Hi Ho, Hi Ho

I'm thinking about applying for another job. Not that I don't love my current job. I am working on a contract that is set to expire the end of June. Renewal is a certainly a possibility but I want to put out some feelers just in case.

I had this same job when I lived in Boston. I had to give up full time employee status when I moved to due a residency rule. One of the driving forces behind my move was a multi-unit condo development that was slated to be built on the property that abutted my house in Boston. I had just added a sunroom onto the house and the thought of a building less than 35 feet away that housed people who would be able to stare down upon me was quite disturbing. The neighborhood fought like crazy to stop the development but lost. Anyway, the condos are still yet to be built and the fancy restaurant that the development group owns has just shut it doors. Thanks a lot Mayo.

Enough ranting - back to the job. So, seeing how I feel so fortunate to have a job I really enjoy made me think back to all the jobs I really hated, including discount department store employee and camp counselor. And I'm wondering - what's the worst job that other folks have had? I'm pretty sure there will be some interesting responses.

Comments

Anonymous said…
When I was in college I was a "Temp" during every break and for the summer. This one particular winter break I was set up to temp at a well known envelope manufacturing company in Springfield. I was hired to do Data Entry. What they really requested that I do was separate their giant multi-copy printout of billing statements by perforation and by copy. Stuff one copy into an envelope to be mailed later. Yawn. I went out for lunch and never went back!

I realize that it doesn't sound like the worst job ever but it certainly wasn't data entry.
Detasseling corn. I last one day. It sucked. Sweaty, sticky, itchy, scratchy, and it was the best paid gig we could get, but still wasn't worth it. That was at 14 and when I decided an office job was going to be a necessity in my future.
Anonymous said…
long john silvers -- the fish shop -- for two months before my senior year in high school. least pleasant part of the whole miserable experience was leaving each afternoon smelling like the hush puppy mix. who knew it smelled worse than fish? i gag thinking about it. also the reason i lasted only two months. oh, and i took the job, i later realized, because the former editor of the school paper worked there. kerri. a crush. that i wouldn't quite figure out for a few more years...
Velvet Ginger said…
Ok...I am freaking out about the sunroom with the see-threw ceiling...and what Lamo's that made you move but never built?? Worse job was when i was a cook and dishwasher at a bakery/sandwich shop one summer as a teenager...my little sister was the only waitress. We worked 12 hours a day, the owners and their children were employees too but were never there, Ellie & I ran the show. After 2 paychecks in a row bounced...our Mother made us quit!
That doesn't sound like it was too much fun Blondie. Not sure I would have come back either.

Ok Lori - what does one have to do detassel corn? Is that pulling the hair like thingy-mabobbers off the top? It seems a little too labor intensive for me.

Lyn - I have to ask. What is in the hush puppy mix that makes it smell worse than the fish? I guess not even the excitement of the crush could over power the smell. That's bad.

Hey Rubye Jean - I guess the developers had every intention on building this complex but then the market dipped. It was a blessing in disguise - I love the western part of the state so much better.
The cook/dishwasher job sounds like it was hard work (and for no pay with those bouncing checks!) Your mother was right to get you the heck out of there.
Mon said…
Mine was 2 jobs ago, I actually posted about this so here is the link of the post.

http://bearsmountain.blogspot.com/2008/02/dear-bitch.html

Suffice it to say, this woman didn't like me from the start. I had been hired by the previous general counsel, and he was fired. They brought her in as a contracted GC, but she was my direct supervisor. I was devasted when my old boss was let go, and she really did get her jolly's out of messing with people.

To prove it, a bunch of us started submitting different things to her to review, things she had already reviewed. First thing is she never noticed that we were submitting xtra work that she had already done, and second, she would red-line the hell out of her own work. I can say, in all honesty, in all my years, she is the only person I've ever "hated" and still do. But what goes around, comes around, and she is finding that out, because I stalk her stupid blog and know she has a sad little life now. Wish it didn't give me so much satisfaction, but it does.
Anonymous said…
From HN - I too was a corn-detasseler. A bunch of my friends signed up because the $$ was GREAT when you were 15-17. Yes, the corn stalks were terribly itchy...the dew in the morning soaked my shoes, socks, sweat pants (that were removed after the sun hit 10a), sweat shirt, hair, etc. You had to get up @ the butt-crack of dawn and be in the high-school parking lot by 5a to catch the refurbished school bus that took you to a HUGE corn field. When you got there, you were paired off and loaded into one of 6"baskets" that hung from a large boom that was attached to a tractor that was 10-feet off the ground. The driver moved slowly through the rows and you and your buddy were back to back, pulling the tassle of the "male" stalks so they didn't pollinate the "female" stalks. If that happened, then the farmer wouldn't get a good yield. You got a break in the mid-morning--pounded a gallon of water-breaked for lunch--then were back on the bus headed back to the parking lot by 3p. You were coverd in mud, silk from the tassles, but like I said, the money was GREAT! Lots of summer romances of course were always prevalent. Oh, I worked my way up to driver of the weird tractor by the second season and did that for two summers. I got some awesome tans! It was when I had my big boobs--so the math teacher, football coach, and biology teacher that were our "leaders", enjoyed sticking me and my friend (who also had some MAJOR guavos) on the tractors--bumping along the rows of corn...Good times...
Anonymous said…
From BN - I have you all beat--I had to help give pregnancy tests for herds of cattle. Top that CJ and Belle!
OC I'm laughing at the comment about this women red-lining her own work. Sounds like a real gem to work for. I never could quite figure out why some people are just so nasty at work. They should just quit if they are that unhappy!
Hey HN! I can't believe I had two corn detasselers respond. I never even knew there was such a thing. It sounds like really hard work. And on top of it, you had to deal with those pervs! Is a corn detasseler similar to a "corn husker" with the exception the latter involves a football?
OK BN - you win. Please tell me one performs preganancy tests on cows with a blood sample and not urine. Although I am imagining it is even worse than I think.

Hay that's some job. I was really mooooved by your comments. I should stop trying to milk you for a laugh.
Anonymous said…
Hey BN -

I have seen a cow peeing and it is like someone turned on a fire hose. How did you hold onto those little test strips under that flow?
Anonymous said…
From BN - It involves up-to-the-shoulder rubber gloves...need I say more?
Anonymous said…
BN, you win!
My ex worked at a cyro bank (fancy name for sperm bank.) One phrase you couldn't say - "Thanks for coming!"

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