The RIP Captain Phil Harris thread got me thinking. What's the hardest work and/or job you've ever had? For me, it was a project I did- stripping a hardwood floor in three rooms and a hallway with a 100-lb orbital sander. Never again. Using that thing on 1000-sq-ft very very carefully as to not make any marks, back and forth for two 12-hour days was the hardest work I've ever done. I have a pretty good frame of reference- I've done some lumber jacking, chopped wood for entire days, shoveled out stables for a summer, dug ditches, put up fences, remodeled houses, etc. At the time I went to the gym 5 days a week and was in pretty good shape and sanding that floor wore me out and took me a week to fully recover.
Built fences one summer as a teen. Of course, it didn't help that I was legally intoxicated every second I was not at that job (and some seconds I was there too).
A friend of mine used to deliver pizzas for a small pizza place somewhere in Richmond (close to that driving range). He asked me to fill in for him once cus he wanted to take his wife out that day. I was like.. umm.. wtf no, don't you have someone else? I was thinking, wouldn't I have to apply and all that jazz.. not worth the hassle for only one day. He said the owner is fine by it. So he eventually convinced me, plus I felt bad for him. Did it once and hot damnnn that was the worst experience of my life. Thank God it was only once. I always make sure I tipped delivery guys well since then. I had such a difficult time finding an address once and called the lady, and she helped me with directions. By the time I got there, she didn't want it anymore and literally threw it back at me. I wanted to choke a b. I made like $50 that day for making like 5-7 deliveries.
Digging and pouring a concrete slab for a patio in mid January when it's wet and 36 degrees. Moving concrete by the barrel back ad forth through the mud. Worst job ever. I was like 17. I still remember the non-feeling of numb fingers and toes.
As a teen and in college I had some really crappy jobs, cutting lawns in the summer down there in Houston, working in a cafeteria at college and at a carwash both of those were just aweful.
Directron. Basically $6/hr for manual labor. Over the summer, putting together computers in an assembly line in a warehouse with no AC, loading computers to a van, drive van to schools in Cy-Fair ISD, unloading computers to dollies and setup the new computers in classrooms, load old computers back to the van, drive back. Everyday I left home at about 6:30 and got home around 9-10, and I'd too tired to do anything, so I just eat and sleep. Worst summer of my life.
Construction jobs during the summer definitely. I had a lot more respect for those guys after that. Loading trailers at a Frito-Lay plant during the summer was no slouch either as those trailers were like working in freaking ovens.
Hardest&Suckiest= Doing Air Conditioning work with my dad while I was in school for a little extra money. Attics in the summer were like 140 degrees, it was terrible. Hardest but Fun=Commercial Snapper Boat out of Venice, LA. Work for a few days, then come in and go to Nola for a night. Best summer ever.
If we're talking about physically exhausting, EMS. Working 48hr shifts were terrible when they were busy ones. Worst 24hr shift I ever had, was a day where my partner and I left the station in Bryan, TX at 8am, and didn't get back to the station till 3am...for like 5 min, then had to leave to take a psych patient to Temple and got back to the station at 6:45am....... It was exhausting. Ended up taking Patients to Houston, twice, Temple, and driving all around Brazos County, and covering the counties when the other Ambulances were on 911 calls. I think we ran like 5 of those....blah.
Nothing like sticking a shovel into a steaming pile of asphalt in the middle of a black tar parking lot in the middle of the texas summer. At that point, I knew I was definitely going to college
Unloading IBP meat boxes at the Randall's warehouse. Boxes weighed betwen 50-75#'s all were on the floor of a 52 foot refrigereated trailer. Anywhere between 400 to 600 cases. Had to be stacked ia a 5 tie and 5 high, then shrink wrapped for stocking. Oh yeah with two guys it took us less than 2 hours. By myself usually around 3.5 hours. Needless to say I was in very good shape back then.
I worked the grill and the fryer at Wendy's in high school. You get scalded from hot grease all day and your face is covered in an inch of oil after your shift. Also, since Wendy's is made to order, you can't build an inventory of burger patties or fries so you have to try to predict the flow. Nothing pissed me off more than when little league teams would come in at 3:00PM (in between lunch and dinner) and order like 36 junior bacon cheeseburgers.
Mentally: Graduate school. 15 hours of class time each week and every waking moment reading or writing. The first semester I read 47 books. I damn near went crazy. Emotionally: After Grad School, I did some research in the WWII Japanese War Crimes records at the National Archives. Reading testimony and looking at graphic photo evidence for six weeks damn near drove me crazy. Physically: Fire assignments. 14-21 16 hour days with huge amounts of adrenalin, stress, and physical activity. It always takes me about a week of extra sleeping to feel like my energy is back to normal. I love it though.
I can't begin to compete with some of these. The worst I've come across is doing roofing in Houston summer. That's bad, but probably not as bad as doing asphalt or fighting wildfires.
