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

[jenncslp]

I lasted less than a day at a cold call center for selling tickets to the Policeman's Ball.  They literally gave me a phone book and script.  I called and asked for one man and his wife answered and said he had recently passed away.  I gave my condolences and ended the call.  They yelled at me and told me to call back and SELL!  I'm so not a salesperson.

 

I lasted less than a month at a preschool.  They trained me, then the director and lead teacher both left for a conference.  They left me in charge and I still didn't know much of anything about the actual center.  The first day a fire broke out in the lights.  The third day there was a massive lice outbreak.  I was so mad!

 

I've had some crazy jobs...one temp job I had turned out to be so much fun (when I thought I wouldn't like it).  I ended up being hired to do "Banana reports" every morning.  I had to call grocery stores to get the status on whether the bananas our company delivered were good.  Let me tell you, grocers can get really upset about the ripeness of a banana.  But it was a funny job.

[SKL]

About collections.  I've never had that job, but I used to be the boss of the collections folks as well as the complaints lady at one of my jobs.  It was hilarious to listen to their calls and comments.  There was this one girl who would hang up the phone and then say "ooooooh myyyyy gaaaaaaaaaahd" and we knew we were about to hear a good story.  ;)

 

I was super lenient with those folks because I sure didn't want to do either of those jobs!

[Garga]

I lasted less than 2 weeks working at a veterinarian's office. My cat had just been put to sleep there, and they also had a help wanted sign. I must have been going through some sort of grieving thing because I felt like I just *had* to take the job. The job was for simple office work like signing people in or calling to remind people that routine check ups were due.

After two weeks I wondered what the heck I was doing there (I already had a full time job and was dashing from my real job to the vet's twice a week) and realized it wasn't about the job. It was really about grieving and spending time in the same place where my cat had lived her last moments.

[swellmomma]

2 months p/t at a KFC (would have been even short if I was f/t) when I could not handle the contamination issues (staff eating chicken strips on shift dipping them into the whole pot of gravy that they were serving out of; staff takes order and money then makes the sandwich without washing hands or wearing gloves) I got teased there about being  so "anal" about washing my hands.  I quit and reported them to the health inspector, they are still operating.

 

I was fired from shoppers drug mart when I was 16 after about 6 weeks.  My till wasn't balancing at the end of the night so I was asking the supervisor for help in checking my count and she refused saying I had to learn somehow.  At which point I raised my voice and told her it was her job to teach me since she was the supervisor and perhaps if she spent more time training me then chatting I would know why my till wasn't balancing.  She apparently filed a complaint witht he boss saying I was verbally abusive to a supervisor and I was fired the next day.  Since it was still the probationary period I never had a chance.

 

I worked 2 months as a maid and then quit because I could not stand the woman they paired me with.  I liked the job fine but she would spend the whole 8 hours gossiping, complaining about her life, griping about the kinds of homes we cleaned (3/4million + $$ homes) etc.  It made me miserable everyday.  

Well there is the more recent nonsense with the diner here in town when I was fired for having plans during my off hours and being unwilling to cancel them to work a shift the boss never told me about.  OF course the fact we were not allowed breaks, and paid below minimum wage meant I was going to quit anyway.

I quit the ped's job I LOVED after about 10 months when I had a miscarriage and my boss said it was just as well, the timing was wrong and I shouldn't have more anyway.  So not his place to say anything at all.  My notice was on his desk that day.
 

There has been lots of little jobs along the way I was fired from or quit but those were the most memorable.  Oh I forgot about the bingo hall coffee cart.  after I quit the maid job I worked evenings pushing the coffee cart up and down the rows of a bingo hall selling drinks, chips and chocolate bars.  It wasn't a bad job, paid okay, got tips and a free meal but I had no babysitter.  My mom was watching the kids but didn't want to be and so she just stopped but I had been unable to find a sitter to watch 3 little kids when oldest was only 6 at the time and still a way bigger handful than he is now (as in running away etc).  So I had to quit that one.

Actually in the last 13 years almost any job I quit or was fired from in the end it all came back to the kids, either I was told I had to choose between them and the job, or ds was too dangerous to leave with anyone so I had to stay home, or I didn't make enough to afford a sitter etc. 

