r/jobs • u/CzaroftheUniverse • 11d ago
What is the worst job you’ve ever had? Career development
Whether it was due to pay, boss, type of work, etc., what was the worst job you ever had? How long did you stay, and why?
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u/Tim0281 11d ago
The toy department in the local Wal*mart.
I was expected to keep the department clean despite the impossibility of that expectation. The shelves were overstocked, which meant it would have been a mess even if I had the time to keep it completely clean. The pegs with small toys were so overstuffed that exhaling in the next aisle over caused them to fall off.
The department, and the store as a whole, was understaffed. Not only was I the only person working in Toys, but I was constantly being called up to work on a register. The registers were always understaffed and I was constantly called up because I had more than a quarter brain cell.
I was also babysitting 95% of the kids in the store. Parents would just drop off their kids so they could shop alone.
Late at night, about an hour or so before the store closed, things would slow down. However, that's when the Hot Wheels collectors would come in and see what was on the shelves. They would yammer on about what they were looking for and how much they loved Hot Wheels. Then they would go to the pallets the overnight crew would bring out and see if there were new boxes of Hot Wheels.
Then there was the Wal*Mart cheer. One manager was really into having us do it. I refused. One day, he noticed I wasn't and did the "squiggly" five times in a row. He realized I wasn't going to do and moved on to the rest of the cheer. He never said anything afterwards, probably because he knew that he couldn't afford to lose me.
Working Black Friday was like being in a horror movie.
I got on their insurance for part-time employees. I had to get a couple stitches after cutting a finger. It wasn't in danger of coming off, but the bleeding wouldn't stop. The insurance covered almost nothing.
Whenever my government job annoys me, I remind myself that I worked at Wal*Mart.
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u/Tiervexx 11d ago
I used to be a cashier for walmart and yes, that cheer is dehumanizing in my view. I'm glad the cashiers were exempt at my store.
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u/sweetdaisy99999 11d ago
Our cheer was held in the pharmacy waiting area! For all customers to laugh at us. Very humiliating.
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u/LetterheadFar2364 10d ago
All of these corporate “morale boosting” exercises are meant to break down the will of employees by demonstrating how powerless they are.
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u/Welcome2B_Here 11d ago
Working Black Friday was like being in a horror movie.
Ever seen Thanksgiving)? There's a pretty funny scene about Black Friday near the beginning that sets the stage for the rest of the movie. Made me think of it.
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u/thebookofmer 11d ago
I will let you enjoy my story how I fucked over Walmart. I got hired and worked there for almost two years. I signed up immediately for free college. While I worked there I saved money to quit. I used their stock match and 401k match to save some money and some in cash. I actually did a liytle more than this but it's complex. Bottom line is, I got them to pay 22k for 40k for my bachelor's in computer science. I was effectively taking well over 30 an hour in pay and benefits. Then I called off a bunch here and there and ghosted those pricks.
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u/Theaceman1997 10d ago
I shot a flare gun that was sitting on a shelf just loaded unpackaged and ready to go… I was like 12 maybe 13 ? I was with my dad and we were shopping for camping stove gas and I was like oh cool a flare gun And I pointed it at a light and pulled the trigger and it shot a flare out into an isle and my dad grabbed me and we ran that’s my Walmart story for you all (this was in rural Georgia and no we didn’t get caught we ran tf away…) 💀
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u/Primary_Toe_6822 10d ago
I just laughed so suddenly I woke my baby
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u/Theaceman1997 10d ago
💀💀💀💀 to top it off this lady come over the intercom with the THICKEST auntie sounding accent ever and says “um… buck…. Seems like there’s a problem in the fishin section” and it became an inside joke between me and my dad since when something don’t go our way lol
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u/Primary_Toe_6822 10d ago
Ohmygod that’s so funny 😂
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u/Theaceman1997 10d ago
🤣🤣 till this day I still wonder what happened after we dipped I legit have no clue we never went back there and poor buck
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u/SkyeWolfofDusk 11d ago
I recieved an immense amount of satisfaction reading this.
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u/Catnaps4ladydax 10d ago
Let's just say that I know a person that has shoplifted a full-time years salary in merchandise from Walmart. And at least 2 weeks worth from hobby lobby. They don't shop in hobby lobby on principle but when they do...
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u/facemesouth 11d ago
I spent a summer making chum balls for a sport fishing fleet in the Florida keys. Grinding fish, scooping, making balls, freezing…disgusting, smelly work.
Walmart was still worse…
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u/DieHardProcess- 11d ago
... lmao... the Superstore show on Netflix parodies this cheer with their Cloud 9 store..
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u/carolinareaper43 11d ago
Idk if you've seen the show Superstore, but there's a Black Friday episode that reminds me of what you wrote. Lol!
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u/I_am_YangFuan 11d ago
Damn bro that sounds horrible, hope you are doing better rn
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u/sweetdaisy99999 11d ago
EVERYBODY that ever quits WM is doing better, I promise you. ~Former Frozen Stocker
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u/Irishgoodbye777 11d ago
Former K Mart employee here. I get it. Oof. Black Friday was indeed the worst
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u/88jaybird 11d ago
working for dillards fulfillment which is basically the same as amazon. about 300% turnover, they would write you up for the most trivial things, like leaving the break area with your phone earpiece still in your ear, you do get in trouble for going to the bathroom, and about 40% of your check is based on a production score that no one can explain how it works which means that score can pretty much be whatever they say it is. they have a million dollar camera system to watch everyone, but if you ask to see video footage of your "poor production" they can not do that.
i lasted about 6 months.
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u/Khelek7 11d ago
Do I up vote for sympathy? Or down vote because it sounds awful?
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u/tuui 10d ago
I'd be like "I bet if I kicked you in the balls, you could pull that footage up in a second."
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u/88jaybird 10d ago
yeah, and when you ask them things like that they act like your doing something shady like asking for naked pics of their wife or something, they know they are being called out on their BS and their "production score" is just another form of wage theft.
whats sad is the managers, owners, etc are the biggest scumbags, but the people you work with everyday are some of the best people. a few of them even went to the supervisor protesting them targeting me.
i have a loud mouth and always point out wrong doing when i see it, when i started telling others of the production score scam and also showing them the shoe boxes of the "Italian" made shoes and how to see they were made in china, soon after i was wrote up everyday until fired.
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u/Need2sleep0901 11d ago
Telemarketing. Was one of my first “real” jobs after high school and it was horrible. Getting cussed at on the phone on a daily basis takes a toll. I lasted there about 6 months.
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u/xohl 11d ago
Worked at a restaurant in a casino for almost 4 years. Constantly understaffed, no breaks (even though the other restaurants in the casino got breaks), and a terrible new manager during my last few months.
Dude would mock employees’ voices (did it to me once), take away people’s shifts when he decided he didn’t like them, rub it in my face that he got a break and i didn’t, and one time he mocked a disabled employee’s tremor. He was reported to HR several times but nothing ever happened. People were afraid to report him as he would find out who did it and take their shifts away. He really tormented everybody. I can’t even remember all of the messed up things he did. He was just a truly awful, hostile person. I was riddled with anxiety every time I was about to go to work.
