This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/22/best-of-worst-jobs-ever
The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Previous version
1
Next version
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Guardian readers' worst jobs ever – highlights from the open thread | Guardian readers' worst jobs ever – highlights from the open thread |
| (7 months later) | |
| 'I used to test poo for the water board' | 'I used to test poo for the water board' |
| I looked after a machine that made the cardboard tubes inside toilet rolls for £5 an hour … I also had a job that meant I used to test poo for the water board for £120 per week … And I've also tested woman's wee on a testing panel for a new pregnancy testing device for £30,000 a year – Helen Wilson MK | I looked after a machine that made the cardboard tubes inside toilet rolls for £5 an hour … I also had a job that meant I used to test poo for the water board for £120 per week … And I've also tested woman's wee on a testing panel for a new pregnancy testing device for £30,000 a year – Helen Wilson MK |
| 'I won't go in to the jibes I got' | 'I won't go in to the jibes I got' |
| Paid about $3 an hour back in 1975, plus a slice of pizza. | Paid about $3 an hour back in 1975, plus a slice of pizza. |
| I had to stand at the corner below the pizza shop and hawk their pizza – sold by the slice. My shirt and sign had the question: "Have you had a piece lately?" It was horrible. I won't go into the comments and jibes I got, but the worst were the sailors when the navy was in town. I quit after a month. – JennM | I had to stand at the corner below the pizza shop and hawk their pizza – sold by the slice. My shirt and sign had the question: "Have you had a piece lately?" It was horrible. I won't go into the comments and jibes I got, but the worst were the sailors when the navy was in town. I quit after a month. – JennM |
| 'Hanging off the side in a bosun's chair' | 'Hanging off the side in a bosun's chair' |
| I used to work on an ocean rig off the coast of Sable Island, known as the "graveyard of the Atlantic". The moment I got off the chopper they were pulling a dead diver out of the water in a cargo net. My first task was to go up to the drill deck and "clean" underneath what was 4ft of drill mud and oil. The next day we started throwing 150lb sand bags off the side; we would do that for 12 hours. The reason we did that is because it was a jack-up rig, with four giant legs that sat on the ocean floor. | I used to work on an ocean rig off the coast of Sable Island, known as the "graveyard of the Atlantic". The moment I got off the chopper they were pulling a dead diver out of the water in a cargo net. My first task was to go up to the drill deck and "clean" underneath what was 4ft of drill mud and oil. The next day we started throwing 150lb sand bags off the side; we would do that for 12 hours. The reason we did that is because it was a jack-up rig, with four giant legs that sat on the ocean floor. |
| Because of currents and tidal action, the sand was constantly washing away from under the legs. If we lost too much the rig would tip over. The divers would then put the bags around the legs on mats which they would then screw down. That's how the diver died: he had a heart attack slugging those bags around underwater. When I wasn't throwing sandbags I was hanging off the side 150ft above the water chipping paint in a bosun's chair. That was my worst job. I lasted about six months. – BillOwen | Because of currents and tidal action, the sand was constantly washing away from under the legs. If we lost too much the rig would tip over. The divers would then put the bags around the legs on mats which they would then screw down. That's how the diver died: he had a heart attack slugging those bags around underwater. When I wasn't throwing sandbags I was hanging off the side 150ft above the water chipping paint in a bosun's chair. That was my worst job. I lasted about six months. – BillOwen |
| 'I would then dissect the muscles' | 'I would then dissect the muscles' |
| Anesthetizing rats with a rag soaked in ether, which caused them to evacuate their bowels and bladder all over my forearm; then, cutting off their hind legs with a scissors. I would then dissect certain muscles out of their hind legs. Baby and fetal rats, whose muscles were also needed, did not get the benefit of the ether. This is my personal benchmark for horrible jobs. – Nogodsnomasters | Anesthetizing rats with a rag soaked in ether, which caused them to evacuate their bowels and bladder all over my forearm; then, cutting off their hind legs with a scissors. I would then dissect certain muscles out of their hind legs. Baby and fetal rats, whose muscles were also needed, did not get the benefit of the ether. This is my personal benchmark for horrible jobs. – Nogodsnomasters |
| 'Crying. Crying your eyes out' | 'Crying. Crying your eyes out' |
