What is the best & worst jobs you’ve ever worked & why?
Best: Scare Actor. Worst: Care assistant.
Ironically the reason for one being my favourite and the other being the one I struggled with the most was the same- fear. Being a scare actor and frightening people that have paid to be scared is hugely fun and enjoyable, however, working with elderly people with dementia who were often frightened at their 'new' surroundings and all of the people around them that they didn't recognise, was awful.
Best Job: My current job as business owner/therapist! (I have a passion to help children and families). Worse Job: My first job at Wal Mart (I enjoy shopping there still but working there was not as fun of an experience for me).
Best: mechanic at a bowling alley. AH the memories from that place! Worst: Assistant Manager in a restaurant. Ug the memories from that festering cesspool.
Best: My current one at the shelter
Worst: Bindery machine operator
Worst: Cable Puller at an old data center. Best: Paint & Wine Night art teacher and party host.
Best: pro cuddler or assistant manager at a butcher shop Worst: telemarketer selling accidental death insurance 🤭🤭🤭
@Sheena123 ~ Lol, my brain instantly mushed yours all together! 😳😂
@quixotic_life could you imagine?? Lol let me wrap up some prime rib steaks for you with one hand while I hug you with the other. While I have you here, did you know for only $1.10 a month, your family could be eligible for $20,000 if you die due to an accident?
Worst I think would be when I worked in a meat processing plant, I couldn’t eat a hotdog for years after helping make them. Best, owning my own boat dealership after starting out as a marine engine mechanic and working up to the boat dealership. Been a Motörhead all my life and always liked working with my hands.
My absolute worst ever was a summer job while I was in college. I was assistant to motor operator for a rolling mill in a steel mill. These weren't little motors. Once a week, they each had to be cleaned of the accumulated carbon dust from the brushes. To clean them. I would turn them off, lock out the switch, put on a respirator, and climb inside with an air gun. The temperature in the motor rooms ranged from 120°F to 125°F. I had to take a jacket along so that I wouldn't be cold when I went home on a 90°F day.
I had several engineering jobs that I enjoyed, but my most satisfying was another summer job. I ran a "Science Group" for 12 to 14 year old boys, at a local youth center. For some reason, no girls ever signed up. Their range of knowledge and interest presented a real challenge. At one extreme were those who had an image of the mad scientist, in a white lab coat, blowing things up. At the other extreme was one 14 year old who was teaching himself calculus.
My worst was unloading trucks at Walmart. It wasn't bad minus the lies and general bad management but since I've only had three that becomes the worst. The best is my current one where I give dogs scritches and work with my mom.
My best job was where I had co-workers with great camaraderie. My worst job was where I had a boss who micro-managed me.
Worst - detailing cars with steam. In the winter it could be manageable in the summer it's just cruel. Best - cuddling with awesome cuddlers. Being self employed doing art and making, selling jewelry. I get to work from home while I draw in my pajamas and watch true crime tv. ☺️
Best & Worst ~ My current job(s) ~ Everything from AAC device support, to academic and behavior support, to the filling in wherever needed... There are some really goods, some not so goods and some horribles. The worst is that I'm not making what I'd like to and there have been times where I just want to cry for any number of reasons... But overall I love it! My direct bosses/supervisors (I have 3/5) are fantastic people who are great at what they do and I feel appreciated by them. Plus. everyday is different. I have long term and short term projects, I get to challenge myself, solve problems, make/modify things, and everything I do is ultimately supporting our students. Honestly, I feel pretty fortunate to have the jobs I currently have there.
Best job ever would be this one, hands down! Absolutely loving this 💗
Worked some physically intense and demanding jobs for sure! I have worked in an aluminum plant, was once upon a time weld certified and comfortable between a hard hat and steel toed boots. Didn’t love working 12 hours shifts that were not climate controlled, and my least favorite of all would be when I was a press operator. Break neck speed all night, no one around to engage or work with, the same repetitive movements and processes all though the shift.
