I think my worst job had to have been telephone solicitation for Rainsoft Water Softners when I was in high school. They bounced my last two paychecks and then skipped town.

Then, of course, there was all the abuse I got from people who didn't want me calling them.

What was YOUR worst job?

Amy

I lasted two 1/2 weeks at Fashion Bug durning college summer vacation. Main point wasn't to assist customers but to get them to open credit accounts at FB. All my co-workers wanted to talk about was nails, make-up, and fluff. I quit and went back to my concession job at the movie theatre. Much happier (especially since it was my evening job-- I was working day camp too)

Then there was Walters and Steinberg -- small video production house in Lafayette IN.. I sent my letter of resignation while I was on vacation cause I didn't want to go back...

Lets see - I had more responsiblity than the other production assistant (I was shooting and editing my own videos) but was getting paid less than half of what he was making cause I was only a student (grad student, already had my radio/tv degree) adn he wasn't (no he wasn't supporting a family)

You knew when it was my boss's time of the month -- she'd go tilt and start throwing things in the studio. Before I left on vacation I had done a sales video for a company, stayed until 4 in the morning editing it perfectly. Left it for her. She called at 9 that she liked it. Then a few hours as I'm literally leaving the apartment to drive home (heading to Europe next day for two weeks with my parents and sisters) she wants me to come in cause she's thought of a new angle and way of doing the video (It was for a caulk capping machine - not exciting at all). She really blew when I told her I really couldn't go --I was not missing my flight. She'd blow at the drop of the hat. I don't put up with temper tantrums from folks older than me so I figured quitting was the best thing to do. That was the only job I've used my degree for -- it lasted 3 months.

Bridgette

I sold Time-Life books over the phone when I was 19. Need I say more?

Andrea
whose lead book was Basic Wiring

I think my worst job was working as an assistant manager for Blockbuster. It was fine until our corporately held store was bought by a franchise group. In general, Blockbuster was not a great place to work but it got even worse after that. The store I was working for was initially operating as an Erol's video that was owned by Blockbuster. We still had the perks of Erol's and one of them was that all employees got free movie rentals. Once we were part of the franchise, only management got free rentals whereas the customer service representatives got half price movies. Whoopdedoo! Not only that, but the pay was basically minimum wage and on holidays you got time and a half. So these teenagers could work on Christmas and still not even make $6 an hour. Sad!

Before working at Blockbuster, I worked at 7-11. That was quite an experience and could really be disgusting. From customers who blew cigarette smoke in your face, cleaning up butts from people who just emptied their damn car ashtrays straight into the parking lot, having drunk guys ask accost me sexually at 2 am when I was the only one working in the store; having to work a 24 hour shift when the midnight person decided to quit at the last minute, or getting called to go into work at 1 am after having been in bed for an hour were some of the things I encountered. Still, 7-11 was far superior to Blockbuster in that it was a much more decently run company and my manager was intelligent and hard working. The Blockbuster management, in my franchise at least, sucked (to put it lightly)! I worked on Christmas night puking my guts out from food poisoning, but I couldn't call anyone to help me since the manager had broken her leg and the district manager didn't care. Most of the assistant managers they hired barely had a high school diploma let alone a college one, and their idea of management was to sit in the back room the entire shift, smoking, having sex or what have you (one guy did this). Then they'd come out, curse at their underlings to work harder and go back to goofing off. It was pitiful. I was the one assistant manager in my store that the employees actually liked to work with. I must have been a masochist to stay for as long as I did. I guess I have self worth issues

One summer in college, I worked as a maid at a the Comfort Inn in Bend, Oregon. I was commuting from 40 minutes away, working usually 8am-2pm. Then I would go to my other job, working the dinner shift to closing at Pizza Hut.

Being a motel maid is the most physically backbreaking kind of work, lifting all the laundry, making beds, and generally erasing the presence of people who are pigs. It's not easy. We had a time limit of 30 minutes per room (45 minutes for the jacuzzi suites) to completely clean it and have the room ready for the next person. I think the pay was $6 or $6.50 an hour (in 1991). I will never do that kind of work again.

--naomi

I worked at G Fox in the skinny ladies department (and I wasn't). Had to pretend I knew what I was doing.

Discovered I was full of ***t! Two weeks into the part time gig and they were putting me everywhere.

Freaked me out. I left running, swollen dress shoe ankles crunching with each fleeting step.

Whatever possessed me?

Elyzabeth
Who REALLY, REALLY hates nylons!!!

Spent the summer when I was 14 working on a tobacco farm in North Carolina owned by mother's great uncle (don't ask).

Yay. Just what every Brooklyn born and bred kid needs - a nice stint on a North Carolina farm in a town with a thousand folks. I didn't stand out too much.

My parents were glad that I was out of the city. I got beat up less in the city.

But golly, that was some hard work, the most physically exhausting stuff I've ever done. My first week, I was cut, bruised, aching everywhere - it was awful. I remember sitting in a bathtub one night around 8:00 p.m. letting the tar soak off me and falling asleep in the bathtub for two hours. I was so tired that even the cold water didn't wake me.