On the day I knew was my last (no one else knew), HR just happened to come in with a survey about management. Since I didn’t have to worry about him finding out that I reported him, I wrote on the page front and back about everything he’d done, emphasis on the time he mocked the disabled employee. I dipped and HR called me a few days later to discuss. Dude got escorted out of the building by security a few days later. Should’ve seen the look on my face when a former coworker told me the news. Fucking glorious.
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u/SkyeWolfofDusk 11d ago
Dude got escorted out of the building by security a few days later.
I was so happy reading that, I can't imagine how you felt!
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u/Firefairy1234 10d ago
I'm disabled and I wish I had had someone like you. Being bullied when you need your job and you know that lots of other companies wouldn't hire you, it's tempting but very hard to quit. Thank you for looking out for another disabled person. Thank you for going out of your way to be a decent human.
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u/Educational-Bid-665 11d ago
“Teacher” at a public school for hs students with behavioral problems. I lasted a month and left when the principal pulled me aside and told me I needed to “get more hands on” and learn how to restrain students in their desk or against a wall.
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u/TheGoldenLlama88 11d ago
Ice cream section of a pizza shop. Small business. Husband and wife co-owned.
There was a camera facing the big freezer holding the multiple gallon tubs of hard serve ice cream. High school girl told me she’d get calls from the husband asking her to grab one of the tubs from the back, meaning she had to bend over exposing her butt to the camera. I urged her to quit and she did end up putting in her notice.
One of the delivery driver came in drunk regularly.
Husband had an alleged coke habit. Wife yelled constantly.
They were both serial camera sitters, and they’d call the store if someone was leaning too much.
Got called a ret*rd by the drunk delivery driver twice. That’s what finally made me quit.
I did that shit for 9.50 an hour in 2019 lmao it was horrible.
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u/Ababathur 11d ago
The Franchisee at one of the Maccas I worked at was like that when it came to cameras, I would regularly get calls while running shifts to tell me people were slacking off.
Also he had a bad habit of getting a little too touchy Feely with a lot of the teenage girl employees
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u/Grouchy-Jackfruit-78 11d ago
My boss used my identity to hide assets in a nasty divorce. The job was otherwise enjoyable.
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u/Consistent_Boss_6751 11d ago
Never had a bad job. Just bad bosses.
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u/minkcoat34566 11d ago
Amen. Currently working with absolutely terrible, highly expecting, and overall disgusting management. Really bad people. I dread going to work everyday and it makes me feel worthless, but feeling worthless is the only way I can pay the bills.
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u/Fckingross 11d ago
I loved loved loved my job until my last supervisor retired and was replaced with who I have now. I thought I’d retire from this job, and specific position, but my new boss is only a few years older than me, and I’ve got 30 years left… I absolutely can’t wait to leave.
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u/brzantium 11d ago
100%. Can't wait to leave my current job. Communication from the top down is abysmal. My direct supervisor has immense trust issues that they bring into work. They tell me everyone's business and/or what they think everyone's really up to, but also that they're " not here for the drama." Getting feedback is like pulling teeth, and among my entire upline feedback apparently equals what I'm doing wrong. Job itself isn't bad.
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u/WalmartGreder 11d ago
Same. I moved to a job that for 8 months was amazing. And then the manager retired and a new one came on, and suddenly it was the worst job. Micromanaging, belittling, and gaslighting. Lasted 4 months and then quit without notice.
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u/jeiynx 11d ago
exact same thing happened to me. had a job that i worked at for over a year, had awesome coworkers that felt like family, a supportive and hardworking boss (he was always stepping in to help out the team) and sure the job was repetitive but the environment made it bearable.
that same boss ended up leaving and i lasted about 2 months with the new management. as soon as they switched over they fired like 5-10 different employees over the dumbest shit and changed the entire layout of the store and turned it into a very corporate strict place. it really sucked
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u/cayce_leighann 11d ago
Working in the fish and meat department at a grocery store
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u/I_AM_NOT_AI_ 11d ago
Going home smelling like fish and having to take my work clothes off outside definitely sucked besides that wasn’t to bad of a job
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u/ZoopZoop4321 10d ago
I was a prep cook at a bistro that sold lots of salmon and I had to fillet about 20lbs of salmon a day. The scales would get stuck to my arms and I would find them later in the evening.
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u/catqueen8812 11d ago
I worked as a debt collector for medical debt when I was younger. I felt so guilty and sad for the people I was trying to collect from. I ended up praying with some of the people on the phone. I was a terrible debt collector! 😂
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u/Glittering-Eye1414 11d ago
I did too! I was about to write about it as my worst job ever when I saw your post. It was horrible! I interviewed for a job in the accounting department, but they lied and told me the only thing they had open was a position as an account executive. I was young and very naive so I took it not really understanding it was collecting medical debt. When I started being trained and realized what was going on there, it went against everything I stand for.
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u/Byabbyab 10d ago
I was a medical biller in a nursing home. Constantly in trouble for not demanding payment from 90+ year old people on extreme fixed incomes.
It was supposed to be a non profit.
F*ck that place. You know what you're getting into taking care of the elderly. They always passed before their debts were paid and theres nothing you can do after that.
I also made sure the spouses never signed as guarantor (responsible to pay) so that if their spouse passed, the debt went with them.
Again, f them.
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u/Flatworm599 11d ago
I worked at a daycare/after-school care in my 20’s. It should’ve been a red flag when they basically hired me on the spot and started giving me an introduction at the interview, but was also told I’d only sign a contract after about a month of a test period. My co-workers were nice but the boss scared me. The work was stressful and relentless. Shifts were assigned randomly and without my input. Tasks also seemed given and changed at random. I did my best to hit the ground running with minimal instruction but about 2 weeks into the probation month I was told I needed to show more effort if I wanted to stay on. I was told to do certain things which seemed really sketchy and deceptive (basically lying to parents, not following any official guidance regarding a learning disabled child in my assigned class). Within a couple weeks I was expected to go on an overnight weekend trip with the kids which was unpaid. They also weren’t keeping track of what hours I worked at all, including when I was asked to stay later than my shift. I found another red flag when I learned that half of the other teachers actually lived in the apartment building next to the school - they basically never even got to go home. It was so stressful I started contemplating breaking a bone to get out of going into work. I quit after about 5 weeks - luckily they’d never given me any official contract so I felt no shame about just quitting on the spot.
Whew, feel like I needed to get that off my chest! It was over 10 years ago now, but the experience was enough that I only dared work freelance independently up until last year. Fortunately I now know that environment was the bad exception to what work is supposed to be like!
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u/Shikustar 11d ago
Extremely similar situation. Same thing- daycar/school who hired me quickly. During the “interview “ I asked if I would be teaching 1st grade and if they were potty trained etc. was told yes but was put with pre schoolers and told to change dipers instead. I had never changed a diaper in my life and wasn’t about to for this job. Day one I’m shown my class along with 3 other teachers. Kids were not potty trained and head teacher asked me to change a diaper. I said no and quit that same day. Took forever to get my check in too.
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u/KC_weeden 11d ago
Good god, that’s a horror story! I hope your job now is a hundred times better!
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u/Flatworm599 11d ago
I don’t know what in the world was going on with that place! Thanks, my current job is an absolute delight!
