At some point in most careers, you will have had a job that you hated. No matter whether your worst job offered you lousy or distasteful work, a boss you hated, or coworkers who constantly undermined you or complained, you remember the job as your worst job - ever.
I thought back over my career, and mind you, because I have been writing and consulting for years, I have not taken any jobs except for clients I loved and for whom I really thought I could make a difference, in a long time. But, in the earlier days, I worked at a GM education center as a management development specialist.
I really liked the director, the clients, and the work, but my immediate boss was petty, self-serving, and a tyrant who wanted her way all of the time. Plus, coming out of 16 years in an education setting, I was first of all, used to running things, but secondly, I felt as if I was, once again, managing another school - the environment I had just left - on purpose.
The job gave me connections, however, and I was soon able to move to a GM plant where I learned a whole new world - and even became friends with my former boss when I no longer reported to her. If that opportunity had not come up, however, I would have spent all of my time job searching to get rid of a bad boss and a public sector repeat career in an industry setting.
I also worked as a Good Humor ice cream truck substitute driver during the summer of the Detroit riots in 1967. But, I loved that job, and its unexpected dire environment, is a story for another day.
Okay, I've shared my worst job story. What's yours? Compared to the stories I regularly hear about on this website, my story is mild, and fortunately, I got out of there quickly.
Please share your worst job - ever - story.
Image Copyright Bobbieo
I was working for an audit firm when on Sunday I had climbed up the roof to repair the small leak that poured drops of water in my room messing my books. I had the Sunday shorts and nothing else, when the audit partner knocked the door and asked of me. The family pointed up. He called me down and said, “One transport company has gone bankrupt. Let us go quick before the auction eagled transistorized vaporize the assets. It was a rush job and I sat in his car and finished the assets count. Come lunch he said, “Thanks let us go have some lunch”. As he was the boss and work finished, I fatigued, hungry could not tell him no, forgetting that I had only one piece like Gandhi of India. We had lunch. I had three days holiday as my friends were looking for me. Where is the modern Ghandhijee.
I thank you
Firozali A Mulla
My worst job ever was a summer job at a factory where I had to go around and clean up the oils produced by big machinery. I couldn’t wait for lunch break and then the end of the day!
I just left a job where the owner of the company repeatedly made inappropriate advances to me and made inappropriate comments (which he treated as jokes) to the rest of the staff about being with me and others intimately. A new manager joined the company and I told her about the situation as well as about my hopes and dreams for future employment. To ingratiate herself with the owner, she told him that I had mentioned “sexual harassment” and that I was unhappy with my job. I am now no longer employed, however, even with no income, I feel I am better off!
Worst job was when I was 21, when me and another 21 year old had our desks pushed right up against the desk of a dictatorial micromanager who was 72 years old. She refused to retire, and was driven to control and criticize, and the boss “gave” her two new girls every six months or so, to micromanage, control, berate, criticize, eavesdrop upon, yank on our clothing, et al. So that she would leave everybody else alone. Six months was just about as long as anyone lasted. Everybody called us “The Sacrificial Lambs.” I remember she let us have one ball point pen at a time, and we had to give her written explanations before she would give us a postage stamp.