Best Job: Aside from being a mother I love the job I have now. Easy hours, good money, not much work, lots of time to play on the Internet, I walk around and chat with people here at work for about 30 minutes each morning, and I have a really nice boss who isn’t breathing down my neck all the time.
Worst Job: I used to work in the kitchen at a nursing home and the first few years it was o.k. I liked my hours and I liked what I did but I didn’t make shit as far as money goes. After being there for 5 years I was only making $5.50/hour. That didn’t bother me though because I got along with everyone that worked there and had a good supervisor the first few years and I really enjoyed working there. But the last supervisor I had was the one that made me want to quit. She was the biggest bitch I’ve ever met in my life and I told her off more than once! I put my two weeks in and she begged me to stay until the end of the month because one of the other women there was having surgery the week after I was gone and my supervisor wanted me to work double shifts for the six weeks while this lady was off work recovering from surgery. I told her to kiss my ass and quit anyway! It felt great!
The other sucky job I had was as a Telemarketer. This was a job I took in addition to my job at the nursing home. I worked at the nursing home from 5:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. and as a telemarketer from 3:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. I only did it for 2 1/2 months so I could get some extra money for Christmas but it really sucked. The computer automatically dialed peoples phone numbers, you just had to wait for them to answer and when they did their name, address, city, state, all that kind of info would come up on the screen. You’d make your little spiel to them and that’s it. Sounds pretty easy but it’s not. I had a few people get rude with me, hang up on me, yell at me, etc. and you can’t yell back or hang up on them because you’re being monitored! It’s hard not to take that shit personally but you have to learn how to. I was really glad to quit that job.
All of them have their high points and low points, but still,
Best Ever - my own company. Small but profitable. No feeling like control, accountability, and the absolute last stop for the buck. Now work for a large corporation, great employer, fantastic pay and treatment of employees, and less stress by far, but I still preferred the feeling of independance and ownership in my own business. Everyone should try this at least once.
Second Best - Physical work. Any time I finish a task with serious physical effort required I feel great. (Keep your pants on, I’m not refering to good sex :D) Had a few jobs like plumbing, cutting steel, and odd jobs in tearing old houses apart including my own. That feels like you’ve done something real.
Worst Ever - telemarketing. This was worse than all the menial labor jobs, because people do not like you (generally), and it was a thankless job in terms of pay, though at the time I was glad to have it. I’ve cleaned toilets and did not have the dissatisfaction that I did get telemarketing. (Sorry to those who do this job, I believe there is a place for it, and I try to be polite when I get calls.)
Best Job: Summer before I graduated High School I worked as a dishwasher (yes, a dishwasher!) at a gourmet food store. Even now, 15 years later – god, has it been that long? – when I go into that store, I stand in the doorway inhaling the combined scent of dozens of coffees, chocolates, cheeses and spices that so overwhelm my senses.
Worst Job: Working 3rd shift at a storage park. Imagine, midnight to 8am sitting in a warehouse with no windows, one door and about 300,000 sq.ft. of shelves stocked to the top with X-Rays we were storing for the hospital. Perhaps three times per night, The hospital called and requested a file, and I had to bring it to them.
Other than that, I had to sneak books in so the boss wouldn’t know I was reading on the job, and I was in this Tin-Sided Behemoth when Hurricane Fran hit me…It was kind of cool, though–I went outside for a cigarette when the eye passed over me. Got lucky that none of the tornadoes that touched down on the park grounds hit me.
And did the boss thank me for sticking around when we had no phones, no power, no nothing? You guess.
I eventually got fired for spinning gravel in the company van.
BEST JOB: The first 20 years or so as a police officer in the District of Columbia…It was a great job and the pay was pretty good…retired after 24 1/2 yrs…last couple of years were shitty due to the fact the the District of Columbia was going to shit
WORST JOB: Just out of high school, dishwasher at a Holiday Inn…Yecchh
Worst Job - Working for New York Apple Tours as a tourguide in Manhattan. The tourists were okay, although they could be pains. It was the management that was terrible. These people cut corners everywhere. Sucking diesel fumes 12 hours a day.
Best Job - Police Officer in New York City. My current job. I’m living my boyhood dream. The department can be assholes sometimes, but when I look in the mirror and I see that uniform I get so proud and happy to be part of something special.
Best Job - working in a restaurant, splitting time between tending the sushi bar and the cocktail bar. It was fun, every night was different, and I got to meet a lot of people.
Worst Job - selling cameras at J.C. Penney. The store manager was a bitch, and all the other managers would get into a feeding frenzy every morning just to see who got to kiss the store manager’s ass. They treated the clerks (they called us “Associates”, which must be Greek for “those who must be abused”) as if we were little more than moving furniture.
I love the job I have now. Easy hours, good money, not much work, lots of time to play on the Internet, I walk around and chat with people here at work for about 30 minutes each morning, and I have a really nice boss who isn’t breathing down my neck all the time.