Worst Job?

[BlueAlpha1]

Are there any of these you'd rather live out of your car or starve than do long term?

Going to leave some out that are notoriously soul sucking jobs, but can be lucrative (lawyers) or have unbeatable benefits (postal, sanitation, any city job). Also going to leave off jobs that are so morbid and horrifying you'd have to be a sociopath to do it (corrections officer, slaughterhouse).

These are mostly low wage, menial, transition jobs that have no redeeming qualities like great pay or benefits. God help you if you get caught in one long term.

Fast food - Flipping burgers. The lowest status job in the world. You are a meme and stereotype.

Waiter - Agony of being on your feet all day for $2 an hour, relying on the generousity of people who treat you like a slave just to make a paycheck.

Call center - The monotony, timed bathroom breaks, Big Brother always listening, cube farm, dehumanization, expendable cog in a ruthless machine

Janitor - Cleaning up fecal matter by day and mopping a vacant building in the middle of the night

Cashier - Monotony of standing in one place all day if retail, or god forbid you have to run an entire gas station by yourself. Like a rat in a maze.

Taxi - Long hours, guaranteed road rage, almost a guarantee to have a hunchback, and chronic neck problems later in life.

(Was going to add a tollbooth operator, a job so easy a basket could do it, but it's similar enough to cashier.)

 

[GoodOne123]

I've done cashier before, God I hated it.

Never done the rest of them.

I'd imagine being a taxi driver however may pay off short term if you want to learn the city inside out. Or if you love driving. But to make any decent money you need to work late night Fridays and Saturday, which messes up your sleeping partnerns.

Id like to try waiter the most. Social, you get to walk around and not stay stood up or sat all day, the working hours don't mess your sleeping patterns up. Also I'd imagine if youre good looking/charming you may get some numbers, or lots of tips haha

 

[Bible_Belt]

Some waiters make a middle class income, if they work at nicer places. My ex-wife's current husband is a waiter in Orlando. He works two jobs, and brings in more that way than having one job as a restaurant manager.

I know one guy who is a good example of modern American working class poverty, He has four kids. The mother ran off and doesn't pay any support. He works two 30-hour a week fast food jobs. They live in a one bedroom apartment, and he doesn't have a car. He would be living a lot better if he gave up on trying to work and just went on welfare. Women are a lot better at being on welfare. Men have pride and expect to be able to work for a living.

I also know one woman just getting started as a welfare queen after leaving her husband. She's getting an $800 check because one of her three kids is illiterate, $700/mo in food stamps. Her 4-bedroom house should be a grand a month, but because it's public housing, it's $120/mo. It's in a tiny farm town with no ghetto. She'll also get utility assistance, probably another check for another one of the kids...as well as drawing alimony from her ex husband for several years. She's going to be the richest person I know. I should just shack up with her...I'd never have to work again.

 

[TheFixer14]

Waiters don't make $2 an hour anywhere. In some states the minimum is low. But in Cali it's the regular minimum wage ($10.50) plus tips.

Some waiters make six figures a year depending on where you work. I know a guy who works at a great spot in Hollywood. Johnny Depp gave him a $2,000 top on a $120 bill.

And waited my tables is actually fun as long as it's busy and the management is good.

But I would hate to be a janitor. Thankless job.

 

[BlueAlpha1]

Waiters don't make $2 an hour anywhere. In some states the minimum is low. But in Cali it's the regular minimum wage ($10.50) plus tips.

Some waiters make six figures a year depending on where you work. I know a guy who works at a great spot in Hollywood. Johnny Depp gave him a $2,000 top on a $120 bill.

And waited my tables is actually fun as long as it's busy and the management is good.

But I would hate to be a janitor. Thankless job.

Sorry, there are many waiters who DO make $2 an hour. That's what their paycheck says. Now obviously, they're protected under minimum wage laws by their state if they don't make tips, but that's their "base pay".

 

[TheFixer14]

^ Then name the state. In MD I got $3.25 an hour, one of the lowest.

And you do realize that server's make their living off of tips? Even a good paycheck in Cali is just a bonus. In college I was making $150 a day on tips, sometimes $200 working five days a week.

