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Wednesday, May 12, 2010

What's the Worst Job You've Ever Had?

Hey all! I need your help with my next book! 52 Reasons to Hate My Father (scheduled for release in 2012) is about a spoiled teen heiress who has to take on 52 low-wage jobs in order to receive her inheritance. I'm in the process of writing it now and I need some inspiration!

I'm currently collecting a list of horrible jobs. So leave a comment on the post and let me know what's the worst job you've ever had.

All comments will go into a drawing for a free copy of The Karma Club, AND your worst job ever could end up in my next book!

Looking forward to reading about everyone's occupational miseries. LOL!

XO
Jessica

22 comments:

Crazy for words said...

I worked as a Custodian at Disney World for close to a year... definitely goes on the list of worst jobs. We got the lowest pay and were constantly being told we had the most important job at the park. Way to make us feel important.

-Em

Erin Paranuk said...

The worst job I have ever had is one time my friend paid me to clean her horse corral which hadn't been cleaned in a very long time- it took me about 3 days! Eww!

Erin

Anonymous said...

I worked at a funeral home in high school. I knew the owners. The pay sucked, and cleanup was really bad. People would wedge used tissues in weird places. Not to mention the fact that the owners would be overly religious on me. I get that they work with the dead and everything but they would always take it too far.

On a morbid level it was interesting...getting to observe people and how they grieve but at the end of the day I wouldn't do that job again. Facing everyday with your own mortality was really hard.

Hope it helps.

-Kimber

Kristy said...

Well, the worst job I have ever had can also be the best if you have the right attitude. I also am still doing it though because I'm too lazy to find a constant one. xD
But anyways, I am a soccer ref for Kindergarten-8th grade. It's only a recreation league, but parents (Soccer moms. Need I say more??) and coaches can be soooooooo over the top. The kids can too, come to think of it. One time a full out brawl broke out on the field...that was pretty bad.
So yes, that's my worst job ever. Hope you had a chuckle at my expense! :)

Kathryn Murders said...

Well i haven't had much experiance with jobs, but the worst two comes to mind since i can't really decide between them. The first was when i had to babysit my neice who was a colicy infant. I felt so helpless and at fault for her screaming even though my parents and my brother and sister-in-law would reassure me. I sometimes ended up crying the first couple of times because i felt i was failing at my job as a babysitter. The second job was cleaning up dog turds in the rain for two/three hours, which, as you could imagine, without the rain cleaning that stuff up isn't pleasant. So with the rain made it just that much worse. Hope this helps, good luck with the book.
Sincerely Kathryn Murders
(Yes, my last name is really Murders. No, i don't kill people. haha. Although i have to admit, it would be funny to see a headline like that in the news.)

Leslie said...

i'm posting this on behalf of billy - peeling tastebuds off of cow's tongues (a ginormous bucket of them!!) at a Jewish Deli called Reuven's in NY.

Colleen Turner said...

There are so many horrible jobs out there. The worst I have worked is as a cashier at a low end grocery store. I had to get up early on Saturdays, go in to a job I hated, and my manager wouldn't even allow me to write off mistakes on my register. So,everytime someone would decide they didn't wanted to buy something I had already wrung up, I had to call my manager to cancel it...and the first thing he always said was "What did you do now?". It really sucked! Another horrible job would be working the complaints department at a department store.
candc320@gmail.com

Ernessa from 32 Candles said...

I already ordered and downloaded my copy for signing and actual reading. But just wanted to say that the worst job I ever had was as a payroll administrator for a temp company. Basically you get paid very little to be yelled at all day. And if you make a mistake, it's really, really bad, because people pretty much explode (I mean just full-on cuss you out) when they don't get their money on the day they're supposed to get it.

I've thought about writing about this job myself, but it's still too traumatizing. However, when I got my first job writing full time, there was a problem with my paycheck. I just called and quietly got it fixed. I'll never blow up at a payroll administrator. I mean never.

YzhaBella's BookShelf said...

Worst Jobs EVER!!

Babysitting
Cleaning Horse Stalls
Delivering local Paper through sleet, snow, rain and HELL
Stuffing Envelopes
Telemarketing for Charity...Even worse is just regular telemarketing!
Door to Door Sales of Lawn Services
Part Time Janitors assistant at the local high school ove rthe summer........ewwww teenagers are gross!!!

