Anonymous wrote:Tie between two jobs:

Hotel maid at 18 summer between HS and college. I was the only who spoke English.

Cashier at a convenience store night shift between undergrad and grad school.

Job I thought I would hate but loved: house painter! Did it during the summers in grad school.

Forgot to say why they sucked. Hotel maid is pretty obvious. People are gross! Cashier at a convenience store during the night sucked because scary drunk men would come in and try to pick me up, the constant fear of being shot during a robbery, and the drunk college kids were total a$$holes.

Let's see, I was asked to shave my bosses back hair when I was a nanny (that was my last day)
Worked in a green house in late July cleaning all the elves in the plants in the hot hot green house-I lasted until lunch
I also cleaned houses but it was for mostly doctors in annapolis so that wasn't bad at all
I think that's it

Sold children's shoes from 16-19, until the day a child spit on me, and his mother didn't correct him. I transfered to the women's shoe department that afternoon.

Anonymous wrote:Cashier at Walmart. I was 16, it was my very first job. I stood on my feet all day, made $6/hr, and got a big fat raise to $6.24 after 12 months on the job. I got treated like crap, which I understood, but it was worse to watch middle-aged and older people get mistreated by "managers" who were half their age (and intelligence). It really left its mark in terms of not just paying my dues in the working world, but also how important it is to treat all employees with dignity and respect when I became a supervisor in my own career.

ITA! Crappy jobs made me extremely respectful and polite to those who work them now.

I worked at a restaurant called The Beaver House. Hold the jokes- it was an old house turned into a restaurant run by the Beaver family. The mother ran it with her middle son, who was a SUPREME DICK. Classic middle child syndrome, I know now. His older brother actually owned the house from when his father died but had nothing to do with the business, and the younger son was a cycling star and baby of the family, so middle son was left to run the family business. He was awful- the entire time I was in college (I worked there when I was 19) there was a "Now Hiring" sign on the marquee because turnover was so high. By the time I'd been there three months, I was the second most senior person on staff. One time I was standing with another girl in the dish closet stacking plates and he shoved through us and said, "Move, fuckheads." This was a man whose wife was pregnant at the time with a baby girl, God help her.

The week of finals, this guy scheduled me to work 60 hours. Also, we had to pool our tips at the end of the shift and then we were given paychecks at the end of each week. He claimed to have a complicated system for equally distributing tips based on who worked the most hours, etc. etc. but mostly, I think he was skimming them off the top and pocketing them. The week I worked 60 hours, I got a paycheck for $200. INFURIATED. They were open on Thanksgiving day so I had to work Thanksgiving and drive home after we'd closed to see my family.

The final straw was when Walmart was going to have their corporate Christmas party at the restaurant. This was a party for 300 people; we had 3 girls on staff. Three girls for 300 people. This guy told us the day before he needed us there at 5 am to clean the house. I told him I was NOT a maid and if he wanted me to clean the house, he could pay me federal minimum wage that day and let me keep all my tips. He told me I could find another job if that was how I felt, and my blood was boiling. He wanted us there the next day from 5 am to about 2 am between cleaning the house, serving lunch, and then setting up and serving the party. So the next day, I didn't show up for my shift. (Very common among employees.) I have NEVER done this- I have always been a model employee everywhere I have ever worked. But this man had it coming. The ONLY way to treat him was to fuck him over. He called my phone once that day but got the picture pretty quick since he was used to this. I woke up every single morning for three months after that just thanking God I didn't have to go work at that restaurant that day.

Tie between two jobs:

Hotel maid at 18 summer between HS and college. I was the only who spoke English.

Cashier at a convenience store night shift between undergrad and grad school.

Job I thought I would hate but loved: house painter! Did it during the summers in grad school.

Anonymous wrote:Cashier at Walmart. I was 16, it was my very first job. I stood on my feet all day, made $6/hr, and got a big fat raise to $6.24 after 12 months on the job. I got treated like crap, which I understood, but it was worse to watch middle-aged and older people get mistreated by "managers" who were half their age (and intelligence). It really left its mark in terms of not just paying my dues in the working world, but also how important it is to treat all employees with dignity and respect when I became a supervisor in my own career.

Wow! Wouldn't have guessed something like this at Walmart. How long ago was this?

Cashier at Walmart. I was 16, it was my very first job. I stood on my feet all day, made $6/hr, and got a big fat raise to $6.24 after 12 months on the job. I got treated like crap, which I understood, but it was worse to watch middle-aged and older people get mistreated by "managers" who were half their age (and intelligence). It really left its mark in terms of not just paying my dues in the working world, but also how important it is to treat all employees with dignity and respect when I became a supervisor in my own career.

Nursing home aide.

Too much work, exhausting emotionally and physically and I made a dime more than minimum wage.

18 and 19 years old, summers and winter breaks

Not too bad, but I would never do retail again unless I was all out of options and absolutely broke.

17-19 years of age

I've never had this job, but I would hate to have to clean houses. I find it so disgusting and that's probably why I tip my cleaner so much

Anonymous wrote:Harvesting tobacco. Work 16 hours a day carrying 150 pound sticks loaded with tobacco. Half hour break for lunch.

ages 15-20

Yes. I will always be grateful for my life as an attorney. No matter how long the hours and annoying the coworkers, it is really a privilege to have the opportunity to earn a living with my brain instead of my hands.

Wow! I was going to post the same thing. I worked in tobacco in my early teens in N. Carolina. It was very chilly in the early mornings, but from 10 a.m. on the heat was unrelenting.
That experience definitely offers a healthy perspective on what is "hard work". I have come a long way since those days -- and though I would never want to return there for work, I credit those experiences for much of what I have accomplished today.

I had a temp job once where we had to open envelopes, reorder the documents and staple them back together. This mean Irish lady who supervised us wouldn't let us listen to walkmans (this was the early 90s) or talk. At all. And we had to sign out for bathroom breaks. I didn't last very long.

As an attorney, I had a boss who screamed at me, bullied me, and called me names. Her whole family worked in the office and I was the only outsider. Once boss' sister asked me if I was going to court or selling p. Not funny.

Harvesting tobacco. Work 16 hours a day carrying 150 pound sticks loaded with tobacco. Half hour break for lunch.

ages 15-20

Yes. I will always be grateful for my life as an attorney. No matter how long the hours and annoying the coworkers, it is really a privilege to have the opportunity to earn a living with my brain instead of my hands.

Anonymous wrote:Why was it so bad?
How old were you?
Does it impact how you view work now?

Boss was verbally abusive, made sexist comments, probably was bipolar and sometimes for months would have no expectations and at other times would want 3 months of work done in a week.

22

Yes, I would never put up with a boss like that again. I'd be out, immediately.

Why was it so bad?
How old were you?
Does it impact how you view work now?