Who's got one? I work at a Regal movie theater, where I half-heartedly sweep popcorn and nacho cheese for $5.30 an hour. Lowest-paying job of the three I've had, but there's a pretty good bit of downtime during which I can spoil the ends of movies for myself. Secret Window would've been bad even if I hadn't known the end, though. Anyway, does anybody else work in the near-minimum-wage sector? Any good stories?
I work at a 12 screen Cinemark Movie theater for $5.40 an hr, and I have to say its one of the most fun jobs that I could have during breaks from school. Honestly, you get to walk around sweeping up popcorn and cleaning theaters and then just **** around with a bunch of other people and get paid. The pay sucks, but at least the job isn't bad. The only way I could see this job sucking is if you worked with a bunch of jerks.
I work at our school's museum in the cafe. My hours are 9-4 Saturday, and 12-4 Sunday. But I guess besides the hours it's not bad. 9$ an hour.
I used to work for a garden shop/florist... and for almost close to minimum wage. 5.75(this is in Richmond) an hour, to slave over stupid customers who ask questions about which azelia is going to last longer... Ohh and it gets like hell when pumpkin time comes along, cleaning and stacking those smelly rotten fruits...
Being a bank teller sucked - work your ass off and are only making $6.75 per hour. Most tellers get hired in at $6.50...I guess that college degree was able to sway them in to giving me a $0.25 per hour raise!
I worked as a teller a few years ago. My bank got robbed at gunpoint. The guy jumped the counter and grabbed me around the neck and pointed the gun at my right temple. That was my last day working for a bank. To this day, I won't go inside banks. Ever.
I don't know what the hell you guys are talking about working your asses off. You haven't worked until you've worked a warehouse or dock job. Ugh. I worked unloading 18 wheelers and stocking shelves during the graveyard shift for Wal-mart. It was usually 1 guy unloading 1-1.5 18 wheelers a night. Everything from Hallmark cards to Barbie's freakin' pink Vette that by the time you got to the back of the truck felt like it weighed 2 tons. I think I was making about $6.25/hr. That was tough work until... I worked as a truck loader for RPS loading 3 trucks as stuff weighing anything from a few ounces to rolls of carpet and giant vats of God-knows-what came flying down a conveyor belt. That was from 3am to around 7-8am. I don't recall what I was making there, but I think it was something like $6-$8 an hour.
DOD - I loved that job. I loaded trucks at UPS for three years of college. Great job. Yeah, my hands got torn up if I forgot my gloves, there were shoeboxes full of ammo coming down the chutes at 20mph at my ankles, and I worked 4am to 8am.....but I made killer cash and usually got opportunities to work extra hours. I think UPS paid 8 an hour back then, and in 1992, that was good part-time money. But if it was a full time gig I prob woulda lost it.
I'm not sure about right now, but "according to the World Report 1997 Carrer Guide, the best job in the United States for the 2nd year in a row is interactive business system analyst. Last year's worst job, assistant crack w****, has been replaced with a new worst job: crack w**** trainee." Other jobs that suck: j*zz mopper intern and this one: Seriously, my personal worst job: Busboy - Chili's - minimum wage(back then was about $4.75), plus tip out every shift(ususally $15-30). Cleaning waiters tables, sweeping the floor, cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning the kitchen, taking out HUGE bags of restaurant trash. I hated that job so much, but I desperately needed the money so I stuck it out for 3-4 weeks until I couldn't take it anymore.
One job I took, I told a grocery store I wanted to be a stocker, and they immediately put me on the floor as a sacker. I quit after four hours. It's not that I hated being a sacker (sacking groceries was actually a decent job), it's just that I hate being lied to by employers... Another job I thought I was going to get was busboy at a restaurant...They sent me back to the dish room to wash dishes...I quit that job after three hours. I never even picked up the 15 bucks or whatever I made working either of those jobs...wasn't even worth going back there... I was an usher at a movie theater for a week. It was a decent job. I quit because I got another job I thought would be better, but wasn't. I've had at least fifteen of those minimum wage slug jobs in my life...
