Worst job you ever had

ukalum1988

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Dec 21, 2014
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Thankfully my dad and my uncle didn't raise tobacco on the farm. OTOH, they did raise hogs and cattle in addition to corn, soybeans etc. Dealing with the cows wasn't too bad for the most part, but taking care of the hogs in a confined operation was pretty nasty. One memory that stands out was having to vaccinate all of our hogs due to some swine flu or other outbreak.

Over the course of about 4-5 days on a hot summer week we had to catch 500+ hogs one at a time, hold them down to give them shots, etc. Of course, they were covered in pig poo, and of course we were too, and I can still remember them squealing in my ear.

I also did quite a bit of hay hauling in my time. Not exactly a barrel of laughs either.
 

rick64

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Jan 25, 2007
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Emptying trash tubs from a department store that also had a hair salon. Yuck!!
 
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anon_l8pbkn96tg3j6

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I did construction where I spent a hell of a lot of time putting trusses on the tops of houses. This meant that I was standing on the tops of 2x4’s, 10-15 feet off the ground, no safety protection at all, pulling up trusses and nailing them into place... all for $8.50 an hour.

The worst part honestly were the people. I worked for the contractor, but he would have me supplement the crews who he hires separately. All of them were felons or meth heads. One day, Chris - who was 17 years old - didn’t show up for work. “What happened to Chris”, I asked. “Oh, his girl got kidnapped by this dude, so Chris went over to his house and killed him”, said his best friend who also worked with us, nonchalantly like this was a normal thing to do.

That's amazing.

I worked construction for a bit too, and a guy didn't show up for a couple days. "where's Dale?" "he's laying it out" "what does that mean?" "he's in jail for not paying child support. he'll be back in 2 weeks"

Good times.
 

Nubb16

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Jun 30, 2005
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I did construction where I spent a hell of a lot of time putting trusses on the tops of houses. This meant that I was standing on the tops of 2x4’s, 10-15 feet off the ground, no safety protection at all, pulling up trusses and nailing them into place... all for $8.50 an hour.

The worst part honestly were the people. I worked for the contractor, but he would have me supplement the crews who he hires separately. All of them were felons or meth heads. One day, Chris - who was 17 years old - didn’t show up for work. “What happened to Chris”, I asked. “Oh, his girl got kidnapped by this dude, so Chris went over to his house and killed him”, said his best friend who also worked with us, nonchalantly like this was a normal thing to do.
I really almost peed reading this.
 

atticusfitch

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Feb 1, 2006
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I was at the top of the barn on wobbly 2x4 boards hanging it in 100 degree heat. Thought I was going to puke from the tobacco and I am half scared of heights. That was after spending half the day cutting it. Like you said no way to describe how miserable that was. One day and I was done.
Top tier is easier than working off the wagon.
 
Jan 28, 2007
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That's amazing.

I worked construction for a bit too, and a guy didn't show up for a couple days. "where's Dale?" "he's laying it out" "what does that mean?" "he's in jail for not paying child support. he'll be back in 2 weeks"

Good times.

I really almost peed reading this.

I'll give you more details on this because I'll never forget it.

Chris's girl was two-timing him with her ex-boyfriend. She went over to the guy's house - where she spent most of the weekend, and on Sunday the two got in an argument and he wouldn't let her leave. She called Chris and said the other guy wouldn't let her leave, so Chris (who went about 5'8 125) said he'd be right over.

When Chris gets there, the other guy came out of the house, talked some sh*t to Chris, and told him his girl isn't going anywhere. Chris respectfully disagreed, and pulled out his gun and shot the guy multiple times.

Moral of the story: don't mess with Chris
 

Nubb16

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Jun 30, 2005
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I'll give you more details on this because I'll never forget it.

Chris's girl was two-timing him with her ex-boyfriend. She went over to the guy's house - where she spent most of the weekend, and on Sunday the two got in an argument and he wouldn't let her leave. She called Chris and said the other guy wouldn't let her leave, so Chris (who went about 5'8 125) said he'd be right over.

When Chris gets there, the other guy came out of the house, talked some sh*t to Chris, and told him his girl isn't going anywhere. Chris respectfully disagreed, and pulled out his gun and shot the guy multiple times.

Moral of the story: don't mess with Chris
WOW. That’s the most trailerhood thing I’ve heard today. Did this guy not go to jail for this? My kind of guy though, standing up for his woman when her side piece wouldn’t let her return to her main man.
 

starchief

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Feb 18, 2005
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I once supervised 16 "women" ages 18 to 24 in a clerical pool. I may have drawn a bad lot but these women were not team players. They were back biters, rumor mongers, flirts and exhibitionist. They hated each other and got upset if someone was promoted in their unit. They smiled and acted pleased but inside they were screaming with hate and jealousy.

My supervision was for only 6 months as it was required in my rotation in management. I was never so glad to get out of there.

Women. Can't live with 'em, can't live without em.
 
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magic8ball

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Apr 14, 2007
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My worst was being a cashier at Best Buy during Christmas shopping season.

The store's deplorable customer service policies and long lines led to angry customers taking out their frustrations on me all day long.

Plus they would schedule me for 8-10 hour shifts but often didn't get a break for 6-7 hours into the shift.

This was in 1996.
 
Jan 28, 2007
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WOW. That’s the most trailerhood thing I’ve heard today. Did this guy not go to jail for this? My kind of guy though, standing up for his woman when her side piece wouldn’t let her return to her main man.