| Standing in a freezing cold factory putting cold tomato & cucumber slices on slices of bread that whizz pass you on a conveyor belt. For eight hours. | Standing in a freezing cold factory putting cold tomato & cucumber slices on slices of bread that whizz pass you on a conveyor belt. For eight hours. |
| If you were lucky you got to work on the vegetable slicing machines, which meant pouring huge boxes of onions into a shredder and collecting the end product. Crying. Crying your eyes out. That was in 1995. For six months. Hell. – Bert Reacher | If you were lucky you got to work on the vegetable slicing machines, which meant pouring huge boxes of onions into a shredder and collecting the end product. Crying. Crying your eyes out. That was in 1995. For six months. Hell. – Bert Reacher |
| 'Dead animals, broken glass, used syringes' | 'Dead animals, broken glass, used syringes' |
Sorting recycling by hand for minimum wage. In a giant warehouse that was freezing in the winter. Although that was preferable to summer, because in summer there were maggots in the recycling. I also saw dead animals, broken glass, used syringes … you name it, someone has stuck it in a recycling bin in mid-Wales. – Alyssa Heath | Sorting recycling by hand for minimum wage. In a giant warehouse that was freezing in the winter. Although that was preferable to summer, because in summer there were maggots in the recycling. I also saw dead animals, broken glass, used syringes … you name it, someone has stuck it in a recycling bin in mid-Wales. – Alyssa Heath |
| 'Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of strawberrries' | 'Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of strawberrries' |
| Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds of strawberries. Paid about £2 an hour and all the strawberries I could eat. Which, after the first couple of days, was none, ever again, not as long as I live. So next time you have strawberries and cream at Wimbledon, or the races, or any-bloody-where, just remember the poor teenager hunched over the crates of the ghastly red things, wishing she'd never been born, or at least been born rich. – Calaeno | Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds of strawberries. Paid about £2 an hour and all the strawberries I could eat. Which, after the first couple of days, was none, ever again, not as long as I live. So next time you have strawberries and cream at Wimbledon, or the races, or any-bloody-where, just remember the poor teenager hunched over the crates of the ghastly red things, wishing she'd never been born, or at least been born rich. – Calaeno |
| 'Bloodstains and bullet holes' | 'Bloodstains and bullet holes' |
| In Richmond, California, in 1991, along with another fresh Berkeley graduate, I had a temp job doing a stove and refrigerator inventory in the Richmond public housing projects, to see if the residents had sold theirs. One of the walls had bloodstains and bullet holes in it, no exaggeration. Most people were fine and normal, but there were also gangsters with the blinds pulled, guns on the table and babes massaging their shoulders. | In Richmond, California, in 1991, along with another fresh Berkeley graduate, I had a temp job doing a stove and refrigerator inventory in the Richmond public housing projects, to see if the residents had sold theirs. One of the walls had bloodstains and bullet holes in it, no exaggeration. Most people were fine and normal, but there were also gangsters with the blinds pulled, guns on the table and babes massaging their shoulders. |
| There were also crack apartments, meaning vacants that the addicts used, keeping them unlivable by ripping everything out of the wall every time they tried to repair them. On the plus side, we got to drink beer at lunch. The wage? Just above minimum, but there were no jobs to be had at that point … – KKGdansk | There were also crack apartments, meaning vacants that the addicts used, keeping them unlivable by ripping everything out of the wall every time they tried to repair them. On the plus side, we got to drink beer at lunch. The wage? Just above minimum, but there were no jobs to be had at that point … – KKGdansk |
| 'Caps on tubes' | 'Caps on tubes' |
Three summers working at a cosmetics factory. Summer #1 was spent putting the caps on tubes of denture tablets all day every day. Summer #2 was largely watching aerosol cans going through a tank of water which cooled them down after filling. My job was to make sure none of them fell over and to pick them up if they did. | Three summers working at a cosmetics factory. Summer #1 was spent putting the caps on tubes of denture tablets all day every day. Summer #2 was largely watching aerosol cans going through a tank of water which cooled them down after filling. My job was to make sure none of them fell over and to pick them up if they did. |
| Summer #3 was much more fun. I was picking orders in the warehouse and using a machine which wrapped palettes of merchandise in 6ft wide sheets of clingfilm. Compared to that, working at bars and hotels and waiting tables was rather fun. – DebW | Summer #3 was much more fun. I was picking orders in the warehouse and using a machine which wrapped palettes of merchandise in 6ft wide sheets of clingfilm. Compared to that, working at bars and hotels and waiting tables was rather fun. – DebW |