[swellmomma]

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.  ;)

 

I say it was, since it is true.  My ds15 while working at A&W complained about the kind of work, and when he did his community service at the recycle center complained about how sore he was etc. Both places anytime he complained I repeated, pretty much what you did.  "May as well get used to it, without your education that will be your life 40 hours a week, and you will be grateful for the job at that point" No he is not suddenly the hardest working student out there but it certainly opened his eyes to realizing he needs to do more, he can't count on just barely passing and being done school, he has to do well and move on unless he likes fast food and boring manual labour day in and day out.

[Hyacinth]

I briefly worked as a greeting card merchandiser. The stock for for one of my stores was kept in the skanky (and regularly used) bathroom. There's the toilet and, there--all of two feet away--are the opened boxes with my exposed products. I was supposed to sit there and sort the contents. I didn't last long. 

[VeteranMom]

I lasted less than 2 months as a sacker at Furr's grocery store. I was a college student and a new grocery store opened in our town, so I went and got a job. The store overhired on sackers for the grand opening month. I had to pay most of my first paycheck out in union dues and made minimum wage. 2 months later, I went to clock in and there was a note taped to the time clock saying that if the last 4 numbers of your social security number were high numbers you were still employed at the store. If they were low, skip badging in and don't call us, we'll call you when we need more sackers again in the future. My number was very low, so I was laid off. It was my first (and last) experience with a job where my job performance had no impact on me actually keeping my job.

[SKL]

Some of these comments remind me of one of my mom's jobs (when she had 4 kids, ages 3-9).  I don't know exactly how long she was there, but it wasn't long.  The bosses gave her a hard time about everything.  Mom got grudging permission to attend a funeral.  Not long after that, my then-3yo sister had an eye surgery which meant 3 days of hospitalization.  My mom wanted to take off the day my sister was to come home from the hospital.  Her boss said no.  My dad called and said she quit.  Their comment:  "I knew I shouldn't have let her go to that funeral."

[CyndiLJ]

I lasted less than 3 days at a microfiche company.

 

I was told I would be office staff, only to arrive and learn I would be feeding documents into a machine.  All.Day.Long.

 

To make it worse, the business was right next door to my mom's electronics factory, where she worked on an assembly line for 25 years.  I respect her commitment and the fact that she loved her job, but it was my worst nightmare ever, and as I sat at the machine loading one medical record after another, tears were literally streaming down my face as I contemplated this as my future.  The worst 2 days of my life, and I told my husband on morning #3, "I am so depressed, this job pays well, but it is NOT what I wanted or what I was told I would do."  He looked at me, and without hesitation said, "Don't go back.  We can manage until you find something better suited to you.  It's not worth it."

 

I never loved him more.

 

I did not consider myself above lower level work, I am just not good at monotonous, low people contact sorts of jobs.  I went on to do other menial sorts of jobs here and there including a stint at McDonald's which I actually enjoyed, office cleaning at a pest control company where I also worked as office manager during the day, newspaper bundle dropper, etc.  I realized that I didn't consider myself "above" any sort of work, but that certain types of work would be soul killing for me.

[Rebel Yell]

3 days at Burger King.  I was 16, and my friend wanted me to work there so she could get a $50 bonus for finding some dumb sucker to work at that cr@phole.

 

I failed the Broiler Test.  The question:  What color should the burger be when it exits the broiler?  I assumed "Brown." - you know, like a fine grilled steak.  Nope.  Correct answer: GREY WITH PINK SPOTS! :ack2:   I quit.  That just sounded nasty. 

