Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
One was for a sleazy "security company" (Falvo security in the Rochester New York area) It was a "perfect job" for me, they told me it would be watching a construction site overnight. I put in two weeks and was set to be paid when they told me I had to work security at a ghetto C-store in an area of town known for its high murder rate. They did this so I would quit- I had to go through the NYS dept of labor to get ANY of my pay and it was less than 1/4 of what they owed me.
I worked two weeks at "Walden Books" as a temp picking and packing book orders. The actual work wasn't bad but the way they treated people was dehumanizing. You had to ASK a supervisor to use the bathroom. You had to sit in the cafeteria during break, they wouldn't let you outside or anything.
Worst job "conditions wise" was working at a auto supplier supplier (third tier). It was a company that made tubing for car seat frames. This was in the middle of a Tennessee summer (hot one) and the place wasn't conditioned. I worked the 4pm til we were finished shift and my job consisted of bending over, picking up small tubes and inserting them into bigger tubes 10 to 12 hours a night. The job paid 7.75/hr and I mentioned to one of the temps I was quitting soon and the guy said "You're crazy, they will hire you on full time for 8.50 if you stick around".....
I have two. My first really awful job was when I was 17. I worked at a Dairy Queen owned by a guy who was a spoiled rotten trust fund brat. He'd never earned a thing in his life and his dad owned many franchises. His wedding gift from his parents had been his very own franchise. He was also a spoiled rotten Mormon brat. He was rude to customers. He hired me because all the other girls went to the rival high school. I never thought adults cared so much about high school rivalry, but he had graduated from the high school that was my high school's main rival and not a day went by when those of us from the "other" school were not made to feel like crap - by the 31 one year old trust fund brat! I swear the only reason the business stayed afloat was because the guy was a Mormon and the people in his stake showed up there all the time, plus people his dad knew who were not LDS. I did not fit in at all and was yelled at and treated like dirt all the time. When I had been hired I'd explained that I would have to go to a school event the end of May as I was on the yearbook staff and the event was mandatory for my grade (the event was when the yearbook was first handed out). Lo and behold, nasty archrival high school had its graduation that day, and my boss, KNOWING that I had to go to school that night for MY GRADE, stated that I had better come to work, all the other people were taking the night off (even the ones who were not graduating!) to attend the graduation party at the other school. I told my yearbook adviser this and she called my parents and said that she would be calling CPS if I worked that night since school was not a priority. My dad told me to quit; that at 17 I had to take care of school first. My boss did not care. To get back at him, my dad and his best friend showed up and gave the man he** that night. And then they called workforce services as the idiot manager wanted me to work days when I was supposed to be in school.
At 19 I worked at a dry cleaner's that was locally owned. My god, that place was awful. The women were catty. But my coworkers could not hold a candle to the drama from corporate. The head manager would drive to our branch, hole us up in the back room while customers were waiting outside to tell us how much she thought we sucked. Customer service was not a priority. I quit the place after they kept ignoring my requests to occasionally have a Saturday off and the company withheld my paycheck and made me drive all the way to South Jordan from Salt Lake suburbia in Davis County for an "exit interview." I showed up, was called names by the two guys who ran the company, and after two hours of hell, they gave me my paycheck. If anyone knew how awful this company was to their employees, they would not send their dry cleaning there! The place has a reputation of being a revolving door for workers now, it ALWAYS has a now hiring sign up every three months, like clockwork. The management is literally that awful.
I had a paper route in the days when you could. Had to get up early but not too bad. I drove a taxi, rated one of the worst jobs but didn't mind. The worst by far was caddying. Waiting for hours to get a loop, then walking in the heat carrying heavy bags. Note: I have not tried farm work yet.
Assembling boxes at a meat packing plant, so co-workers could put frozen burgers in the boxes and ship them off to Burger King. It was through a temp agency; the job was for a week and I asked them not to send me back there ever again. I also curtailed any future visits to Burger King.
I've worked dirtier and more physically demanding jobs than that one, but that was just numbing, physically and mentally. I felt bad for all the people that worked there permanently.