I've had a couple: Cleaning out a car wash pit for $1.75 an hour. Working Back-To-School at Montgomery Wards in the boys section in a pre-scan days where you had to enter in about 8 pieces of information like the dept, color, size, price, sale price, etc by hand - 1 mistake and you had to void the whole transaction - for $3.25 an hour. I too worked UPS - Midnight and Sunrise shifts from 81-85. That was tough work but I made $12 an hour - I got in right before they lowered the starting pay scale. I was a pick-off man until my left shoulder gave out from always pulling packages back to the right. But I have lots of stories from those years - like them forcing us to work while Hurrcaine Alica was hitting.
You want to talk about working your ass off? Try doing tank cleaning in a Level B suit and a SCBA in the middle of summer, working 7-12's for a month. I did it....for $8 bucks an hour. This is what a Level B suit looks like:
I have had some crappy jobs over the years. I remember back when I was in high school there was this remarkable new job out there PERFECT for ambitious young go-getters. You see people where starting to realize that laser printer toner cartridges could be refilled. So this guy down the street turned his job into a toner cartridge refilling depot. He would charge big companies a monthly service to recycle and refill their cartridges. It was hot, it was FILTHY, it was dingy, there was toner every freakin' where, I would sweat and the toner would cover my body staining it for days. I wanna say he paid me a quarter per cartridge. What a douche bag! I took a job shelling oysters for a seafood restaurant. That lasted two shifts. Graveyard shift a Chevron in college sucked. I sat there all night smoking cigarettes, reading, and praying I didn't get robbed. I tried selling cars and quit during my 3rd day. That is the most disgusting industry therre is and I have been in a TON of industries. I ran a uniform route for a year and a half. That was degrading. I'm sure there are more. Bad jobs are awesome. Great thread!
Heh, I've had 3 "jobs" 1. Working for my dad. Sears delivery. 7am to 8pm. 40 bucks a day. Over the past 3 years I've worked about 30-40 total days with him. Considering I was in high school at the time, and was lazy, and only worked when I really wanted something, I'm amazed I actually went to work so much. 13+ hours in Houston weather with NO A/C in that godawful semi-truck. >_< Man...that sucked. (ok, not as much as some of the jobs here, but whatever) Had to unload fridges, washers, dryers, ranges, treadmills , TVs...etc. Most customers were jackasses too. Then again, most of the people we delivered to were those who had just bought a new house and seemed to have tons of cash to throw around, so that gave them the right to b**** about being late (2 hour window, customer given the time of 2:00 to 4:00 as the delivery time. Arrived at 2:15. "I NEED TO SPEAK WITH YOUR MANAGER!" ...ok lady, here *dials customer service*) Anyway... Next, I worked at the Renaissance Hotel as a bus boy. I still do once in a while. My cousin and I work there occasionally, my dad's GF works there full time...uh....WTF...UofH has fire drills? Hrm...be back soon...or later today.... Out - Miguel
I worked cleaning a dog kennel. I lasted 2 weeks and then turned in my notice. **** like that gets to you pretty quickly. Although it wasn't "hard work," the most annoying job that I had was working in the video section at Media Play. Because the district manager was always coming up with promotions, we re-organized the entire department constantly during the summer. So once a week, I (along with 1-2 other guys) had to take all the videos off the shelf and put them in some other place. It got to the point where I could never remember where certain movies were because they had been re-classified and reshelved so many times. Also, we were required to approach every customer and ask if they were interested in our promotions. You never feel more stupid than when you have to go up to the guys looking at the Playboy videos and ask "Excuse me, sirs. Would you be interested in pre-ordering a copy of Walt Disney's Cinderella? You get a stuffed mouse along with the video." Finally, the customers always chewed me out if a movie was out of print. To this day, there are a bunch of Humble rednecks who hold me personally responsible because the store couldn't get them a copy of Urban Cowboy.
I never worked very crappy jobs. The most humble was a light-bulb changing job. But, the pay was good (union wages without union dues) and the work was fun and easy. In fact, if I could keep the pay and insurance I get now, I'd gladly go back to changing lightbulbs. My worst were jobs I was clearly incompetent at. One was a knife salesman job. I don't have the demeanor for sales. I quit in 3 days after not really doing any work. The other was a temp job doing reception. I was so bad, they asked me to go home after a couple of hours.