[Amber in SJ]

I lasted less than two months at Burger King at the age of 16.  When hired, I watched a series of training videos called "BK University."  All of them were disgusting.  The first few weeks weren't so bad because I was the low person on the totem pole.  I basically cleaned up after everyone else, and that was fine.  The other girls started warning me about a certain manager who was on vacation at the time I was hired.  Sure enough, when I encountered this guy, I was "promoted" to cashier so he could "keep an eye on me."  Then he re-issued me a new uniform that was a size smaller than  the baggy one I preferred and was just all around creepy.  He used to walk around behind the counter an pat all the cashiers' bottoms.  I asked the other ladies why no one complained and they told me I'd get fired if I did.  I waited a bit to tell my parents because I wanted to prove I was a grown up and could handle things.  I refused to be alone in the break room/ office with him for any reason.  The quickest way to get in trouble is to have your drawer "short" at the end of the day.  If it happens once it is a mistake, if it happens more than once you are assigned a manager to shadow you to make sure you know what you are doing.  If you still can't figure it out, you get busted back to one of the stations that don't deal with money.  When I started not being "nice" to this manager, sure enough my drawer would come up short.  I was never short  when there was any other manager there, but only this guy.  He assigned himself to be my shadow, so I finally broke down and told my dad what was going on.  He was livid.  My dad went with me to work to see what was going on.  The manager didn't know the dude in the back booth was my dad.  After one shift, my dad walked me to office door and stood there while I quit, gave me the keys to the car and told me to go to the car, and the next day took me to fill out a sexual harassment complaint.  The guy got fired and I went back to high school.

 

Amber in SJ

[Hypatia.]

The only reason I lasted 2 summers working at Wendy's was because I only ran the register, never made the food.  I could make change quickly so that got me put on the register the 2nd day.  

 

One of the managers, D, would always sit back in the managers' office talking on the phone long distance, smoking a joint with his feet up on the desk.  One day some people from corporate stopped by unexpectedly and yup, D was back there with his feet up, smoking out.  We had a new manager the next day.  

[LarlaB]

Last year, I worked 4 hours in a bakery...and quit after 1 shift :)

 

I was miserable (coughing, congestion, ill feeling, itchy throat) while there....and quit the next day because I was convinced I was having a reaction to something there.  They thought I was crazy....

 

Turns out I have a wheat allergy AND Celiac Disease and those 4 hours of misery change my life in the most profound way ever!  i've uncovered major health issues (things I can change) and turned over a new leaf and found a new career.  I graduate in 8 weeks and will be  Registered Massage Therapist. 

Great story- I can hardly believe its all true and actually happened to me.

 

 

[Audrey]

I lasted less than a week at a daycare.  This was when I was in high school.  I think it was a summer break job because I kind of remember it being full days.  I prefer to block it all from my memory.  It was sooooo *shudder* disgusting.

[swellmomma]

So funny to see so many say daycare, I have been working in daycare since I was 11 years old, first as a volunteer back then up to now 25 years later as assistant director.  I have left the field at times to dabble in other things, or to go to school, or stay home with kids but I always come back to it.  There have been crappy ones along the way and perhaps if those had been my first taste of it I would have run away screaming, I started out in a very good center and have mostly worked in good ones.

[Dmmetler]

I've worked in multiple child care centers, and had one that I left after only a few weeks because the director was a ridiculous micro-manager. That and the center didn't pay for custodial services, leaving the teachers responsible for doing all the cleaning while also supervising/teaching a dozen preschoolers, who couldn't be exposed to most cleaning supplies. Fortunately, that wasn't my first job. I love the early childhood age groups and ended up as a specialist in music development in the preschool years.

[PeacefulChaos]

Oh, goodness.  Where do I start?  :p

 

I lasted less than 24 hours as a waitress at a place in town.  I went once, never went back.  I had to memorize the entire menu (details of about 40 different sandwiches + other stuff) and the place was sort of party central.  Considering everything that had been going on in my life up until that point, it was the last place I needed or wanted to be.

 

I lasted less than 3 months as a hostess at Red Lobster.  That had more to do with the other people there than the job itself.  Party central part 1.  I ended up quitting one day.

Though here's a funny thing for you - we had the vibrating pagers to give to customers, right?  Well I handed one to a (college aged) guy once and he said, 'What is this?' I said, 'It's a vibrator.....' *he turns bright red and bursts out laughing* Me: '...uuuuhhhhh it's a... um.... pager...thingy.... that vibrates when your table is ready.' 