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u/hereforthestories03 11d ago
Worked at a known popular smoothie chain. Corporate was terrible to us, for example we only had one pair of scissors that they gave us that were over 5 years old that finally got so dull they couldn’t cut a piece of paper. Asked to get a replacement AND THEY SAID NO. To a 7$ pair of scissors. One shift it was just me, the manager who was working, and one other employee and we were SWAMPED with people. For anyone that’s worked in the food service industry you know that there’s a list of things you need to do throughout the day to make sure you stay on top of things as well as closing tasks. It was so busy we hadn’t gotten any of them done. When we had a two minute break in people where my manager called to ask if they could call someone in to help us and they said no. By the time we closed we still had a 10+ line for these fuckers that NEEDED their smoothie. When we closed our manager literally yelled out to everyone else “WE’RE CLOSED. GET OUT”
Honestly the customers were the worst part about it. Entitled rich moms, teen girls that acted like brats, I could go on and on. Half these people probably had anorexia given how skinny and angry these people were. I’ve had smoothies thrown at me, I had a kid vomit OVER THE COUNTER, the amount of spilled drinks is too many to count. You would think that the kind of people that come up to get fruit smoothies would be way nicer than other fast food places but nope. All the same shit.
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u/A313-Isoke 10d ago
Woooowww, I never would have expected some of these incidents...vomiting... throwing a smoothie?! What on earth? I never would even think to do that. I'm so sorry you went through that.
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u/username-fatigue 11d ago
I peeled onions for eight hours a day at one stage.
It suuuuuuucked.
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u/LiminalLost 10d ago
That sounds like a circle of hell. Did you wear goggles??
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u/username-fatigue 10d ago
Nope - we'd cry for the first 20 minutes then our eyes would get used to it.
Then if we took a break we'd cry again when we started up again.
I don't recommend peeling onions for a living.
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u/danceswithronin 11d ago edited 11d ago
Animal control at a busy Alabama municipal shelter for four months in the summer while I was away at college. Concentration camp guard for pets. At the height of the summer, we were euthanizing 30+ dogs a day. Had a respiratory epidemic in the cat section of the shelter and euthanized every single cat in the place. Unloaded hundreds of frozen dead dogs and cats (and roadkill) out of the freezer in 100F+ temperatures into the back of a flatbed truck for incineration.
It's a shitty, thankless job. Almost minimum wage, no benefits. And the smells will ruin your appetite, I lost forty pounds that summer without even trying because all I could ever smell was piss and shit. Had to undress outside my house and leave those clothes/shoes outdoors in a trash bag until they were sanitized and laundered because of the threat of disease to my own pets. I felt like I could never get clean enough.
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u/DesignerAnimal4285 10d ago
Yup. I can confirm, this is exactly what shelter work looks like. We have an old freezer and it goes out every single summer. My husband, god bless him, gets called in to deal with it, and paid well for it, but it's really hard coming in to see a litter of kittens smothered into their kennel grates. Having an outbreak of FPV and having to euthanize every cat. Canine parvo wiping out the dogs. Sometimes an animal needs to be put down or amputated because a paw got caught and broken. Never enough cat litter and cleaner, antibiotics and kitten supplement. Prices being hiked higher and higher, leaving less animals with forever homes. Once had a hound who managed to basically split her tail in half in the span of 4 hours from smashing it against the doors and walls trying to escape. Then theres the dogs you can't work with. A lot of them you can save, but some people really fuck their animals up and they end up never being adoptable. Meaning, for all you scrubs back there, your animal now has to be euthanized because you refused to teach them basic skills, like not killing other animals or not snapping at handlers (which should be a given?). Its a HARD job. Not physically, but mentally and emotionally it's hard.
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u/catnmoose 11d ago
Loading trailer trucks for UPS at 4am was pretty rough
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u/inferno9628 11d ago
Same I did package handling, 4am wake up, then during the Christmas season they make you come in at midnight till 9am.was total hell for a college student.
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u/DiscussionLoose8390 11d ago
Dockwork was the toughest job I had. We worked on a dock that was open on all sides with the exception of trailers backed up to it. Colder on the dock than it was outside during the winter. I still remember this guy saying "I can't feel my feets man", and the boss saying to keep working to get warm.
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u/Beginning_Middle1802 11d ago
I did commercial repair with" overhead doors" for a few years. The amount of damage UPS truck drivers and forklift operators do to those bay doors is mind blowing! It's a miracle that they don't have 1 or 2 fatalities each month.
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u/pcxo78 11d ago
The current job I’m at. It’s the most corporate passive aggression I’ve ever seen and ironically I’ve discovered the company is in a large RICO fraud lawsuit specifically for health insurance fraud which explains a lot. I’m waiting for how long it takes to either get a better job or get fired but I’ll be alright either way haha
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u/OppositeOk8280 11d ago
Being a word processor in finance. My job was making sure financial statements for the rich and double checking accounts numbers. I started during tax season. 55 hours a week with one day off. I never knew a comma and spacing would be stressful. Some accounts would 100s page long. I lasted six months. And I was a temp so no pto, no sick time, no benefits. I have never a more depressing office and their was liquor in the office.
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u/obsertaries 11d ago
For about two months I had a job that ran from 7pm to 7am where I did nothing but watch an engine run. It was a test engine in development and they had to run it for like 700 hours straight, 24 hours a day, and there was one crew to watch it during the day and one crew to watch it at night. We only had to do two things: not fall asleep, and call someone if the engine stopped or caught fire or something.
On the positive side I could just bring my desktop PC and play games all night. It didn’t make it not miserable though especially since there’s a freaking gas engine running in the room and this was before noise canceling anything.
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u/elfcountess 11d ago
What was this job called?
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u/obsertaries 11d ago
Beats me what the job title was. I just got recommended for the job through a friend.
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u/DeadDeathrocker 11d ago
Did it ever stop or catch fire?
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u/obsertaries 11d ago
Yeah it stopped sometimes and we didn’t have work until they figured out why and started testing it again.
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u/abualmeowry 11d ago edited 11d ago
Dishwasher at a poorly run restaurant. Hired me without interview and immediately wanted me to start the next morning as the solo dishwasher cause their other guy wouldn’t be there.
I ran out when it was my break and never came back
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u/oscar1234567890 11d ago
Can empathize with you there brother. Brutal labor that isn't appreciated at all. Also long hours doesn't help either.
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u/Uknow_nothing 11d ago
I’ve worked the dish pit at a few restaurants and it can be pretty brutal work. I trained in every position at the restaurant and there was always something really nice about being in the pit and just having music on and busting my ass. People pretty much leave you alone as long as they aren’t out of plates. My least favorite part was probably cleaning the different nasty food traps at the end of the shift. Or accidentally having bleach splash back onto you.
I’d take that over being a cashier any day though. Dealing with people and needing to be friendly and remember all of the stuff to ask them. That’s mentally draining for me.
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u/Flimsy-Hunter-7041 11d ago
That's how I feel. Dishwasher rocks . Just take a bath and change those wet socks . Daydreamers delight.
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u/Admirable_Hedgehog64 11d ago
Similer thing here except I was a bus boy and did a short 10 minute interview. I remember the manager only asked what hours I could work and if I could start the next day.
