Worst job you ever had

I worked at a Sbarro when I was a teenager. We made the pizza dough fresh, so I always smelled a little sour by the time I got home. I've been pretty fortunate because I'd say that was the worst, and the job wasn't that bad.

 

Fucked up sums it up pretty well.

The other workers only worked eight hour days, five days a week.

My brother viewed my other brother and myself as "management" and demanded a lot more.

The upside was that in the four months I worked there, I was able to help straighten the place out and train some decent workers. They still lose a lot of workers. . . those who are happy to get a paycheck instead of a paycheck every week. . . but it is a better place.

Still. . . I won't go back.

 

A reporter at a 15k. I was GA but also had a municipal beat. Worked with a passive aggressive managing editor and an editor in chief who let one of the local elected officials dictate coverage. Said pol was a retired Army colonel and would call and berate me if I didn't quote him in a story. "I went to [name of store] and they were upset you didn't quote me!" Like that really happened. I'd volunteer for any other project to avoid having to deal with this guy. Somehow lasted six months before I left on my terms.

My non-journalism gigs haven't been horrible.

-- Friendly's, except for stinking like ice cream was OK.
-- Stocking/receiving at Target.
-- Maintenance department dispatcher at a factory.
-- Pushing paperwork at an insurance company.

 

I had a job as a proofreader -- of checks -- for a short stint while I was in college.

I'd previously had a newspaper proofreading job at a local daily that I'd enjoyed, for what it was, but, boy, was doing it for checks, for whole shifts, much different, very isolated, and not nearly as good.

One day, I was scheduled to go in for a second-shift stint, and just couldn't make myself do it. Instead, I called in from a restaurant I'd been sitting at with a friend, and quit on the spot via a phone call.

 

The first call center I worked for.

I did inbound sales for a company and went into a work environment where managers sometimes forced me back in the queue when you were on what we now call aftercall work. Where a big shot from Boston (corporate headquarters) literally looked over my shoulder when you took a call. Where I had a direct extension and one guy called me two minutes before we BOTH were scheduled to leave for the day to transfer me a call because HE didn't want to work past the time we were scheduled to clock out.

It was such a soul-sucking experience that I dreaded going to work every day.