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Worst job in the world?

(35 Posts)
absent Mon 23-Mar-15 22:59:56

I am reading a Kathy Reichs book which describes a body dragged from the river. "[It] looked like a marionette wrapped in moss-coloured Spam." So I'm glad I never chose to go into forensic anthropology but then I thought how horrible it must be to spend your days cleaning away the agglomerations of solidified fat that clog the sewers. Finally, I decided that the job I should like least is testing the flavour of canned pet foods.

Marmight Mon 23-Mar-15 23:21:50

Pest control doesn't appeal, nor does working in an abattoir, podiatry, dentistry, pathology, plus all Absent's choices. I am not very good with orifices and what emanates from them either shock. I could go on .... but I think working in rat infested sewers is probably top of my list of horror jobs

ninathenana Mon 23-Mar-15 23:30:59

Before I opened the thread I was saying to my self....sewer worker !

Don't fancy environmental health either, or the poor people who have to come in and clean up the mess some people leave behind in houses.

janerowena Mon 23-Mar-15 23:35:23

I would hate to be a much-hated dictator's food taster.

harrigran Tue 24-Mar-15 00:23:23

Mortuary attendant. Having had to go to one during the night to retrieve a ring that a relative wanted from the deceased. The hospital mortuary was in the farthest, unlit corner of the grounds.

Grannyknot Tue 24-Mar-15 07:36:15

I was so excited when I was asked to project manage the establishment of a book shop (this was in SA) - and then to manage the shop once it opened.

But my God, was I bored after a while, trapped in that shop, especially on quiet days when no one came in, and all that waited for me as distraction was to heft around heavy boxes of books and straighten shelves. Not to mention some of the weird "regulars" that would come in - sometimes I'd hide in the stock room from them. The woman who worked in the computer shop next door to me would come in for a chat (she had colleagues, I didn't, apart from the odd part time student), equally bored, and she was dead boring too. So I was seriously trapped. (this was pre-internet days).

So that taught me that even a "dream job" can be the worst job! grin

shysal Tue 24-Mar-15 07:47:46

Having spent my entire working life in Pathology, including mortuary stints, I have to say that you soon get used to the gory bits, even the smell when a body was found in water! I loved my career!
I have to agree about the sewers though, or somewhere with not enough to do.

Mishap Tue 24-Mar-15 08:33:59

Running a pub would be bottom of my list of jobs - too much like hard work! Up early, having to be polite and jolly to people every minute, dealing with drunks, and - worst of all - having to stay up late every night.
Definitely not for me!!

hildajenniJ Tue 24-Mar-15 08:38:06

I think that cleaning the underground railways in London would be awful. Rubbish, rats and darkness, not a very nice combination. I agree about the sewers too. My job isn't wonderful either. Complaints have been made about the u-bends of the sinks in the Ladies. I have tried my best but at some time in the past someone has painted them, and the paint is peeling off. They are spotlessly clean but look horrible! I honestly do not know what to do to make them look better.

hildajenniJ Tue 24-Mar-15 08:39:09

Oh sorry, but now I have vented my spleen, I feel a bit better.grin

Nonnie Tue 24-Mar-15 08:56:45

I think I would have liked your job Grannyknot but no work would have been done as I would have been reading the books all the time. grin

I would hate to be a hairdresser in a fashionable salon. All that smiling and pretending that what I I was doing was an art and being 'interested' all the time. Glad my hairdresser is pleasant and just does the job!

I'm another one who couldn't do feet or teeth but I would be happy to clean up for people who needed help as long as I could refuse to do it for those who were just plain idle. grin.

When we retired to this lovely place I suggested to DH that we run a B&B and he said I was totally unsuitable as I would not stand any nonsense. Too used to being in charge!

Think I'd rather muse about what job I would like, maybe chocolate taster?

