The Job You Hated the Most

[Occams_Razor]

Everyone has one of these. A job from your past that either drove you crazy, made you angry, frustrated you beyond belief, bored you to a state approaching comatose, or quite possibly all of the above.

Mine was the year I spent doing tech support for HP, taking support calls for All-in-One Printers. Basically day after day of solving the same issues with (understandably) frustrated customers, being shouted at for not supporting out of warranty units, being tracked on twenty-odd separate stats that could potentially get me fired and basically dreading every moment of being there. Doesn't help that all my coworkers were just as burnt out as I would have been had I stayed there any longer. I can directly attribute that job to making my a more cynical person.

So what are everyone's demon-jobs from your past? Perhaps we'll all feel a little better if we know we're not the only ones who have suffered.

Let the venting begin!

 

[Marter]

I've only had the one job, working in the back shop at the closest golf course. It technically wins by default, I suppose, although I'll be going back next summer anyway.

The only thing I didn't really like about it were tournament days. Dealing with entitled people, a stressed boss (tournaments are the big "money days," and have to go perfectly), and then having to find something to keep yourself busy after they start make for a terrible day. And then, you'd have to work overtime to bring in the tournament if it goes late ... while also trying to send out the members at the same time.

 

[Fappy]

I worked for Panera Bread Co. one summer during college. Fuck that place. The managers were clueless.

 

[BeeGeenie]

The fast-food industry is pretty thankless. Worst job I've ever had. Leaving every night sweaty, greasy, and smelling of taco meat, minimum wage, and the owner was a drunk... but I suppose it could have been worse.

 

[IndomitableSam]

Working at a Winner (TJ Maxx) store. Nowhere was I more insulted, degraded, and treated so horribly by people. And by people - I don't mean the customers. I mean the managers and fellow staff. Lunches were consistently stolen even when names were put on food, your clocking in and out was micromagaed to the second, cleaning the public bathroom went to the person management disliked the most...

The worst was one day I was working the fitting room (I can't even begin to describe how much I hate every human being on earth after working that job) when I watched a pimp buy clothes for one of his girls and make deals over the phone, stopped shoplifters and joked with a coworker over something I can't even remember.

Cut to a couple hours later when the manager saunters over, calls me out in the middle of the store and says to me someone complained that I was standing in the fitting room doing nothing but making fun of them and the way they looked for a long period of time.

Seriously.

For one - you have to hand out numbers to people when they enter the fitting room - how could I have stood there and made fun of someone and not had anyone else complain about not letting them into the fitting room? Two - why would I make fun of someone trying on crappy clothes at the place where I work? It's even more degrading to work there than shop there. Three - I'm fat. And at that time I still hadn't tamed my frizzy hair. I was probably still a bit pimply, too. Do you actually believe I'd stand there and make fun of someone's appearance?

... The manager did not believe that I hadn't done this. She believed I had insulted someone so terribly that she had to stand there and berate me in the middle of the store because I was such an awful person.

I get a little bit of joy in life now knowing she was in her 40's and managed a store liek that as a career. She had to be a miserable twat, and hopefully still is.

... Most degrading job of my life. I also had a period of intense migraines while working there and was literally not allowed to leave when I couldn't even stand up I was so ill. We also weren't allowed to leave the store until it was clean, which could take a couple hours after closing time and we were made to clock out before that, too. They would also make me work 7am-7pm with a one hour break. Both totally illegal, but I didn't know any better then.

 

[DustyDrB]

I worked in a behavioral health clinic. It was really more like a juvenile prison in which the staff had their hands more tied. It was eight hours a day of being threatened, breaking up fights, sometimes being assaulted, preventing patients from killing themselves/molesting another patient, and trying to be therapeutic throughout it all. And why the hell are so many teenagers the size of professional wrestlers?

I don't mean to overstate it. It wasn't nonstop chaos. Most days were boring with the tension just boiling beneath the surface. But then there were those days when all hell broke loose and you'd have to be restraining patients (usually two staff members keeping a patient in a hold. Why two staff? 1) Because some of these kids are huge and 2) it's safer for both them and us. You might be able to restrain someone by yourself even when they fight, but they could end up hurting themselves in the process). I still have a scar from the one time I was stabbed with a pen. It was a physically and emotionally draining job. When someone actually showed signs of reformation, it was delightful. But that was rare.

 

[newfoundsky]

I've worked way more than my fair share of jobs. I've remodeled stores, worked as a pizza guy, worked at fast food places. . . The remodeling jobs were by far my favorite. The hours were long and it was minimum wage, but I was able and very willing to get overtime and the customers were much nicer than in the fast food industry. Something about not having a counter between you and a customer makes them much nicer.