| 'I have never eaten a mushroom since' | 'I have never eaten a mushroom since' |
| Weekend job while I was still at school picking mushrooms on a mushroom farm was my worst. Now, don't let this conjure up images of early morning romps through lush green pasture. No: this was sweating like a pig in dark plastic sheds crammed with beds made of railway sleepers full of chicken shit upon which the mushrooms grew. And it was piece work so you were paid on how many you picked. Some of the older workers were evil bullies and would kick your trays over at brew time. I have never eaten a mushroom since. I'd advise everyone to always wash mushrooms. They really do grow in shit. – mabrow | Weekend job while I was still at school picking mushrooms on a mushroom farm was my worst. Now, don't let this conjure up images of early morning romps through lush green pasture. No: this was sweating like a pig in dark plastic sheds crammed with beds made of railway sleepers full of chicken shit upon which the mushrooms grew. And it was piece work so you were paid on how many you picked. Some of the older workers were evil bullies and would kick your trays over at brew time. I have never eaten a mushroom since. I'd advise everyone to always wash mushrooms. They really do grow in shit. – mabrow |
| 'So. Tedious.' | 'So. Tedious.' |
| We made frisbees, golf tees, and so on. So. Tedious. Sitting at machine for eight hours a day. Taking the boiling hot new plastic item out the machine and leaving it on a shelf to cool. Then once you had enough you'd box them up. | We made frisbees, golf tees, and so on. So. Tedious. Sitting at machine for eight hours a day. Taking the boiling hot new plastic item out the machine and leaving it on a shelf to cool. Then once you had enough you'd box them up. |
| By the end I could put my fingers 5cm from a candle and it wouldn't hurt for ages. All for £200 a week. Admitedly I was 16, but four weeks there aged me, quickly. – goalstrieswickets | By the end I could put my fingers 5cm from a candle and it wouldn't hurt for ages. All for £200 a week. Admitedly I was 16, but four weeks there aged me, quickly. – goalstrieswickets |
| "I was paid 8.5¢ per tree": | "I was paid 8.5¢ per tree": |
| Planting trees in northern Ontario. Every 2 metres I had to plant a tree in what little soil I could find. And for that I was paid 8.5¢ per tree. On a good day I planted 2,000 trees. Unfortunately the bad days far outnumbered the good and so many days the money was quite poor. We were up at 5.30am and back at camp for around 6pm. Not only did you have to fight off a constant swarm of black flies and mosquitoes, but you had to be very wary of bears. Being left in a clear cut all day with nothing but insects that bite for company made for a lonely and frustrating existence. – HoggTownVillan | Planting trees in northern Ontario. Every 2 metres I had to plant a tree in what little soil I could find. And for that I was paid 8.5¢ per tree. On a good day I planted 2,000 trees. Unfortunately the bad days far outnumbered the good and so many days the money was quite poor. We were up at 5.30am and back at camp for around 6pm. Not only did you have to fight off a constant swarm of black flies and mosquitoes, but you had to be very wary of bears. Being left in a clear cut all day with nothing but insects that bite for company made for a lonely and frustrating existence. – HoggTownVillan |
| 'The cost was my dignity' | 'The cost was my dignity' |
| I once worked for the council spraying weeds on the pavement. I can't remember the pay, but the cost was my dignity. In order to protect yourself from the spray, you had to be dressed head to toe in a white paper suit with the hood up, then a canister was strapped to your back before being sent into the roughest part of town. It didn't take long to decide it probably wasn't the career path for me, so I quit, but in order to get back to my car I had to walk through the town centre at lunchtime looking like an extra from a bio-hazard movie. (I thought Ghostbusters, but it may have been wishful thinking). – manfrommunkle | I once worked for the council spraying weeds on the pavement. I can't remember the pay, but the cost was my dignity. In order to protect yourself from the spray, you had to be dressed head to toe in a white paper suit with the hood up, then a canister was strapped to your back before being sent into the roughest part of town. It didn't take long to decide it probably wasn't the career path for me, so I quit, but in order to get back to my car I had to walk through the town centre at lunchtime looking like an extra from a bio-hazard movie. (I thought Ghostbusters, but it may have been wishful thinking). – manfrommunkle |
| 'I nearly got rickets from lack of sunlight' | 'I nearly got rickets from lack of sunlight' |
