Between high school and college I worked at a meat packing plant. The job was slicing and dicing cow hearts and livers into 40 pound boxes.

The lifers didn't think much of "college boys" and so engaged in various hazing activities. One guy's job was to cut the anus from the cow and he enjoyed throwing the removed tissue at the heads of newbies. So that was fun.

Also it was impossible to get the blood smell of my hands. I didn't eat hamburger for a year or so.

I had a number of similar physically demanding blue collar jobs in high school and college, though none quite that awful. As a result, I've never been overly sympathetic when people complain about their cushy white collar jobs.

I took a job at a private company in a business sector that turned out to be a religious cult. The President of the company sent a secretary to ask for documentation of my faith and it went downhill from there. Everyone who didn’t go to the same house of worship ended up leaving as soon as they could because the constant preaching at work got old fast and interfered with actual work.

tenure-track assistant professor at sought-after liberal arts college.

I worked as a consultant to a sports team (ahem), and I was required to show up in meetings in a skirt. I also had to share the important information with my male subordinate, as the folks I was working with were less likely to listen to me or even include me in the meetings.

You would think my fast food job in HS would be humiliating but it was quite fun. Humiliating was Geek Squad, wearing that "geek" clown suit which encouraged everyone to act like they were the jocks from Revenge of the Nerds when they interacted with you. The customers were so dumb that it was impossible to tolerate, and the experience really lit a fire under me to go to grad school.

So many for me…here are two…

I had an internship at a tiny association where the CEO degraded me constantly. I wasn’t given office keys, and one day I went to the hallway restroom and came back to find the door to the office locked. It wasn’t a long toilet break even! I didn’t have my phone, keys, or wallet, and the building security guard wouldn’t get them for me. Spent two hours sitting in the hallway until I convinced the office manager to help me.

Next one, when I told my boss I was pregnant, she converted me to an independent contractor. She also talked repeatedly about how women get “stupid” after having kids. Then she got really angry when I resigned a month before I was due.

Work sucks!

I absolutely loved my job galloping racehorses but the boss was insane. While mounted on a baby Thoroughbred, he chased another rider, who was also on a baby Thoroughbred, brandishing a whip at her and screaming, "You are an AMATEUR!! No one could get along with you people!"

Another guy got his foot run over by a tractor. It swelled up until it looked like an elephant's foot. The boss said, "You ride! You get bigger boots and RIDE!"

It was so bad for the horses that I stayed for their sake longer than I should have.

I worked at Chuck E. Cheese in high school. It was horrible. The parents were so rude, the kids were crazy, and the tips were nonexistent. Oh, and the music was the icing on the cake; the same songs over and over. I still get PTSD from hearing Mung Jerry's in the Summertime.