in a job that pays better and is far less stressful, not to mention is very relevant to my major.

[Art]

My worst was really not that horrible. I worked as a prep cook and dishwasher in a pizza place. Did all of the crap work in the kitchen. It got very hot in there during the summer, and I worked with a hippie that didn't wear deodorant. That was fun.

Also, my hardware store job was terrible at the end, when I was working harder than most anybody, doing their jobs, though they were getting paid more. I did all of the hard physical work, hurt my back, and started getting a lot of migraines. It was ugly. Then, I got fired over something stupid. Best thing that could have happened. Other than quitting.

[walkwjc]

My worst job was with Cudd Pressure Control fighting wild well fires in Oklahoma. Oklahoma summers are baking hot and to be fighting natural gas fires spewing out of a 7 inch pipe in the ground was miserable. We had lots of shovel work and it was very dangerous. Then after we actually got the fire out and rigged up on the well to fix it we worked under high pressure, were covered in oil, grease and heavy salt water (Calcium Bromide, Zinc Bromide, nice stuff like that). I was burned twice and nearly roasted many times. I have some pictures someone took when we had a blow out and I was sliding down the geronimo line to safety followed by a ball of fire. Pretty cool to talk about now, but it scared the hell out of me at the time. The last day on the job for me was when we blew 900 ft of 3 1/2 pipe out of the hole like a rocket. I was standing in a basket 60 ft off the ground 3 ft from said pipe. I drove from Wyoming to Oklahoma and turned in my notice that I quit.

[BillSPrestonEsq]

Originally Posted by The Phantom Mohawk

My worst job was with Cudd Pressure Control fighting wild well fires in Oklahoma. Oklahoma summers are baking hot and to be fighting natural gas fires spewing out of a 7 inch pipe in the ground was miserable. We had lots of shovel work and it was very dangerous. Then after we actually got the fire out and rigged up on the well to fix it we worked under high pressure, were covered in oil, grease and heavy salt water (Calcium Bromide, Zinc Bromide, nice stuff like that). I was burned twice and nearly roasted many times. I have some pictures someone took when we had a blow out and I was sliding down the geronimo line to safety followed by a ball of fire. Pretty cool to talk about now, but it scared the hell out of me at the time. The last day on the job for me was when we blew 900 ft of 3 1/2 pipe out of the hole like a rocket. I was standing in a basket 60 ft off the ground 3 ft from said pipe. I drove from Wyoming to Oklahoma and turned in my notice that I quit.

That picture sounds awesome...

[walkwjc]

Originally Posted by BillSPrestonEsq

That picture sounds awesome...

Yes they are. I'll try and find them and scan one up. I was 19 at the time. The safety man was on location taking pictures at the time snapped some great action shots.