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What's the worst job you've ever had? (1 Viewer)

2nd...

Delivering lumber in the summer of 2002... I was built like a brick and weighed about 230. I figured it would be a cakewalk. First day, about 95 degrees outside, drove this big stupid box truck to a new townhouse community. Besides the heat wasn't so bad. Second day, body is exhausted from day 1, I was with my friend who was on his 2nd week, even hotter than day 1. We had to deliver a truck full to a new construction house. The closest we could get the truck to the house was about 100-120 feet away due to dumpsters and other hazards, plus we had to go up a large hill. The bundles we had to deliver were filled with pallet after pallet of stacks filled with wood that was about 12 inches wide, 4 feet long, and an inch or so thick, maybe each bundle had 12-15 pieces. I carried one bundle and almost collapsed from the heat and misery, it was too long to walk. My friend agreed. We called our boss and said they had to move some of the dumpsters and what not so we could get closer, he told us to just get it done. We asked the project manager if they could either move the dumpsters or help us, he basically told us to get the job done. We called our boss back, told him we couldn't do it, he told us get it done or you're fired. We called a friend, got a ride, and left the truck behind. Lumber delivery has to be one of the worst gigs on Earth.

 
mr roboto said:
Oh, picking rock. Literally walking behind a tractor with a tailor picking rocks out of a field. $5 cash at 14 years old. No W2, certainly no workers comp.
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Did this countless times as a kid. Hours of picking up rocks out of the field and throwing them into the back of a pickup truck. I don't recall getting paid for it.

 
Worked in a melt furnace. You looked like you were about to walk on the moon with all the protective clothing you had to wear. It was hot as balls. When you had to scrape the furnace you flipped down this plastic shield over your face. It was about 1 square foot, by the time you finished it was about 6 inches by 6 inches because the heat would shrink it. Also part of the job involved pulling what was basically like a big cork out to let the melted aluminum flow into containers, when you went to put that cork back in, often in wouldn't go in right and molten aluminum would be spraying every where at 1600 degrees. 1 drop would burn right through your gear.

All my buddies lasted 1 night. I lasted 3 months and it was brutal.

Had another job working nights at a convenient store. There was basically a "motel" behind it that was made from buildings like storage sheds. It attracted a certain type of clientele. It would've made a great reality TV show.

 
The General said:
Worked at a ice factory that made and bagged those bags of party ice you buy at grocery stores.

Worked there over the winter and you were either outside, in the factory part which was open air or in an ice truck.

Oh yeah, never use that stuff in your drink. Not the most hygienic of places.
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Another point for tiger fan

 
One summer I loaded boxes into semi-trailers for UPS at their Atlanta hub. I worked noon - 5pm and they left the empty trailers in a hot parking lot until needed so the ceiling would burn your hand and it was just very hot in general. I dreaded finishing a trailer as that meant they brought in a new hot one. You'd open the door and it was like being hit by the wave of heat from a blast furnace and while you were waiting the boxes began to back up so you had to work fast to get caught up. I brought two frozen gallons of water to work everyday and they were melted and imbibed before the shift was over. I got one break of exactly fifteen minutes in a crappy break room at the same time as everybody else. After every shift I drank a large frozen slushie and went for a long swim to cool down.

You couldn't just mindlessly stack the boxes though as you had to verify they were in the correct trailer and put them into a proper stable wall. By the time I stopped working there I loaded three different trailers(going to three different cities) and had to jump from trailer to trailer to keep them from backing up. This was before barcodes and mechanized sorters so they relied on men manually routing boxes which made mistakes common. For example, I loaded the Greenville, SC trailer and there is a Greenville, NC a Greenville, TN and a Greenville, GA not to mention Green, Greene Greeley, and Greeneville. Don't even get me started on having to memorize new zipcodes every time they changed the trailer you loaded. You'd get your ### chewed big time if a box got through you and loaded to the wrong city as it meant it had to be found, sorted and then returned through the same system that misrouted it the first time.

