Worst job you've ever had?

[jkarolyi]

Most of the people on this board are pretty successful or at least making a decent income to afford owning a Porsche. But a lot of us grew into our good jobs after working a lot of really crappy ones.

What was the worst job you've ever had?

For me, it was an attic fan installer for an electrician. I had worked for my uncle's electrician business growing up as a go-fer and a wire-runner, so I thought I'd take a well-paying job as an electrician's assistant one high school summer. It paid $7 an hour in 1993 which was a lot back then.

After I was hired I was informed that I would be an attic fan installer. In Charlotte, NC. During one of the hottest summers on record. I pictured installing Hamilton Bay ceiling fans for cute MILFs when I applied to work for "Fan Man Electrical". Not the fiberglass insulation infested 200 degree torture chambers I ended up in. It felt like air conditioning when I would step out of an attic into the 100+ heat and humidity. I would literally wring out my shirt and drink gallons of water everyday.

He would drop me off to work on my own, which was a relief because he was a real holy roller type who blasted Christian Metal (yes, there is such a thing *shudder*) in his work van everywhere we went. In the back window of the van was a sign BEWARE OF GOD! in the style of a BEWARE OF DOG! sign. What a trip!

It was this summer job that motivated me to not slack off in college. I'm sure there are lots of others on this board that can beat mine...this usually leads to lots of entertaining stories.

[Chocaholic]

...The one I have right now...

[pwd72s]

A tossup. Pulling green chain in a lumber mill and setting chokers in the woods. Both physically demanding and tough work. Setting chokers was the most dangerous...but man, I'd like to be in the physical shape I was in when that summer ended, and I quit to go back to school. I gave my Danner "corks" (Caulks) away after that summer...I knew I'd never go back. Sure did hear a lot of logger's fantasy tales while riding in the crummy.

[Scott R]

Heavy line tech at a GM dealership, it's how I paid for college, wrenched in the morning and school in the afternoon. Flagging for hours was terrible, I was always cold, always injured, not fun.

[Hugh R]

Cleaning out cooling towers and crawling in them to reline them with black asphalt mastic in the middle of the summer.

[sjf911]

Picking grapes for making raisins in 110 degree August heat near Fresno, CA. High-school summer job.

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally posted by Hugh R
Cleaning out cooling towers and crawling in them to reline them with black asphalt mastic in the middle of the summer.

I hot mopped roofs in the valley for a few days in the summer once... hell

[Shuie]

1.) Denny's waiter Daytona Beach during spring break
2.) Summer Job as a mover for Mayflower in Florida

[imcarthur]

Chucking hay bales one hot, humid August.

But that cold beer at the end of the day was heaven.

Ian

[nostatic]

working on the assembly line at Ektelon making raquetball raquets. Goes something like:

take a long steel rod
rub wax the entire length of it
lay down one big piece os graphite cloth
lay down two small pieces of kevlar cloth
lay down two more small pieces of graphite cloth
put the steel rod down on the bench at the edge of the cloth
roll cloth onto the rod
slide rolled cloth off of steel rod

take a long steel rod...

[Zef]

Summer job...Sauceur de beignes...I pour the donuts in a solution of honey and liquid sugar....

[Super_Dave_D]

Only had one job my entire life - I dont have any concept of what good or bad really is.

[Dave L]

sold copiers, do I really need to say more?

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by imcarthur
Chucking hay bales one hot, humid August.

But that cold beer at the end of the day was heaven.

Ian

I did that my 15th summer...my dad "loaned" my labor to a buddy of his who had a cattle ranch near Adin, California. You see, dad thought I'd been running with the wrong crowd here in town...dad was right. By the time I got back, several of my former friends were in the state juvenile facility. Nothing like bucking alfalfa bales on a hot summer day in NE California...Recreation? Tramping around the surrounding hills with my .22, hunting coyotes, jackrabbits and porcupines. The other kid there? Another friend of the rancher's son, he from Modesto Cal., 17...his goal in life to become a cop. He hunted with a .38 S&W revolver. My single shot .22 was a hell of a lot better at a longer distance.

Well, Bob eventually accomplished his dream...became a cop. Job pressures and a bad marriage got to him...he decided to eat a .38 round at age ?...Damn, I'd like to go back to that summer, give Bob a warning...We came from different towns, different cultures, that summer of '57...I really liked the guy, despite never seeing him after that summer. RIP, Bob...thanks for the things you taught me.

[Dave L]

Originally posted by imcarthur
Chucking hay bales one hot, humid August.

I did that one summer as well, found out I had allergy induced asthma

[austin552]

Hmmm lets see
Steam pipe(asbestos) surveyer
Construction laborer(Slave)
Roofing(winter ice)

Looong ago...
Wendys was the worst by far. Min wage, 30 hours, no benefits, started at 5:00am, cleaning windows in the snow, scraping gum and scrubbing oil off the drive thru, pushing freezing raw hamburger into a Pattie machine by hand, chopping up burnt old hamburgers to make chili and grease in the face from slaving over the grill while everyone around me was being promoted. I was fired for not picking up trash in the woods behind the parking lot that no one else ever had to do. Thank you Jesus!!

[Moses]

Get ready to cry me a river boys.

My dad was very old school. At one point I was offered a summer job as a lifeguard. My dad wouldn't let me take the job because it wasn't "real work".

Starting at age 13, I spent every summer on a road crew laying asphalt. It was a small company with a crew of 6. No way to hide and avoid labor for a few minutes. The older men ran the heavy equipment while us youngsters manned shovels all day. No gloves were allowed because of the fear of getting caught in machinery, so my hands bled for the first two weeks of every summer.

Asphalt comes off the truck at more than 300 degrees. When you walk on it, it will melt the glue in your shoes. Summertime temps were usually 90-100.

When I was 16, a truck driver dumped his load in the wrong place. My friend and I shoveled 6 tons of hot asphalt back onto the truck in 4 hours.

To this day the smell of asphalt makes me sick.

[Seahawk]

Originally posted by imcarthur
Chucking hay bales one hot, humid August.

But that cold beer at the end of the day was heaven.

Ian

QUOTE]Originally posted by Dave L
I did that one summer as well, found out I had allergy induced asthma [/QUOTE]

Me too...that's why I'm an alcoholic asthmatic

[onebad911]

potwasher in a restaurant $3.50 an hour used to have to soak the gravy pots for 2 days till i could get them clean.....sucked!!!

[pwd72s]

Originally posted by Moses
Get ready to cry me a river boys.

My dad was very old school. At one point I was offered a summer job as a lifeguard. My dad wouldn't let me take the job because it wasn't "real work".

Starting at age 13, I spent every summer on a road crew laying asphalt. It was a small company with a crew of 6. No way to hide and avoid labor for a few minutes. The older men ran the heavy equipment while us youngsters manned shovels all day. No gloves were allowed because of the fear of getting caught in machinery, so my hands bled for the first two weeks of every summer.

Asphalt comes off the truck at more than 300 degrees. When you walk on it, it will melt the glue in your shoes. Summertime temps were usually 90-100.

When I was 16, a truck driver dumped his load in the wrong place. My friend and I shoveled 6 tons of hot asphalt back onto the truck in 4 hours.

To this day the smell of asphalt makes me sick.

YOU WIN!