Worst job you ever had?

[kshansen]

I guess I'm one of the rare ones here, don't really think I had a "real bad job"! As a teen I did work some work mowing lawns, this was before all these modern zero turns so it was just 22 inch push mowers. Not too bad as most lawns were small city lots.

Also did some time cleaning the old movie theater in town, worked my own hours any time after last show. Was a little spooky being there alone and the lighting was not that great. Got a little scare when the guy dropping off the next movie would walk in and say "HI!"

Did do the normal duty working at Mikey Dee's while attending two year college, one week I actually managed to get enough hours to get OT pay!

As far as full time jobs I basically had one! Day after I graduated from High School I was on the job at the quarry where my father worked. Started out as general laborer hot and dirty but not that bad, then after a couple years they decided to start up a shop to do most of their own equipment repairs I got one of the first spots there and a short time latter, well more like 44 years, I retired.

And out of all the bosses I had over those years 99.9% in the good to excellent range with only one that I would not stop to help if I saw him broke down on the side of the road with a flat tire in a cold rain storm. If not for that guy I might have considered working a few more years.

Not saying I did not but heads once or twice with others, but overall none too bad. One boss who retired maybe 15 to 20 years before me and knew my dad very well told dad once that more often than not when the two of us had disagreed on something I was in the end usually right!

 

[Downeaster]

Never really had a nasty job. Grew up on a farm and pitched a lot of manure, but that doesn't count because I got to drive the tractor as soon as the spreader was full!

I've had two jobs I absolutely hated because of the people (and I use that word very loosely) I worked with. Quit one after a week, stuck the other one out for a year and when they made me an insulting offer during salary negotiations, I literally laughed in their faces, told them to send me a check for my vacation time and walked out the door.

 

[MaxPete]

Yikes - the only thing worse would be a bee attack while you're up the tower and finding out that your partner is a bitchy women who likes to bite, is wearing a knapsack full of turantulas and is a looney politician on the side.

I'd simply jump.

 

[robinc]

I'd simply jump.

If ya can Pete.

Years ago I was up in a tree helping a girlfriends father cut off some big dead tree branches.

One foot on the ladder, one on a safe branch, chainsaw running great. I watched a BIG black hornet come out of his hole in the bark and head for me. He decided the middle of my chest was a good place to plant that stinger and let me know I wasn't invited.

Now what do you do? You're up in a tree with a chainsaw running cutting a branch while you're getting drilled by a hornet. Man they hurt. Although I think I was madder at the fact of how hard my girlfriends father was laughing.

 

[xjwmx]

Now what do you do?

Plunge the chainsaw into your heart.

 

[MaxPete]

Toss hm the runnng chainsaw?

 

[robinc]

Doh! Never thought of that in the heat of the moment Pete. Lol.

 

[Bob Kelly III]

not a good idea Pete then he would chase you with it for disturbing his sleep ! ( they get grumpy ya know!)
......
Bob........

 

[michaelpthompson]

[D]id some time cleaning the old movie theater in town, worked my own hours any time after last show. Was a little spooky being there alone and the lighting was not that great. Got a little scare when the guy dropping off the next movie would walk in and say "HI!"

First thought that came into my head when I saw this thread was of the time I spent cleaning the movie theater, though all around, it wasn't all that bad. Quiet and undisturbed, it's when I acquired a taste for talk radio. Fire up the radio, sweep the popcorn and trash out of the aisles, then pour a bucket of mop water along the top row of seats and let it flow down to the bottom (I guess there's more than one reason the floors are slanted in a movie house.) Then start along mopping each row. Tedious, but not terribly unpleasant. Worst part was probably cleaning the bathrooms. Had those old fashioned urinals in the men's that went all the way down to the floor, and the aim of the customers was none too good. Always had to pour bleach around the edges. Got to watch all the movies for free though.

Like many of you, I did a lot of odd jobs over the years. Fry cook, pizza delivery, pumping gas, etc. Even worked at a church camp one summer where they ran a string of horses for the campers. We grew, harvested, baled, and stacked our own hay. Walking along in the summer heat, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and gloves, tossing 70 lb. bales of hay onto a moving stack three feet over my own head; now that was interesting. Learned a lot about horses. We had one stubborn one the wrangler called "blockhead." Don't know if he was more stupid or more obstinate. The wrangler would hit him between the eyes with a two-by-four and say, "Well, now we have his attention." Don't tell the animal rights activists.

 

[Downeaster]

Speaking of trees...

I was on the local volunteer fire department for several years. Very professional outfit for a small rural department.

We got a call one afternoon for "cat up a tree". We very gently explained to the caller that we don't do cat rescue and if you just leave it alone, it'll eventually find it's way down.

Less than an hour later, we got a call for "person up a tree, can't get down". Same caller, of course.

So, we rolled up with the rescue truck and the ladders. I was driving the rescue, and as I pulled up to the scene, I started laughing. The person that was up the tree was of the female persuasion, very, VERY familiar with the dinner table ifyaknowwhatimean, more than somewhat less so with personal hygiene.

The preferred method for taking some down a ladder that is scared spitless is to have their back against the ladder, put their legs over your shoulders with their feet hanging down your back and sort of slide them down the rails of the ladder as you climb down. Think about this for a minute and figure out where that puts the firefighters face, particularly his nose.

The poor bastard that got elected to go up and get Miss Piggy was the skinniest guy on the department, one of those nice folks that wouldn't say shit if they had a mouthful. The guys on the ground are about to explode trying to keep from laughing in public, I'm in the truck laughing so hard I can't breathe, and poor Dick is gagging all the way down the ladder.

As far as I know, they're still giving him grief about that...

