Fill in the blanks! I lasted less than a << length of time >> at << job >>...

[unsinkable]

I lasted less than a month at a collection agency.

I trained and then my first calls were to people who had bought a 15piece towel set, mail order, from a place called something like Carol Wright.

It was horrible. I felt like it was sucking the life out of me. I could hear other collectors screaming at people. Argh!

And I had a fake "collections worker" name

[Hypatia.]

I lasted less than a week and a half selling extended warranties my freshman year in college.  I did the week of training and then one day on the floor.  I had an elderly lady on the phone and was supposed to sell her an extended warranty on her washer.  She clearly didn't understand what I was talking about and was quite confused.  My supervisor told me to bill her and I mailed her an information packet instead, hoping that one of her kids or grandkids would see it and say "mom, you don't need this".  I got chewed out for that and quit.  Back to Wendy's that summer, at least people knew they were going to get crap when they went to a fast food restaurant for lunch.

[texasmama]

I lasted less than two weeks at the mall kiosk selling cheese and sausage.  The owner wanted me to assault people with cheese and sausage as they passed, and I just couldn't do it.  They fired me.  I was in college.

[Sisyphus]

One shift as a waitress at a small, expensive Italian place in high school. I had only worked retail before, but wanted to try for the tips. Tips were great- $60 that one Tuesday evening shift- but I hated it! Never sat down, smelled like food, yuck. I quit at the end of my shift and never waitresses again.

[momto10blessings]

As a teenager- 1 day at a daycare... They didn't train me, just gave me a huge manual and told me to show up the next morning. Left me alone with a group of 4 year olds and expected me to be fine. I let them play the whole time and they kept telling me I needed to do activities with them. I didn't know where anything was or what to do with them, I was just trying to keep them from running off the whole time.

[milovany]

I lasted one day as a waitress at Sea Galley (a chain of seafood restaurants). I was in my early 20's. I loved waitressing; had done it for several years by that point.  But I was used to a small-town, family-owned, casual steakhouse atmosphere and didn't like the scripted, to-the-minute requirements of SG.  Trainer:  "And then four minutes after you say hello and introduce yourself, which is two minutes after they sit down, go back and take their order.  Six minutes after you've delivered their food, check back with them."  Blech.  Trainee:  "Buh-bye." 

[Laura Corin]

I lasted less than a couple of months at a telephone sales company that sold engineering services in Silicon Valley.  The company was okay but the stress was extreme.  And I wasn't completely comfortable on the telephone.

 

I took a job at Emporium (department store) and, even though it was on the verge of going under, it was better there.  I lasted 18 months before Husband found a job that took us to London.

 

L

[HomeschoolingHearts&Minds]

I lasted 1 month as a maid at an Econolodge the summer after I graduated college.  You might expect things like backed up toilets, but wet dog kibble in the dresser drawers?  :huh:

 

I always, always leave a tip for the maid service if I stay in a hotel.  They deal with a lot of cr*p.  Literally.

[LucyStoner]

I did 2 shifts at The Right Start and was like "uh, no more retail."

I lasted a year as a pt nanny.

I lasted several months working for a creepy attorney who apparently thought I would sleep with him. uh, no. Not happening. Sorry dude.

[Wheres Toto]

One week at Burger King in high school.  I burned my arm on the burger warmer belt, then I got sick with strep and they told me to come in anyway.   My mother was big on making me call out but that time she took the phone and told them I quit.

 

4 weeks at a small water softener installation company.  I was supposed to be just an admin but the office manager quit before my start date so I got a promotion while working my two weeks notice at my old job.  The boss and all the employees except the office manager and two admins were out in the field all day and the other admin was pissed that I was "promoted" so refused to tell me anything.  No training, and the boss used to yell when things weren't done.  I quit.

 

3 months as a CNA.  The first month I was in training from 8am to 4pm, then worked an 11pm to 7am shift.  I think I only lasted through training because I was so sleep deprived.  I had threats made against me for reporting patient abuse and the boss didn't want to do anything about it.  I quit.

