Best - I'm doing it. Stay at home Dad. Most fun - Working for ESPN overhire on several Astros games in the early 90's. I got to meet several players and sit in the booth while Chris Berman called a Sunday night Astros game in the Dome. Also got to meet Harry Caray when the Stros played the Cubs here. Worst - I've had several. Flipping burgers at Wendy's to working 80 hour weeks for $4/hour and no insurance at the Alley Theatre. Worst had to be corn detasseling in Iowa. Corn leaves are sharp and cut skin. It was like getting paid to get papercuts all day.
Best - Systems Analyst at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Not much $$, but they treat their employees well and provide great benefits unlike any other place I've ever worked. Worst - Working behind the counter at a pizza place when I was 15. My first job. They paid me under minimum wage. I lasted two weeks. Worst Atmosphere...a tie between a Service Bureau I worked at in LA (woman who owned it was an alcoholic/drug addict...she would wash Prozac down with Bud Light and yell at people all day) and this one, the one I am leaving after today...surrounded by unprofessional, obnoxious people that I will not miss at all. Pathetic, but that's why they work at the bottom rung of the public sector in Houston (you can guess where it is)!! They wouldn't make it in the real world!!
Many years ago I had a summer internship at a YMCA. Of course it didn't pay so I had to get a temp job. One day they sent me to work at a JIF peanut butter factory. My job was to watch the empty jars go by and make sure there were no cracks or objects in them. The smell of hot peanut butter for 8 hours almost made me puke. The sound of jars bumping into each other for that long wasn't great either.
The best job I have is the one I have now which I have had the last 7 years. Yea, it can get boring but I work with great people and it's one of the best companies to work for in the area. Worst jobs?? Worked for a bank/credit union for over 2 years, first being a teller and then a loan officer. They worked your ass off and paid you next to nothing (was making under $20K when I quit). Also, I worked very briefly (and I stress BRIEFLY) teaching 9th graders algebra and selling cars. Needless to say, those professions were not for me.
BEST - Tie: Skatepark of Houston (85-86) and Wine Importing/Distributing (2000-current) WORST - busboy Casa Elena Mexican Restaurant in Kingwood (86-ish) (I can't wait for dsnow23 to reply to this thread...he's got a fantastic one.)
My worst job, it was during my freshman year of college, I was tired of working as a delivery driver for a chinese restaurant. I applied for a newspaper courier job. The shifts were monday - sunday 2am to 7am. Sounded great in my head... go to school after work, then sleep in... not so. First day on the job, showed up a quarter to 2, the atmosphere of the place... something like single dads pulling 3 jobs just to make ends meet. Seriously, the place was depressing, I did 1 route, and quit when my shift was over.
Best - Web Developer Worst - My 1st job back in 1975. Working at the car wash...yea. 1 day I had to clean out the pit. Imagine standing in waders, manually bucketing out a septic tank - trying hard not to get the "juice" in any bodily openings. All for $1.75 an hour.
Best: Current job, big logistics company. The work is somewhat boring, but I have CF to keep me entertained. My coworkers are great, the pay is pretty good and the benefits are outstanding. Worst: Schlotzsky's Deli. I needed a job desperately at the time, so I spammed out applications to some local places and they were the first ones that called back. The pay was minimum wage, and despite being hired on as a cashier, I had to do everything from wiping tables to cleaning bathrooms and scrubbing pots and pans. Also, the manager was a chain-smoking b**** who didn't let us take any breaks. I made it through a week and a half before fleeing to Pizza Hut. Meanwhile, the store has had a "Now Hiring" sign since opening about two years ago. The turnover is obscene
Worst: A summer of horror working the paddle boat dock at Huntsville State Park. The guy who ran the park concessions was a total penny-pincher and lacked any humor. The people who rented the boats were always falling in the water... I can't tell you how many times I had to jump in to rescue some large woman. The kids were even more obnoxious. The guy in charge of the boathouse was a Sam college kid who got off on being more worldly and experienced. The boats would get cracks and holes, so you'd have to pull them out and work with hot fiberglass (no masks or safety gear) to patch them up. It was hard to stay focused in such a crappy environment at a young age. One day we had the stereo cranked up and were doing the air guitar/drum thing to, of all things, "Children of the Sun" when a kid fell off a boat. We didn't see it until the mom was dragging the kid up to the bank. And she was ticked off. We were all fired about an hour later. Best job: hard to beat what I'm doing now... which is a technically a combo between public affairs and environmental education, but is really a place holder until fire season. Fun, interesting, ever changing, not bound to a desk unless I want to be, and enough down time to play here.
Best: My current job. Personal trainer. I get to make my own hours. I wear comfy stuff to work. Great hookups. Keeps me eating right and working out. Plus the women. Oh lord, the women. Worst: Dishwasher at a small country buffet in East Texas. Nothing like having your hands submerged in chicken fried steak soaked water full of cigarette butts for 12 hours straight.
Worst: Man, where to begin? Worked for my uncle as a roofer in Texas City one summer back in the early 80's. The only way to be hotter is to actually be on fire. Then there was 'Process Server'. That's the job where you are the guy having to serve subpoenas on people. You may as well be the Grim Reaper - you are always the last person on Earth anyone wants to see. Anything in commission sales - sold electronics for years at Circuit City, and also sold insurance. Don't ever do either of these things working on commission. When you die and end up in hell, this is what you are stuck doing for eternity. Best: Working for a large school district in IT. It's not filled with joy every waking moment, but at least it's the very definition of job security - it's almost like having tenure. There are only three ways to not have this job once you have it: die, retire, or quit.
Best: First job out of college as a researcher for a consulting company. They kept a bunch of us on-hand for the consultants to use at a moment's notice, so that I spent over half my time being paid to play computer games, surf the web, read books, socialize, etc. It was during that job that I became a regular here. And, when I did get an assignment, it was usually pretty interesting. Thinking back on it now, it was probably a good opportunity I squandered by not working harder. Worst: Tie. Cutco salesman for 3 days. Nothing inherently wrong with the work, but I'm not cut out to knock on someone's door and try to sell them something. The other was receptionist. I was a temp and the temp agency was annoyed with me because I kept turning down assignments. So, I accepted this one and I had to answer phones and whatnot. I was so bad at it, it was embarassing. I was dismissed in a couple of hours. The company was cool though; they did wealth management and had a very posh office with lots of art all over. Looking back, my worst jobs were not too bad. Certainly better than a lot people have posted so far.
I did that driving around selling stuff from the back of your car thing one summer. Speakers, frying pans, all sorts of junk. What was really bizarre, was that if you let on that you were somehow selling stuff you shouldn't have...extra speakers...storeroom unlocked..etc, it was MUCH easier to close the deal then if you told them the truth -- which was that the stuff was legit and this was just the outfits crazy way of doing sales. I lasted about two weeks.
I had a friend that did that too. He said that was by far his worst job. Hot sun, no breaks, cuts and all for pennies because he was under 16.
That's kind of how I felt. I actually felt even better the next morning when I went to pick up my truck and saw the guys van in the parking lot. Let's just say his passenger that day was a brick and a lot of broken glass.
Just won a $250 gift card and five catered lunches today. After two glasses of wine and now sipping a beer at my desk. I dig this job sometimes.
BEST I was a residential supervisor at a school/residential center in Boston that treated adolescents who had behavior problems and learning disabilities stemming from brain injuries. I worked with hot women in their 20's, played basketball, took the kids out to eat, took them to the movies, took them skiing, etc. WORST I sacked groceries at the old Gerland's that used to be at Blalock and Hammerly.
