It's a toss-up. Years ago I had 2 jobs in a row where I was hired as an assistant to someone who didn't actually NEED an assistant.
One was at a local bank, and the other was at the local Equifax office. I spent my time looking for things to do, asking people for work and sitting on my hands. Thankfully both ended quickly.
More recently I had a job where the boss was a jerk, changed my hours (which I couldn't do because of day care hours) yelled alot, and the other administrator worked at getting people fired... I lost 20 pounds in one summer from the stress!
I'm sure others have much worse stories, so I count myself lucky overall!
My worst job (so far) was when I worked as a dishwasher at a major chain buffet restaurant. The dishwashing area was disgusting and smelled awful. After a month I was "promoted" to slicing meat for customers in the buffet line This was terrible as customers had requests like "give me the fattiest piece." I became quite good at balancing a slice of meat on top of plate that was already towering with buffet food. I never felt like eating during my lunch break the entire time I worked there.
I was in college and got laid off from my full time job... so to make ends meet I took a job selling shots in a night club. WORST JOB EVER! I had to wear a hot pink shirt so I could be seen in the dark crowd... but the worst part was getting groped and hit on all night every night! It took me 4.5 months to find other employment, the money I made at the night club made it worth it (I only worked 3 nights a week) but just barely...
So, you would think that my worst job would be the one where I waitressed in a low-income high-crime area (we had to have a security guard on weekends, waitresses weren't permitted to walk to their cars alone, etc.), but the one I consider the worst was hostessing at an upscale Irish bar.
To give you an idea of how horrible the place was, I had a customer physically attack me. I had a panic attack and fainted. Management woke me up, handed me my keys, and sent me home without making sure I was okay. I later learned they were legally obligated to call an ambulance and should have sued. And the customer that attacked me? They got free drinks and an apology from management for my provoking them. The best part is what I said to set them off: "I'm sorry, the bar is 21 and over only. May I please see your ID?"
Reading these comments makes me realize how good I've had it. I've been working since I was thirteen (I'm 42 now), and I don't have a story that can hold a candle to most of these.
Overall, the job that was the worst was the one that I quit after less than two hours. It was telemarketing--selling photo shoots starting at 8:00 in the morning. Besides the general distastefulness of the job, there was the fact that it was far too small of a town to be waking up your neighbors and making them mad.
Back in 1976 when gas stations were still full service, I was in high school (16) and landed a job at a small gas station on a major busy road in southeast Michigan. I got night shift. When I got to work my first night, they told me I would not have access to the cash register and they gave me a wad of money to make change (this was also before debit and credit cards could be used at the pump), and I was left alone. Through the night, I was pumping gas, cleaning windshields, and checking oil with my jeans pockets bulging with money. Every time I had to make change, I would have to pull the whole wad of money out of my pocket. Talk about a setup. It would have been so easy for somebody to rob me. Luckily, nobody took advantage of the situation that night. But, I didn't go back the next night. I was scared to death the whole time I was there.
The worst job I ever had I got the summer after my freshman year in college. I got recommended to this guy by my old high school chemistry teacher. He had a "telecommunications" company, but really he just did home video, phone, and stereo installations and was trying to branch out into network installation.
At the time the guy was running for state representative of his district, so he was really more concerned with that than the business. So I did most of my work under another guy who actually had some idea of what he was doing. But this guy wasn't really happy working for him either.
My boss had somehow managed to land a contract for a new apartment complex to install their network lines. The other guy I worked with was really the one handling it, but even he wasn't too sure about what to do. We were pretty much putting together jerry-rigged wiring boxes made from cheap PVC parts, and most of the time on that project I was left alone all day on the site, the only one from out company, which made me the only guy who the head contractor could talk to, and I didn't know anything. I also once had to borrow a drill from an electrician to bore a hole through a beam, because the one my boss gave me sucked. That's an embarrassing situation for a 20-year-old college kid, with all those weathered construction workers around.
Most mornings I'd sit in my truck until 9 or 10, trying to get a hold of him to find out exactly what I'd be doing that day, and couldn't reach him. I still counted that in my hours, because he had hired me for full time work, and it's his responsibility to either tell me what I'm going to be doing or tell me to stay home. It was still very frustrating.
