The bright side of a nightmare gig though is that it can usually make for a funny (or at the very least interesting) story. So, when a Reddit user asked, 'What is the worst job you've had?' people were ready to reveal the dark cloud that looms over their resume.
A sign holder. In the 7th grade, I was a sign holder at my mom's Supercuts during summer where I got dehydrated very quickly. After 30 minutes passed, I went inside for a break inside the nice, cooled room.
Turns out I got so lightheaded I ran down the hallway and threw up as I was running. Only a little bit ended up in the toilet, and I made $5 that day. - [deleted]
Last winter I worked at a film distribution warehouse. It's where all the reels of film are kept and then sent out to various theaters for showings. That was pretty cool, but my job was to trash almost every single reel of flim. It hurt to have to throw out history like that, but with all the movie theaters switching to digital projectors they don't need 12 copies of Jurassic Park, or Forrest Gump. It reelly sucked. - [deleted]
Being a cookie delivery driver in the wintertime, with no heater in the truck, the side door had to be shut with a rope, and no four-wheel drive or chains for going up mountain passes. My boss said he couldn't 'afford' a new van - yeah right - even though he was worth millions. - [deleted]
At my current place of employment I had to work what's called the 'green bean hot belt' where I had to sit/stand and look straight down at green beans going by at roughly 3mph and pick out stems and other things that weren't supposed to be there.
The stems are the same color as the beans, it was extremely hot and humid and the beans literally came out of the blancher steaming, and I would get crazy motion sick from it.
8-16 hour shifts of nothing but looking at a 14'x48' conveyer belt picking little green things out of a bigger pile of little green things. The absolute worst part of it was the stool they have me was off balance and the foot rest was just barely out of reach of my foot. - [deleted]
I worked at Pizza Hut for 3 years. It was a horrible job and operated by horrible people. It was always so hot in the kitchen and the rushes would last for hours. In the 3 years I worked there not once was I paid more than minimum wage.
I once asked my manager for a raise and all he did was laugh at me and said that this job wasn't rocket science. I really don't know why I stayed there that long but i'm glad I finally left. - sluke827
Credit card authorization. It was the 80s before smoking laws changed. I worked for two days in a tiny cubicle in a room with about 100 other people, nearly all of whom smoked constantly. The worst part was my sister, who was a bank VP, had 'pulled some strings' to get me the job and I embarrassed her by just not ever showing up again. - HankyLanky2
Worked at a McDonalds for a little over a year when I was 17. Job sucked, but the managers loved me enough to give me a 5 cent raise... - Spitmyfire
Hands down the three months I worked at Best Buy. It took a part of my soul that I will never get back. I'm a combat veteran and Best Buy is the thing that haunts my dreams. - IgnazSemmelweis
Working in the back of a HoneyBaked Ham during Thanksgiving break. Basically, all of the ham you buy has been prepped in the back of the closest store. The one I worked at wasn't big enough to store all of the ham in-store, so they left it out in refrigerated trucks in the parking lot behind the store.
We would carry the ham in, all of the boxes 50+ lbs with many getting up to about 70lbs, cut them out of their plastic wrapper, separate them into their halves (they are pre-cut, but there is a plastic divider and you just had to push), clean off any residue that might not look good like fat or bone dust, then give them over to have their glaze blowtorched on, then move it over to another table to be cleaned up and wrapped.
We had plenty of people over the week, so everyone moved around jobs to keep from getting bored at one thing and messing up, only the blowtorch dudes and the wrapper didn't move, b/c one is dangerous and the other has to be perfect.
The table with the ham cleaners is soaked in ham and turkey juice, and there is juice all over the floor. You will cut yourself when you're cleaning, it's just going to happen. I mostly hauled hams from the truck into the store, and after adding up the logs, I figured out I lifted over 24 tons of ham in the span of 2 days. And I smelled like ham for a week. - jacketit
Job Title: Box Flipper
Job Responsibilities:
Make sure boxes stay on conveyer belt, with the label facing up - [deleted]
When I worked for a lawn mowing business, 12 hrs a day, 6 days a week. I got paid $150 a week, when I asked where the rest of my money was he would just say something along the lines of, 'I'll put it in your check next week'. John, you are the biggest piece of scum on this planet, you don't deserve to be a cop. - the_pie_guy
Tutoring a kid named Bryson. If you are reading this Bryson, you are Satan's spawn. - Deadbabylicious
I used to work on behalf of the state, finding and calling people about delinquent property taxes. Many people didn't know they ever owed money, or in some cases bought a piece of property with taxes still owed (they didn't do the proper paperwork).
Anyway, I was the first to tell them if they didn't pay, I would hand their accounts over to our lawyers and in about eight months, the property would be sold at auction. I listened to people cry and scream everyday. - F*ck_Your_Rules
Telemarketer. I lasted 3 hours and just walked out. - DerpstonHowellthe3rd
I once drove a miniature train at a family fun park. By drove I mean derailed. - fiddlepuss
Worst job I ever had was working as a cashier at Lowes hardware. The job itself was not so bad, typical cashier job that I took between my bachelors and masters degree because I needed insurance badly.
The bad part was I was a college age girl and the constant sexual harassment from both coworkers and customers. Customers were the worst, they'd forget they were at a hardware store, not hooters.
Constant gross comments, I even had a customer slap my ass. Of course when I'd get mad, everyone would just say I was overreacting. I didn't work there long. - Not_Livingston
Assistant Manager at Walgreens, f*ck you Walgreens. They have more cameras on their employees than any place I have ever seen. Sh*t pay, sh*t customers, sh*t staff, everyday was the worst day of my life. I lasted 10 months. - VineWings
Cook at a Sonic (Drive-in diner style fast-ish food place). I was the smallest guy working there, so it was always my job to do the really nasty cleaning jobs like behind/underneath the grill and fryers.
Closing was also fun when I discovered that whomever closed the night before did bad jobs/skipped cleaning some of the stuff or finding out that the stuff that's supposed to be cleaned multiple times thoughout the day weren't.
Grease traps were always the worst because you shouldn't use whatever you took the trap off of until you replace it and it takes forever for those suckers to dry. On top of that, you get the assholes who want the burger served their way (which is fine), then complain about us serving it the way they asked. I actually liked being a janitor more. - weealex
I was the Easter Bunny at the mall one year. That sh*t was awful. - dance4days