# What is the worst job in the world? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 12, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942 "2016-01-12T17:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/21 "2016-01-12T23:27:50Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Any sort of job that involved calling strangers on the phone. Even ones that aren’t cold calls. Like if part of my job at the dentist’s office was to call a list of 30 people to remind them that their appointment was next week? The idea makes me physically sick. Cold calling would put me in an early grave. As would salesman or anything that involved being at ease with other people for most of my day. Or having to travel and still look presentable in front of rooms full of strangers. Thank goodness I am competent and content at a boring desk job. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/22 "2016-01-12T23:29:46Z")
Any sales job where the product is shite and you’re cold-calling to basically try and hoodwink people (often vulnerable folk) into buying it. Think I’d rather work down a Chinese coal mine than do that. At least you have your self-respect. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/23 "2016-01-12T23:38:21Z")
No longer a market for it, but a cesspit cleaner in a castle. There are still latrine cleaners in some parts of the world but most of that is with fresh air and daylight around you. ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/24 "2016-01-12T23:47:00Z")
Any job where you’re required to work graveyard hours. Unless you live in someplace like Las Vegas where time-of-day is irrelevant, any graveyard job will absolutely destroy your personal life. Plus, you’re always tired and the sleep you _do_ get just feels artificial (because, depending on how you work it, you’re either going to bed at 10 in the morning or 4 in the afternoon). I know a thing or two about this, having done graveyard hours for three straight years. I will never, ever, EVER return to that shit. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/25 "2016-01-12T23:50:27Z")
Telephone Technical Support. I would rather shovel out turkey houses in mid-July than do that sort of thing again. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/26 "2016-01-12T23:51:26Z")
^ Call center agents in the graveyard shift have some of the best sex as a segment in the job market (AIDS cases also among the highest.) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/27 "2016-01-12T23:54:05Z")
[Whatever this guy is doing.](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Odds%20and%20Ends/25_0_zpsllswnvpx.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/28 "2016-01-13T00:02:56Z")
^ He’s helping out Andy Dick with his new stand-up routine. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/29 "2016-01-13T00:06:38Z")
Professional [poo diver](http://www.vice.com/read/professional-poo-diver) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/30 "2016-01-13T00:24:38Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > Been there. Done that. The answer is baby care of any type. Babies aren’t even human in my opinion. They’re like proto-human larvae that spew shit. And it’s _green_ shit. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/31 "2016-01-13T00:35:20Z")
I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/32 "2016-01-13T00:42:13Z")
The slaughterhouse-category of jobs is really bad. Don’t forget the disease hazards and PTSD. But the worst might be the Mexico City sewer divers. I saw a TV program a few years ago in which they showed tge sewer system in Mexico City, one of the most densely populated and least-regulated places on earth. There are some areas that are just pools of liquid brown sludge, and for some reason there’s a need for a human being to go down into these pools and perform some sort of task…turning a valve or whatnot. I admit to not paying attention to the details, because they had these guys SUITING UP in SCUBA gear to… _submerge_ themselves in it. Shudder. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/33 "2016-01-13T01:16:27Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > [Whatever this guy is doing.](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/Guinastasia/Odds%20and%20Ends/25_0_zpsllswnvpx.jpg) LOL! And people say you have no sense of humor. They must be mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/34 "2016-01-13T01:48:33Z")
In my industry (airline) I’ve always said I could do my job (pilot) for a career, I could be a flight attendant for about a week, and I could be a gate agent for 1 departure before I murdered somebody who richly deserved it. I actually think I’d rather drive the honey wagon & empty the aircraft toilets outdoors in the snow and blazing heat than be a gate agent inside getting yelled at by angry entitled jerkos. And taking all the heat for everything that goes wrong with my company’s rampant buffoonery, about 99.9999% of which is not my fault, nor within my power to correct. Human punching bag is about the worst job imaginable. I’d rather pump shit. It’s better for my karma. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/35 "2016-01-13T02:15:40Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > … > Animal Masturbator > … Ahem… from the thread [What’s the most unique job you’ve ever had?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18778313&postcount=4) It’s a… _dirty?_… job, but somebody’s got to do it? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/36 "2016-01-13T02:39:44Z")
Customer service/complaints. There would end up being a body count at some point. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/37 "2016-01-13T02:58:12Z")
Editor for the Golf Channel. They have to watch the footage that’s even too boring for the world’s dullest channel. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/38 "2016-01-13T03:08:59Z")
A little over 7 years ago now, [the Onion ran a story about a black man being given the nation’s worst job](http://www.theonion.com/article/black-man-given-nations-worst-job-6439). ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/39 "2016-01-13T03:22:09Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > People who do this, or voiceover work, make a lot of money. So do people who perform Muzak; that is mostly done by moonlighting symphony orchestra performers, and if they’re union, they can make $50 an hour or more. Quite a bit more. Union scale for commercials here in New York is right around $125 per hour, plus a contribution to the pension fund. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/40 "2016-01-13T03:34:23Z")
In 1978, I ran the tongue saw at a slaughter house… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942.md?page=3)