They paid twice the minimum wage plus some hours worked bonuses and minimal benefits so the pay was decent but they went through a lot of people because the work was unrelenting. The boxes never seemed to stop coming down the chute. I was 18 but most of the other workers were grown men with families working a second job. It was a way into UPS and could get you eventually promoted to Driver which many guys aspired to. Loaders were a step above unloaders who only had to put the boxes onto the conveyor belt chutes for local sorting. When I applied and interviewed they had a room full of people brought in for interviews but only hired about 20% of us so there was clearly no shortage of people that wanted the job.

I didn't join the Union because I didn't plan to be there long but when the union found out they sent two extremely large men to speak to me. You had to pass through a security hut to get on and off the property and they cornered me as I left my shift one day and suggested that I sign the paperwork they so helpfully provided and start have dues removed in the next paycheck.

At the end of my time there the Union was threatening to go on strike. As the strike deadline approached the mail order companies switched to FedEx, DHL, Greyhound, couriers or good old USPS so their shipments didn't get delayed while a strike against UPS was resolved. That meant the package volume was way down so they didn't need as many loaders and being the new guy I was often sent home early and usually told to clock out shortly after I arrived on Fridays. That meant my already meager paycheck was a good $60 lighter each week but I still had to show up on time everyday. An altogether disagreeable experience.

 
fantasycurse42 said:
2nd...

Delivering lumber in the summer of 2002... I was built like a brick and weighed about 230. I figured it would be a cakewalk. First day, about 95 degrees outside, drove this big stupid box truck to a new townhouse community. Besides the heat wasn't so bad. Second day, body is exhausted from day 1, I was with my friend who was on his 2nd week, even hotter than day 1. We had to deliver a truck full to a new construction house. The closest we could get the truck to the house was about 100-120 feet away due to dumpsters and other hazards, plus we had to go up a large hill. The bundles we had to deliver were filled with pallet after pallet of stacks filled with wood that was about 12 inches wide, 4 feet long, and an inch or so thick, maybe each bundle had 12-15 pieces. I carried one bundle and almost collapsed from the heat and misery, it was too long to walk. My friend agreed. We called our boss and said they had to move some of the dumpsters and what not so we could get closer, he told us to just get it done. We asked the project manager if they could either move the dumpsters or help us, he basically told us to get the job done. We called our boss back, told him we couldn't do it, he told us get it done or you're fired. We called a friend, got a ride, and left the truck behind. Lumber delivery has to be one of the worst gigs on Earth.
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LOOK AT ME! I KNOW HOW TO DRIVE A TRUCK!

 
Roofing- worked a total of two days ( I only went back the second day because the job wasn't finished). It was 90 freaking degrees and I got stung on the butt by a bee.

Roofing sales- worked for almost an entire year and made $16,000. I not for the pharmaceutical sales I was making on the side, I would have lost my house. Oh, the guy I was working for was providing all the coke for the entire Wash/DC metropolitan area so I constantly worried the office was going to get raided by cops or Colombians.

 
fantasycurse42 said:
2nd...

Delivering lumber in the summer of 2002... I was built like a brick and weighed about 230. I figured it would be a cakewalk. First day, about 95 degrees outside, drove this big stupid box truck to a new townhouse community. Besides the heat wasn't so bad. Second day, body is exhausted from day 1, I was with my friend who was on his 2nd week, even hotter than day 1. We had to deliver a truck full to a new construction house. The closest we could get the truck to the house was about 100-120 feet away due to dumpsters and other hazards, plus we had to go up a large hill. The bundles we had to deliver were filled with pallet after pallet of stacks filled with wood that was about 12 inches wide, 4 feet long, and an inch or so thick, maybe each bundle had 12-15 pieces. I carried one bundle and almost collapsed from the heat and misery, it was too long to walk. My friend agreed. We called our boss and said they had to move some of the dumpsters and what not so we could get closer, he told us to just get it done. We asked the project manager if they could either move the dumpsters or help us, he basically told us to get the job done. We called our boss back, told him we couldn't do it, he told us get it done or you're fired. We called a friend, got a ride, and left the truck behind. Lumber delivery has to be one of the worst gigs on Earth.

:lol:
Click to expand...
 
One summer I painted a two mile long chain link fence. It had barb-wire along the top, the kind the slanted outwards. I was one one side, another dude on the other, and we used a roller on a long handle. I was covered in silver paint every day from the splatter, and my jeans could stand up by themselves.

 
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