After a week of that I figured this wasn't going to be a good job and told the other guy I worked with that I didn't think it was going to work out. He panicked and offered me a dollar more an hour than I was hired for (retroactively) and I reluctantly agreed to stay one. The boss later reneged on the retroactive part, and I would have been better off cutting loose then.
Twice my paychecks bounced when I tried to deposit them, and I had to corner him to get my money. He was clearly having money problems, as not long before I quit he moved his operation out of the rented office space and into the house he rented. But a couple weeks before that he hired a pretty, young 18 or 19 year old girl as an office worker, when he obviously couldn't afford it. I think he didn't exactly have pure intentions there. I mean, his wallpaper on his work computer was of some scantily clad model, and he had this little animated woman desktop apps. Real professional. All in all the guy just seemed really sleazy.
So, after 2 bounced paychecks and the moving out of his office, I read the writing on the wall and quit after last check cleared. But by then the summer was half over, and no one was hiring, so I ended up sitting around the house or going to work for my dad when he needed extra help.
My chemistry teacher was more or less unapologetic for setting me up with this guy, who was a friend of hers. So I was pretty satisfied when I heard later that he had moved out of the house he was renting into a home owned by her, skipped out owing her rent and leaving the place a mess. Later heard he had a couple warrants for fraud out on him. Not surprising.
Working at a candy store while I was in school. My bosses were paranoid and sexual harassy and my co-workers were evil. I can't believe I out up with it for so long.
My worst job was also the SADDEST job I can think of...
Helped kick helpless elderly, families with kids, everyday people out of their homes.
In college I worked for a moving company. Not so bad right?!? Well, this moving company had a contract with the city Sheriff's Department. Our job was to follow the Deputies into homes of people that were being evicted due to foreclosure or failure to pay rent.
95% of these people were just like you and me. Good, hard working, normal people with families. They had just fallen behind for what ever reason ( runaway medical bills, family trauma, financial mismanagement, etc. ) to the point that they were so far gone it was too late. These were often people too proud to ask for any public assistance or any handouts.
The first day that broke my heart was the day I met Steven. He had to be no more than 4 years old. His family was unable to pay the bank ( this was before the market crapped the bed ) for the one-family home they were living in for years. Though his family had plenty of warning of our arrival, there they all were to watch us take their stuff to storage for the Sheriff. Steven could not understand why we were taking his family from the only home he had ever known. It's been 5 years and memories of that kid's tears still haunt me. And he was only one of many people that summer that I wish I could have helped instead of hurt.
I lasted far too long at that job. It was an rough few months. That experience pushed me to help those in need, and I went into a career that helps people, people like Steven. Nowadays I am happy to go to work.
bussing tables in the guys dorm cafeteria in college. The guys found it amusing to make huge teetering piles of dirty dishes in hopes that they would crash to the floor during cleanup. They also liked to turn full drink glasses upside down on the tables. I was a sticky smelly mess up to my elbows at the end of my shift, and no gloves were provided.
I bought one of the smart strips in January, and set the TV to be the primary, with all the peripherals, Wii, speakers, etc to only get a current when the TV is on. It seems to be savings us at least $10 per month. I made several energy changes at the same time, so it's a little difficult to determine which change resulted in which amount of savings.
I also started keeping the heat lower in the winter, and am trying not to use the AC if I can help it. DH and I are in a battle over the AC, however. He is home during the day while I am at work, and I frequently come home to see the AC set to 70. I end up putting a sweatshirt on, or wrapping up in a blanket because I'm cold. He doesn't seem to understand how much money is being wasted by keeping the house that cold. How can I convince him to raise it up to at least 75 and to make better use of fans, and closing the blinds facing east in the morning so the house doesn't heat up in the first place?
My first job out of grad school was as a data analyst at an ad firm, and while the job itself was lucrative, my crazy lady boss made this the worst experience ever. On my first day, I walked in at 8 only to find her glaring at me and saying she expected to see me here when she arrives at 7:30ish. So the next day I got here by 7:20 to find the door locked. Started knocking on the door and then had no choice but to sit and wait outside. Boss lady showed up at 9:30 that day with her S*bucks latte and fresh manicure and then yelled at me for banging on teh door and "breaking the security lock" (but I didn't open the door).