Worst job I ever had was working in a paper cutting factory in about 1975. Minimum wage. Ten hour days of mind-numbing repetitious labor. Dangerous. We had modern paper cutting equipment that had safety features but we were regularly made to override the safety controls. On top of that, the machines frequently jammed. It was the early days of machines with digital/computer controls and they were finicky. So when the machines jammed they made us work on turn of the century paper cutting equipment with open blades and absolutely no safety features at all. I was desperate for a job. My husband and I were newly married, had nothing, both of us unemployed. Fortunately, after I was at this place for a month my husband found a job and I was able to quit. Two months later I ran into one of my coworkers, a guy who was only 23, same age I was. Two of his fingers got cut off in one of the old pieces of paper cutting equipment that they should not have been using. OSHA came down on them pretty heavily. He said to me, “Well, I have a job there for life!” as if that were a good thing. That place doesn’t exist any more.
Best job: Working as a massage therapist for Cirque du Soleil. First time I worked with them I wanted to run away and join the circus. I’ve now worked with eight shows. Sometimes they are here for just a few days, other times for three weeks. I love it. I get to work with world class performers who depend heavily on their bodies being in top shape. They are from all over the world but especially China, Russia, Ukraine, the gymnasts and aerialists are heavily from those countries. One show came here twice and I was humbled that people remembered me. A few times I’ve encountered someone who was with one show and then later another. The kind of training I’ve had dovetails well with what they need. I usually only have them for maybe 20 minutes so I’ve got to be very efficient and that’s one of the things I’m really good at.
Being a massage therapist in general has been a very satisfying experience. I haven’t been seeing clients for the last 2 years because of the pandemic but I’ve been doing it for 30 years, work a lot with people with chronic pain, also performing artists, competitive athletes, and pregnant women. People tell me I’m good at what I do. I’ve always been very science-minded and read research on what is being learned about how pain works and what we, as manual therapists, can and cannot do to help people with chronic pain. I love what I do, there’s no limit to what one can learn, I love the people I work with. I make people feel good. What could be better?
Other jobs I’ve had: worked a lot in restaurants, mostly as a cook, and spent 13 years working as a union commercial/industrial electrician. I was the first journeywoman electrician in IBEW Local #1 and still proud of that.
@Babichev Your career sounds nothing short of amazing!!! What a life! I love that you care about what you do and who you impact with no differentiation between world class athletes and regular folk. Super dope that you have worked as an industrial electrician! I absolutely love seeing women thrive in male dominated fields!
I can also relate to the dangerous work elements. A man lost his arm at the elbow running a press, another man fell to his death from an upper work level, a friend of mine lost two of his fingers in some tooling, one man almost died from cutting an artery open with a box cutter, three people broke arms from a failing lift at the same work station, a coworker fell into a pool sized vat of caustic acid once, and the list literally goes on! I was on the industrial spill team, safety committee, ergonomics team, security team, was first aide and cpr certified as a designated incident / accident responder, and also worked in training and management at different times in my past factory life! I’ve seen some gnarly accidents and at one point my ex boyfriend heavily influenced me to quit my job, to just walk away - to take some time and road trip and car camp through some national parks. He repeatedly expressed concerns about my safety and I’m glad I listened and took that leap because not long after I did there was an explosion on a production line I worked at which burned my coworker horribly. Another quick thinking (hero) coworker ran into the explosion to grab our friend and drag him from the flames! He was life flighted to an amazing hospital in Nashville and survived thankfully.
Most of my jobs have been love/hate.
(I’m usually doing work I care about in a fairly high stakes environment.)
One memorable best/worst job from my youth was working at a Fotomat. (Older US Americans might recall: these were little parking lot kiosks where people dropped off film to be developed and then picked up their pictures some days later.)
I loved being left alone with almost nothing to do all day long. I read and listened to the radio
@MonkeyNeedsAHug abundance of paid free / chill time sounds great 😌
edited for privacy.
Worst: working for the post office during holiday season. I swore one day to become a billionaire just to avenge myself against all these companies that felt they had to mail so much crap during the holiday season.
By the way, thank you all for sharing, very interesting and fun to read. Sorry about those who suffered through some difficult times.
Worst: elementary teacher
Best: elementary substitute teacher
Teaching is a wild profession. The politics of it all and dealing with all the extra “stuff” pushed me to quit. There’s soooo many cons to it but the pro- the kids, seeing them grow and understand- is sooo good I had to go back. As a substitute, I get to go into a classroom, be with the kids, and nothing more. I get to go home and rest instead of plan, grade, adjust students plans, etc., etc., etc.