One summer during college I worked for my town's street dept. One day we went to the local sewage plant. There were several sludge drying beds, which looked like shallow swimming pools. I was one of four college students hired for the summer, and we were told to shovel the dried sludge into a high lift, which loaded it into a dump truck. This was human sewage that had been treated and left to dry in the sun. The smell was so bad I did think I could last for 10 minutes. We did it for three days. When I came home each day, my mother would not allow me in the house. I had to strip to my underwear and she immediately washed the clothes I was wearing.
BTW, the dried sludge was taken to a farm to be used as fertilizer.
I spent long hours cutting lawns and tending to the cleanliness of parks and public areas when I was much younger. However, I actually very much enjoyed that work. I'd say my co-workers also probably made that experience much better. They were all in my young age group. The pay wasn't minimum wage exactly either. Anyway, the absolute worst experience I had was when I was young and worked one summer in fast food. I don't have a long interesting story to tell on the matter though. The most interesting that happened there was a repeated angry customer who gave a sweet cashier a horrible time, while being extremely nice to everyone else on staff. It was really strange...
Working as a pharm. tech at a local drug store.
Minimum wage pay- stood on my feet for 8 hours at a time, no lunch/bathroom breaks because we were short staffed and too busy, yelled at by the pharmacist when he/she made a mistake, yelled at by customers when we took too long (because we were understaffed) and when they thought their meds were too expensive, called bad, BAD names on the phone by customers, death threats, etc.
One summer during college I worked for my town's street dept. One day we went to the local sewage plant. There were several sludge drying beds, which looked like shallow swimming pools. I was one of four college students hired for the summer, and we were told to shovel the dried sludge into a high lift, which loaded it into a dump truck. This was human sewage that had been treated and left to dry in the sun. The smell was so bad I did think I could last for 10 minutes. We did it for three days. When I came home each day, my mother would not allow me in the house. I had to strip to my underwear and she immediately washed the clothes I was wearing.
.
I've worked dirtier and more physically demanding jobs than that one, but that was just numbing, physically and mentally. I felt bad for all the people that worked there permanently.
In my experience, temp workers are brought in to do the worst jobs so full time staff doesn't have to do it. Better to have a temp quit than a full timer that's been trained and knows the work and environment. Sad as it sounds, the temp services are just another tool to take advantage of the overabundant supply of labor.
Location: The Chatterdome in La La Land, CaliFUNia
39,031 posts, read 23,023,210 times
Reputation: 36027
Telemarketing job that paid minimum wage. They gave me the script after I was hired and told to study it for the next day. It was so lame ... Imagine calling homeowners to have vinyl windows installed in their homes Anyways, reported to work and observed a more experienced coworker ... During down time, I found out that she used to be in prison and is a lesbian TMI .... There was a "supervisor" that walked up and down yammering about nonsense while everyone worked the phones. When it was time for me to start making the calls, I respectfully informed him of my hearing impairment and that it would be hard for me to hear with him talking (loudly). He responded "well ... You will have to use those phones over there (pointing to the far side of the room) because I'm just going to continue talking s-h-i-t anyways..." I quit that day. They since mailed me my meager check of 30-something dollars and when I tried cashing it, it bounced! I called them and they denied not having funds in their account. I decided to wait until a few days before their next payday and successfully cashed the check (let someone else get shorted) Thank GOD I did not stay beyond that first day or have my livelihood depending upon this job!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Anyways, reported to work and observed a more experienced coworker ... During down time, I found out that she used to be in prison and is a lesbian 
TMI .... There was a "supervisor" that walked up and down yammering about nonsense while everyone worked the phones. 
When it was time for me to start making the calls, I respectfully informed him of my hearing impairment and that it would be hard for me to hear with him talking (loudly). He responded "well ... You will have to use those phones over there (pointing to the far side of the room) because I'm just going to continue talking s-h-i-t anyways..." 
They since mailed me my meager check of 30-something dollars and when I tried cashing it, it bounced! 
Thank GOD I did not stay beyond that first day or have my livelihood depending upon this job! 