 

1 month working in the bakery at a grocery store before my current position dropped into my lap.  Crappy hours, crappy pay, on my feet all day, sweaty, stinky and bitchy people.  I quit.

 

There's probably a couple of completely blocked out.

 

ETA:  I remembered one of the ones I had blocked out.

 

Less than 1 month as a daycare working when my son was 1 1/2, before dd was born.  The toddler room wasn't properly baby-proofed.  My son was able to break into the under-sink cabinet that held cleaners, a few kids managed to open the refrigerator, and when my son got sick they told me to come in and bring him with me anyway since they needed me there.  I quit.  Then I reported the violations and they were shut-down.

[LucyStoner]

I lasted 1 month as a maid at an Econolodge the summer after I graduated college. You might expect things like backed up toilets, but wet dog kibble in the dresser drawers? :huh:

I always, always leave a tip for the maid service if I stay in a hotel. They deal with a lot of cr*p. Literally.

I've been a hotel maid in college. It's uniquely gross work. I later worked at a bed and breakfast. Same crap, more bucolic setting and better free food. ;) And yes, I tip VERY generously at hotels. I am not sure I have ever had a harder job.

[LucyStoner]

Unsink, I note a theme in your threads. Are you thinking of becoming a career counselor? ;)

[Wabi Sabi]

These all happened the summer I was 18:

I lasted less than a week at a tanning bed factory. It was a temp agency placement. I didn't want to go back to the factory, so then they placed me in a call center where we literally just chose names at random out of the phone book, cold called them and tried to set them up an appointment to have their basement waterproofed. Most of the times the person you ended up calling was living in an apartment or a house that didn't even have a basement.

So I then answered an ad in the paper about "Do you want to make a difference in the world?" A friend and I lasted less than a week canvassing for donations for a company that paid us a portion of what we collected in donations. We said we were collecting for Greenpeace, but I doubt any of the money ever ended up going to them. I can't remember if I lasted only one or two days.

I ended up finishing out that summer working as an aide in a nursing home. It was another awful experience, but I stuck that one out until it was time for my freshman year to start that fall. It was still only a month or so, but it scared me for life.

[Belacqua]

I lasted a week as a riding instructor at a summer horse camp. The sleazy owner wanted to sell pretty ponies to these rich parents, so instead of having lovely, mellow, bomb-proof school horses, he was putting novice riders on high strung (at best) and psychotic (at worst) show horses. I was also expected to be mounted (on a fancy, for-sale, has-no-business-being-around-children horse, natch) while teaching. I'm thankful none of the kids was hurt during my week, and I was not surprised when that stable went out of business within the year.

[littlebug42]

I lasted an hour and half working at a fast food restaurant when I was in college.  It was just an intro training session.  Couldn't stand how I smelled afterwards and never went back. 

 

[G5052]

Yes, those yucky jobs.  I never quit one early, but I had plenty of bad ones.

 

I worked as a nanny one summer.  I won't relate the details about their kids, but it was one messed-up family.  They also had me do the cleaning because the maid quit.  I also cooked dinner for various guests, and then had to do all the clean-up the next morning.  I finished it out, but refused to ever work for them again when school started again.  No babysitting, no nothing.  I earned what I wanted there (which wasn't much), and left that behind.

 

I was also a church janitor.  Monday mornings were the worst.  I had no idea that kid's bathrooms, nurseries, and Sunday school rooms could get that trashed.  I also did basic repairs, and did set up and breakdown for weddings.  Some of the Saturday weddings would have me there until past midnight cleaning up afterwards.  They didn't allow alcohol, but the confetti and cake ground into the carpet drove me crazy.  A week before I left for college, I trained my replacement and was glad to get that one behind me.  I worked there a year, but I needed the money and they were at least decent to me.

 

Plenty of other short-term grunt type work -- set up / take down, security guard, security escort, ticket taker, file clerk, binder assembly, etc. etc.  The nanny and janitor ones were the worst though.

[UncleEJ]

I lasted one day at a dog kennel. They trained me for four hours and then expected me to open the business the next day by myself and work alone all day. Um no.