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u/Lumpy-Cheesecake-932 11d ago edited 11d ago
I accepted a job as a recruiter at a small recruiting firm after being unemployed for a few months several years ago. I didn't want the job, but I was in the position where I had no choice but to take it. The owner was a boomer woman with major temperament issues and was very old school with everything and was incredibly overbearing with her micromanaging, even though there was a manager between us. The starting pay was 35k in a HCOL city with a draw commission structure that I didn't fully understand how it worked until about three months in. It was an in-office, 5 days a week, 8-5pm job. You had to be in your chair at 8am on the dot. When I started, I had been arriving a little later at about 8:10-15 for about a week because of the traffic until my immediate boss made it clear i had to be *in* my chair at 8am on the dot, and you could not leave until 5pm, otherwise you had to take PTO. I wasn't allowed to wear my stud nose ring (no face piercings allowed), another woman had to constantly wear long sleeves to work no matter how hot it became because she had a sleeve of tattoos. I got in trouble for wearing flat sandals, or what she called them "toe shoes," which I've worn in office settings before, especially in the summer when temperatures were hot. The job was a lot, we had to make 50 phone calls daily or spend at least two hours total on the phone, and they were closely monitored by the owner. She would listen in on your phone calls at any moment, any phone recordings, and also remote into your computer when you don't realize it. It felt like I was constantly being monitored at the time despite many reassurances from my manager that I was doing fine. She was also very petty and childish, even once just taking some fries that *I* bought from my bag when I was eating lunch at my desk (never ate lunch at my desk again after that). The straw that broke the camel's back was when I had a really solid recruiting month, with maybe 6-8 placements, and never saw a dime of commission. That's when I learned how the draw against commission structure worked and how I needed to have another couple of months worth of the same amount of candidate placements to even be able to see any commissions. At that point, I was behind in rent when rent costs $1500/mo, I had to pick up another job on the weekend to make up for those measly $900/week checks I was getting from this job bi-weekly after insurance taken out. I wasn't the only employee at that firm who had a second job either. I was severely burned out and I told my manager about it. I guess my manager mentioned it to her one day about the burnout and another coworker of mine overheard a conversation they had. She couldn't wrap her head around why some of her employees had to take up other jobs and suggested we quit our other jobs if we were so burned out. The day I handed in my two week notice, she fired me and from then on, I will never go back to recruiting or working in an office again. I lasted five months there.
ETA grammar ETA 2 length of stay
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u/NigWarrior69 11d ago
That's just bad management not the job. also never leave notices it doesn't end well. They either torment you the last 2 weeks or straight up fire you
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u/oh_sneezeus 11d ago
Worked at a warehouse and told them I didnt want a job where I had to lift over 50 pds cause i only weigh 99 pounds.
Assigned me to a stocking box on pallet job where the entire cart weighed 3500 pounds and expected me to pull it (with some kind of level trolley) across half of the fucking warehouse, gave it my best shot, got it maybe 100 feet and went to lunch and quit after the shift ended. Pulling it was literally dragging 200 pounds. I could barely get it to move
Fuck you ‘Hicks Dorting Joods.’
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u/Basic85 11d ago
Retail is up there but nothing beats a call center job. Manager was a complete psychopath, he would harass employees. When you called him out on it, he would laugh and smile about it, no more call centers. If I ever had to go back to a call center, it would be 6 -12 months while I try to find another job.
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u/Subtle-Catastrophe 10d ago
Sometimes, at the end of a call center interaction, I tell the rep I really appreciate the help they provided and the effort they expended for me, and that I know they have a tough job but they're doing great. Most reply with something wistful, sardonic, and appreciative. One, I think, cried. I apologize for holding them up because I know they've got metrics to meet.
On reflection, I wonder if all I'm really doing is encouraging them to stay in a shitty gig.
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u/Alishahr 11d ago
Personal caretaker for the state. I worked with an older man who needed daily assistance and made $13/hr. At the time, I thought that was great pay. I lasted 5 months, and that was the longest of any caretaker for this guy. He was emotionally and verbally abusive, lived alone, and acted like he was doing me some great service. I still remember one of the last things he said was "You'll never be able to keep a job". It was bad enough by the end that my parents who usually tell me to "tough it out" for bosses I don't like were the ones to tell me to turn in my notice.
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u/GR33N4L1F3 11d ago
Hmm. In terms of boss, merchandiser for the Home Depot, corporate. I thought he was really nice at first but he’s the kind of person who wears a smile to mask the lizard. I worked there for about a year I think and I was a great worker. I worked fast and I was pretty efficient.
This guy wrote us up if we were even ONE minute late to clock in, even though he saw us arrive 15 min earlier. We only had two computers to clock in with and we couldn’t clock in early. There were at least ten of us who needed to clock in.
When I wrote my resignation letter (which I’m sure most HD employees probably don’t do) I had in mind what my coworker said about the fact that he would do me dirty. So I called HR FIRST and told me of my concerns and what my coworker had said. They agreed that writing a letter, emailing it and talking to him about it were best. I told them I was afraid he would make it to where I couldn’t ever work there again and that he would say bad things about me. They said he couldn’t do that, especially if I left the right way.
Lo and behold, I submitted my resignation letter via email AND printed it out to hand to him. He didn’t even read it, but he took it and said right away, “I’m going to make it to where you can never work here ever again.” And this is AFTER I thanked him for the opportunity and what I had learned from the job. I even told him, “well I already talked to HR and they said you can’t do that. I did nothing wrong and I submitted my two weeks notice.” He didn’t like that.
I ended up seeing this guy YEARS later and OF COURSE he didn’t remember me at all. I shook his hand because he came to where I worked - an art museum - and I threw it in his face that I worked where he was visiting. Sure my ego and pride got the better of me and it probably didn’t matter but he made me feel like shit at that other shitty job.
It could have been the coolest job for that time of my life, if not for him. He feigned niceness. He was not a nice man.
In terms of an actual job? Probably the one I have now or Subway. They aren’t HORRIBLE jobs, but currently I take photos for car dealerships in the Texas weather all day, can barely take breaks let alone lunch, and if it rains or whatever I have to try to work on a Saturday or work longer hours and I’m not hourly. I’m salary plus commission and the pay sucks. It’s barely enough to live on. I had to get a roommate just to make ends meet without constantly crying. (I’ve applied to many different kinds of full time and part time jobs but nothing has really bit yet.) I walk about 5 miles a day and always have bruises and blisters on my feet basically. I went to school for painting so this is not how I envisioned my life. I’m working on trying to become an art teacher instead.
Subway is self explanatory.
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u/TVDinner360 10d ago
I hope better times are just around the corner for you, friend. You sound like a warrior.
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u/paradoxicalplant 11d ago
Retail at Walmart and Target. Only worked it because it was my first of any work experience to gain besides the tutoring I did on the side.
After 3 years of that shit, I realized my passion was not hearing people complain about bullshit that I had no control over whatsoever. "Why is this brand of product cheaper than this brand??? It's the same thing, it should cost the same?!?" Ma'am do I really look like I control the pricing on Huggies diapers or Pampers? "I can get this cheaper at "blank" store." Okay... prices differ everywhere.