During my first month I was working overtime, meaning I was putting in 15-20 hours/day. Yes, I did sleep over a few times. I remember one night going over a presentation with Boss Lady and my stomach was growling too loudly for her tastes, so I asked her if I could run next door or order takeout. She proceeded to berate me on my eating habits, and then pointed out that SHE did not have to eat, so why should I? Then she told me I could run downstairs and grab a "greasy, disgusting slice of limp pizza" (her exact words) which I proceeded to do, but pretty much ate it crouched outside the office because she was making faces at how "bad" it smelled. So that was my 10 minute dinner break...and the next day, I found her standing in the middle of the office, telling the other coworkers (who incidentally were gossipy and malicious themselves) about how I couldn't handle working hard and had to eat- god forbid. I was really a wimp and started apologizing (for being hungry???) and was saying how I get headaches if I don't eat/drink for 12 hours- and then Boss Lady rolled her eyes and said, "Oh so now you get headaches, too, if you work too hard?"
WHAT THE H***
Anyway, the happy ending is that after 3 months (yup, I survived that long) I found another job and happily told her I was leaving, at which point she suddenly started giving me normal project deadlines and being significantly nicer. I left anyway and to this day (3 years) I'm told she still has not filled that position. Wonder why?
When I was 14 I took my first job at an animal shelter in the hot and humid state of South Carolina. My job was to keep up the grounds. Sounds easy enough but unfortunately what that really meant was I was in charge of doggie doo duty. So everyday I would wake up,get to the shelter and start scooping. Once A week I was also in charge of mowing the grass, and to top it all off I was in a leg cast from a soccer injury resulting in 7 fractures. In order to keep my cast clean I had to put my leg in a trash bag and seal it off with duct tape. Im sure everyone who drove by that summer was getting a good laugh. My pay for this wonderful work was an amazing $2 an hour! But I did learn several life lessons from the experience. 1. the value of hard work and 2. Grass is easier to mow if you clean up the doggie doo first
I was working as an executive assistant for a senior manager at a well known regional bank. I got my 30 day evaluation and received negative reviews for "being too friendly"! This solidified my earlier feelings that I was in the wrong place!!
I initially became suspicious when on my first day I never saw one person smiling!
At 15 I managed a work permit and found a job with a family friend about one hour away from home. after having to pay for hotel and such we then learned that we had to work the overnight shift due to "extreme" heat conditions. Our job was running insulation down tunnels at a mental institution. The tunnels were approxim 160 degrees after a few hour cool down when we started and they open the hatches every 60 yards to help vent. I still have two scars from the burns I suffered from bumping into an uncovered pipe while running pieces of insulation. I managed to finish the 3 weeks of work but my mother was horrified when I came home since I had lost so much weight. To add to this fun and joy one of the nights a "resident" of the mental institution managed to escape his room, cut his way into the tunnels, and chase us with a pair of scissors until security could catch him. The night that happened we also had to work extra since we did not meet the quota for the evening. to this day (20 years later) when I see that family friend asks if I want to go back and work the tunnels.
My worst job ever was right after High School. I took a job at an egg packing plant. I worked on the front end of the machine that scans and packs the eggs. Not so bad right....? WRONG!! That is the same end of the machine where the eggs that don't pass the inspection or won't come out of their flats go. Imagine standing 2 feet from a 55 gallon drum 1/2 full of rotten eggs with the expectation that before your day is over you willl have filled it and moved on to the nesxt. NASTY,NASTY,NASTY. If nothing else I can say one day to my kids "If I could pack egss for a pay check then....."
My worst job was when my sister and I first moved to L.A. in 2004. I took the first job I was offered because our 16-year old cat who had been diagnosed with kidney disease took a turn for the worse and needed extra care (his vet bills for the first month were close to $1,000 and we needed to give him daily saline IV's indefinitely.)