[Luanne]

I lasted less than one day at a sandwich shop when I was 20 years old.  It was a family run business.  Everyone there was related and had grown up in the shop.  They didn't train me AT ALL and wondered why I had no idea what to do.  I've never worked in food since.

[myfunnybunch]

Less than a week as a temp making calls for volunteers to collect for the March of Dimes. Bleah. I HATED that job. I do not like calling people on the phone.

 

I quit after my supervisor got after me for telling an very sweet elderly lady (who was clearly helpful but quite confused) that it was all right, we'd find someone else on her block. She didn't care that the woman was very clearly NOT capable of carrying out the volunteer job. She only cared that we got a certain number of yeses. She also told me I took too long talking to the woman. Uh....DUH....part of the reason I told her we'd find someone else was due to the number of times I had to explain who I was and why I was calling.

 

Cat

[gingersmom]

I lasted two weekends working at a children's shoe store. 

 

I was supposed to put the shoes on the kids feet but who wants to touch dirty smelly socks. Gross. 

 

I was also really tired of bringing out 10 pairs of shoes, them buying none and then putting all those boxes back. 

 

I lasted a month at Bed & Bath. To this day I still hate that store.

[Annie G]

I lasted one day on a census crew. I spent months doing the mapping and doing quality control before the actual census. Then they called me back and had me hand deliver census forms.  All of those jobs were fun and paid pretty well especially since I was driving a ton and had a car that got really good mileage. 

Then they called me to follow up with people who had not sent back their census forms. Lasted one day. Oh. My. Word.   The people who didn't send in their forms were ANGRY PEOPLE who did NOT want to give out any info to the government.   I was cursed, chased, had dogs let loose on me, and had a man cuss me out while wearing only his too-tight-and-very-dirty underwear.  Then someone called the police on me and the cop told me he didn't think the government was entitled to the info they were asking for.    So I called it quits.

[6packofun]

I lasted less than a month at a veterinary clinic.  It was the second one I worked for and the head vet was a woman who hated men.  Seriously. So depressing.  She gave quizzes to her employees, even those with previous experience, and was a first-class a$$.

[Indian summer]

I lasted less than a month working at an ice cream parlor. I got robbed at gunpoint on my very first shift.

[Annie G]

I lasted less than a month at a veterinary clinic.  It was the second one I worked for and the head vet was a woman who hated men.  Seriously. So depressing.  She gave quizzes to her employees, even those with previous experience, and was a first-class a$$.

 

 

Quizzes? That's just weird. 

[Annie G]

I lasted less than a month working at an ice cream parlor. I got robbed at gunpoint on my very first shift.

 

 

You lasted longer than I would have. After being robbed on the first day, I would have probably quit. 

[Heather in OK]

Just about two weeks at ChickFilA when I was in high school.  They kept saying they would train me on the register and never did.  My job was to prepare the raw chicken in the marinade and to clean.  It was horrible.  I went home *every night* smelling like raw chicken.   :ack2:

[alisoncooks]

I lasted 3 nights as a dishwasher.

 

My best friend and I thought we would spend our last summer at home before college living on an island (near home) and working at a restaurant.  She got to be hostess -- I got stuck washing dishes.  Ummmm, pass.

 

Tucked tail and quickly came back home to Mom & Dad... spent the summer watching summer league baseball and hanging with the family.  It was wonderful. :)

[elegantlion]

I lasted 2 1/2 weeks cleaning hotel rooms last fall. Beside the cleaners causing me asthma issues, the bug guy spraying in the room I was cleaning despite me telling him I was sensitive to chemicals (and it did cause an asthma attack), they told me I would start with 4-5 rooms per day, then gave me twice that many. It was 100 degrees and I almost passed out on the first day. Then they couldn't get their crap together about what days I was working and I got called in on every day I was scheduled off, the first one they asked if I was coming to work. I said I had the day off and they didn't have it noted properly. I went in to be nice, thinking it was a one time thing. No, it wasn't.  