| Working nightshifts in a cheescake factory standing next to a machine that squirts a dollop of cream atop a freshly made cheescake. Alas! The cream has not covered said cheescake entirely! Reach out your hash-stained fingers and give the little bugger a 'jiggle' until the cream settles over the entire surface area, creating a cream-covered cheescake fit for a king! The most mind numbing experience that was the equivalent of going to a Mumford & Sons concert for eight hours a night, six days a week. Lasted seven months, mental scarring remains, nearly got rickets from lack of sunlight. – CaughtJesting | Working nightshifts in a cheescake factory standing next to a machine that squirts a dollop of cream atop a freshly made cheescake. Alas! The cream has not covered said cheescake entirely! Reach out your hash-stained fingers and give the little bugger a 'jiggle' until the cream settles over the entire surface area, creating a cream-covered cheescake fit for a king! The most mind numbing experience that was the equivalent of going to a Mumford & Sons concert for eight hours a night, six days a week. Lasted seven months, mental scarring remains, nearly got rickets from lack of sunlight. – CaughtJesting |
| 'It was like a scene out of I Love Lucy' | 'It was like a scene out of I Love Lucy' |
| Working in an orange packing plant in a tin shed in Florida, sticky with orange juice, reeking of orange juice, with the oranges rolling down the conveyor belt, and having to grab them in a special way depending on their size, bend over, and put them in a box on the floor. Straighten up, grab the next two handfuls, bend over, put them in the box, and repeat. Endlessly. I felt I was in a scene out of "I Love Lucy." Lucy and Ethel should have been on the line with those relentless oranges, not me. I don't remember what it was supposed to pay because I didn't stick around long enough to get paid. Left at noon the first day, hitchhiked home and never went back. – nvmitch | Working in an orange packing plant in a tin shed in Florida, sticky with orange juice, reeking of orange juice, with the oranges rolling down the conveyor belt, and having to grab them in a special way depending on their size, bend over, and put them in a box on the floor. Straighten up, grab the next two handfuls, bend over, put them in the box, and repeat. Endlessly. I felt I was in a scene out of "I Love Lucy." Lucy and Ethel should have been on the line with those relentless oranges, not me. I don't remember what it was supposed to pay because I didn't stick around long enough to get paid. Left at noon the first day, hitchhiked home and never went back. – nvmitch |
| 'I could still smell the goose under my fingernails' | 'I could still smell the goose under my fingernails' |
| Killing geese. A friend's brother-in-law had given up a top City job to raise organic geese in the country, but a week before Christmas still hadn't found anyone to help him slaughter them. I was broke and stupid enough to agree to drive down from London with with him to help out. | Killing geese. A friend's brother-in-law had given up a top City job to raise organic geese in the country, but a week before Christmas still hadn't found anyone to help him slaughter them. I was broke and stupid enough to agree to drive down from London with with him to help out. |
| We got there at 7am and were shown the ropes. You could tell the geese had had a happy life as when you went to fetch them from the trailer they would trustingly (and a bit depressingly) wander into your arms. We electrocuted them and slit their throats before plucking the feathers in an industrial sized epilator. If it were a chicken that would be it, but geese have to dunked in a near boiling tub of wax which is then peeled to remove the down. | We got there at 7am and were shown the ropes. You could tell the geese had had a happy life as when you went to fetch them from the trailer they would trustingly (and a bit depressingly) wander into your arms. We electrocuted them and slit their throats before plucking the feathers in an industrial sized epilator. If it were a chicken that would be it, but geese have to dunked in a near boiling tub of wax which is then peeled to remove the down. |
| A 14-hour day in minus 5 degrees celsius with half-burnt half-numb fingers, waxing dozens of geese whilst being glared and gobbled at by a thousand doomed turkeys in the neighbouring pen. We'd half-jokingly brought along a quarter of a bottle of whiskey to help us towards the end of the day. It was finished by 9am. I could still smell the goose under my fingernails at Christmas. £40 for the day. – anglefield | A 14-hour day in minus 5 degrees celsius with half-burnt half-numb fingers, waxing dozens of geese whilst being glared and gobbled at by a thousand doomed turkeys in the neighbouring pen. We'd half-jokingly brought along a quarter of a bottle of whiskey to help us towards the end of the day. It was finished by 9am. I could still smell the goose under my fingernails at Christmas. £40 for the day. – anglefield |
| 'I then had to kill it by bashing its head in' | 'I then had to kill it by bashing its head in' |
