Worst work experience?
- Thread starter Mr. Lucky
- Start date
I worked in a scrap metal yard for 6 months in my early 20's.Dangerous,demeaning,depressing......it's the bar I hold every other job to when I dislike any part of the one I have now.Just a miserable occupation.
Well, it was an ok place to work for sure, but it had its moments.....
When I was in High School I worked after school and weekends at Woolco. (It got bought out by Walmart in the early 90's.) Anyway, there was a Woolco that was close to my parent's house and I applied for a job when I was 15 I think. I got hired as "Christmas Help" which basically meant that you stood behind a cashier for 4 hours at a time shoving stuff in bags as fast as she could key the prices in. Back then, the cash registers were very primative. There were no bar codes, there were price stickers on everything. You had to key in the department number, then the price. She would key it in, and I would shove it in a bag. You never stopped for the whole 4 hours.
Once Christmas was over, you got laid off because business tanked. If you were lucky, you got called back for the Easter rush (which I did.)
The next Xmas, they called me back (keeping in mind that the Xmas rush back then was Novemberish into December). When Xmas was over, they asked me if I wanted a job as casual help on Thursday, Friday evenings and Saturday. Sure.
I think minimum student wage back then was $2.45 an hour and I remember making $3.50 an hour so I felt like King Shit.
The PROBLEM with the job was that I had to do the shitty jobs. If someone puked in the Red Grille (the restaurant) they called me. (There was actually 2 or 3 of us High school guys working there - so we took turns cleaning up the puke.) People would puke at least once a day in the restaurant, or so it seemed. That was harsh when you were 16.
Another part of my chores involved cleaning the washrooms at nights. I had to go in, clean the sinks, clean the toilets and clean up.
It was usually a bad scene.
Especially the women's washrooms. Women are pigs compared to men. (I've cleaned public washrooms more times than I want to remember.) The mens, at most you'd have some piss on the floor or pubes in the urinal.
The women's - holy fuck it was a snake pit. Tampons on the floor. Piss everywhere, Shit all over the place. I had this old shopping buggy that was filled with the tools of the trade to clean a washroom - brushes, soap, toilet paper,.......and a shovel. Yep, a flat ended shovel for scooping up the human turds on the floor in the women's washroom. Plop it in the can and flush it like the stupid bitch that left it there didn't do. The worst would be when someone took a HUGE shit in the toilet, then plugged it up for one reason or another and flushed it. You can imagine the scene there.
Those images are burned in my mind almost 30 years later. (I was all of 16 at the time.)
Shudder.
Anyway, we had a great staff at Woolco, and you did feel like you were part of this extended family of sorts. All the ladies who worked there were old girls who were older than my mom, but they treated you like you were their son. The bosses were all pretty good for the most part.
The problem wasn't the place, or the boss, or the money persay, it was the human beings who frequented the store. Puke, shit, piss, tampons. I've had to deal with it all in my past.
When I was in High School I worked after school and weekends at Woolco. (It got bought out by Walmart in the early 90's.) Anyway, there was a Woolco that was close to my parent's house and I applied for a job when I was 15 I think. I got hired as "Christmas Help" which basically meant that you stood behind a cashier for 4 hours at a time shoving stuff in bags as fast as she could key the prices in. Back then, the cash registers were very primative. There were no bar codes, there were price stickers on everything. You had to key in the department number, then the price. She would key it in, and I would shove it in a bag. You never stopped for the whole 4 hours.
Once Christmas was over, you got laid off because business tanked. If you were lucky, you got called back for the Easter rush (which I did.)
The next Xmas, they called me back (keeping in mind that the Xmas rush back then was Novemberish into December). When Xmas was over, they asked me if I wanted a job as casual help on Thursday, Friday evenings and Saturday. Sure.
I think minimum student wage back then was $2.45 an hour and I remember making $3.50 an hour so I felt like King Shit.
The PROBLEM with the job was that I had to do the shitty jobs. If someone puked in the Red Grille (the restaurant) they called me. (There was actually 2 or 3 of us High school guys working there - so we took turns cleaning up the puke.) People would puke at least once a day in the restaurant, or so it seemed. That was harsh when you were 16.
Another part of my chores involved cleaning the washrooms at nights. I had to go in, clean the sinks, clean the toilets and clean up.
It was usually a bad scene.
Especially the women's washrooms. Women are pigs compared to men. (I've cleaned public washrooms more times than I want to remember.) The mens, at most you'd have some piss on the floor or pubes in the urinal.
The women's - holy fuck it was a snake pit. Tampons on the floor. Piss everywhere, Shit all over the place. I had this old shopping buggy that was filled with the tools of the trade to clean a washroom - brushes, soap, toilet paper,.......and a shovel. Yep, a flat ended shovel for scooping up the human turds on the floor in the women's washroom. Plop it in the can and flush it like the stupid bitch that left it there didn't do. The worst would be when someone took a HUGE shit in the toilet, then plugged it up for one reason or another and flushed it. You can imagine the scene there.
Those images are burned in my mind almost 30 years later. (I was all of 16 at the time.)
Shudder.
Anyway, we had a great staff at Woolco, and you did feel like you were part of this extended family of sorts. All the ladies who worked there were old girls who were older than my mom, but they treated you like you were their son. The bosses were all pretty good for the most part.
The problem wasn't the place, or the boss, or the money persay, it was the human beings who frequented the store. Puke, shit, piss, tampons. I've had to deal with it all in my past.