Teetime Tue 24-Mar-15 09:26:40

Lovers of Bridget Jones will remember what job she said she would prefer to her own job in publishing PR! grin

soontobe Tue 24-Mar-15 09:30:19

Something that requires high amounts of energy - like a dance teacher.

chloe1984 Tue 24-Mar-15 09:56:21

I just couldn't be a dentist / dental nurse or anything to do with gums - it's not the teeth just the gums.

J52 Tue 24-Mar-15 10:54:41

Anything to do with blood and bodily functions!

However, I would hate to be an articulated lorry driver, whi has to negotiate town centres and narrow streets!

BTW I love driving. x

Charleygirl Tue 24-Mar-15 11:05:16

Anything to do with the killing and storage of dead animals- an abbattoir would freak me out. Dentistry is fairly high on the list of no- no's, I also would have loathed to have been a hairdresser. Anywhere, eg London Underground or a sewer that had rats I could not tolerate. A podiatrist would have been one of my dream jobs because I love feet.

TriciaF Tue 24-Mar-15 11:27:14

Toss-up between a deep sea fisherman or a miner.
For me, it would be the worst nightmare to be taken 1km below ground and have to crawl through tunnels, hacking at the earth.

granjura Tue 24-Mar-15 12:41:22

Just could never be a soldier.

Maggiemaybe Tue 24-Mar-15 13:27:02

Just about everything mentioned on here. Discussing this with friends once I said I could put up with the horrors of dentistry because of the high salary. A former dental nurse in the group then described how they once had to chip someone's false teeth out because they'd never removed them or cleaned them since having them fitted and they'd set solid. Pus was involved. envy (for nausea rather than envy!).

My dad as a coalface miner used to have to crawl through seams little over 12 inches high. It was so hot and space so tight the miners wore just a loin cloth.

In comparison, any job I ever did was a doddle. Boredom can be a killer though. I was a temp in a deserted university office over the Summer holidays. I took one phone message and watered the plants. I was climbing the walls by the end of a fortnight and had to beg to be released. Of course these days I'd have been happy, browsing Amazon and posting on Gransnet. smile

bikergran Tue 24-Mar-15 13:38:57

I'll let you know when I am summoned to the Jobcentre in June!! confused

bikergran Tue 24-Mar-15 13:41:19

Cos I'm sure it will be sat waiting for me! confused

Jane10 Tue 24-Mar-15 14:12:53

Many years ago, when I was a drama student, we had an improvisation class. We were asked to come up with, guess what, the worst jobs in the world. I always remember one bright spark who suggested a notional NHS Nose picking service! I don't remember any of the other ideas after that!

Coolgran65 Tue 24-Mar-15 14:54:41

Many years ago I returned to the UK having been working in Belgium. As I was pregnant I took temporary work via an agency to 'get the time in' until I could go off on maternity allowance.
One job was in an estate agency, office at the back, no windows and no work. Boss out all day, I asked for work and was told to just amuse myself. Girls working out front but I didn't know them and they weren't interested in wasting time on a temp. I read a book a day and at the end of the first week told the agency to find me anything at all, just somewhere else !
Although there is much worse than just boring.

Coolgran65 Tue 24-Mar-15 14:56:37

My dss works for a Water Company contracted to the Roads Department. If there is a problem with your water supply he will come and take a look, decide where the problem might be and call in a crew. He doesn't have to... but often he will give the crew a hand in clearing whatever the problem might be. Baby wipes, baby nappies..... backed up solidified fats, dead animals. He says the camaraderie is wonderful.... and even does on-call Sunday emergencies..... and they are very caring when it comes to the vulnerable. A problem may lie just inside the house owner personal property boundary and thus be responsibility of the house owner to get it sorted, or they - the crew- will sort it at a price........ Often if it is an older vulnerable person, and the job isn't too major, the crew has done the job and put the paperwork through as being within the Roads Department responsibility. Yes, I know us taxpayers are ultimately paying for it.......

Charleygirl Tue 24-Mar-15 15:01:48

Coolgran85 not many are kind enough to do that.