To this day that is one of the funniest things I've ever said.  :lol:

 

After that one (before the first one) I lasted less than 4 weeks as a waitress at a BBQ place.  Though I really liked that job.  The people were nice and they GAVE ME FOOD.  :lol:  Part of my training was actually trying everything on the menu (not all at once - each day after my shift there would be something different).  The only reason I left there was because we decided to move. 

 

 

I'm not as flighty as these things make me sound, I swear.  I was 19, a newlywed, and DH and I were trying to decide where to live, what to do, etc, etc... :)

 

 

ETA: I remembered another one.

 

I worked at a data entry place for about a week the summer after my freshman year in college.  I had gone to one of those temp agencies and they sent me there, I did excellent on the typing/data entry test, and so they hired me. 

The work itself wasn't horrid.  It was a little mind numbing, and being an extrovert, sitting there in a room full of people but not really talking at all probably would have worn on me over time. 

But the real kicker?  This place was situated just outside of town, basically in the middle of a big field, near the 'industrial park' at the edge of town.  And there were NO LIGHTS outside.  No parking lot lights.  Nothing. 

I was 18 and I watched too many crime dramas. I worked the evening/late shift. I was terrified to walk out of there at midnight when I got off my shift every night.

So one evening on my 'lunch' break I went to the Dairy Queen I worked at up til I left for college and the manager offered me a raise if I came back for the summer.  I quit the data entry place the next day, and I didn't hesitate to tell them that I really didn't feel safe walking to my car in the pitch black at midnight.

I never minded working at DQ.  We were one of the highest volume DQs in the state because of our location, so we were plenty busy, and my extroverted self had fun with the other employees and the customers. 

Oh, and the employee parking was well-lit.  ;)

 

E(again)TA:

 

Ok, last one!  I think...

I worked at Target for probably a month and a half the fall after we got married (pre restaurant/party central days, above ;) ).  I started out in their little food court area, back when it wasn't Pizza Hut or Starbucks or whatever they have there now.  I didn't really love it or even like it, but I was holding out hope that I'd get moved to cashier.  They scheduled me as a cashier some days.

Then, after Thanksgiving, I asked off (in advance) for our choral concert.  You know, the one that I had to perform in.  They wouldn't let me off.  They said it was required of all workers to not ask off between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I was like, 'Even for something that I have to do for school?'  and they didn't care at all.  So I had to quit so that I could participate in my choral concert.  :blink:

[PeacefulChaos]

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.

 

My MIL did the follow up census thing that you're describing, when she was younger.  She said it was crazy - she carried mace with her everywhere.

[Hypatia.]

I worked rotating shifts at my last job (I was a nuke) and my last year there they took out the cafeteria and put in a Subway.  Constantly smelling that bread baking was nauseating, and I hadn't been a fan of Subway's bread before that.  That was 10 years ago and the smell of Subway bread still makes my stomach turn.

[Rebel Yell]

I lasted less than two months at Burger King at the age of 16.  When hired, I watched a series of training videos called "BK University."  All of them were disgusting.  The first few weeks weren't so bad because I was the low person on the totem pole.  I basically cleaned up after everyone else, and that was fine.  The other girls started warning me about a certain manager who was on vacation at the time I was hired.  Sure enough, when I encountered this guy, I was "promoted" to cashier so he could "keep an eye on me."  Then he re-issued me a new uniform that was a size smaller than  the baggy one I preferred and was just all around creepy.  He used to walk around behind the counter an pat all the cashiers' bottoms.  I asked the other ladies why no one complained and they told me I'd get fired if I did.  I waited a bit to tell my parents because I wanted to prove I was a grown up and could handle things.  I refused to be alone in the break room/ office with him for any reason.  The quickest way to get in trouble is to have your drawer "short" at the end of the day.  If it happens once it is a mistake, if it happens more than once you are assigned a manager to shadow you to make sure you know what you are doing.  If you still can't figure it out, you get busted back to one of the stations that don't deal with money.  When I started not being "nice" to this manager, sure enough my drawer would come up short.  I was never short  when there was any other manager there, but only this guy.  He assigned himself to be my shadow, so I finally broke down and told my dad what was going on.  He was livid.  My dad went with me to work to see what was going on.  The manager didn't know the dude in the back booth was my dad.  After one shift, my dad walked me to office door and stood there while I quit, gave me the keys to the car and told me to go to the car, and the next day took me to fill out a sexual harassment complaint.  The guy got fired and I went back to high school.