 

[kshansen]

, pumping gas

michaelpthompson, I had forgot about the short time when I had a job pumping gas. I was 15 years old and it was the first job I did other than doing the lawn mowing thing brother and I inherited from dad. Thought I was doing an OK job pumping the gas and then one day at the end of work I asked the owner what time he wanted me to start next Saturday. He said don't come back. Turns out he had sold a used car to this guy and the way he worked it the guy was going to work pumping gas to pay for the car so I was out of a job!

 

[Bob Kelly III]

I went up a 92' tall pine tree to set up a V-Quad beam for my ham radio one time after being up and down it several times I was ready to haul up the antenna..... there I am on a partly cloudy day with no wind when I started and i'm at the top of this tree that is only about 4"~6" in diameter, all the limbs trimmed off to give clearance for the antenna , rotor is already attached and it's heavy ground wire and KABOOOOM lightning hits the mountain side about 1/4 mile away, so I'm thinking if I hurry.... and another Kaboom, and down the tree I come !
the antenna is dangling from a rope and i'm 3/4 the way down and I just know any second will be my last..... but the good lord spaired me that day and I made it down just in time for it to start raining..... I waited 3 days with the antenna dangling from the rope to go back up and finish the job.... My wife looked at me and her eyes were big and she started laughing and so did I , she said I didn't know you could get down that fast I said nether did I ! ...... I took off my home made tree spurs and called it a day !
while I was up there I was wondering why the hair on my arms was standing on end , i figured it was because of the height and my gittyness, but with the lightning strike I knew why and I also knew I was higher than any thing else around there for a good 500 yards !..... .... that was a close call !
LOL
....
Bob......

 

[MaxPete]

michaelpthompson, I had forgot about the short time when I had a job pumping gas. I was 15 years old and it was the first job I did other than doing the lawn mowing thing brother and I inherited from dad. Thought I was doing an OK job pumping the gas and then one day at the end of work I asked the owner what time he wanted me to start next Saturday. He said don't come back. Turns out he had sold a used car to this guy and the way he worked it the guy was going to work pumping gas to pay for the car so I was out of a job!

Classy guy - I worked for a dean like that at one point!

 

[FLEA]

stress wise was driving a island body truck delivering roofing trusses , sounds easy doesn't it ?? and was except we had a lot of narrow rds and highways back then and quite a few pushbike riders on the rds.. being island body your perspective is put off a little bit and when all of a sudden you see another truck coming towards you and a p/bike on your side of the rd with no time to brake ,just try to fit through without clipping anybody , every day would go home wondering if id maybe killed or hurt somebody without knowing , in the end just said stuff it ,wasn't worth it and it wasn't as if I was being paid a fortune

 

[michaelpthompson]

michaelpthompson, I had forgot about the short time when I had a job pumping gas.

I was about fifteen as well. Did the all-night shift 7 days a week. Even at $1.25 an hour, I was making pretty good money for the times. Got scolded by the boss for smoking cigars on the drive. I guess you can blow things up that way. Which I actually did one time, though in another way. Put an M-80 in the pop machine once to see what would happen. Took me three months to pay that one off.

 

[aldo5468]

Age 17, 1961, summer job, worked swing shifts at large cannery in Rochelle, Illinois that started up about 6AM and shut down for cleaning about 1AM following morning during pea and corn packs. We'd get a morning off, then an afternoon, then an evening, then work startup to shutdown. Overtime started at 70 hours during pea and corn packs - many weeks I logged over 100 hours at IIRC $1.17 per hour.

 

[Mailman]

Aldo, that's some LONG hours for not much money. I guess most of us started out in the not much money range.

 

[MaxPete]

Ooooohhhh yeah.

 

[robinc]

Yup, first $1.05 an hour job, "Would you like fries with that?" Took the job at 15 years old to buy a new 10 speed CCM. Bought the bike, quit the job.

 

[Bob Kelly III]

Yup.... and Kids now days , some of them start out at $20.00 hr and complain that is not enough !
and the worst part is , I never made over $15.00 an hr even in my own business ! , now Minimum wage is what ? $8.50hr , something like that..... I was a mechanic at a forklift repair place and got that ! ..... I guess it has to do with being in the Baby boomer generation, too many people looking for work and not enough jobs available, now it's just the opposite too many Jobs not enough people to fill them, there is help wanted signs up all over the place ! .... in my day, you had to stand in line to put in a job app !
..... but can you imagine trying to start out with a new wife now days, 18 yrs old if your lucky, and trying to work 2 jobs one to pay the rent one for the food you eat and Pray the car doesn't brake down ! ... we think we had it bad but the cost of living has risen higher than it ever was in Our generation ..... try and find a room or apartment for under $150 a month ! that ain't happening now days ! so you gott'a sleep in your car,....and when you do you get arrested because you can't do that any more ! at least not in California ! ....LOL your supposed to be Rich here!
you know check into a motel and pay $95.00 a night for a BED ! ....AT MOTEL 6..... you know the one that used to be $6.00 a night! .... it's gone berserk i tell ya !!!
Times change but who would'a thought that a Nickle candy-bar would be $1.25 each now ? .....
want a shock ? try and buy a bottle of water ! they cost as much as a Pepsi ! ....and it's water !
its a case of "Who can be the most GREEDY and still survive" in business its a crying shame , but it will just continue to get worse as time goes on..... .... I get almost $600.00 a month from SSI..... How in anyone's dreams am I supposed to survive on that ? Rent alone is more than that.... and what about transportation ? and utilities.... it's completely ridiculous !
.....I asked the SSI gal how am I supposed to survive on that little of an Income ? I paid my taxes ! I deserve more ! and she just shrugged her shoulders and gave a silly grin ! .... it's like Yah Sucker ! you fell for it too !
Bob.......