| Packing eels to be used as fishing bait. The job entailed reaching into a large vat of water to grab an eel, I then had to kill it by bashing its head in. Upon death I had to pack the dead eel (alongside four other unfortunates) into a zip-lock bag, making sure all the while that they were packaged in an easy on the eye shape so as people would want to buy them. | Packing eels to be used as fishing bait. The job entailed reaching into a large vat of water to grab an eel, I then had to kill it by bashing its head in. Upon death I had to pack the dead eel (alongside four other unfortunates) into a zip-lock bag, making sure all the while that they were packaged in an easy on the eye shape so as people would want to buy them. |
| I lasted all of one week and was paid the princely sum of £40 (1988 summer job) – weedavie | I lasted all of one week and was paid the princely sum of £40 (1988 summer job) – weedavie |
| 'That's two weeks wages you've just lost' | 'That's two weeks wages you've just lost' |
| Working as a milk delivery boy at the age of 12 in Manchester during the winter of 1939-40. I was given a bike with a steel milk crate welded on the front that held 20 pint bottles with half pint bottles inserted in between. Started work 5.30am and delivered until 8.30 am, then washed dirty bottles until 2pm, then 'capped' the filled bottles until 7pm. Did this seven days a week. All schools were still closed due to evacuation. | Working as a milk delivery boy at the age of 12 in Manchester during the winter of 1939-40. I was given a bike with a steel milk crate welded on the front that held 20 pint bottles with half pint bottles inserted in between. Started work 5.30am and delivered until 8.30 am, then washed dirty bottles until 2pm, then 'capped' the filled bottles until 7pm. Did this seven days a week. All schools were still closed due to evacuation. |
| On Saturdays and Sundays, worked from 5.30 until 8.30 each night. My pay? Five shillings a week. The boss wouldn't allow me to go to the toilet while washing bottles and 'capping'. 'Tie a knot on it', he used to say. Once I accidentally dropped a heavy crate of filled milk bottles' causing most to break, spilling milk and broken glass over the floor. "That's two weeks wages you've just lost," snapped the boss. That winter it was so cold the snow froze and turned to grey ice covering the roads. I had to push the loaded bike up hill – and it always slipped sideways so I was forced to take the full weight of the bike and the load and drag the lot uphill. – Roseveears | On Saturdays and Sundays, worked from 5.30 until 8.30 each night. My pay? Five shillings a week. The boss wouldn't allow me to go to the toilet while washing bottles and 'capping'. 'Tie a knot on it', he used to say. Once I accidentally dropped a heavy crate of filled milk bottles' causing most to break, spilling milk and broken glass over the floor. "That's two weeks wages you've just lost," snapped the boss. That winter it was so cold the snow froze and turned to grey ice covering the roads. I had to push the loaded bike up hill – and it always slipped sideways so I was forced to take the full weight of the bike and the load and drag the lot uphill. – Roseveears |
| 'I wasn't sure what I had signed up for' | 'I wasn't sure what I had signed up for' |
| Cleaning the underground stations (U-bahns) in Berlin while I was living there as a 19-year-old student. The pay was not so bad (20 marks an hour, I think, which is probably the equivalent of about $20 today) but the work was awful. The shift started at midnight and ended at 6am. The job involved dragging around a huge bucket of filthy water and a mop under glaring lights that were on at full blast to highlight all the dirt. I wasn't sure what I had signed up for when I took the job (at the student job office). The hours just kind of suited my schedule at that time. I think I just about made it through one shift and then never went back. | Cleaning the underground stations (U-bahns) in Berlin while I was living there as a 19-year-old student. The pay was not so bad (20 marks an hour, I think, which is probably the equivalent of about $20 today) but the work was awful. The shift started at midnight and ended at 6am. The job involved dragging around a huge bucket of filthy water and a mop under glaring lights that were on at full blast to highlight all the dirt. I wasn't sure what I had signed up for when I took the job (at the student job office). The hours just kind of suited my schedule at that time. I think I just about made it through one shift and then never went back. |
| They say these kind of jobs build character, but I'd say they are more likely to build resentment among those who have no choice but to do them. - SadhbhWalshe | They say these kind of jobs build character, but I'd say they are more likely to build resentment among those who have no choice but to do them. - SadhbhWalshe |
| Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |
Previous version
1
Next version