The job was at a small youth sports photography company, and at first it seemed OK and the boss seemed really nice until the 2nd day when my co-worker, who was also new, and I heard the loudest shouting coming from the warehouse adjacent to our office. It was our boss, a really big/tall guy (about 6'4") shouting at the guys working in the printing packing department. The shouting (w/ profanity) went on for a good 5-10 minutes and we were petrified at our desks.
The shouting, sometimes accompanied by throwing of large-sounding things, turned out to be a regular occurance at that company, and one day 4 months later, it was turned on us when we made a mistake and I quit the next day.
I just made a batch of yummy muffins from the recipe I listed above. It's not a very sweet muffin, so if you like it to be more like a cake/dessert, then add a bit more sugar. If you like it to be more like a bread, however... it's perfect! I added a bit more of the berries, and they are so moist and have a great color. They look a lot like blueberry muffins, but without the tartness!
Nora -
I have so many trees, I don't even know what to do with all the berries. A friend said I could dry them, so I'll try that. Maybe good for adding to pancake mix later in the year?
I have the world's largest mullberry tree in my back yard (okay, not like it's exactly been measured but I'm sure it's at least a contender!), so this post is great - thanks! I especially like the blanket/sheet idea for harvesting the berries.
I grew up on a farm and had all the standard farm-type jobs: shoveling pig crap, shoveling cow crap and baling hay in 100+ degree weather. That was a joy compared to most of my other jobs. At least you feel like you've accomplished something when you're done...
I quit working on farms when I became an EMT. I only did that for about six months before I was called out on a suicide. A teenage girl had decided life wasn't worth living while at summer camp, and she used a shotgun to end her life. Fishing around under a cot to separate brain tissue from dust bunnies was not my idea of a solid career. (On a separate note, the summer camp in question no longer offers skeet shooting as a camp activity.)
The hospital I worked at as an EMT offered me a job as a specimen collector for their occupational health clinic. While not technically "the worst job I ever had" (at least from my mental health perspective), this position is the most likely contender on the surface so it's the one I'll write about:
I was responsible for collecting urine samples from employees at any of the 300+ client companies we had, whenever they were in an accident or were suspected of substance abuse. I was the only person that did this 24/7 at our clinic, so I had a pager and I had to show up at the local emergency room within 20 minutes to conduct the test whenever I was paged. It was cheaper for my clinic to perform the tests than the emergency room, so I had to work around the ER staff. I was frequently bled on, and I had a gun pulled on me once by a schizophrenic patient. Someone bumping something gently with a forklift or dropping a package was considered an 'accident' according to the clinic rules, so I was paged frequently. On some nights there were so many accidents that I just stayed at the emergency room waiting for my dayshift to begin. During the dayshift, I mostly collected urine specimens from employees on a randomized basis.
During the randomized collections, there were always paranoid types who were convinced we were singling them out for the drug tests. I was slapped, punched and spit on by these people at least once a month. The truck drivers and coalminers were especially fun. The accident/substance abuse employees, on the other hand, were also loads of fun. Employees that were suspected of trying to cheat on the urine tests (using another's urine and a "Whizzinator", for example) had to be observed directly. I had to watch the urine come out of their penises [penii? ;-) ] Those who felt that this was a gross violation of their privacy often chose to urinate ON ME as a form of protest. Some of the wittier clients chose to defecate and/or ejaculate into the specimen cups.
Having a drunken janitor who has just shat in a plastic cup question YOUR career choices is nothing if not depressing.
For those people who think we should make it harder for people to buy with a small down payment, it is harder btw! The guidelines are MUCH stricter than they used to be, my husband and I squeaked by, but there will be many people who won't qualify for loans at all.
It is no longer the era of easy credit, friends. Those of us without SPARKLING credit won't get to take advantage of this tax credit.
My husband and I bought a condo this year, and we made the decision to buy based on the 8,000 dollar tax credit. Once I found out about the tax credit, I realized that the housing prices and interest rates had also fallen.
We put down 5%, but this was still a large sum for a couple in their mid-20s in metro Boston. We are responsible, frugal, and have good credit, so why not take advantage of this situation?
It's a toss-up. Years ago I had 2 jobs in a row where I was hired as an assistant to someone who didn't actually NEED an assistant.
