The best and worst job you've ever had

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Euryalus

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Jun 30, 2012
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The title sums it up pretty nicely I think. What is the best job you've ever had and what is the worst job you've ever had.

For me, the best job I've had is the one I'm currently working. I'm a validations technician at an engineering lab. I test individual car parts to see how much stress certain designs can handle. We'll do things like put the parts in "ovens" for an hour at around 80C (till the part is saturated) then dunk it in freezing salt water to see if it cracks or deforms in any way. We also have a "crunch" test where we essentially keep adding pressure to a part to see when it will break. There are a bunch of other tests too but you get the idea. I'm kinda like Chell from Portal :)

The worst job I've ever had is cleaning bathrooms at a ballpark. People piss on the floor on purpose! What the hell!
We even had to clean up a few turds in the sink :/
 

Kapri

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Jul 20, 2011
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Hmm, the worst job I had I guess would be the one I had in high school. I mean dish washing is okay but my boss sucked. He stole money out of my paycheck (aka I had a $25 paycheck at the end of the week. Fuck that).

Best job, however, is the one I have now on a food truck. My boss and I break out into song when we're dead. Also, we like to rave dance and make up rap songs about making food. Awesome sauce, I'm telling you.
 

Akytalusia

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Nov 11, 2010
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worst job, custodian at a popular truck stop. (which cultivated my immortal hatred for truckers)

best job, auditor for WiS international. *sigh* i miss that job. it was a damn shame to lose it in such a stupid manner.
 

Quaxar

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Sep 21, 2009
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Worst was definitely office work, ugh. I actually once spend two entire workdays in a room with an industrial-size shredder shredding old documents into huge bags. Alright, I spend a lot of time reading old applications and insurance documents because it was either sitting in there on a moderately comfortable bag of shredded paper or somwhere in the office doing other chores.
Suffice to say I am not really the kind of person for that job area.

Now I'm doind part-time EMT work, studying biology and waiting for a chance to change over to medicine. It's a really fun area actually.
 

Phasmal

Sailor Jupiter Woman
Jun 10, 2011
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Worst job- Working on in a factory packing food. You have to go so fast you can cut your hand on cardboard, and it's hot and uncomfortable and relentless. I would never work there again.

Best job- Probably working in the 2-3 group. It was kinda small, only 8 kids, but they were great kids and it was lovely working there.
 

Stasisesque

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Nov 25, 2008
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Worst job: Toss up between interning as a park ranger and being asked to pick up used needles in the woods without any sort of health and safety training (this has to be illegal, surely?) and working in a hotel in which my colleagues were... uhm... regularly intimate with one another in a group setting.

Best job: Working in a game shop.
 

loc978

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Sep 18, 2010
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Worst job- US Army. Long hours, salary pay, and a job description that ranged from janitor to security guard to torture recipient... and occasionally helicopter technician, which is what I signed up for.

Best job- When the semiconductor industry was really flourishing, I was an equipment manufacturer. I built some very interesting things. That didn't last long after 2001, though.
 

Ryotknife

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Oct 15, 2011
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Worst Job: first few weeks of my current job. Worst weeks of my life. It is not so bad now, since I know what im doing and there is a routine.

Or the first time I started my construction summer job. One of my first tasks was to cut very thin slices of drywall, about 4 miles worth. Dear lord was it boring. None of my jobs were terrible through and through, but those two jobs certainly tried my limits during that timeperiod.

Best Job: working for the town's waste water treatment plant facility. The plant itself is actually interesting (and it is freakin huge underground, can fit an entire tank battalion down there). Downside is the...ah...river of waste. Also probably where i lost my sense of smell. Still, after the first month of working hard to finish various projects (it was a high school summer job, landscaping), the next few months there was barely any work to do, so we spent most of our time finding a nice shady spot away from prying eyes and taking a nap outside.

Glorious.
 

ace_of_something

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Sep 19, 2008
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Best job I'd have to say is my current. I love being a detective for a major city. Sometimes it blows to work 60+ hours a week but you feel like you're doing something good, it's exciting, pays well, it's challenging and it does carry a bit of prestige for the ol' ego.