 

All that and I was starting college, ds was getting no school done because I'd come home and die, and the final day they asked me to stay later and help another person clean because they were sick. So I ended up doing about 16 rooms that day and caught the virus the other person had. So when they called me to ask if I would come in on my day off I quit over the phone. I've never quit a job like that. My financial aid paid more than the hotel job. 

[Ravin]

I lasted about two months at Wendy's during my first semester of college after getting out of the navy.

My bipolar kid sister worked there too. I quit after she kicked me in the shin hard enough to bruise while on the job. She needed the job more than I did, and it was too much family togetherness.

[elegantlion]

I lasted about two months at Wendy's during my first semester of college after getting out of the navy.

My bipolar kid sister worked there too. I quit after she kicked me in the shin hard enough to bruise while on the job. She needed the job more than I did, and it was too much family togetherness.

 

Wow, my sister used to kick me in the shins all the time. We didn't have to work together. 

[MomtoCandJ]

Lasted a day as a delivery driver for a Chinese takeout place. I got strep and had to call in they fired me.
3 months as a home health care aid, found out I was pregnant with dd1 so they cut my hours to a point that it didn't even pay for my gas.
2 week as a pharmacy tech for rite aid. 8.00/hr as a certified tech (was paid more being an Easter bunny or a gas station clerk). Didn't pay enough/ provide enough hrs to pay for dd1's daycare and gas.

[ThisIsTheDay]

My first job in high school was at der Weinerschnitzel. I was 15, and it was quite a coup to land a job before 16. I lasted two shifts and never worked in fast food again.  It was awful.

[SKL]

This is fun!

 

I lasted 7 days as a nurse's aide in an old folks' home.  I couldn't get all 28 hours of work done in 2 hours.  Not sure why.  Pretty sure they wanted me to only pretend to do stuff like change the sheets daily, give bed baths, chart poops, etc. etc. for 14 people between 9:30am and 11:30am.

 

I lasted 1 month (part time) at the deli counter of a grocery store.  Couple issues there.  My bad attitude about having to hand over an entire month's pay for union dues, when the union does not negotiate anything for part-time workers.  And not mastering the magic of slicing meat until exactly 9pm AND having all the machines taken apart, cleaned, sanitized, put back together, food covered, floor washed, AND my card punched by exactly 9pm.

 

It's amazing the amount of engineering skill asked of minimum wage workers.  LOL.

[nd293]

I lasted a week as an au pair. Given my introverted nature, I was out of my mind for thinking that I could share a house with strangers.

[theYoungerMrsWarde]

I lasted less than 2 months at Subway. Those ovens made it so HOT, and I had so much else going on in my life that I started fainting and vomiting every time I tried to work there.

[Barbara H]

The only job I quit after one shift was making sandwiches in a restaurant. The kitchen was hot and not air conditioned but worse the boss was a total creep.

 

As a couple of others have said the hardest job I ever had was being a hotel maid. You really wouldn't believe how gross a lot of are even at nicer hotels. And, at least where I worked we were under really extreme time pressure. Always, always tip the maid.

[Liz CA]

I lasted less than a month at a collection agency.

I trained and then my first calls were to people who had bought a 15piece towel set, mail order, from a place called something like Carol Wright.

It was horrible. I felt like it was sucking the life out of me. I could hear other collectors screaming at people. Argh!

And I had a fake "collections worker" name

 

Consider yourself blessed to be done with it. This has got to be among the worst jobs one can have. I cannot imagine having to make phone call after phone call discussing people's purchasing choices.

[SunnyDays]

I lasted one shift at a clothing store in the mall. I sat there and folded and hung up clothes for hours, because people had thrown them EVERYWHERE after trying them on. I didn't need the job (it was a way for me to get out of the house as a SAHM and get a store discount), and I realized I didn't even like folding and putting away my own laundry, so this probably wasn't going to be a great fit.

[Cammie]

I lasted one day at a job making phone calls for a fitness gym.  They had a list of customers from a gym that had closed.  We had to cold call the customers to get them to sign up with a new gym.  It was HORRIBLE.  I called a guy and asked for his wife....I heard a sob story about how she had left him and taken the dog!  I was sitting wondering how I was going to quit (I had BEGGED my parents to let me take this job.)  All of the sudden, the power went out in the building. I took it as a sign from god (pastor's kid) and quit right away!!