One was at a local bank, and the other was at the local Equifax office. I spent my time looking for things to do, asking people for work and sitting on my hands. Thankfully both ended quickly.
More recently I had a job where the boss was a jerk, changed my hours (which I couldn't do because of day care hours) yelled alot, and the other administrator worked at getting people fired... I lost 20 pounds in one summer from the stress!
I'm sure others have much worse stories, so I count myself lucky overall!
One summer I was a telemarketer, and it was AWFUL. I got yelled at some many times.
My worst job (so far) was when I worked as a dishwasher at a major chain buffet restaurant. The dishwashing area was disgusting and smelled awful. After a month I was "promoted" to slicing meat for customers in the buffet line This was terrible as customers had requests like "give me the fattiest piece." I became quite good at balancing a slice of meat on top of plate that was already towering with buffet food. I never felt like eating during my lunch break the entire time I worked there.
I was in college and got laid off from my full time job... so to make ends meet I took a job selling shots in a night club. WORST JOB EVER! I had to wear a hot pink shirt so I could be seen in the dark crowd... but the worst part was getting groped and hit on all night every night! It took me 4.5 months to find other employment, the money I made at the night club made it worth it (I only worked 3 nights a week) but just barely...
So, you would think that my worst job would be the one where I waitressed in a low-income high-crime area (we had to have a security guard on weekends, waitresses weren't permitted to walk to their cars alone, etc.), but the one I consider the worst was hostessing at an upscale Irish bar.
To give you an idea of how horrible the place was, I had a customer physically attack me. I had a panic attack and fainted. Management woke me up, handed me my keys, and sent me home without making sure I was okay. I later learned they were legally obligated to call an ambulance and should have sued. And the customer that attacked me? They got free drinks and an apology from management for my provoking them. The best part is what I said to set them off: "I'm sorry, the bar is 21 and over only. May I please see your ID?"
Reading these comments makes me realize how good I've had it. I've been working since I was thirteen (I'm 42 now), and I don't have a story that can hold a candle to most of these.
Overall, the job that was the worst was the one that I quit after less than two hours. It was telemarketing--selling photo shoots starting at 8:00 in the morning. Besides the general distastefulness of the job, there was the fact that it was far too small of a town to be waking up your neighbors and making them mad.
Back in 1976 when gas stations were still full service, I was in high school (16) and landed a job at a small gas station on a major busy road in southeast Michigan. I got night shift. When I got to work my first night, they told me I would not have access to the cash register and they gave me a wad of money to make change (this was also before debit and credit cards could be used at the pump), and I was left alone. Through the night, I was pumping gas, cleaning windshields, and checking oil with my jeans pockets bulging with money. Every time I had to make change, I would have to pull the whole wad of money out of my pocket. Talk about a setup. It would have been so easy for somebody to rob me. Luckily, nobody took advantage of the situation that night. But, I didn't go back the next night. I was scared to death the whole time I was there.
The worst job I ever had I got the summer after my freshman year in college. I got recommended to this guy by my old high school chemistry teacher. He had a "telecommunications" company, but really he just did home video, phone, and stereo installations and was trying to branch out into network installation.
At the time the guy was running for state representative of his district, so he was really more concerned with that than the business. So I did most of my work under another guy who actually had some idea of what he was doing. But this guy wasn't really happy working for him either.
My boss had somehow managed to land a contract for a new apartment complex to install their network lines. The other guy I worked with was really the one handling it, but even he wasn't too sure about what to do. We were pretty much putting together jerry-rigged wiring boxes made from cheap PVC parts, and most of the time on that project I was left alone all day on the site, the only one from out company, which made me the only guy who the head contractor could talk to, and I didn't know anything. I also once had to borrow a drill from an electrician to bore a hole through a beam, because the one my boss gave me sucked. That's an embarrassing situation for a 20-year-old college kid, with all those weathered construction workers around.
Most mornings I'd sit in my truck until 9 or 10, trying to get a hold of him to find out exactly what I'd be doing that day, and couldn't reach him. I still counted that in my hours, because he had hired me for full time work, and it's his responsibility to either tell me what I'm going to be doing or tell me to stay home. It was still very frustrating.