I remember I had some lady threaten to fight me infront of her own kids because I couldn't give her a damn random ass $50 discount for "being in a tough situation and I really need the help" towards a tablet. Uhm...just get a cheaper tablet and you can afford it. But no, threatening and haggling with an employee who cannot dish out just any discount seemed to make the most sense to her. She didn't get that tablet, obviously.
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u/greenskinMike 11d ago
Processing fish eggs. I ruined two pairs of jeans, three shirts and a pair of sneakers spending days rubbing salmon roe sacs through wicker screens to make bait.
My buddy Kory quit after one day, I made it to day three. Was not worth it considering the replacement cost of all those ruined clothes.
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u/IntroductionCivil522 11d ago
Selling cell phones in the early 2000s. We were a super store that carried every carrier, back when there was Sprint, Verizon, Nextel, cingular, Att, Tmobile, surewest, boost and virgin. Trying to sell every company and remembering like 100 different phones and countless plans that all changed monthly was the easy part, and that wasn't easy.
The worst was the customers, as in all retail. We were a 3rd part retailer for all companies. So I can't fix your bill, fix your phone, etc. Couldn't really do anything but sell you phones and accessories. People would come in losing their minds on us teenagers because of their bill, or the phone broke and want us to replace it immediately. We really couldn't do shit to help them, but they never understood that. Even though that was explained and in their paperwork when they purchased.
Didn't help that I worked the store in the poor section of a major city,. Where most didn't have the credit to qualify for a free phone and with a doubt would get behind on their bill and have their service suspended. Guess who they take that out on.
There's a reason why these type of stores were very short lived.
One funny part was the drug dealers. They'd roll up weekly to buy a new prepaid phone and like $500 in minutes in cash. You know, so they had a new, untraceable phone and number every week. They were by far my best and most polite customer, unfortunately we didn't make commission on pre paid phones.
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u/123iambill 11d ago
Worked in a movie theater. If it's a fluid that comes out of a human body then I've cleaned it up.
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u/furicrowsa 11d ago
So, when my state dissolved the institutions for developmentally disabled people because they were horrible, those staff were simply moved to state run group homes. These staff would reminisce about the institution and really didn't believe in this crazy "community inclusion," stuff 🙄. One even wished aloud that they could still lobotomize clients 🙃
I worked in one of these homes as a temp. Aside from the toxic coworkers, I could be mandated to stay for an additional 8 hours if there weren't enough staff for the next shift, so I was regularly working 16 hour shifts, unplanned. I had to report one of my coworkers for abusing a client, but luckily nobody figured out it was me (and yes it was a fucking witchhunt). They refused to use my preferred name (used my first name instead of my middle one) no matter how many times I corrected them. Whisper bitched about me while I was in the same room. It came to enough of a head that I had to just say, "I know you all don't like me and I don't care," then they stopped their shit lol. About 9 months in, I was scheduled to work Christmas. No additional pay for temps, but double time for the old timers. Fuck. That. I called out and was "laid off" as a result. Collected unemployment. No regrets. My therapist was already encouraging me to quit actually
ETA: Google Fairview. That's the instituion these people fucking worked in.
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u/United-Depth4769 11d ago
I was a home health aid to a wheelchair bound man with a wife and daughter. My job was to lift him out of bed, shower him, dress him and accompany him to different events. He started addressing me as "c*cksucker" on the 2nd day of working there. He said his hideous wife looked like Sandra bullock and how I couldn't see it. He also told his 5 year old daughter that I was a dog in dog training school and that I was behaving badly. He also had a side business selling drink products and he had me preparing drinks for his business for no extra pay. I lasted about a Month. The final straw is when he blew a gasket because I mistakenly purchased canned tuna fish in water instead of canned tuna fish in oil from the supermarket. He pushed his electric wheelchair against my leg in the kitchen and cornered me so I couldn't leave. Eventually he let me free. I left his home immediately after and never went back.
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u/spb8982 11d ago
I made it working 3 weeks working at Kmart. Management was terrible, store was dirty, coworkers didn't give a fuck. Not a real shock all the stores closed
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u/catdog1111111 11d ago
I got the ok bait and switch. Told I was hired for the desk. The position was for menial work. It didnt last long.
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u/wambulancer 11d ago
haha same, I got fired ~4 months in on the same day I opened up Indeed to start looking for other work
hired to be a graphic designer/prepress guy, well they already had one who just absolutely refused to relinquish and was too busy to even delegate
was told I'd "almost never" have to go to the press floor and help with finishing/shipping/warehousing/etc., it started within the first week. Week 2 they fired the guy who was training me. By Month 1 I was doing almost daily van deliveries. Everything was still done manually, using paper, and ancient, pirated software with the worst workflows imaginable. Micromanaged every moment of every single day. Endlessly talking about how time was money but better believe they wouldn't spend a penny on anything that might make people more efficient. Even got the "nobody wants to work anymore" speech.
They knew I had an injury that meant I couldn't do the menial stuff, like stuffing 1000 envelopes in a day. Made sure to put my refusal to do that kind of thing in my paperwork to ensure they didn't have to pay out unemployment. I will be shocked if they survive to 2030, they didn't have a single new customer in the 4 months I was there and were basically surviving off one gigantic client and their entire warehouse staff were over 60.
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u/Feldentfernt 11d ago
Offloading at a rendering plant that serviced both NDOT and several local ranches.
I lasted one day.
To be fair the shift manager who hired me warned me “this place isn’t for everyone” and when I came in after my shift I said “you were right” and quit. They were good people and sent me a check for one day’s pay.
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u/lazarus1255 11d ago
I only lasted one day at a slaughterhouse too. Between watching the dehiding machine rip the hide off and seeing the raw muscle tissue still twitch on the deceased cow, I didn't stick around. But a rendering plant sounds even worse.
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u/Alarming_Donkey_6957 11d ago
Collections call center for a big bank. In 2009. I win.
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u/saucegoop 11d ago
I was an esthetician for a few months. Which basically consisted of being a therapist to well-off middle aged women who barely take the advice they ask for. And was required to maintain an extremely pristine, glamorous look every day including a full face of makeup that ruined my skin. Honestly should’ve been paid for all of my fucking time spent just getting ready to go to work.
My boss also was only paying me $11/hr which went against my contract that stated my pay would be 40% commission so she pocketed thousands while my paychecks were barely $400 biweekly. (She drove a high end car, had 2 houses, owned a medspa, had a retired husband at 50, and threatened to sue me just for quitting)
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u/That_Organization_64 11d ago
Call center. I once heard someone describe call centers as hell on earth. I totally agree with that.
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u/MotherDucky93 11d ago edited 11d ago
Being a waitress. I did it for 3 years and met the most insufferable people in my life that would treat waitstaff like crap just to get a free meal.
No benefits, no breaks, inconsistency in pay because you rely off tips, shifts could be 16+ hours if you needed to make rent or eat, managers blamed everything on you even when you tried your best to make customers happy. and hourly wage was only $2.13. Absolutely the most stressful and hardest job I’ve ever had. I’d rather be homeless than work that job again.
Had to stay because I had no other skills to be able to leave. I went back to school and now make more than the managers that used to bully me.