Through the end of high school and all through college I worked at a hospital as an Emergency room orderly. On night shifts I had to wrap the dead bodies and take them to the morgue. About 50 % of the time I could not get a nurse to come down to the morgue with me........ Really creepy even though you know they are dead.
First imagine yourself walking down the hall with the gurney to the elevator, then you are on the elevator alone with the body. When you get down to the basement you are going down long hallways with no people just you and the dead guy. Then you make into the morgue and have to park the body in the freezer beside the other dead people that the morgue guys haven't got yet .......
I loved the job, just that one part really sucked.
First imagine yourself walking down the hall with the gurney to the elevator, then you are on the elevator alone with the body. When you get down to the basement you are going down long hallways with no people just you and the dead guy. Then you make into the morgue and have to park the body in the freezer beside the other dead people that the morgue guys haven't got yet .......
I loved the job, just that one part really sucked.
Yep. Similar experience as james t. kirk. I worked as a janitor in a hick-town mall as a part-time job during high school. I had to clean the washrooms. Mens' washrooms were maybe pissy, but that was it. Womens' washrooms - good grief. Toilets clogged with sanitary napkins and then shit in anyway were a daily occurrence. Several times I had to clean shit off the mirror over the sink/vanity counter.
Maybe that's why I'm not the least bit squeamish today.
Maybe that's why I'm not the least bit squeamish today.
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Worst work experience?
Was my very first job... (Not counting the paper route I had which was actually pretty awesome since the Police station and Fire Station were on my route... but I digress) Anyway, I got a job at McDonald's when I was 14. Because I wasn't old enough to work in the kitchen, I started on what was called "lot & lobby" which basically meant cleaning the tables, sweeping, mopping and changing the garbage in the lobby, and picking up / changing the garbage on the parking lot, and of course... cleaning the bathrooms! (There are members here who know what I'm taking about! LOL)
Fortunately I only did this for a few months, because as soon as I turned 15, I was promoted to FRY-GUY! Woohoo! I worked the fryers for a few months (with a few shifts on L & L) until I was promoted to grill. That meant I could finally actually COOK the burgers! The pay was shit, but I worked hard and saved my $$$ and bought my first stereo, first car and spent way too much $$$ on girls during my time there. GREAT TIMES! When I finally left McD's I could pretty much run the kitchen myself...
I also made last friendships. My second best friend on the planet is a dude I first met at McD's during my time there... and continues today as my closest guy friend. (He is also the god father to the Cyclettes, BTW)
Was my very first job... (Not counting the paper route I had which was actually pretty awesome since the Police station and Fire Station were on my route... but I digress) Anyway, I got a job at McDonald's when I was 14. Because I wasn't old enough to work in the kitchen, I started on what was called "lot & lobby" which basically meant cleaning the tables, sweeping, mopping and changing the garbage in the lobby, and picking up / changing the garbage on the parking lot, and of course... cleaning the bathrooms! (There are members here who know what I'm taking about! LOL)
Fortunately I only did this for a few months, because as soon as I turned 15, I was promoted to FRY-GUY! Woohoo! I worked the fryers for a few months (with a few shifts on L & L) until I was promoted to grill. That meant I could finally actually COOK the burgers! The pay was shit, but I worked hard and saved my $$$ and bought my first stereo, first car and spent way too much $$$ on girls during my time there. GREAT TIMES! When I finally left McD's I could pretty much run the kitchen myself...
I also made last friendships. My second best friend on the planet is a dude I first met at McD's during my time there... and continues today as my closest guy friend. (He is also the god father to the Cyclettes, BTW)
I worked as a hockey referee from age 13 to 14
The pay was a dollar a game & I had to be on the ice @ 7:00 am on a Sunday or Saturday.
I was not going to rich with this occupation
For the most part I did the novice games where kids were just learning how to skate, I also reffed some rep games for kids that were 2 years younger than me (some of these kids were really fast- I had to really skate to keep ahead of the play).
The novice games were generally more relaxed .
I would explain to some kids why I had called offside or icing at age 5 or 6, some of them had not clued in
I will never forget the way some kids eyes bugged out of their head when they would get a break-away, carry the puck the length of the ice & then fall down 10 feet in front of the opposing net.
Then an asshole coach ruined it all.
He disagreed with a call I made.
He went ballistic, yelling & screaming & called me a fucking xxxx in front of his team of seven and eight year olds
Last game I ever refed
When ever I see a hockey mom or dad get bent out of shape over a game , I always think of that oh so fine example of a role model for young hockey players
The pay was a dollar a game & I had to be on the ice @ 7:00 am on a Sunday or Saturday.
I was not going to rich with this occupation
For the most part I did the novice games where kids were just learning how to skate, I also reffed some rep games for kids that were 2 years younger than me (some of these kids were really fast- I had to really skate to keep ahead of the play).
The novice games were generally more relaxed .
I would explain to some kids why I had called offside or icing at age 5 or 6, some of them had not clued in
I will never forget the way some kids eyes bugged out of their head when they would get a break-away, carry the puck the length of the ice & then fall down 10 feet in front of the opposing net.
Then an asshole coach ruined it all.
He disagreed with a call I made.
He went ballistic, yelling & screaming & called me a fucking xxxx in front of his team of seven and eight year olds
Last game I ever refed
When ever I see a hockey mom or dad get bent out of shape over a game , I always think of that oh so fine example of a role model for young hockey players
15 worked at tomato canning factory. I got the job of cleaning out the empty trucks and the loading docks after the good stuff was unloaded. Tomato leftovers sitting out in the hot sun all day have this wonderful odour.
