# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/61 "2016-01-14T09:44:04Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Telephone Technical Support. > > I would rather shovel out turkey houses in mid-July than do that sort of thing again. I’ve shoveled chicken shit, and I am never going to do that again. As for Telephone Technical Support - that is what I do, and I love it. But this is really **technical** stuff - I get to play Sherlock on other peoples networks, and the internet, chasing packets and cracking code. Best job choice I ever made. I even enjoy the “[layer 8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layer_8)” issues - I get to educate. One man’s meat … ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/62 "2016-01-14T14:48:33Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Guard at Buckingham Palace. > [@JustinC](#): > > Ooh, that’s a good one. _Any_ guard where you’re not allowed to speak to anyone, must stand still in full regalia in all weathers, but are actually a highly-trained professional must be a terrible job. The Queen’s Guard and the Life Guards are drawn from regular duty soldiers, and I bet defending Her Majesty beats slogging through a canyon in Afghanistan (though British operations there are over). Anyway, they are allowed to talk - how else do you think they guard things? Plus, they only stand two hour posts, and “all weathers” in London really aren’t that bad. This is a city whose airports were shut down by three inches of snow a few years ago; the weather is pretty mild. > [@chizzuk](#): > > Telemarketer. Given the choice of doing this or living in a refrigerator carton under a highway overpass, I would probably be a telemarketer but I would have to stop and think about it for awhile. Outgoing telemarketing was by far the worst job I’ve ever had, and I had every terrible job that didn’t involve fecal matter when I was in college. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/63 "2016-01-14T15:16:37Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > One man’s meat … …is one chicken’s surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/64 "2016-01-14T15:26:29Z")
> [@Stealth\_Bragg](#): > > I read somewhere about new porn filming rules that enforce use of a condom. So a job exists for CGI artists to remove the condoms digitally in post production. Sounds like a great job 🙂 Maybe with a nice sound effect…? [Arnold Schwarzenegger] “You’ve just been erased…!” [/Arnold Schwarzenegger] ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/65 "2016-01-14T17:44:08Z")
Staff Chaplain for the SDMB ---
**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 14, 2016, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/66 "2016-01-14T19:08:37Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > > [@si\_blakely](#): > > > > One man’s meat … > > …is one chicken’s surprise. Probably a lot more than just one chicken if he works the job all day every day. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/67 "2016-01-14T19:49:41Z")
I’ve had hundreds of hours in Army helicopters but [nope, nope, nope.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tzga6qAaBA) ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/68 "2016-01-14T20:48:10Z")
German sausage-maker. ---
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/69 "2016-01-14T20:51:59Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I worked with a pharmacist who went to medical school intending to do exactly this. The last couple years she was in school, she was considering going to med school, and her ped onc rotation cemented it for her. When she told me about this, I said, “Well, I guess someone has to do it…” and she replied, with a huge smile, “It’s the happiest place in the hospital. Really, it is.” You reminded me of one I can add: coroner As best I can figure, it takes a special kind of person to do jobs like this. For example, I used to work in a 911 dispatch agency and would occasionally jack in with a dispatcher. One day I was doing this and someone called in the death of a baby and asked for a coroner (in that jurisdiction, you’re not dead until a coroner says so). When my dispatcher rang up the coroner and said he needed to report to a dead baby call, the coroner said, and I quote: “Cool!” :eek: After we hung up, my dispatcher shook his head and said “that guy’s not right”. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/70 "2016-01-14T21:01:15Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’ve had hundreds of hours in Army helicopters but [nope, nope, nope.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tzga6qAaBA) Jesus. You’d think he would at least have some kind of trolly. He’s just crawling along the wires. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/71 "2016-01-14T21:12:26Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > German sausage-maker. Personally, I’d find it unpleasant to make sausages from people of any nationality. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/72 "2016-01-14T21:25:55Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > The worst job that someone I’ve known has had gets my vote; she was a doctor contracted by the child protection agency. > > Basically, she was the person who had to medically examine abused children, and write the reports to be used at trial. > > I’d rather sign up for the fecal scuba. How did she feel about it? Sometimes, people get a real sense of helping and purpose from jobs like that. I wouldn’t want to do it, but I understand that’s what gets them through. I’m not easily grossed out, being a nurse, but I don’t know how one accepts the sewer diver job, except at gunpoint. If I’m ever a prostitute, there’s a good chance I’ll be ending my life sometime soon. So, that’s probably my personal worst. I could come back from shit scuba. Not that. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/73 "2016-01-15T00:15:26Z")
> [@JcWoman](#): > > You reminded me of one I can add: coroner > > As best I can figure, it takes a special kind of person to do jobs like this. For example, I used to work in a 911 dispatch agency and would occasionally jack in with a dispatcher. One day I was doing this and someone called in the death of a baby and asked for a coroner (in that jurisdiction, you’re not dead until a coroner says so). When my dispatcher rang up the coroner and said he needed to report to a dead baby call, the coroner said, and I quote: “Cool!” :eek: After we hung up, my dispatcher shook his head and said “that guy’s not right”. Speaking of oncology and the coroner, a while back I read a book about SIDS which included a chapter about a doctor who is considered one of the worldwide experts on that subject. When she was in med school, she thought she wanted to be an oncologist, because she loved learning about cancer, and the night before her oncology rotation, she felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve and couldn’t wait to show up. Her preceptor introduced himself, and then told her that there was a woman down the hall who had a type of cancer that no matter what they did would kill her in a matter of weeks. She walked in, and there was a healthy-looking woman in her 40s who was sitting there with her husband, and several children who were about her age. The faucets promptly turned on, and she sobbed uncontrollably while delivering the news to this woman, who she had never seen before and who proceeded to put her arms around her and said, “It’s OK. It’s not your fault. I’M the one who’s sick. There’s nothing for you to cry about” and this was when she learned she wasn’t cut out to be an oncologist. She found out later that her preceptor had done this on purpose to see if she was. Being a pathologist and medical examiner gave her plenty of opportunity to study cancer without having to interact directly with the patients, and in the meantime, she had made some important discoveries WRT SIDS and that’s what she was best known for. One of my nieces, who is currently in high school, has wanted to be a doctor since she was very young, and as of right now, she wants to work for Doctors Without Borders. The good news is that I think she has what it takes to do that. The bad news is - yeah, the same thing. :o ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/74 "2016-01-15T14:56:38Z")
I really would not want to be a drain shovellor removing congealed fat. > **[Bus-sized 'Turkeybergs' to clog sewers thanks to fat poured down sinks](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2886381/Now-s-Christmas-dinner-leftovers-Bus-sized-Turkeybergs-clog-sewers-thanks-fat-poured-kitchen-sinks.html)** > > Calls to clogged drains and sewers across the UK are predicted to rise by a third over the festive period as thousands of homes attempt to flush fat and leftovers down their kitchen sinks. > **[Fatberg 'the size of a football pitch' found blocking drains under market town](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/fatberg-size-football-pitch-found-6039009)** > > The disgusting mass of congealed fat and rubbish was threatening to flood homes with raw sewage after completely blocking the drainage system ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942/75 "2016-01-15T15:49:24Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > Toll collector. Sitting in a tiny box in the middle of the road doing mindless repetitive tasks, often in crappy weather, for grouchy tired drivers who hate you. I would not mind this one at all. Our roles are clearly defined, none of the social interaction crap and figuring people out. I’ve never felt like I hated the toll collector – what’s to hate? The only issue would be it’s a job that will be phased out any year now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-worst-job-in-the-world/742942.md?page=3)