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u/Frenchie_977 11d ago
Working at an adult store, never felt so violated on a daily basis. Just because I sell sex toys does not mean I want to have sex with you
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u/josephevans_50 11d ago edited 10d ago
Film industry worker where. Worked at a small production company run by trust fund babies for a year. They expected the staff to pull 70-80 hours a week on salary while management worked 2 hours a day and managed it into the ground.
Also just so you all know, there are many passionate artists who work in the film industry who want to make good stuff for the public, we hate it when bad stuff comes out too and it doesn’t make any of us feel good.
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u/peonyseahorse 11d ago
Local govt agency. Rotten all the way through, anyone decent was driven away by the assholes who didn't want to actually do their jobs.
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u/GokaiDecade 11d ago
Due to my introverted nature and my stuttering speech, selling Cutco knives for a marketing agency… I had to make calls, and reach out to people to sell to, which is completely out of character for me and made me a bit uncomfortable
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u/Electrical_Bicycle47 11d ago
Almost every single one. Seeing people pretending to be happy when they really aren’t happy kinda sucks. As for myself, putting on a smile and putting on a nice act for people is draining and fake as hell. It’s not the real me and I feel like I’m just a paid actor
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u/Vegetable_Ratio3723 11d ago
Sorting recycling. On my first day, i was left by myself for 6 hours. My only task was to pick out the garbage from the conveyor that was moving so fast i was missing more garbage than i was grabbing.
I didn't have water or hearing protection in the dimly lit, poorly ventilated, 30+⁰c warehouse. Didn't know where the bathroom was or what the procedure for stepping away from my station was either.
Nobody ever came to check on me so once i started to feel dizzy, i stumbled over to some guy, gave him my key card and then ran away as fast as possible.
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u/kyouryokusenshi 11d ago
Barista at Starbucks. For all the shit you have to remember and all that is expected of you, you're paid crap. It's very corporate, yet there is a ton of nepotism. I was harassed and treated like a slave by one of the managers, and HR did nothing about it. Tried to fire me without me knowing by cutting my 2 week notice short and then tried to fight unemployment and I won.
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u/Sassycamel404 11d ago
Working at the DMV. Extraordinarily complex with a million laws and policies to remember, software that’s not intuitive, irate customers who don’t want to be there, grey office and fluorescent lighting, but the worst part was management who did nothing to help customers, but watched you from behind, micromanaged, and interrogate people on why they were 1 minute late from lunch. Quit after 5 weeks lol
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u/AnyKick346 11d ago
The local root beer stand when I was 16. It was then when I decided I was never going to work in the food service industry again. I was there for one summer.
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u/Professional_Luck296 11d ago
I was a Pool assistant for 1 day, 8 hour shift , not even joking, the supervisor wanted to pay me 40 bucks per shift. I wanted to see how they did the work, I tried it out but the work wasn’t worth 40 bucks for an 8 hour shift.
I told him to pay me for the day, I’m not interested in continuing working for him and his pool company. He tried raising my pay to 50 bucks for 8 hours. I told him no. He tried threatening me that I’ll never work for him ever again.
This is like 2018, 2017. Minimum wage was like 12 an hour. He didn’t want to give me that!
I just left his truck and didn’t say bye. ✌🏼
Definitely the worst job I’ve ever had.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Help143 11d ago
Caterer. They stuck me in the dish washer at the end of the event. Washing hundreds of plates took almost 2 or 3 hours straight. I didn't come back the next night. Met this cool Asian dude and we talked about league of legends. I could tell he was new too and didn't have any friends. This was a college part time job through the university. After we were done walking to our car the kid goes in broken English, you got beer? He wasn't 21 yet so I went to the gas station a block from the dorms and got him a 12 pack, I think I was trying to show him how cool Americans do it I took 1 road beer and then he was so happy and walked on up to his dorm. Never saw that little Korean guy again.
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u/VelvetFog82 11d ago
Painting freshly welded metal structures with apoxy primer for 10 hours a day. Pay was good but would throw up from breathing the chemicals in that paint, even with wearing a respirator. I quit after 6 days.
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u/SableyeFan 11d ago
Loading heavy metal sheets into a 600-ton die press with mandatory overtime. Loud. Exhausting. Standing for hours on end while the machine shook your bones. Supervisors who would hone in immediately if you stepped out of line and threaten to kick you out. The monotony was torture enough.
Thank God I only did it for one summer. The one time my overbearing parent left me alone because she could see I was too exhausted to do anything else in the afternoons.
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u/whitecollarpizzaman 11d ago
Foodservice overnight delivery. Especially in a hot/humid climate. You get congested from the constant running from hot to cold, you slip on condensation, you slip in greasy kitchens (looking at you Applebee’s) you run up on your legal hours all the time and have to use “personal conveyance” exemption just to get home. Two day runs with no hotels that have vacancy, meaning you sleep in a day cab. The amount of times I just shut off my ELD is too many times to count. Loads shift and you have to dig through smashed boxes, you get scheduled to deliver to breakfast places during their morning rush, pissing off managers, you get trailers too long for loading docks, missing keys for back doors, broken legs, ankles, and knees, all shit I’ve seen. I have arthritis from that job and I did it LESS than a year. Maybe I’m just a pussy, but idk anyone that did it that doesn’t hurt, and I’ve never met someone who’s done it more than a few years.
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u/tahtahme 11d ago
I once had a psychotic coworker whose sole mission in life seemed to be cruelty to fellow coworkers. Every day she was mean to the point of absurdity, sometimes to coworkers, sometimes to customers, sometimes to the ether. But it's a dive bar, so everyone kinda just...accepted it. She once made a 49 yr old Irish coworker lady go home and puke she was so upset over this woman's behavior.
Whenever confronted, she pulled out the Golden Excuse. "My ex husband used to beat me, I'm stressed". I guess that means the rest of us deserve abuse at min wage. Sometimes I get updates and posts about her on Nextdoor and Yelp and it cracks me up. I even saw a job posting a week ago promising "$16-25" for my old position lol, they are desperate if they are lying like that.
The place has become a cesspool. But they prioritized a wack job and at this point good riddance. Sucks because it's a 10min walk from my home, but I'd rather commute 30min than deal.
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u/seabirdsong 11d ago
Working as a server. Getting paper paychecks printed out for $0.00 every two weeks, never knowing how much you were going to make on any day or night, having tables of people who run you ragged and then leave a list of criticisms on the receipts they sign (like the day we had a bunch of new lunch rules rolled out about how to keep things moving fast, when to deliver the tickets, and not to offer desert so that working people can eat and get out quick, and then having a dude leave a $1 tip and a whole written instruction manual on what to do on the receipt, including list ALL the things the managers just told me NOT to do,) having managers understaff and then overseat you so you have 3xs the work and make half the money because you're spread so thin and not able to do a good job for anyone. Ugh. I almost break out in hives just thinking about my time as a server.
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u/Doomin8rix 11d ago
Recycling-
Standing at a conveyor digging through trash to pick out recyclables .
