Worst non-journo job you've ever had

And you did that shit for NINE YEARS?
Jesus. I wouldn't make it nine days.

 

Great thread.

Worst job: I was a bartender at a Brothers Bar & Grill while in college. I did it for seven weeks and it was, truly, my worst seven weeks in the workforce. Low tips because of the pricing ($5 all-you-can-drink, $1 specials, etc.) and college clientele. Endless vomit to clean up plus we had to stay from 2:00/2:30 (last call) until the place was spotless (about 4:45 in the morning).

Other jobs I had before this... overnight stocker in a grocery store. So-so. Fairly low-pressure and I got to listen to classic rock with the "lifers" who had been doing it forever.
Delivered pizzas all throughout college and made a disturbing amount of money - about $550-$600 a week, mostly in cash. This was 20+ years ago when gas was cheap and the economy was booming. Always had money in my pockets and, each semester, would peel off a gangster role of $100 bills at the Registar's office. Actually loved delivering food -- excellent pay, got to listen to the radio in my car and, really, very little interaction with the public unless I was bringing them food...then they were happy.

 

I used to carry amputated body parts over to the hospital incinerator.
And other stuff to the resident pathologists so they could dissect them.

Not a bad job, really. But you didn't want to spill anything on yourself.

 

I have a good addition to this.
Fart delivered beer for two summers.
It sucked but it got me in the best shape of my life.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7u649_the-motels-suddenly-last-summer_music

 

Did the telemarketing thing for two weeks one summer in college. We were selling an eight-age "safety newsletter" to janitors at various businesses. It was terrible. Absolutely terrible. We had a goal of eight sales per day, and I quickly realized you were doing well to make three or four.
The first week made me realize how much it sucked. The second week I had jury duty, got off early a couple of days, and went out to find another job. Got it at a big box hardware store. That one wasn't great, but it beat the hell out of the soul-sucking telemarketing gig.

 

OK, yeah. I think that's the worst on here so far.

 

Mini-golf groundkeeper. On the first day I painted all the benches, but the owner said they weren't up to his satisfaction so he docked my pay. I was young and stupid and felt that I had done a bad job, so I stayed around for a few more weeks. It was hell. The husband and wife ownership team often lied to you about how hard they work and then would make you do absurd shit like retrieve loose balls across six lanes of traffic. I also dressed up like a golf ball and did kids birthday parties. The last straw came when he accused me of throwing the key to the dumpster away.

 

Had a family to support, and this allowed me to freelance and make a nice supplemental income. So I stuck it out. Looking back it seems a miracle I lasted as long as I did.

 

Cleaning up trash at the old drive-in theater on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Used condoms, used diapers (presumably from the cars that didn't have used condoms the year before), general nastiness. On the plus side, scored many a free Genessee or Pabst or Goebel, which I put in a different bag to bring home with me

 

Glamour Shots type photographer. Based out of Kansas City, we drove in rickety Ford 250 Econoline vans to such far-flung places as Zanesville, Ohio; Brainerd, Minn.; Minot, N.D.; and Rock Springs, Wyo.

Here's a tip: When you come to a gas station in the middle of the night in Wyoming, fill up, even if you need just to add a quarter tank. Trust me, you DO NOT want to run out of gas in the middle of the night in Wyoming. In a snowstorm.

 

My worst was as a mover, which was exhausting in the dead of summer. But it wasn't that bad otherwise. My other non-journo jobs have been various degrees of meh.

 

Worked at a full service car wash after graduating from college. Hadn't found a job in journalism yet, so I needed the money.

Spent most of my days sweating in the hot sun, wiping down dashboards and cleaning windows of vehicles. Turnover on the staff was constant, to the point that I was the only person who could drive the cars out of the car wash, and was pretty much the designated go-to person when a customer had a complaint about something not being completed to satisfaction.

On top of that, the owner agrees to do detailing for an auto dealership in town, and guess who got stuck doing it when staffing was low?

The pay was fine if all I had been doing was drying off cars and cleaning windows, but once I was saddled with detailing, I knew it was time to get out of there.