For me, sales in general isn’t so awful, but trying to sell via telephone would be much worse than shoveling elephant shit. Telemarketing is probably the worst job in the world, other than being a soldier under fire.
Toll booth operator. You stand there all day, nothing interesting to do, can’t just put your mind on auto-pilot because you have a series of tiny uninteresting things to think about, you don’t even have any physical labor to at least burn some calories (except those burned through standing), the only people you see really don’t want to see you, and taking a bathroom break is a big production.
Apparently dentists have a high suicide rate, and their long-term disability insurance premiums are ridiculously high (at least according to the guy who sold me long-term disability insurance) because they hate their jobs and have access to drugs.
When I was instructed to scrub out 10 *absolutely disgustingly filthy hamburger-*grease-coated hoods at a food service job on my old college campus (without gloves), I finally figured out one job I would rather be homeless than perform. I didn’t even quit, I just walked out and never came back.
I think that counts as quitting.
Food service. Especially fast food, but just about anything involving food. Cafeteria, waitressing, flight kitchen (shudder). Yeah, I’d do just about anything other than that.
I agree. Back when I was working I used to cross over a toll bridge and see those guys and think that their job was worse than mine. And I was a prison guard.
But there’s a job that would rank even lower with me. I went to college in the town of Potsdam, NY and there was a bus that drove around the village. And I think being the driver of that bus would be worse than being a toll collector.
He was driving the same route through the village all day long. The guy must have repeated it three times an hour - imagine how boring that must get after a few years of repetition. And operating a bus in the middle of a town is a more demanding job than collecting coins in a booth - you can’t zone out like you could as a toll collector. The only thing worse than having a boring repetitous job is having a boring repetious job that you have to pay attention to.
Mud-bath technician at a spa.
To me, it’s job abandonment. Quitting implies telling someone you’re leaving, or saying, “I quit!”, whether in person or over the phone.
Cook.
I’ll carry it to the table, I’ll wash the dishes. Don’t make me cook it, slice it, dice it, chop it, or shape it into patties.
I don’t mind baking things though. Or making drinks.
Ah yes, collation. For added ick mine was a graveyard shift. Thank god it was a one-weekend temp job.
My nightmare job I’ve already done – line worker at a chicken processing plant. Disgusting, absolutely freezing (I’m pretty sure I was heading for some kind of hand damage because my hands would instantly get so cold I was practically in tears from the pain), and shitty bosses who would call me on the carpet for not chatting with the other line workers while I was supposed to be working… 
I still have NO idea what that was about, it’s not like we even could talk – the machinery is so loud that we used OSHA-mandated hearing protection. I couldn’t make out a damn thing anyone said on the floor, nevermind being able to chat and keep up with a rapidly moving line at the same time.
And for added ick this one required I get up at 5am to drive for an hour to get to my shift on time. And at 3pm I had a second awful job waiting for me. I cried every morning. I cried myself to sleep every night.
Military could be a nightmare, but honestly I think I’d just wash out pretty quickly. You don’t want me handling a machine gun.
Air traffic controller.
To me, that seems to be the most stressful job ever created.
I just can’t imagine . . .
One where I had to work at heights wearing a safety harness (the problem is not the heights, it’s the harness), under the orders of one of those guys who want to be a Sturmtruppenführer when they grow up (as they’re completely deluded about the job of Sturmtruppenführers, but they saw one once in a movie and thought the uniform looked spiffy). Oh, and it would involve staying late frequently with no actual tasks to do, simply because Sturmtruppenführer Wannabe felt like making us stay late.
Vet or farmer.
I don’t like animals and I’m categorically not outdoorsy. I’d actually rather shovel the shit then having to touch/handle the animal that produces it.
Kiao wins. Factory chicken always wins.
Anything in the animal slaughter/meat production line. I’m a meat eater, but I do no want to see how it got from field to fork thank you very much. Knowing about it is bad enough, and no I don’t want to go veggie, that would be practically impossible where I live, I cannot live on pasta and cheese alone.
I will say that my “filling out forms” job was based on the likelihood of my applying for a position where I would have to fill out forms. Obviously such a job would be far better than chicken plant/child abuse caseworker/slaughterhouse zapper, but the chances of me applying for one of those is nil, so I didn’t consider them.
Stand-up comic.
I’m not funny, I hate public speaking, I hate embarrassing myself (which is not a necessary quality of the job, but would absolutely happen to me because of the first two items), I hate exposing myself to harassment, I hate traveling for a job, I hate competing for attention, and the pay to start is terrible.
Waiting tables. Lousy pay, rude customers. Honestly, the thought of taking any customer service job again depresses me beyond reason.
I have two categories:
- Anything with lots of people interaction. I’m an introvert with social anxiety. I tried cashiering once, it was exhausting and my nerves were shot just because of all the people. I get frazzled just being at Walmart!
- The really hard manual labour. Like roof tarring mentioned above.