What was the worst non-UPS job you ever did?

[Big Babooba]

It was the summer before my high school senior year. I was working for The School Dept. I and two of my fellow workers were taken to the nearby Air Force Base to sweep out a hanger. The base had been downsized a few years earlier and the hanger had been declared surplus. The Air Force let the school dept use it for a warehouse. When we got there, we got a nasty surprise. The building had been vacant for 5 years and though the main doors were closed,the tail door wasn't fully closed.
Hanger 22 had become pigeon heaven! There was 5 year worth of pigeon dung, dead birds, fallen nests and broken eggs on the floor. The main door was now open and an 18 wheeler was inside waiting to be unloaded. They tried to move the rig outside so we could sweep that area first. Unfortunately, all it did was spin its wheels. It was almost like being stuck in the snow. (I wouldn't want to be hit with one of those "snowballs".
We started sweeping and got nowhere real fast. After an hour , the boss came over and told us to stop. He said that it could be unhealthy to be breathing in all the crap that was in the air. Nobody argued with him. They brought in two of the city's street sweepers to replace us.I was told that it took them the whole afternoon.
Twenty years later, fate would have it that I would have this hanger on my route. It was occupied by a rigging company that I delivered to just about every day. He was a neat freak and he had that hanger shining. You could eat off the floor - but no thanks.

 

[soberups]

I spent the summers picking beans, lettuce, strawberries and potatoes at a local farm. I was doing it to earn money for school clothes and to pay for my first hunting rifle. I was doing this work alongside of Mexicans who were doing it to feed their families. It was the hardest work I have ever done and i respect anyone who is willing to do it.

 

[MonavieLeaker]

Doing construction on a roof in mid summer in florida...and having to wear pants

 

[cgrant55]

Running the main electrical supply for a school turned condos. Being in a 3 foot by 3 foot crawl space for hours on end isnt fun. Ive done a lot of crappy construction jobs actually. Another one was at the same place, beating the plaster ceiling down with a hammer. Talk about a mess, and terribly hard to breathe.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Shipping/receiving for a Christmas bulb factory during the summer while I was going to college.

 

[Fnix]

UPS was my first job.

 

[Fishbulb]

roofing, worst job ever! spent the summer lugging 50lb bags of shingles up a ladder in long pants in 90 degree weather. Weirdest thing about it though, when we would break I'd reach right for a cold bottle of water or gatorade, the boss always drank soda. Soda is the farthest thing from my mind when im thinking about refreshment on a hot humid day.

 

[barnyard]

The summer between HS and college, I worked for the City of Racine. Spent some of the summer on a blacktop crew (close to the suckiest) and a curb and gutter break out crew (the suckiest). I don't think I ever sweated so much as when I was running a jackhammer when it's 90 and humid.

The other sucky job is closing silo doors on a haylage silo before filling. It's usually very, very dusty and there is always a strong updraft. You end up with haylage dust in EVERY crack and crevice.

Stacking straw bales close to the roof in a barn usually sucks, well, always, actually.

I enjoyed milking cows, but there were certainly parts that sucked.

TB

 

[upsdude]

Quality Control in a Vegas Brothel. I know, it sounds like fun but let me tell you, fun it wasn’t. All day long making sure the girls were able to perform (kind of like getting an S&V ride) in a manner the customers expected. Sometimes all the little blue pills in the world wouldn’t help, I’d have to call in sick.

I still have flashbacks, gawd it was awful.

 

[Big Babooba]

Quality Control in a Vegas Brothel. I know, it sounds like fun but let me tell you, fun it wasn’t. All day long making sure the girls were able to perform (kind of like getting an S&V ride) in a manner the customers expected. Sometimes all the little blue pills in the world wouldn’t help, I’d have to call in sick.

I still have flashbacks, gawd it was awful.

Nice fantasy. That business is not legal in Las Vegas.

 

[killamjl]

I used to work at a private airport during the summer in New Orleans (105degrees 100 percent humidity)

Anyways I was basically a extra hand (slave boy). Cutting the grass on the tractor, washing planes, cleaning the inside building.

My favorite part was when the owner would ask me to clean the underside of the planes with 100LL(airplane fuel) on my back ouside on the tarmack.

Holy crap that was the worst thing I ever done period

On the bright side it makes standing in the back of a truck mid-summer sorting packages not so bad, Ill never get over big gobs of salt flaking into my eyes tho

 

[dei8]

Two words, RETAIL MANAGER Thats why I laugh when I hear fellow drivers complain how bad they have it

 

[drewed]

I used to work at a private airport during the summer in New Orleans (105degrees 100 percent humidity)

Anyways I was basically a extra hand (slave boy). Cutting the grass on the tractor, washing planes, cleaning the inside building.

My favorite part was when the owner would ask me to clean the underside of the planes with 100LL(airplane fuel) on my back ouside on the tarmack.

Holy crap that was the worst thing I ever done period

On the bright side it makes standing in the back of a truck mid-summer sorting packages not so bad, Ill never get over big gobs of salt flaking into my eyes tho

they clean planes with fuel?

 

[killamjl]

Well this was back when fuel didnt cost 5$ a gallon...or airplane fuel i guess is something like 10$ a gallon nowa days

 

[satellitedriver]

The worst was the best.
The coal mines.
I learned so much there.
Heavy price to pay for that education, but I would not trade a minute of it.

 

[old brown shoe]

Bucking 90 lb hay bales in 100 degree weather on steep hillsides. Lots of rattle snakes hiding under them. Never ate or slept better in my life. The food the farmers wife fed us was the best. By the end of the summer I was in great shape and had some money for the girls.

 

[filthpig]

Oddly enough, it was a job that involved making invitations (stamping them using some sort of archaic machine) and such at a stationary store. That lasted exactly ONE day. My boss was a 12 year old Indian (subcontinent) kid. I was about 19 at the time. Hell on earth. I will speak no more of this.

 

[McLeod]

Pouring concrete in a pit in at a factory with lots of oil, and fumes everywhere. It was the assembly line above. Sick feeling everyday down in the pit.

 

[filthpig]

Bucking 90 lb hay bales in 100 degree weather on steep hillsides. Lots of rattle snakes hiding under them. Never ate or slept better in my life. The food the farmers wife fed us was the best. By the end of the summer I was in great shape and had some money for the girls.

Did the farm thing. Hay rides take on a whole new meaning. But I agree, I was in the best shape of my life. I was 14 and football practice 2-a-days were a joke after that.

 

[bugman74]

I too was a retail manager in a mall, now I have a mall route! I always liked being around people, but not the idiot customers. Now I get to laugh at all of the mall workers that complain about the same stuff I did.