But the worst job I've ever worked, by far, is the job I currently have. Fast food is one of the worst industries to work in. The customers are the worst, the management is arbitrary with what rules they want to follow, and dear god, if one more thing breaks down I'm going to burn the store down.

 

[Sassafrass]

Churchills Cleaning.
6 people, taking care of a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge fucking factory and all of the offices. A factory that's busy as fuck 24/7 and where no body actually did a good job cleaning.

Did only a weekend shift before the manager let everybody who was new go.
Still haven't been paid for it a month on, either.

 

[Esotera]

Paper boy in the middle of winter...it was dark and cold as hell, I could barely carry all the papers, and the pay was rubbish. I ended up spraining my ankle and quitting after 6 weeks.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Customer tech support for a local outfit.

It's unnerving when you have to go from taking tickets from some imbecile who can't tell the difference between someone on their contact list and a phishing bot, to an attorney from a client who wants to know what the amended terms of service mean in practical terms.

(protip: Never explain anything to an outside suit without your own suit present. Cheeky bastards them suits.)

 

[DugMachine]

Working one summer down at the docks with my grandpa. I had to clean oil tankers or some crap and it was hot sweaty work that I never want to do again. Shit pay to add insult to injury (literally I got so many cuts and bruises)

 

[an annoyed writer]

Wal Mart. I work third shift in a store that seems to be run by a gang of rodeo clowns. Now I've been told that my store's one of the bad apples, but those seem pretty common if California's anything to go by. Shit pay, monotonous work, spiteful and idiotic managers, and Speed-focused thinking up the wazoo. Being one of the few that takes the time to do the job right, I often wind up pulling crap that doesn't belong out by the caseload to send back as overstock. This happens every fucking day. And I know who's been pulling this shit too. but the thing is the store LIKES those people because they play fast and loose, never giving a single shit about how competently their job was done. The store likes their speed. And they ***** at us who give half a shit about the quality of our labor because we're "Too slow". Hmmm, maybe I wouldn't be so slow if half of my time wasn't consumed by correcting the mistakes of yesterday's idiot, now would I? But since you cunts think so highly of your speed you're blinded by what was sacrificed to bring you that speed, and the effects it has on everyone else's performance. That's why I'm leaving that place next month. I'm actually getting paid to go to the Halo 4 launch because I'm blowing my vacation days on that. I win.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Ive only had one job at a shoe shop. Its nice and everyone i work with is awesome but sometimes customers are annoying as hell. Honestly i feel like i work harder than a waiter for the same wage. Its like i have to bring them the food, kneel down, cut it up for them, offer it to them then advise them on it for about 10 minutes and about 50% of the time no one buys anything. This is harder when coupled with the fact i have a sales target. This strikes me as weird for a number of reasons. This is shoes. Im expected to sell 1200 pounds of shoes a day but im just a helper not a full time salesman. I can advise and encourage people but if the need isnt there then the need isnt there. I cant convince someone they need hiking boots when they dont hike anymore than a waiter can convince someone they are hungry if they are not hungry.

Im not paid on commission either. I work an average retail job with no commission and a sales target. I thought sales targets basically WENT with commission. I have no reward for hitting target and a little bit of "Youre on probation because youre new so be careful!" if i dont. Kinda weird system. Its pretty good though. Other than the minimum wage.

 

[putowtin]

You see I worked at a well known burger place while at college, and didn't mind it, allow me to explain.

I always put my hand up for the friday night shift, cause nothing happened till 11pm, pub throwing out time, when we'd have a rush for 15 minutes before the last buses left town. Then, at 11:35, like clockwork, my manager would stager in, order a chicken burger, tip me 50-60 quid and fall asleep in the disabled toilets.

Good times!

 

[tippy2k2]

Mine was the year I spent doing tech support for HP, taking support calls for All-in-One Printers. Basically day after day of solving the same issues with (understandably) frustrated customers, being shouted at for not supporting out of warranty units, being tracked on twenty-odd separate stats that could potentially get me fired and basically dreading every moment of being there. Doesn't help that all my coworkers were just as burnt out as I would have been had I stayed there any longer. I can directly attribute that job to making my a more cynical person.

I can feel your pain...my worst job is easily Apple tech support (although not for Apple; it's an outsourced job).