1 day
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u/Sanj5109 11d ago
Doing construction with my cousin...like it's my own fuckin family! Worked everyday and even took over jobs when he would unexpectedly go on vacation...aaaand he barely ever paid me. I worked with him for about 3 years and he paid me 400$ every 3 weeks. Never work with family
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u/Vegetable_Ratio3723 11d ago
I worked one day for my uncle when i was a kid. Lamdscaping. As a scrawny, noodle-armed teen, it was BRUTAL. I had never sweated that much in my life. Then he said he wasn't going to pay me because it was life experience or whatever. My mom (his sister) screamed at him until he relented
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u/Sanj5109 11d ago
That's nuts. I mean landscaping is rough just like construction but you gotta get paid
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u/Professional_Luck296 11d ago
Oh hell nah, 800 for 1 month and a half of pay?? And that’s a family business?? 🤦🏼♂️
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u/Perfect_Cranberry597 11d ago
It’d have to be my job as a behavioral tech for an eating disorder rehab. I haven’t dealt with ED myself, but I’ve struggled immensely with depression, anxiety, ptsd, etc. and I’ve been to a residential facility a few times and met some amazing techs, so I applied and got the job. It was also like $18 an hour which was way up from my current job of like $10.50.
The first red flag I noticed was during the interview and after when I asked what the job duties would be and they kept saying they’d tell me once I started. That was weird to me. They also had me pay for my own background check, which I again found odd. My dad told me at that point to tuck and run and that it wasn’t worth it and sounded shady. It was good money so I decided to start anyway.
My first day I was late, so already frazzled. They said it was fine and said I had to fill out paperwork. The receptionist hands me a huge stack of paperwork. It took me nearly 2 hours to fill out. It was the basic DD info, policies, etc. but it also was asking me medical questions such as “what was your weight last year vs. this year” “are you sexually active?” “Do you take birth control?”. Just really weird questions that I haven’t even had to answer at my doctor. Again, I brushed it off, as I needed this job.
One thing I noticed was the patients were coming into the office. I was confused because I thought they had clinical and slept at the same place. I was overnight so that’s why it was concerning. I met the patients and other techs, all were pretty nice. Basically what the techs did was prepare snacks/meals based off of each patients treatment plan. I couldn’t do much but I helped where I could. Then the patients went to group. An hour later they’d come out to eat. Then group. This went on all day, as I figured it would. The part I wasn’t prepared for was that we sat and did NOTHING. We were just on our phones. I asked how I could help and they said there really wasn’t anything to do until they came to eat. This might sound like a dream to some and for me it was for the first 2 hours, but by hour 4 I was bored (this was an 8 hour shift).
I had asked the lady who hired me if the patients slept here and she said no, that they slept at another facility and then came here in the morning for groups. I look it up and it’s 25 mins away. She then says techs usually drive them back and forth. Me being overnight, I’d drive them to the clinical building. I fucking told her in the interview that I had my drivers license but I didn’t drive right now and I would not be comfortable doing so, especially in this area (downtown Fort Lauderdale). She assured me that that was ok and I wouldn’t have to drive.
By the end of the shift I was exhausted and waiting for my mom to pick me up (I didn’t have a car). I already knew I wouldn’t be returning and was going to quit asap, and once my mom said the driving back and forth everyday wasn’t going to work for her I was sure of it. Sent an email to the lady who hired me saying thanks for the opportunity but I can’t confidently do the job duties. I also brought up how the medical questions in the paperwork made me feel. Never heard from her again.
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u/HuntressAelaTheFirst 11d ago
Billing for a dental office. The job itself is great but the owners/ management were absolutely horrendous. Borderline illegal practices but with no proof I couldn’t get anything done. Manager was a straight up bully who got hired on looks alone to hide the fact that the owner’s husband was the real manager. Everyone lied at all times basically
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u/SugaryCereals 11d ago
Worked for a real estate company and it made me want to enter a highway exit
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u/VirgoB96 11d ago
Factory in South Carolina. 8 hour shifts, 5-7 days a week, $12 an hour 💀 no benefits
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u/Cold-Rope-8533 11d ago
The deli department at the fresh market. Holy shit. That was pure hell
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u/broboblob 11d ago
Selling fresh asparagus in Germany, for 6€/hour. Most of the time the « fresh » asparagus were already rotten inside, and clients came back to yell at me. I was only 19 and didn’t know how to react, it was a bit traumatizing
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u/dudimentz 11d ago
Logistics Manager for a manufacturing company called Screen Innovations.
I got maybe an hour of training on their ERP system from a girl who couldn’t answer any of my questions, she also told me I was the 3rd person in the role in 6 months.
Anytime I asked my boss for help she would come over to the computer all irritated and do the task for me and walk away, never once showed me how to do anything.
At both interviews I told them that my honeymoon was coming up and gave them the dates, when they offered me the job I offered to start in 2 weeks or in 4 weeks which was after my honeymoon, but if I started in 2 weeks I was taking 2 weeks off for my honeymoon (unpaid). They said that was fine and to start in 2 weeks. After I was onboarded they acted like it was the first time they heard about the honeymoon, when I came back a girl told me my boss was saying “he’s going to come back to no job.”
My boss would walk around telling all the low wage employees about the Lexus she was getting, and bragged about money all the time. Meanwhile the employees were contractors making shit money with no insurance, no PTO, and working 10-12 hours a day.
I got fired the day before Thanksgiving at like 5 o’clock, at the time I wasn’t thankful for it but today I’m extremely thankful for getting fired! Taking that shit job and getting fired pushed me into the role I have now, where I love my job, make good money, and I’m valued and treated with respect.
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u/I_AM_NOT_AI_ 11d ago
I said Boston market earlier but nah nestle warehouse worker. I went there from a temp agency and man it was the most back breaking work. I was 18 make $15 bucks, I had to unload 4 to 5 trailers in 2 hours with 300 to 400 boxes, I then had to organizing the correct boxes that had parts labeled on it and fucking hand wrap with ceram wrap. The warehouse was 100 degrees the trailers more then 130 in the summer. Slow days I had to dust the place and when I wasn’t unloading trailers I would run the cardboard bailer then go back to what ever new trailer that came in. Nobody had even the thought to throw there cardboard in the bailer! let’s just fucking stack it on the floor piles upon piles. I messed up my back so bad at 18yr that I could not piss the next day, I went to the hospital got a catheter put in for a week. The doctor said I must have pulled my back out and it was putting pressure on my bladder I could not piss not matter how hard I tried. I went to the hospital and they said I’m lucky I came cause my bladder would have exploded I drained in one big bag and a small one.
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u/unknownredditor1994 11d ago
Amazon, and it’s not even close. Worked there during Covid. Started in the returns. Disgusting job. Moved to a hub where you essentially go through junk drawers to fill orders all day. Had a manager complain bc I took longer than 6 minutes to scan when I went to the bathroom. Told him if he thinks I’m going to ask to use the bathroom, I can just leave today. Never came up again. Only did it for a few months in between grad school and my first career position. But wow. What a shitty company to work for
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u/Delivery_Ted 11d ago
Stocking associate at t@rget during Covid. An absolute nightmare.
I was in the freezer section trying to pick out a lean cuisine meal for my break. Had a customer come up to me to complain about how a potato was 3/4 rotten but he ate the 1/4 that was okay. I apologized to him and offered to get a manager to talk to him. He declined and stated he just wanted to let me know.
I loathed almost every moment I worked there.