After a week of that I figured this wasn't going to be a good job and told the other guy I worked with that I didn't think it was going to work out. He panicked and offered me a dollar more an hour than I was hired for (retroactively) and I reluctantly agreed to stay one. The boss later reneged on the retroactive part, and I would have been better off cutting loose then.
Twice my paychecks bounced when I tried to deposit them, and I had to corner him to get my money. He was clearly having money problems, as not long before I quit he moved his operation out of the rented office space and into the house he rented. But a couple weeks before that he hired a pretty, young 18 or 19 year old girl as an office worker, when he obviously couldn't afford it. I think he didn't exactly have pure intentions there. I mean, his wallpaper on his work computer was of some scantily clad model, and he had this little animated woman desktop apps. Real professional. All in all the guy just seemed really sleazy.
So, after 2 bounced paychecks and the moving out of his office, I read the writing on the wall and quit after last check cleared. But by then the summer was half over, and no one was hiring, so I ended up sitting around the house or going to work for my dad when he needed extra help.
My chemistry teacher was more or less unapologetic for setting me up with this guy, who was a friend of hers. So I was pretty satisfied when I heard later that he had moved out of the house he was renting into a home owned by her, skipped out owing her rent and leaving the place a mess. Later heard he had a couple warrants for fraud out on him. Not surprising.
Working at a candy store while I was in school. My bosses were paranoid and sexual harassy and my co-workers were evil. I can't believe I out up with it for so long.
I once had a job where I counted redeemed coupons all day - by hand. You can count up to about 20,000 coupons when you have nothing else to do.
My worst job was also the SADDEST job I can think of...
Helped kick helpless elderly, families with kids, everyday people out of their homes.
In college I worked for a moving company. Not so bad right?!? Well, this moving company had a contract with the city Sheriff's Department. Our job was to follow the Deputies into homes of people that were being evicted due to foreclosure or failure to pay rent.
95% of these people were just like you and me. Good, hard working, normal people with families. They had just fallen behind for what ever reason ( runaway medical bills, family trauma, financial mismanagement, etc. ) to the point that they were so far gone it was too late. These were often people too proud to ask for any public assistance or any handouts.
The first day that broke my heart was the day I met Steven. He had to be no more than 4 years old. His family was unable to pay the bank ( this was before the market crapped the bed ) for the one-family home they were living in for years. Though his family had plenty of warning of our arrival, there they all were to watch us take their stuff to storage for the Sheriff. Steven could not understand why we were taking his family from the only home he had ever known. It's been 5 years and memories of that kid's tears still haunt me. And he was only one of many people that summer that I wish I could have helped instead of hurt.
I lasted far too long at that job. It was an rough few months. That experience pushed me to help those in need, and I went into a career that helps people, people like Steven. Nowadays I am happy to go to work.
Thanks for letting me share my experience.
bussing tables in the guys dorm cafeteria in college. The guys found it amusing to make huge teetering piles of dirty dishes in hopes that they would crash to the floor during cleanup. They also liked to turn full drink glasses upside down on the tables. I was a sticky smelly mess up to my elbows at the end of my shift, and no gloves were provided.
I bought one of the smart strips in January, and set the TV to be the primary, with all the peripherals, Wii, speakers, etc to only get a current when the TV is on. It seems to be savings us at least $10 per month. I made several energy changes at the same time, so it's a little difficult to determine which change resulted in which amount of savings.
I also started keeping the heat lower in the winter, and am trying not to use the AC if I can help it. DH and I are in a battle over the AC, however. He is home during the day while I am at work, and I frequently come home to see the AC set to 70. I end up putting a sweatshirt on, or wrapping up in a blanket because I'm cold. He doesn't seem to understand how much money is being wasted by keeping the house that cold. How can I convince him to raise it up to at least 75 and to make better use of fans, and closing the blinds facing east in the morning so the house doesn't heat up in the first place?
My first job out of grad school was as a data analyst at an ad firm, and while the job itself was lucrative, my crazy lady boss made this the worst experience ever. On my first day, I walked in at 8 only to find her glaring at me and saying she expected to see me here when she arrives at 7:30ish. So the next day I got here by 7:20 to find the door locked. Started knocking on the door and then had no choice but to sit and wait outside. Boss lady showed up at 9:30 that day with her S*bucks latte and fresh manicure and then yelled at me for banging on teh door and "breaking the security lock" (but I didn't open the door).