[T'smom]

Well, I taught 6th grade at a charter school one year and then moved to 3rd grade the next year. The administration changed at the same time and I quit mid-September. About 6 weeks into the school year. I went in super-early one day, packed up my personal stuff and quit as soon as the principal came in. Even crazier, I was the 7th teacher to quit. We were dropping like flies. The teachers were almost all young and single or i bet even more would have quit. i was lucky in that I was married and didn't completely depend on the income. There were so, so, SO many issues with the admin it was just horrible. For months afterward I had nightmares about being there.

[Miss Mousie]

Unsink, I note a theme in your threads. Are you thinking of becoming a career counselor? ;)

 

I'm betting yes ... for her family!  If my kid were older and balking about going to college, I'd make him read these threads.

 

It reminds of a day, about a year ago.  DS still needed some guidance as he learned to clean a toilet well, and happened to be getting some low grades at school that week too.  He was complaining about the toilet, and I said, "better get used to it, because if you don't bring up your grades you might be cleaning toilets 40 hours a week for the next 45 years."  Not my finest parenting moment, but I'm pretty sure I got the point across.  ;)

 

 

 

 

[TracyP]

I lasted one day at Jennie-O Turkey.

 

It is almost freezing in there to keep the meat. I was put in a rain suit from head to toe and had to hose down grinders, tables, etc. I left my first shift frozen, disgusted, and wet despite the rain suit. I was probably the only legal American on the crew. Very depressing.

[Miss Mousie]

... and now to answer the question:

 

I lasted two weeks at a Dairy Queen.  It was the summer after my sophomore year of college, I think.  I quit when they fired the only person I liked.  She was also the only other person, in my estimation, who actually worked while she was there, instead of goofing off and flirting like the rest of the teens.  I have no idea why she was fired.  I also sucked at making the Dairy Queen Swirl(TM) and felt bad that I couldn't get it right. 

 

It was either right before or right after I quit that a friend's mom happened to offer me a job working out of her condo, writing a newsletter for her consulting business.  That job was great for me!

 

 

 

[Dmmetler]

There's a nice cosy mystery series called "Dead End Jobs mysteries". The protagonist is an educated woman, who, due to past marital issues, needs to stay off the radar, so works jobs where she can be paid under the table. It definitely shows the issues that go into such jobs. Not a hard read at all, and I'd be tempted to hand them to a teen who thinks that they can do better at an "easy" job.

[RoughCollie]

I lasted a week at Chic-Fil-A when I was in high school.  The mall was deserted on weekdays, and the boss wanted the workers to stand there, smiling, in case a human ventured anywhere near the place.  I felt like a dork doing that. 

[unsinkable]

This has been a fun thread. Thanks Wabi Sabi for sparking the idea!

Thanks everyone for participating!

Some stories are funny and some are sad...they run the spectrum of experiences.

[unsinkable]

Consider yourself blessed to be done with it. This has got to be among the worst jobs one can have. I cannot imagine having to make phone call after phone call discussing people's purchasing choices.

I do consider myself blessed. I quickly got another job as a cook which was one of the best jobs, with the greatest owner, that I ever had.

[Caroline]

I lasted one night at the Collegiate Times, VA Tech's newspaper. I tried it because of a guy. It was not for me, and neither was he.

[unsinkable]

There's a nice cosy mystery series called "Dead End Jobs mysteries". The protagonist is an educated woman, who, due to past marital issues, needs to stay off the radar, so works jobs where she can be paid under the table. It definitely shows the issues that go into such jobs. Not a hard read at all, and I'd be tempted to hand them to a teen who thinks that they can do better at an "easy" job.

Thanks!

I hadn't heard of these so I looked them up. Here is a list for anyone who'd like more info:

http://www.goodreads.com/series/43109-a-dead-end-job-mystery

Elaine Viets is the author.

[Hunter's Moon]

I lasted less than a month at a pet food store. My final straw was watching the owner scream at a customer in the front of the store.