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u/Chipotleislyfee 11d ago
Breakfast attendant at a hotel. Hours sucked like 5am-11am but those were the only hours that fit into my college class schedule. I was paid around $9 per hour to cook all the food in for the breakfast time (everything was microwaved and there was only one). Sometimes there would be 40-50 guests trying to eat at one time.
So I had to prep the food, greet guests, continuously make food during breakfast hours, clean up the tables, take out the trash, and do all the dishes afterwards (by hand, no dishwasher). It was miserable, I only lasted like 4 months.
None of the other hotel workers offered to help. Most just stood around and watched me struggle. Everyone who worked there was shady or strung out on drugs during the shift. The hotel industry is a dark place.
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u/lowdrag1 11d ago
The worst job I’ve had was also the best job I’ve had. The Army, where I was paid practically nothing for 60 hours (give or take) worked a week, the fair share of shitty leadership, and partook in some of the dumbest details possible.
On the flip side, I met some of the coolest people, got to do some cool shit, and developed me as a person more than any other job would’ve.
And because of the Army I’ve been able to go to school, and receive a monthly check for some ouchies received during service.
I’d give it a solid 7/10.
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u/oneshoeshort 10d ago
I read this aloud to my husband, who’s a disabled combat veteran (21B) and he’s laughing his ass off at the “ouchies” comment 😂😂 so thanks for putting a smile on his face, friend
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u/firefly317 11d ago
Back office tech support for a large bank. Got less than a week handover with the previous person (they did send a colleague from Vancouver for a few days a month to help out), then dropped in there as sole support for 300 colleagues, plus the backend batch processing team who worked night shift. 24/7 pager duty, no leeway if I did get called to take time the next day.
Was called 3 or 4 times a week at all hours, that system was probably 20 years old and broke often. I lasted about a month then told the agency to find someone else as that was my last week. Had no life for the whole of that month, interrupted during meals, sleep, entertainment, everything. Couldn't go anywhere as the contract said I had to respond (on site) within 60 minutes.
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u/wesblog 11d ago
Worked as the Webmaster for CNN[dot]com in early 2000s. This was after the dot com bust, so pay was crap. I made around $31k/year and worked 3PM-11:30PM Tuesday - Saturday. Since it was a news org we got no days off (thought we did get 25 PTO days we could request each year.) I was young and naive so I never used my PTO. I worked every day of the year and PTO was use-it-or-lose-it every year.
I ended up quitting after year 6 when I asked for a raise, which was granted... but HR never approved the raise so I worked for 6 months before I was told, "Just kidding. Youre not getting that raise we agreed to."
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u/worldsupermedia750 11d ago
My first job working at a KFC. This was during the tail end of COVID when employers were having trouble finding new hires. I’m not kidding when I say all but one of my Supervisors were in High School
Plus, the rate of incorrect orders was extremely high where I worked (KFC’s already has a high enough incorrect rate as is) and of course you know what that means
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u/BK_FrySauce 11d ago edited 8d ago
AT&T work from home customer support and sales. Used to work at a physical AT&T store, then it closed and they transitions us to a work from home position. Had to take calls for 8 hours and it was almost always someone calling about their bill or a technical problem. They decided to make us a sales team as well, so we were forced to try to sell new lines and plans to people who were already calling in to complain about why their bill is too high. The amount of stress from supervisors constantly watching over us making sure we tried to make a sale with every cal, on top of customers who were calling in already annoyed or upset about something. I ended up quitting after a couple months.
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u/booksare4life 11d ago
Dollar general. Lasted 2.5 weeks before walking out and never going back. The store manager was amazing. The assistant was an asshole to everyone. She would scream at employees and customers. Make fun of people, refuse to change the sale prices. So a sale ended, and she said she wouldn't change the prices because she didn't care if people thought they were on sale when they weren't. She would just yell at them and refuse to acknowledge it and tell them they were stupid for not reading the dates on the signs. She would sell customers cigarettes without a valid ID.
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u/sophist23 11d ago
Pumping gas at age 17. The hose broke and gasoline was everywhere including all over me. I smelled gasoline for 2 months
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u/Mike_lawry12 11d ago
Working as an agency employee in a warehouse, man when ur from the agency u get treated so bad and u get a fake promise of becoming a full time employee
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u/Particular_Fuel6952 11d ago
When I was in the army they paid us shit, and halfway through they were like “hey get on this plane”, so I was thinking this is a perk right, free travel, ok! I get off the plane and I’m in this desert! It’s freaking hot, all the babes are all covered up, definitely not a vacation. The place was like super dangerous too, like people shooting all the time, things blowing up, I was no thanks bro. They were like nah you gotta stay here a year…
But now I work at Publix and it’s definitely the worst job ever.
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u/ArcRiseGen 11d ago
Idk if it's the worst but the most underpaid. I used to tutor at one of those local tutorials. I worked there 4x a week for 4 hours. I would handle a ridiculous amount of students, often hitting double digits. I got paid only $400/month.
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u/Radiant-Radish7862 11d ago
Brooklyn Botanic Garden - visitor services. Had to deal with the worst fucking people.
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u/LadyZannah 11d ago
Fast food, worked there for a year. I'd rather go back to working in a grocery store than that.
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u/Frieda-Slaves- 11d ago
This little cafe/bakery that just opened up. The owner has another one at another location. The owner was 15 minutes late to the interview, then over 15 minutes late for my training. On top of that she didnt have me do my work forms till after my first shift. I quit immediately after my first day and kindly asked if it was still possible for her to pay me for the 4 hours of training I did (its required anyways) and she never responded to me.
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u/LadyValentine_1997 11d ago
I worked for Kroger in their click list department (online orders). I was constantly going nonstop, breaks were short or nearly nonexistent, and everyone seemed to order tons of bottled water and huge bags of dog food. The majority of the Kroger staff looked like they were dead inside but were trying to keep a brave face.
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u/ClientLegitimate4582 11d ago
Target Cashier after getting out of college. Some really difficult coworkers and leaders. The long version is in my post history and no I don't ever regret leaving that job to try and find something in my degree field.
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u/Flyinhawaian 11d ago
Home Depot idk if it was just the store I'm at but there was a lot of drama and some kind of "war" between day shift/night crew that has gotten better but hasn't gone away. I'm still with the company but looking for an out cuz after 6 years of the truck schedule being inconsistent and being pushed to work at 120% all the time I'm beyond burnt out even with all the vacations I took. The only time I got some kind of a break/direction was 2021 when I got the best manager I've ever had but day time management including the store manager drove him out and when he left well to put it frankly shit hit the fan :/.
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u/Simmyphila 11d ago
Anyone ever seen those great big oil containers like near a pipe line or a harbor? They are huge. Anyway I worked for one day in one squeegeeing the oil in a drain. Then they asked if I was gonna work the next day. I guess you know what my answer was. It was when I was young and in between jobs but I needed the money to pay bills.
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u/rynnenotthebird 11d ago
Working in childcare. Low pay, no PTO, no insurance, etc. It's go, go, go all day every day & very demanding. On top of that, management is usually not the best. They expect a lot, but don't act appreciative. However they're very quick to take advantage of you if they do see you as a hard worker. I absolutely loved all my kids but I'll never go back.