During my first month I was working overtime, meaning I was putting in 15-20 hours/day. Yes, I did sleep over a few times. I remember one night going over a presentation with Boss Lady and my stomach was growling too loudly for her tastes, so I asked her if I could run next door or order takeout. She proceeded to berate me on my eating habits, and then pointed out that SHE did not have to eat, so why should I? Then she told me I could run downstairs and grab a "greasy, disgusting slice of limp pizza" (her exact words) which I proceeded to do, but pretty much ate it crouched outside the office because she was making faces at how "bad" it smelled. So that was my 10 minute dinner break...and the next day, I found her standing in the middle of the office, telling the other coworkers (who incidentally were gossipy and malicious themselves) about how I couldn't handle working hard and had to eat- god forbid. I was really a wimp and started apologizing (for being hungry???) and was saying how I get headaches if I don't eat/drink for 12 hours- and then Boss Lady rolled her eyes and said, "Oh so now you get headaches, too, if you work too hard?"
WHAT THE H***
Anyway, the happy ending is that after 3 months (yup, I survived that long) I found another job and happily told her I was leaving, at which point she suddenly started giving me normal project deadlines and being significantly nicer. I left anyway and to this day (3 years) I'm told she still has not filled that position. Wonder why?
When I was 14 I took my first job at an animal shelter in the hot and humid state of South Carolina. My job was to keep up the grounds. Sounds easy enough but unfortunately what that really meant was I was in charge of doggie doo duty. So everyday I would wake up,get to the shelter and start scooping. Once A week I was also in charge of mowing the grass, and to top it all off I was in a leg cast from a soccer injury resulting in 7 fractures. In order to keep my cast clean I had to put my leg in a trash bag and seal it off with duct tape. Im sure everyone who drove by that summer was getting a good laugh. My pay for this wonderful work was an amazing $2 an hour! But I did learn several life lessons from the experience. 1. the value of hard work and 2. Grass is easier to mow if you clean up the doggie doo first
I was working as an executive assistant for a senior manager at a well known regional bank. I got my 30 day evaluation and received negative reviews for "being too friendly"! This solidified my earlier feelings that I was in the wrong place!!
I initially became suspicious when on my first day I never saw one person smiling!
At 15 I managed a work permit and found a job with a family friend about one hour away from home. after having to pay for hotel and such we then learned that we had to work the overnight shift due to "extreme" heat conditions. Our job was running insulation down tunnels at a mental institution. The tunnels were approxim 160 degrees after a few hour cool down when we started and they open the hatches every 60 yards to help vent. I still have two scars from the burns I suffered from bumping into an uncovered pipe while running pieces of insulation. I managed to finish the 3 weeks of work but my mother was horrified when I came home since I had lost so much weight. To add to this fun and joy one of the nights a "resident" of the mental institution managed to escape his room, cut his way into the tunnels, and chase us with a pair of scissors until security could catch him. The night that happened we also had to work extra since we did not meet the quota for the evening. to this day (20 years later) when I see that family friend asks if I want to go back and work the tunnels.
Jason
My worst job ever was right after High School. I took a job at an egg packing plant. I worked on the front end of the machine that scans and packs the eggs. Not so bad right....? WRONG!! That is the same end of the machine where the eggs that don't pass the inspection or won't come out of their flats go. Imagine standing 2 feet from a 55 gallon drum 1/2 full of rotten eggs with the expectation that before your day is over you willl have filled it and moved on to the nesxt. NASTY,NASTY,NASTY. If nothing else I can say one day to my kids "If I could pack egss for a pay check then....."
My worst job was when my sister and I first moved to L.A. in 2004. I took the first job I was offered because our 16-year old cat who had been diagnosed with kidney disease took a turn for the worse and needed extra care (his vet bills for the first month were close to $1,000 and we needed to give him daily saline IV's indefinitely.)