Close second worse: server at run down restaurant
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Best job - Flight Attendant. I have traveled nearly a million miles around the world in only a few years, for both work and pleasure. Most notably, the Maldives last year. Free flight benefits, enough said 🤓 Worst job - Property management. Being a landlord is literally exhausting and a lot of rental tenants are actual nightmares. Evictions are stressful. People are disrespectful. 10/10 do not recommend.
These job descriptions are amazing - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Remember: if it’s not a good time it makes a good story later.
My worst job may have been the overnight remodel at Walmart.
At least two different bosses giving competing orders every ten minutes:
"Do it this way." "Why are you doing it that way, are you stupid? Do it this other way." "Stop that, undo it, you morons, do it the first way." "What are you doing, stop, undo it..."
For months, this went on, after which I collapsed and couldn't leave my bed for yet another month.
But at least I didn't leave with a broken foot! That was a different worker.
Or it might have been the year I spent working the graveyard shift at a gas station.
During a pandemic; no masks required of customers; who the heck shits in the sink? How is one person supposed to run the whole place for eight hours? When do I get to use the bathroom? Aren't I supposed to get a lunch break?
Wait, I've only had one night of training. I've never done this before, I don't remember how everything works yet! Why am I working alone?
Yessir, I know the coffee is cold, I can't make more because there are six people in line and more coming. Stop stealing stuff, don't scream at me because you don't have an ID, obviously your card doesn't have money on it, oh thank heaven, it's the cops again, that oughta clear the place out, maybe now I can pee.
Nope, both bathrooms are busted. Still? it's been over a week!
Oh look, another meth addict. Kids setting off fireworks by the pumps. Oh, a dude who's been hit in the head by a pipe, time to call the cops again.
Stop harassing the other customers, she's not interested, why don't you just leave?
Ah, another person who just came in to cough on stuff (literally, they were always very pointed about it). Hey, it looks like I'm sick again, no time off, if I say a word I lose my job, time to work sick. Again.
Stop yelling at me for wearing a "face diaper."
Stop berating me, it's not my fault we're out of the coffee you like, the cigarettes you want, the scrubbing pads for your meth use....
Oh look, another homeless person taking a bath in the restroom. Some of our cleanest customers, right there. Much better than that one guy who—oh, heck, I'm gonna be cleaning diarrhea off the floors and walls again, and it's 50/50 as to whether I'm gonna be able to unclog the toilet.
...But when I left this job, somehow I was less exhausted than when I left Walmart.
My best job was unquestionably watchmaker's apprentice. A quiet room, detailed and satisfying work: I didn't even care that it paid basically nothing. The precision! I loved seeing all the little pieces swing and tick and click along perfectly, and knowing I was the one who'd made it happen was a beautiful bonus.
Best Jobs: Pro cuddler and comedy off-broadway theater company. Worst job: Worked as a seasonal employee for Toysrus.
I have a new job that I love. Im helping run a non-profit that provides showers, clothing, hygeine supplies, and first aid to houseless folk. Its a very good non-profit, very transparent and is explicitly anti-oppression and we have regular paid trainings on the subject and robust accountability processes. I work with a very lovely group of activists and they were all active in the summer of 2020, i like my coworkers a lot. Hours are limited, but I get paid to be sweet and helpful to people, people who are often treated with incredible cruelty. I love helping provide a safe space where folks are and feel cared about. Its the best job ive ever had.
@DaringSprinter I am sorry you had to put up with the riff-raff, but you were strong enough to make it a year. That is admirable. I think a lot of people have worked in service industries and most would have similar stories. I think people become crueler the more advances we make in equalities. It is the Great American Irony and you were living it every night. You spent a year in what amounted to an abusive soul-sucking boot camp. Because of that, you are strong.
@FunCartel: An abusive, soul-sucking boot camp, huh? Put that way... well, I still doubt it was worth it, but at least I got something good out of it, I guess. Not sure it counterbalances the infections and their lasting effects—but it's something. Thanks.
(And @HogboblinZwei worked there much longer. Alone nearly every night. Geez. At what point do you stop getting stronger and start crumbling? Garbage work, is what it is.)