The worst job I ever had was also the first. When I was 15 every day my twin brother and I would have to go to the steel mill my father worked at part time (he was a rancher really but that didn't have insurance) and clean the bathrooms. First of all it was like a bajillion degrees and the ambient noise was deafening.
Men have to remove most if not all of their clothing to use the facilities so flak, dust, and metal chunks end up on the floor from when they're taking their jumpsuits off to use the urinal and at a 24/7 facility that means people are using the bathrooms as you're cleaning them. I'm not sure what welders and metallurgists eat but... I grew up on a livestock ranch and that wasn't as bad as those bathrooms were sometimes.
 

IrishBerserker

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Oct 6, 2009
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Worst Job(s) - Cleaning out horse stalls for a neighbour and cleaning cattle trailers for my aunt's trucking company.

"Best" Job - Being a line worker at the Chapman's Ice Cream factory. It sucked and I hated it. The pay was pretty good and I didn't go home literally smelling like shit. still hated it though.
 

Canadamus Prime

Robot in Disguise
Jun 17, 2009
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Worst Job? Probably working in Internet tech support. All the joys of dealing with shouty people who think the Universe revolves around them. ¬___¬ And then there's the excessively stupid people...
 

geK0

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Jun 24, 2011
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I haven't had any good jobs honestly

worst: I pushed around one of those icecream carts and made a 15% commission; I worked 10 hour days, traveled several kilometers to my route unless I got dibs on the one near headquarters (which I usually did, but it sucked when it was taken). Hills were the WORST, that cart was bloody heavy when it was full and it would take a shit load of effort to clear some of the bigger hills. The major plus side to that job is that you could potentially make a pretty good amount if you know what you're doing (I had the schedules for sports practices and games in the park on my main route figured out and I was pretty good at convincing people to try the expensive Ben & Jerries icecream bars), but most of the time I made less than minimum wage.

Best I'd have to say my current job at Wal-Mart, just because I have some pretty cool managers and I get to work in multiple positions.
 
Aug 25, 2009
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Worst job was door to door sales, to the degree that I quit at the end of the training week before I'd earned a single penny. The stuff they were teaching us to do, and the ways to exploit old and vulnerable people that are still perfectly legal, I just knew that if I worked there I'd either slit my wrists or go mad within the year.

Best job is probably my current one. Right now it's really hard because our department has been cut from seven to three due to sickness/pregnancy/leaving, but as a direct result I've received a promotion and pay rise to go with my new responsibilities, plus it actually feels like I have a reason to come in.

I think the worst thing about part-time/contract/summer work is that you become very acutely aware that if you left, no one would care. Whereas if I left my current job right now then they would be unable to complete the induction of the new students coming in. And that's really not an exaggeration. Right now I am the only person handling it, and the other two staff members don't have the time or direct hands on know how to organise it in time if I went. Which is scary, but also a real motivational tool.
 

Redlin5_v1legacy

Better Red than Dead
Aug 5, 2009
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The best job so far is the one I currently work. I wake up at 5 AM, drive to work, lift things for 4 hours, eat, lift things for another 4 hours and leave at 2:30. Waking up sucks but getting out with the rest of the day to do things is nice. The co-workers at this hardware store are pleasant and, best of all, I don't have to offer very much in terms of helping customers.

The worst job I ever had lasted two weeks. It was a restaurant owned by a Greek family. No offense to any Greek Escapists but I never want to be shouted at in Greek again. It was minimum wage, I had to clean the entire restaurant and then I didn't get to do any cooking like the ad had specified. I just washed dishes while being yelled at. I came home angry everyday so I took my first 2 week paycheck and quit. I'm sure I'll get a worse job than that in the future but my god did I ever hate that boss. Also the bar opened at 2PM and I would have to dodge random alcoholics on my way out each day. Don't miss that shithole at all.
 

DoomyMcDoom

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Jul 4, 2008
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Worst job psychologically: Nightshift Janitor at "Mayfair" mall Victoria... The work is hard, you have to deal with a ton of shit, the mall is perpetually dark due to having almost all of the internal lights off for environmental reasons, making it harder than it ever should be to actually clean the mall. Also, when it's your turn to clean the stairwells, and it's 3-4 am and the tops and bottoms of the stairwells are unlocked(because of fire safety and a rooftop parking area) so you could be assaulted by a drug addict or some shit at any time, and you have no way of propperly defending yourself, not to mention that there aren't enough people on security detail at night for such a large lot, and it's in a bad area. I did mainly food court duty, and as the only person having to clean that food court, and not provided gloves, my hands were always raw from picking up the awkwardly shaped heavy and sharp metal chairs to carry all 180 of them out of and then back into the food court area, after drymopping sectional mopping and running a scrubber through it... then I had to clean all of the mall's entryways, and the entire time, having to watch my back and feeling insanely paranoid because the whole place is dark and impropperly secured... yeah shitty job, really shitty job, and I can tell you not all night shift mall janitorial jobs are like that, most of them are propperly staffed and you don't have to deal with all the stores garbage as well as general mall cleaning, and other malls tend to have better lighting more sufficient security coverage, and less workload for individuals employed at the same or better pay scale, hell they're all covered by the same friggin company too... just different management.