The job was at a small youth sports photography company, and at first it seemed OK and the boss seemed really nice until the 2nd day when my co-worker, who was also new, and I heard the loudest shouting coming from the warehouse adjacent to our office. It was our boss, a really big/tall guy (about 6'4") shouting at the guys working in the printing packing department. The shouting (w/ profanity) went on for a good 5-10 minutes and we were petrified at our desks.
The shouting, sometimes accompanied by throwing of large-sounding things, turned out to be a regular occurance at that company, and one day 4 months later, it was turned on us when we made a mistake and I quit the next day.
I just made a batch of yummy muffins from the recipe I listed above. It's not a very sweet muffin, so if you like it to be more like a cake/dessert, then add a bit more sugar. If you like it to be more like a bread, however... it's perfect! I added a bit more of the berries, and they are so moist and have a great color. They look a lot like blueberry muffins, but without the tartness!
Nora -
I have so many trees, I don't even know what to do with all the berries. A friend said I could dry them, so I'll try that. Maybe good for adding to pancake mix later in the year?
Thanks for all the comments!
Linsey Knerl
I have the world's largest mullberry tree in my back yard (okay, not like it's exactly been measured but I'm sure it's at least a contender!), so this post is great - thanks! I especially like the blanket/sheet idea for harvesting the berries.
I grew up on a farm and had all the standard farm-type jobs: shoveling pig crap, shoveling cow crap and baling hay in 100+ degree weather. That was a joy compared to most of my other jobs. At least you feel like you've accomplished something when you're done...
I quit working on farms when I became an EMT. I only did that for about six months before I was called out on a suicide. A teenage girl had decided life wasn't worth living while at summer camp, and she used a shotgun to end her life. Fishing around under a cot to separate brain tissue from dust bunnies was not my idea of a solid career. (On a separate note, the summer camp in question no longer offers skeet shooting as a camp activity.)
The hospital I worked at as an EMT offered me a job as a specimen collector for their occupational health clinic. While not technically "the worst job I ever had" (at least from my mental health perspective), this position is the most likely contender on the surface so it's the one I'll write about:
I was responsible for collecting urine samples from employees at any of the 300+ client companies we had, whenever they were in an accident or were suspected of substance abuse. I was the only person that did this 24/7 at our clinic, so I had a pager and I had to show up at the local emergency room within 20 minutes to conduct the test whenever I was paged. It was cheaper for my clinic to perform the tests than the emergency room, so I had to work around the ER staff. I was frequently bled on, and I had a gun pulled on me once by a schizophrenic patient. Someone bumping something gently with a forklift or dropping a package was considered an 'accident' according to the clinic rules, so I was paged frequently. On some nights there were so many accidents that I just stayed at the emergency room waiting for my dayshift to begin. During the dayshift, I mostly collected urine specimens from employees on a randomized basis.
During the randomized collections, there were always paranoid types who were convinced we were singling them out for the drug tests. I was slapped, punched and spit on by these people at least once a month. The truck drivers and coalminers were especially fun. The accident/substance abuse employees, on the other hand, were also loads of fun. Employees that were suspected of trying to cheat on the urine tests (using another's urine and a "Whizzinator", for example) had to be observed directly. I had to watch the urine come out of their penises [penii? ;-) ] Those who felt that this was a gross violation of their privacy often chose to urinate ON ME as a form of protest. Some of the wittier clients chose to defecate and/or ejaculate into the specimen cups.
Having a drunken janitor who has just shat in a plastic cup question YOUR career choices is nothing if not depressing.
These recipes sound incredible Linsey. Going to have to try them. Thanks for sharing.
Same guest as above.
For those people who think we should make it harder for people to buy with a small down payment, it is harder btw! The guidelines are MUCH stricter than they used to be, my husband and I squeaked by, but there will be many people who won't qualify for loans at all.
It is no longer the era of easy credit, friends. Those of us without SPARKLING credit won't get to take advantage of this tax credit.
My husband and I bought a condo this year, and we made the decision to buy based on the 8,000 dollar tax credit. Once I found out about the tax credit, I realized that the housing prices and interest rates had also fallen.
We put down 5%, but this was still a large sum for a couple in their mid-20s in metro Boston. We are responsible, frugal, and have good credit, so why not take advantage of this situation?