Worst job you ever had

I was working in the accounts department for a car dealership. We were the regional head office for Southern England. The problems with this place were

1) The building we were in was plate glass on all sides and a glass ceiling, there was no air conditioning and if you wanted to open a window there was a choice of two. One opened onto the railway line 10 metres away (the main line into Paddington so it was busy). The second opened on to the engine testing area for the truck garage next door so there was the choice bake or breath in exhaust fumes.

2) It had a strick dress code unless you were female, having your top button undone were get you a written warning you were even expected to wear your suit jacket if you were away from your desk for any reason such as going to the printer. Women of course could wear anythng they wanted.

3) There was no supply of drinking water, combine this with the other two and just think how unpleasant august was.

4) Office hours were 9:00 - 5:30 with an hour for lunch. This was what you got piad for not what you were expected to work, its not even that the place was busy but the manager felt you lacked commitment if you did anything less than a 14 hour day minimum. Leaving your desk to get a sandwich from a shop nearby was simply wrong.

5) talking to the women in the office about anything other than work was considered grounds for sexual harresment by the manager. He was terrified that one of the women would make a complaint about something the had overheard. Considering out of 30 people 4 were male it didn't leave many people to talk to.

6) You didn't take holidays. Any requests would always be refused and just told they were too busy to let you have any time off.

7) There were large amounts of intricate procedures that left you relying in other people, if they didn't do their job in time for you to do yours it was not their fault. For example you had to bank cheques by the end of the day but they had to be logged by accountants first. They felt this job was beneath them so they wouldn't bother. So whose fault was it the cheques wouldn't get banked? Not the accountants that was for sure.

As bad as it was I felt I could stick it out long enough to get another job as my girlfriend had just been made redundant. So I covered my back and kept records. When it finally came to the crunch the manager called me for the disciplinary meetings and sacking me I requested a witness which he denied, he refused to see any of the evidence I had. The idiot actually recorded this in his mintues and posted me a copy. I made a nice lump of money out of them when I took it to the Tribunal.
 

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I haven't had a bad job.

1. Teaching physics to accelerated 11-12 year olds.

I've always enjoyed teaching (I've been teaching Taekwon-Do for a little over ten years as well), as long as the students aren't thick. Since these kids weren't, it was a pleasant experience.

2. Four years as a stuntman.

Primarily working on Pacific Renaissance productions - Hercules, Xena, Young Herc, Cleopatra 2525, and Jack of All Trades. A few other productions as well, but those were the main ones.

It's hard to beat falling down for money :)

3. A brief part-time stint in web design.

Nothing complicated, so no stress involved.

4. Current job - programming.

Sure, most of what I'm working in is 4GL, but apart from that, it's a good job.

I've never worked in fast food, supermarkets, petrol stations, waiting tables, cleaning, or helpdesk - all the "traditional" student jobs that you hear so many horror stories about - and I don't regret it at all :)

-Hyp.
 

Baraendur said:
What is it with some employers? They act like for less money per month than it takes to pay a reasonable rent, they own you.

It's called the capitalist society. heh.
 

Hypersmurf said:
I've never worked in fast food, supermarkets, petrol stations, waiting tables, cleaning, or helpdesk - all the "traditional" student jobs that you hear so many horror stories about - and I don't regret it at all :)

-Hyp.

I paid my way through college and Uni by working for Marks & Spencer and to be honest I enjoyed it. The job wasn't too stressful even when the managers dumped large amounts of work on you, the pay was better than the industry standard and I got to work with some great people.

I definately don't regret working there, the only reason I left was because I moved away to live with my girlfriend and needed alot more money to live there.

I left with a damn good idea how to run a store and provide good customer service (and a degree of compassion for the sales assistant having a bad day). It also left me with the impression that an awfull lot of customers are complete idiots with major personality disorders. The idea that the customer is always right was thought up by someone who has never had to deal with some of the lying, ignorant or just plain stupid customers out there.
 


Hypersmurf said:
2. Four years as a stuntman.

Primarily working on Pacific Renaissance productions - Hercules, Xena, Young Herc, Cleopatra 2525, and Jack of All Trades. A few other productions as well, but those were the main ones.

You worked on Jack of All Trades??? I loved that show! Is it possible to get that show on DVD or something? I'd love to have it...

I'm so jealous...
 

TracerBullet42 said:
You worked on Jack of All Trades???

Yup. Almost exclusively as a French soldier, although occasionally as an island villager.

I loved that show!

It was a real shame when it was cancelled. They canned JoAT, extended Cleo to an hour... and then shortly after that, canned Cleo as well.

Which cut the employment opportunities well down for those of us working in Auckland at the time...

Is it possible to get that show on DVD or something?

No clue, sorry.

-Hyp.
 


Krug said:
Didn't everyone in NZ all windup working on LotR eventually? heh. ;)

I did a couple of weeks on the Final Alliance scenes from the FotR opening sequence. Unfortunately, the one "featured" fight I rehearsed for (Gil-Galad's two seconds on screen - I rehearsed as the orc who gets swept and then stabbed on the ground) was shot after the hiatus on Xena ended, and I was back up in Auckland.

So I'm somewhere in one or two of those shots with hundreds of orcs and elves fighting, but couldn't tell you where :)

(Oddly, while I do actually get stunt credit, it's in the credits of the Two Towers Extended Edition... not FotR, which was the film I did the work for. Weird :) )

But while there were a few of the Auckland boys who did a lot of work on LotR, most of the stunt crew were from Wellington. When Pacific Renaissance finished up Xena, Jack, and Cleo, things got real quiet for a while.

There's a bit of work on now that they're filming Power Rangers in Auckland, and people have high hopes for the Narnia project, but I'm not in the industry any more, so it's fairly academic to me.

-Hyp.
 

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