Best job psychologically, working the chevron station in saanich(victoria as well) customers were alright people, management was alright, pay was minimum wage(but it's a gas station in victoria, a city where if you aren't in the upper 30% you're broke and struggling, or a drug dealer on the side or work a ton untaxed under the table to cover expenses illegally) to be expected, but the work wasn't disproportionate to the pay, there was stuff to do, but it wasn't hard work, and with the customer base it had there was little stress caused by the usual angry ignorant customers like you get pretty much everywhere else.

Best job for pay was working night shift janitorial at the west shore town center in langford(just outside of Victoria) paid a grand $13/hour for me, I was doing a ton of work, but it was the only job I've ever worked that hasn't left me starving at the end of the month, it paid the bills, so the work felt relatively worth it, even though any work that is overnight tends to be tiring, and I had a bunch of other shit happening in my life and I ended up losing that job because of the weariness that built up in me over time from non work bullshit.
 

Mid Boss

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Aug 20, 2012
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Worst? Telemarketing. I didn't call people. But I was the person you got if you called into an infomercial to buy something. It was my job to sell you the item, then try to sell you items LIKE the item you called to purchase. Then, after that, I had to try to sell you items that had NOTHING to do with the item you called in for. Those nothings were the big deal too. Our job performance was based on how many of those nothings you sold. The problem is, by the time you get to the nothings, even the kindest, most patient people are pissed and just want to hang up.

The biggest problem was those nothings were all scams! And, normally, only the elderly were patient enough for me to get to them and naive enough to fall for them! I walked out half way through my shift a month after I started.


Best? Owning my own home business. I make buttons, keychains, hats all with geeky themes on them. Just recently got into making geek pillows and fabric for my line of geek skirts will be in tomorrow. I get paid damn good money, hell it's the only time I've made more than minimum wage, and I do what I love. No, I'm not shilling, I'm not telling any of you where my website is. So put your pitch forks and torches away. I don't need or want your money.
 

GTwander

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Mar 26, 2008
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Best: QA for SOE (and years later, SCEA) on a console title.
Worst: Line Server for a buffet restaurant.
 

krazykidd

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Mar 22, 2008
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Worst . Unloading boxes from trucks for a transport company . It was from 1 am to 9 am , we got a 20 minute break at 5 o clock to eat . No rest for the wary . I did the night and said fuck it , i'm not going to be exploited like this .


Best . I am. Currently working nights at a grocery story . From 11pm to 7h30 am . I basically make pizzas/ sandwiches and little meals we keep to in the fridge to sell the next day . I'm all alone with no one to bother me , i'm paid 14$ an hour ( minimum wage is 9$) . I get two fifteen minute breaks and an hour lunch , that i can take at any time . No boss , no clients , no stress , as long as i get my shit done .
 

Euryalus

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Jun 30, 2012
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Wow this is still alive! I thought it had died :)



Mid Boss said:
Worst? Telemarketing. I didn't call people. But I was the person you got if you called into an infomercial to buy something.
This reminds me a little of that south park episode where the guy sold all that jewelry to old people. How'd you end up in that job?


krazykidd said:
Worst . Unloading boxes from trucks for a transport company . It was from 1 am to 9 am
I worked part time at a job like this (about 3 and a half hours per shift). It was exhausting and the pay was terrible. Apparently the people who stick with it usually get promoted after a year or two, but I don't think I could've worked nights like that and juggled school at the same time for very long, so I quit.

Phasmal said:
Best job- Probably working in the 2-3 group. It was kinda small, only 8 kids, but they were great kids and it was lovely working there.
I'm pretty sure I've heard you mention this one before lol...I lurk a lot what can I say XD

My friend works at a daycare and she loves it there. She's always talking about the crazy things the kids are doing. Makes for some great stories.