 

Amber in SJ

 

:hurray: :hurray: :hurray:
 

[LostSurprise]

Shortest: one 4-hour shift at a telemarketing office. At least they said they were a telemarketing office canvasing for a charity. They wanted to pay us all under the table (you get nothing the first week but get paid weekly in cash after that). The script was manipulative. We were supposed to go through the phone book and ask for the opposite sex. Two numbers I called the woman broke down crying because her husband had passed away; he just happened to be listed in the phone book. 

 

Oh, and in this office building the man who hired us seemed to have his family living in the other room of the office. A bunch of kids laying on the floor watching television with blankets...no other furniture. After he "trained" us he'd go in there and sit in an office chair watching cartoons with the kids. 

 

It just seemed off. 

 

I was a maid in a motel weekends all through high school. People can be weird and messy, but other then that it was no big deal. I've also done a few factory/line jobs that were slightly scary. On a line making valentine candy containers I ripped my hands up every day. That was a bad job. Eventually we filed that order and moved to another job so I didn't bother quitting (it was within walking distance from my house so I didn't want to quit too easily). 

 

My dad was follow-up for the census too. It's incredibly ironic how good he was at that job. He understood how the people thought (he thinks the same way) so he could anticipate how to get around them. 

[Mommy22alyns]

I lasted less than one full shift at telemarketing.  I can't sell for crap!

 

I did work at a daycare one summer... never. again. Also cemented me being a SAHM.

[unsinkable]

I wanted to thank everyone again.

It's been Great reading all the stories!

[I.Dup.]

I lasted less than a week at any retail or restaurant jobs I've had (2 or 3). I do not do well operating on someone else's schedule and having my every move dictated.

[peachskittles]

I lasted less than a month at an adult chat site.  It was insane.  I could not even begin to describe how stupid this job was, or how naïve the men must have been.  The job was simple, find a picture of a woman in their files and you became that woman.  Some men had been chatting with these imaginary women for over year, never meeting them, but paying out to continue talking to them.  Trying to keep the story straight (we had a few minutes to read the past chats), continuing multiple chats at the same time, telling the long timers "I'm still not ready to meet"...It was horrible and one day I decided to never sign on again.

 

I lasted less than a few months at a greenhouse.  I was the only female on the team.  The owner was rude, a bully, etc...My friend who was hired on at the same I was quit for both of us when we got the runaround about actually getting paid.

 

I actually lasted three months as a telemarketer.  I ended up quitting because one of the assignments I had every now and again was selling adult movies or something.  The script was horrible, I have not a sexy bone in my body to talk like they wanted me to talk. I'd do it again, as long as it wasn't selling adult stuffs.  Some of the people that called in had some issues.  As long as they could keep a conversation, I wasn't allowed to hang up.  Yea, um, it's hard to read a script and be very aware of something going on that should not be going on on the other line.  Hang up and do that people.

[BarbecueMom]

I must be stubborn as hell, because my shortest job was 9 months doing police report entry.  I didn't enjoy it as much as dispatching, but there weren't alternating shifts.  I only quit because working overnights while pregnant was miserable.  Every other job lasted at least two years.

[Annie G]

My MIL did the follow up census thing that you're describing, when she was younger.  She said it was crazy - she carried mace with her everywhere.

 

Wish I had thought of that. All the pre-census stuff was so easy and so much fun.  And then....ugh. 

 

I'd lived in this area about 15 years when the pre-census started. And I went so many places and saw so many things I didn't even know existed in our area! Meth labs! A Russian compound complete with scary Russian men who ran me off the property!  Homes in the boonies with no electricity or running water!   

[NoseInABook]

I lasted two weeks as a hotel housekeeper. I lasted less than a month at McDonald's where a creepy manager hit on me a lot.