 

[Scars]

I've done almost all those jobs at one point or another. It was a very humbling experience. Now, I'm fortunate enough to have my own business, and I am doing quite well for myself. Sometimes working a ****ty job is necessary. I would not be where I am today if I hadn't hated my job(s) so much and often times wanted to crack by boss over the head with a crowbar.

 

[Bingo-Player]

surprised to see janitor / maintenance voted as the worst in the poll

i mean it depends on the type of work you do but in my experience most janitors / maintence men just sit around in they're room all day messing about hardly back braking work

i worked as a waiter when i was younger and absolutely hated it

rude / stupid customers were the worst

and the managers in that industry are often d1cks who hate the job too but are stuck in it aswell

i work in local goverment at the moment in admin the pay is decent i for the majoirty of the day i can sit around drinking coffee on the internet thinking about what to do next

simple enough

 

[Papa_smu]

I've worked in a call center for a retail credit card company. Most soul sucking and dream crushing hell hole of a job I ever worked. The description on the poll fits my experience almost spot on. Did it for two years till I got a "promotion" into corporate. It was a lateral move, but man it felt so nice to put your back against a wall after sitting through that ****ty experience

 

[logicallefty]

Any job where a woman is the boss, regardless of what the job is.

 

[taiyuu_otoko]

I met this guy once who had a job extracting pig semen.

 

[homie]

I might be the winner here, because I am a f*ng docker. I lift weights generally speaking for 5-7$ for an hour. Got a blissful options of working in call-center or selling **** as a travelling salesman.
Damn, what am I even doing here on this Don Juah forum lol.
Also my profile got lost, had to register once again. Hello everyone!

 

[speed dawg]

Pretty obvious here that none of you have worked manual labor in construction, because if you had, it's hands-down the worst job you can have. Really manual labor of any kind, whether that's on an oil rig, factory, farm, anywhere. THAT....SH*T....SUCKS. To have to go out and face the weather, especially if you have some type of injury. It's unrelenting. I can't understand how those Mexicans go home to a family after that, because all I wanted to do was go to bed.

 

[logicallefty]

Pretty obvious here that none of you have worked manual labor in construction, because if you had, it's hands-down the worst job you can have. Really manual labor of any kind, whether that's on an oil rig, factory, farm, anywhere. THAT....SH*T....SUCKS. To have to go out and face the weather, especially if you have some type of injury. It's unrelenting. I can't understand how those Mexicans go home to a family after that, because all I wanted to do was go to bed.

I've never done manual labor as a paid job. But I currently work as both a police officer which is more physically demanding and also an IT Security Specialist which is extremely mentally demanding. For me personally and maybe not everyone, but with me I am much more tired after a day a the IT gig in the office than a day at the police gig. Two phones constantly ringing, text messages going off constantly, Emails coming in at 1 every 3-5 minutes, 4-5 people in your office all wanting things at the same time, meetings where all people do is interrupt you and argue with everything you say, project priorities changing hourly; it wipes me BAD after a day of that.. I come home from the IT gig some nights and go right to bed at 7:00pm. Often I am too tired to even eat dinner. But after a busy day on the police beat where I may have got in and out of the patrol vehicle 70 times in 8 hours in weather ranging from 18 below zero F in winter to 103 F above in summer + 95% humidity, and, wearing 4 x layers (undershirt, police shirt, vest, vest cover). Still.. I come home with at least 1/4 tank of energy left to do something before I just crash.

 

[playa99]

I worked in a call center for 6 months once. Horrible experience. I got to shift 5 minutes late once and was told....

Boss: "If you were a Doctor and you were 5 minutes late for a shift, what do you think would happen?"
Me: "Sorry I'm late, but I'm not a doctor"
Boss: "Well, what do you think would happen?"
Me: "People would be seen late, but I'm not a doctor, I'm working in a call center."
Boss: "Well, worst case scenario, people could die, so don't be late again."

I left within a week.

 

[BlueAlpha1]

I worked in a call center for 6 months once. Horrible experience. I got to shift 5 minutes late once and was told....