Here is your plan as an Apple call center employee

-"Hi, how are you today?"
-"Do you want to buy something? Warranty maybe? Come oooon, you know you want to..."
-"I'm sorry that your product is not working, I empathize with that situation"
-"Since I'm only allowed 12 minutes to fix your thing and just spent 5 minutes trying to sell you shit you're not going to want and convince you that I care, I will give you one basic step to take in order to try to fix your issue. Please call back once that step fails"
-Repeat

I was there long enough to become a T2 employee (if you call and the issue is really bad/the customer demands to talk to a supervisor, that's me!). For every one customer that legitimately needs a T2 employee, you get nine that are either:

A. Their problem should have never gotten this far. The T1 agent is an idiot
B. "Sir, I understand that you dropped it on accident, I'm still not replacing your shattered screen for free"
C. The T1 agent caused the issue (boy was that lady pissed when her Windows User ID got erased...)

Those customer's that actually needed my help was probably the only reason I didn't quit that job sooner. I do love the feeling of helping someone and I got my own phone number as a T2 employee, which allowed me to stay in direct contact with these people who legitimately needed my help. Nothing made me feel better than using my T2 powers to say "You know what, fuck this. This is something that should not be happening to you and I am truly sorry for the inconvenience. I'm getting you a brand new iPod".

The best part? I've heard that Apple is LENIENT on it's employees with their metrics and how they handle calls. Good God I'd hate to see a different center if that's the case.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

It was either Gamestop (The only place I've worked where I was told I was replaceable) or, Best Buy, where I was made to do work I wasn't trained in with inadequate training and management who had no fucks to give about what I could do compared to what I wasn't trained to do. I think Best Buy was the worst experience honestly since I was able to stick it out at Game Stop for a few months. Not so much with Best Buy which I ditched before the 90-day mark.

 

[Lunar Templar]

only one?

i've had 3.

Taco Bell/KFC: something about being there pissed my right the fuck off. could never explain it i just really hated being there

7 Cedars Casino: its a tribal casino up here. i hated pretty much every one there cept 3 people.

Jiffy Lube: in a word? boredom. in more? bored and dealing with idiots all day. the crew was fine, i liked them, for the most part. it was every one not working there i developed a burn ball of contempt for. and by 'working there' i mean that store. the customers where verius flavors of stupid, but the retards from corporate... ohhh ... these people are a special kind of worthless and stupid

 

[Call Me Jose]

I worked for Panera Bread Co. one summer during college. Fuck that place. The managers were clueless.

I used to work there, our franchise owner was a racist and wouldn't let managers promote anyone that wasn't Caucasian above associate trainer. He had plenty of complaints filed on him to where he had to start promoting other people.

Although the job that I most dis-liked was working at a major bank. Everyday we had numbers we had to reach for sales goals even as a teller, and were reminded constantly that we where expendable for not reaching them. I'd reach these numbers constantly in the beginning but when I saw how unethical the bank was to customers I laid off the sales. They knew that I was studying Graphic Design and it was only a job to get through college but still constantly drilled me to harass customers on getting identify theft protection, an extra checking/savings account, getting someone to open an IRA that had pennies in their checking account or some other near useless product that would generate fees until I left. I would tell customers how to avoid fees and was dubbed "customer advocate" by other tellers (which is not against the company policy, and what most tellers should do, but are too lazy to explain). Needless to say I loved the people there and a lot of the customers, and from time to time I call my old managers and co-workers to see how they are.

 

[MegaManOfNumbers]

I'm experiencing it right now.

It's called University. The only job that you have to pay to work there.

 

[excalipoor]

There's this terminal care facility for cancer patients near where I live that employed me for a few summers. They also arrange seminars and activities and whatnot, so all in all the grounds of the facility are pretty massive.

For a couple of summers I was cutting grass, helping the caretaker, and such, but on my third summer I wasn't in desperate need of money, so I negotiated myself a little flexibility on my contract. I would be paid by the hour, but instead of having regular work hours, I'd just be cutting the grass, and only that. I wanted a simple, easy job with low responsibility that wouldn't affect my free time too much, but that's not what I got.

Most summers they had 2-3 summer workers to help out around the grounds, but this summer I was by myself. That's fine, but then the caretaker (my direct superior) got sick, and he was sick all summer. The gardener (my other superior) decided to use up her vacation days, so she was gone most of the summer too.

Suddenly it was all up to me to keep things running. I had to fix whatever was broken, to clean the pier of birdshit (it's a shitty job, I tell you, and it takes them a single day to muck it up again), to keep the boats afloat, to deliver the mail, to water the flowers, to water the grass, to cut the grass, to sweep the pavement, to empty the trashcans... For a week I had to boss around this guy sentenced to community service. I didn't ask for this! Technically it wasn't in my job description at all...but I couldn't just let the place fall apart either.

Ruined my summer, that job. And I value my summers. Summer is supposed to be me time, summer is supposed to be stress-free. Though I did make a (relative) boatload of cash, most of which I ended up using on frivolous crap I didn't really need.