He definitely went to jail. I never found out what he was found guilty of. I never talked to that crew again a month later, and I was back in college after summer break. I would recommend just calling the cops in that situation if it ever happens to you.
 

sligocat92

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Top tier is easier than working off the wagon.
a lot depends on the barn often in the top tier your often banging your head on the the roof trying to avoid wasp nest while stradling shaky tier poles. I would rather be on the bottom handling every stick than this
 

sligocat92

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Cutting and hanging tobacco, It’s hard to put into words, just how miserable of an experience that is.
I liked cutting when I was young it was kind of like a sport like who could cut out their row the fastest and then embarrass them by helping them cut out their row. Would hate nothing more these days though.
 

VT/UK Rondo

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Worked in a home for juveniles. Sad what some of those kids were put through by there own parents. It beat me down mentally and emotionally wanting them to succeed so bad but knowing the damage done would be forever there. Kids kept in cages, starved, beat, raped. I spent a lot of days driving home from work in tears thinking about what them little fellas must have been through.
 

BlueRaider22

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I gave you an up-vote just because of the "Madonna with Meatballs...."
 

BlueRaider22

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I grew up on a farm.

-Cleaning the chicken coups.....shoveling all the schtuff was one of the most foul things you could smell.....

-We also had what we called the Sunshine Pit. It was a small man-made pond right out back of the milk barn. We'd shovel up all the manure dropped by the cows and fling it into the pond. Then we'd throw hoses into the liquid mixture to spread sunshine all over the place......pump it onto the fields for fertilizer.
 

Tskware

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Jan 26, 2003
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I was going to post "housing tobacco" but see that about 20 posters beat me too it. I was too big of a wuss to stand up in the barn housing (do not like heights at all) so had to handle every stick.

Beyond that - representing clients in divorce/custody cases as a young lawyer was freaking awful, and actually, the more education the client had, the bigger the PITA they were. Worst case I ever had was a doctor vs. a CPA, where they got in a fist fight on the front porch over visitation of their 10 year old daughter on Thanksgiving weekend. Quit that line of work decades ago and never missed it.
 

Cawood86_rivals

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Feb 20, 2005
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KP in the military
Yep. Did this and my goodness it was brutal. Got up at 2am. Did all 3 meals. Had to mop and wax the whole place after each meal plus get all of the blacks marks off all the legs off the chairs in the chow hall. Got back to barracks at about 10pm. Tiredest I've ever been in my life.
 

magic8ball

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Worked in a home for juveniles. Sad what some of those kids were put through by there own parents. It beat me down mentally and emotionally wanting them to succeed so bad but knowing the damage done would be forever there. Kids kept in cages, starved, beat, raped. I spent a lot of days driving home from work in tears thinking about what them little fellas must have been through.

You win.
 
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UKUGA

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I probably never really had a bad job.

I worked 3rd shift at a factory putting bristles into vacuum cleaner attachments. The machine would get clogged a lot. Nearly lost the tip of my finger once when it got mashed in the machine. (I was supposed to use an air hose).
 
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anon_q409idbs5m40a

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Hard for me to decide where to start. Spent a week cross sectioning a creek at Johns Creek in Pike County in 1979. Had to stand in the water all day using hip waders. Seemed as if I was a magnet for every bug, rat and snake imaginable. Watched raw sewage float by all day and there were flies everywhere as well. Hot and humid, of course, and we all had to be sprayed down after the day was over. Fast forward to a few years later when I became a Director at a Naval Air Station in DFW. Had 28 people under me and it was like herding cats. Had to deal with fights between women almost daily due to some guy they were both hung up on not to mention the ones who were angry because they got "cheated" out of one foot of office space. Also had a guy that came to work wearing an earring with a feather in it that gave me a report every single day at 1:30 on who left the toilet seat up in the restroom. Another guy would trap possums and racoons on the base and would leave them in the restroom all day before he took them home. Opened up the door one day and this angry possum was hissing just like a snake and that was a real shocker. Was never so glad in all my life to get out of that job and I honestly don't know which was worse; standing in a creek in Eastern Kentucky for a week or dealing with adults with the mentality of 12 year olds.
 

Pygmy Sasquatch

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Mar 27, 2009
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Hard for me to decide where to start. Spent a week cross sectioning a creek at Johns Creek in Pike County in 1979. Had to stand in the water all day using hip waders. Seemed as if I was a magnet for every bug, rat and snake imaginable. Watched raw sewage float by all day and there were flies everywhere as well. Hot and humid, of course, and we all had to be sprayed down after the day was over.

Ah, Johns Creek and many others in EKY or southern WV. Nothing like working a section of stream and looking up at a ******* nasty straight pipe coming out, right into the stream. "Damn, these people eat a lot of corn...." It's even worse when you had to snorkel that stretch, and come out and find it....**** consulting.
 
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anon_q409idbs5m40a

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Ah, Johns Creek and many others in EKY or southern WV. Nothing like working a section of stream and looking up at a ****ing nasty straight pipe coming out, right into the stream. "Damn, these people eat a lot of corn...." It's even worse when you had to snorkel that stretch, and come out and find it....**** consulting.
Spot on; middle of the Summer and the heat made it that much worse. Nothing like smelling rotting garbage all day while standing in what could pass as a sewer. The things that Summer interns have to do to "build character". Wish I had a nickel for every time I heard that line.
 
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One summer in High School my neighbor that had a saw mill said I could saw up his slabs and sell them to a local charcoal plant. If I'd had a better chain saw it would've been okay, but I spent I lot of time on my saw. I sawed one cord and quit.

Another summer I swung steel on a coal auger. Easy job, but so boring. I could tell the time by how many holes we had bored.
 
Jan 28, 2007
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I got a job in a fabric store during the winter in high school. These old ladies would come in the store, pick out which fabric they wanted, and I would get it down (they came in large rolls) and cut it for them.

It wasn’t a bad job on the surface, but time... stood... still... when I was there. There was nothing more boring.