Best & Worst J*b You Ever Had (Have)

[freebird5825]

lazygood4nuthinbum's comments in another thread inspired this one:

"having never found my calling, i've yet to work a job i truly loved. i've had jobs that i enjoyed for years at a time, but then either changes in the job or in me or in life altered that experience so that i didn't like it so much anymore. after 2.5 years, i'm starting to experience early retirement similarly."

I'll start off with my answers in bold. the level of detail is up to you.

1. what is (was) your best j*b ever?
1st place : small engine and automotive mechanic, 3 summers to earn $ for college, Sears Roebuck, NY & FL.
2nd place: hardware/paint dept clerk for Montgomery Ward, 8 months

2. what is (was) your worst j*b ever?
a dirty dingy book warehouse in Johnson City, NY for 5 weeks. I needed the money for rent because my college w*rk-study grant was not transerred properly. the sofa in the break room was so disgusting i would not sit on it, ever.

3. what did you really want to do for a living?
geophysicist for USGS, never got there due to hiring freeze.

4. what did you end up doing for a living?
engineer for US govt, 18 yrs

[Beer man]

Worst job: working in the nursing home laundry and hauling a load of poop and pee filled laundry in the back of the van without airconditioning in 90 degree heat.
Best job: bagging groceries for a large supermarket when I was in college. Because I treated the cashiers well, my steaks never seemed to scan when I checked out.

[jambo101]

Best job?Didnt pay much but i worked on several golf courses when i was younger as a grounds keeper.
Worst job,Working in a paper sorting company that would have garbage trucks back up to this huge conveyor belt and dump tons of office paper,my job was to walk that conveyor belt from 8pm till 6am sorting the various grades of paper into bins adjacent to the belt.
What i wanted to do? I finished school with the idea of becoming a high altitude meteorologist,collecting weather data from high flying planes,trouble was that after i passed all the exams to join the air force they told me there was an 18 month waiting period,well by the end of the 18 months i was too into the 60's movement so i never answered the letter asking me if i still wanted to join up.
What i ended up doing 30 to life in a dairy processing plant producing ice cream and milk products.

[CuppaJoe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambo101 ... 30 to life in a dairy processing plant producing ice cream and milk products.

Bet you made a lot of people happy doing that! I was heartbroken to learn that my favorite ice cream shop has discontinued the lemon custard flavor because the company that made the base for it went out of business.

[Marquette]

1. Best? Bag boy at the local grocery store. I was the fastest bagger there and usually teamed up with the fastest checker. She left to go into the adult film industry.

2. Worst? Enterprise architect at a large retailer. It was cool because I had quite a bit of influence. But, after two years of jumping to troubled projects and getting things put back on track, I requested a long-term project to see through from start to finish. I became the lead app arch on a certain ecommerce initiative. We asked for $50mm and 18 months, we were given $25mm and 12 months. The project went $100mm and 24 months. Most weeks were 80+ hours and the final four months was a string of 110+ hour weeks. I experienced stroke-like symptoms that they chalked up to stress. The highlight (lowlight) was a 2am screaming match (I won) over some minor screwups. At that point, I realized I wasn't that type-A and dialed it back a lot.

3. Wanted to do? History professor. Realized it'd take forever and there was no money in it.

4. Ended up doing? I now have the dubious distinction of being an IT professional. I'm not sure what it is, but it keeps the bills paid.

[Sarah in SC]

Best was working for my dad for 10+ years getting to do all the fun stuff--planting, processing, packaging, shipping, marketing, mail order, tours, trade shows, and the like--never a dull moment. Couldn't compete with big guys, sold out to big guys.

The worst was a crazy retail lady who had 9 people (out of 20) quit in the 58 days I lasted there. My predecessor left after throwing a pair of scissors at her!

What I wanted to do: As a teenager I wanted to run a liquor store (really), and my senior ambition in the yearbook was this: "to do as little as necessary to get by". Guess I figured I wasn't going to run for office, huh? Mostly wanted to spend lots of time doing fun stuff and very little time working to pay for fun stuff.

What I do: right now financial services while I prepare for early retirement, but I've done these too: working for sailboat company while outfitting my boat, working for construction company while building my house.

I spend a lot of time explaining to younger people that it is okay to have a job, instead of a career. Not everybody gets to be an astronaut when they grow up. (from despair.com)

[Sarah in SC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marquette 1. Best? Bag boy at the local grocery store. I was the fastest bagger there and usually teamed up with the fastest checker. She left to go into the adult film industry.

So how fast was she?

[Donzo]

Worst - working as a stocker in a medium sized grocery store - the manager was always timing me to see how fast I would stock a huge pallet of random canned goods - the guy was a sadist!

Best job - working shotgun on a beer delivery truck - went to all the bars and the driver would always switch some cold beer for the warm stuff on the truck for our "hydration" - I did this 4 summers while in college.

Ended up in pharmaceutical sales - loved the job for many years. Got promoted to regional manager and the travel/BS/politics were killing me.