Lol, hope these help!
Kate
mleger0546(at)rogers(dotcom

Jessica N. said...

By far the worst job I ever had was a Telemarketer for my college. They hired us, promising "flexible hours" and "good pay". What we got was working weekends and minimum wage. LOL.

What I disliked the most was calling people on Sundays. I felt awful, I knew they hated me, and I actually felt a little better if they did hang up one me!

Anonymous said...

1. working for social security and having a lady punch you
2.shadowing at a vetrinary clinic and having to stand over a dog beig neutered

Anonymous said...

Worst job I ever had was at Payless. Though a close runner up is the job I had at Wendy's....I would not wish a fast food job on even my worst enemy.

molly. said...

Telemarketer. Those people can be downright mean on the phone.

irishhorselover(at)comcast(dot)net

Ellen Sallas, TAM said...

WORST JOBS:

Telemarketer (gag!) -- I got this job for the pay, but couldn't make myself talk to strangers on the phone. So I pretended to call people for 8 hours straight, and then had to quit. Nightmare!

Babysitting -- I was 16, they were 7 and 8. They tortured me by acting terrible, stripping off their clothes and running around screaming, and when they're parents came home every afternoon, they acted like angels.

Animal Shelter Volunteer -- cleaning out dog kennels is the worst job in the world. Plus, this was not a no-kill shelter and we had to toss out the bodies (sad).

Thank you Jessica! I hope I win the book!

Courtney said...

I worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken. Cleaning out the grease traps, unplugging the toilets, and dealing with angry customers when our KFC didn't sell macaroni and cheese and corn on the cobb. It wasn't much fun.

Another job was working at a movie theater. Horrible horrible place. The clean up at a place like that. Awful! Disgusting teenagers peeing all over the toilets and splatting crap on the walls is enough to make you quit. In fact I did!

gortney@hotmail.com

Jessica Brody said...

Thanks everyone! These are SO great!

I chose one comment at random and the winner of the free copy of THE KARMA CLUB is....Kate! (aka YhzaBella). Congrats! I'll email you to get your mailing address.

Thanks again all!

Sarah Billington said...

I had similar experiences to Ellenmaze,
I was a telemarketer for 4 months. The whole time between 4-9pm you were calling right in the middle of dinner. At midday people were mad cos they did night duty and were sleeping. Men tried to pick you up over the phone, as well. Even after asking them about their toilet paper habits (I had to ask if they scrunched or folded. It was not uncommon to be given the answer: "...Is that really a question?"

I was also a volunteer at an animal shelter, and cleaned out the dog kennels/cages. A lot of the dogs that came in were strays with all sorts of diseases and diarhea, and when spraying the cement down with the hose (the dog was still inside) a lot of them love spraying the water straight into their mouths. Which then sprays back onto you. Good times. They WERE really cute though. And I got to cuddle dogs and comfort them.

Hope it helps!

Simply_Megan said...

I was a camp counselor once, and at times it was horrible. One time a kid got stung by a bee and he told us he was allergic so my co-counselor called 911 and was about to get an ambulance when the kid said that he wasn't allergic anymore. Feel free to use that in your book! haha.

April said...

Hi Jessica, I just finished reading Karma Club and loved it! My worst job experience was for a meat packaging plant. I only lasted about three hours, I worked on a conveyer belt full of bloody meat, everyone wore white jumpsuits that were bloody from hands to elbows. By the time I left I had blood splattered on my face and in my hair, it was a nightmare.

Maddz said...

I haven't actually worked (I only just turned 14), but my grandfather is one of those toll booth money collector people. He has to work four nights a week, from 9 PM, to some crazy hour in the morning. He likes it, but this seems like a really hard job to me!

-Maddz
www.maddzslightlybookish.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

I've had a lot of work experiences in the past and like you guys, I've also had the worst job in my life and that was when I worked as a telephone operator. The reason why I hate that job a lot because people calling everyday in our company are just so mean to me when they didn't get what they need and I get so stressed every time there's a nasty caller. But thankfully I'm now at the fields of semiconductors careers. Thanks to the technical recruiting agency who helped me have this job.

gjerziemarcaida said...

Being a secretary in a chinese hardware store were in i make a coffee for the boss and sometimes i operate an elevator.
_______________
Jobs WA

Blog Description

Jessica Brody, author of the forthcoming novel, The Fidelity Files, explores the thorny topic of infidelity in modern-day society