Boss: "If you were a Doctor and you were 5 minutes late for a shift, what do you think would happen?"
Me: "Sorry I'm late, but I'm not a doctor"
Boss: "Well, what do you think would happen?"
Me: "People would be seen late, but I'm not a doctor, I'm working in a call center."
Boss: "Well, worst case scenario, people could die, so don't be late again."

I left within a week.

Not even sure I said this in the original post, but I lasted exactly 90 days exactly in a Verizon call center doing sales. Quit the day my "probation period" was supposed to end. The hourly wage was a putrid $11 an hour - terrible even among industry standards because I made $17 at AT&T. It had a deliberately complicated commission structure that could only be met with 100% phone-time compliance PLUS overtime. If you utilized your breaks and PTO, you would not meet quota. My last non-commissionable check from there was $742 after taxes for TWO WEEKS.

Pointless meetings about meetings where we were hammered about selling specialty products to customers that they didn't need or ask for like tablets or home phones. "This is not an ask, gang. You need to pitch on every call. Tell them whatever they wanna hear - blow smoke up their ass."

Trackers where we had to track our failed pitches for some reason.

20 minute rah rah rah speeches every morning.

Rude and miserable security.

9 minutes "personal time" for bathroom.

Not just your call but your computer screen tracked.

Overpriced, garbage product

9 hour training days in a freezing cold classroom with no windows and overly enthusiastic trainers

Abusive customers

Monotony

I used to get sharp, anxiety-induced stomach pains the night before a shift. No other job did that to me before. I used to go down to the "quiet room" where there were massage chairs and a foundation where employees could ponder their existence in a dark room.

 

[logicallefty]

9 minutes "personal time" for bathroom.

WTF? Are you joking?

 

[playa99]

Not even sure I said this in the original post, but I lasted exactly 90 days exactly in a Verizon call center doing sales. Quit the day my "probation period" was supposed to end. The hourly wage was a putrid $11 an hour - terrible even among industry standards because I made $17 at AT&T. It had a deliberately complicated commission structure that could only be met with 100% phone-time compliance PLUS overtime. If you utilized your breaks and PTO, you would not meet quota. My last non-commissionable check from there was $742 after taxes for TWO WEEKS.

Pointless meetings about meetings where we were hammered about selling specialty products to customers that they didn't need or ask for like tablets or home phones. "This is not an ask, gang. You need to pitch on every call. Tell them whatever they wanna hear - blow smoke up their ass."

Trackers where we had to track our failed pitches for some reason.

20 minute rah rah rah speeches every morning.

Rude and miserable security.

9 minutes "personal time" for bathroom.

Not just your call but your computer screen tracked.

Overpriced, garbage product

9 hour training days in a freezing cold classroom with no windows and overly enthusiastic trainers

Abusive customers

Monotony

I used to get sharp, anxiety-induced stomach pains the night before a shift. No other job did that to me before. I used to go down to the "quiet room" where there were massage chairs and a foundation where employees could ponder their existence in a dark room.

This is pretty much word for word the same experience I had. £16,000 basic, £24,000 OTE. We had 15 minutes a day for the toilet, though. Hitting your target required you to work 80 hour weeks regardless of how good at sales you were. The progression, a 'senior' role where you earned £36,000 a year.

We had to be clean shaven every day with a tie, no exceptions. The CEO didn't have to do that, infact he took pride in walking around with a beard and no tie.

 

[BlueAlpha1]

This guy is a bit insufferable, but if you can get through a 15 minute video it's downright scary how identical the description is between his call center in Scotland and mine here in Florida.

Every minute detail, down to the "games" and "quizzes" during training to the cliches your trainers spout, personal time, to a few employees falling off the wagon really early, and I could go on.

It's just freaky - like there's a intercontinental manual for how to run these sweatshops.

 

[BlueAlpha1]

WTF? Are you joking?

Yup. And watching vids online of people from other continents venting about the same things is scary. There must be an intercontinental manual for how they design these sweatshops. They could make a horror movie about these places.

One thing I learned that can be helpful, do not trust your wireless provider. Read your bill like a hawk, record conversations, and know when you're being upsold. On the other hand, be nice to the person who answers the phone. You'd be surprised how far they're willing to go if you're gentle after they get abused all day.