[Marquette]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah in SC So how fast was she?

You couldn't see her hands move!

So, hunting is a big deal in upper michigan. Seriously, the high schoolers get November 15th off (first day of rifle season). Most of the guys take two weeks off to go to 'deer camp' and 'hunt'. Average order size I bagged for the days leading up to season open, $1500. The biggest was $2100.

Did I mention you couldn't see her hands move!

[CybrMike]

For some reason I read this as best and worst blow job I've ever had. Now, that would have been interesting.

[bbbamI]

1. what was your best j*b ever?
Accounts Payable Manager with direct reports.

2. what was your worst j*b ever?
Having my duties as AP Mgr "shipped" off and forced into a Financial Analyst position.

3. what did you really want to do for a living?
Never had any dreams about that. Just wanted a job to pay the bills. With what I know now I would have been in law enforcement. Homicide preferred.

4. what did you end up doing for a living?
Crunched numbers.

[HFWR]

Best job: disc jockey

Worst job: chicken mover

Wanted to do for a living: trust fund baby

Do for a living: process technician in semiconductors

[BunsGettingFirm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CybrMike For some reason I read this as best and worst blow job I've ever had. Now, that would have been interesting.

There are no bad blow jobs unless 1) it involved a barrel or 2) she bit it off.

Now back to regular programming.

1. what was your best j*b ever?

Being the student council treasurer. I had the influence, the title, the hot babes begging me for money, and the sense of control. Of course, it paid $0.

2. what was your worst j*b ever?

Just about every other job.

3. what did you really want to do for a living?

Being a college professor

4. what did you end up doing for a living?

An engineer and now a finance guy for an engineering company.

[d]

"oddest" job: gravedigger (with shovel)

[unclemick]

1. what was your best j*b ever?
Logging camp one summer - worked on the crew laying out logging roads. Got paid to hike the woods/mountains and ate like a king - steak night every Thursday.
2. what was your worst j*b ever?
Making Christmas deliveries for a printing company in college - ho ho ho, Happy Holidays my butt!

3. what did you really want to do for a living?
Work in the Space Program.

4. what did you end up doing for a living?
Worked in the Space Program - AmericanSST, Skylab, Viking, Space Shuttle.

heh heh heh - and then I morphed from unemployed to know and love ER. Now that I'm 65 - perhaps a new career - olde phartness er something?

[Free To Canoe]

Good idea for a thread!

Unclemick - sounds real interesting working in the space program.

1. What was your best j*b ever?
Lifeguard for 2 summers.

2. What was your worst j*b ever?
Boiler Attendant - coal fired power station. 12 hour days of the most miserable work. Sometimes you get to work a bunch of 16 hour days if your lucky. Count your off days per month on one hand and have fingers left over.

3. What did you really want to do for a living?
Forest ranger or something like that. Astronaut also sounds good.

4. What did you end up doing for a living?
Engineer. My last job involved designing fixtures to test space hardware with.

[Midpack]

1. What was your best j*b ever?
Waiter in a high-end restaurant in college, really enjoyed it and made big money (with tips) - don't know why exactly.

2. What was your worst j*b ever?
None have been that bad, was grateful for every one at the time. And never hated any of them even by the time I moved on.

3. What did you really want to do for a living?
Famous rock musician, lead guitar. But I never had any illusions, don't even own a guitar anymore.
Always thought it would be great to be a great chef and/or restaurant owner - but I'm a morning person.

4. What did you end up doing for a living?
Got an engineering degree and spent it managing manufacturing plants for more than 31 years now. Not that exciting after all these years, but if it ended tomorrow, I've been fortunate to have a good career.

[Moemg]

1-Worst job
Working as a nurse in an endoscopy unit (think colonoscopys
2-Best job
Working as a nurse in diagnostic radiology
3 - What I wanted to be ?
A nurse
4 -What I ended up being ?
A nurse for 40 years .

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 lazygood4nuthinbum's comments in another thread inspired this one: "having never found my calling, i've yet to work a job i truly loved. i've had jobs that i enjoyed for years at a time, but then either changes in the job or in me or in life altered that experience so that i didn't like it so much anymore. after 2.5 years, i'm starting to experience early retirement similarly." I'll start off with my answers in bold. the level of detail is up to you.

1. what is (was) your best j*b ever?
1st place : TA Calculus 1
2nd place: off the books cocktail waitress

2. what is (was) your worst j*b ever?
1 assembly line in a Christmas tree factory
2 computer programmer w/ a PHB who disliked computers AND disliked females who weren't secretaries

3. what did you really want to do for a living?
resident poet in a small New England college

4. what did you end up doing for a living?
20+ years programming mainframe computers for USAF

[Coach]

1. what is (was) your best j*b ever?
Computer programmer.

2. what is (was) your worst j*b ever?
Furniture mover. I lasted one day.

3. what did you really want to do for a living?
I graduated from college thinking I wanted to be a computer salesman -- back in the mainframe days.

4. what did you end up doing for a living?
Computer programmer.

Coach