Everyone has had a job in their past that they consider to be their worst, right? Mine was the summer between my freshman and sophomore year in high school, at a fly-infested fireworks stand on the edge of my hometown in Texas.
This was NOT a superstore but a stand, sans air conditioning. The pay was bad, but they gave me all the lemonade I could drink and a small budget to buy fireworks on my last day. (Cherry bombs for everyone!) To make matters worse, the stand didn't have a cash register so the charges and sales tax had to be calculated by hand. To this day I can still calculate 8% sales tax in my head, to the penny.
At the end of the day, we can always learn something positive from every experience. Here's what I learned from mine: I REALLY dislike hot weather and flies; no deodorant is up to the challenge of keeping you dry and fresh under those conditions (hence the flies); and since we've all had horrible jobs before, instead of thinking about everything you hated, take a minute to think about what you may have gained from the experience.
Here are some of the worst job experiences from some of my fellow SLD bloggers have had—please share yours with us too!
Brenda
When I was about 18, I got hired on as a server at a chain restaurant popular on the East Coast that was trying to break into the California market. Since it was pretty slow usually, it was common that one server would serve the entire floor which probably had a max occupancy of 100.
In theory, this 1:100 ratio seemed reasonable, especially since it was a soup and salad buffet-style restaurant, and my only responsibilities where refilling drinks and checking out customers when they were through. In reality, I found myself running frantically between the soda bar and the cashier drawer, trying desperately to keep patrons from seeing the bottom of their soda glasses.
Another one of my responsibilities was to clear tables and dump all the remaining food and soup into this disgusting bin. By the end of the night, that bin looked like a swamp that would intimidate the Loch Ness Monster! One time, I accidently dropped the cashier key into the stew of grime and had to stick my hand in to find it. It was beyond gross! As the only server, I also had to clean every table, tray and counter, and mop the entire floor before locking up the store. It was a gruesome job that left my 18 year old body feeling 81.
But before I had a chance to throw in the towel, I learned the restaurant went out of business when a co-worker called me on my day off. The managers had not even informed any of us and had simply left a sign on the door. To this day, I am missing my final paycheck! But to be honest, I was relieved it was over and I would never see the bin of bile again!
Caroline
My summer job was the "worst" in that it was the hardest work of any job I'd ever had: I spent the summer after freshman year working as a meat cutter on a production line. My job was primarily to chop big hunks of beef into the tidy little steaks you get in the grocery store. Although the place was frigid (obviously) and the work was messy (of course), it was one of the better-paying jobs for a college kid in my hometown. If you could wield a knife and didn't mind the sight of blood, you could earn a whole bunch of cash for school.
Dinna
The worst summer job I had was in retail at a small clothing store. I thought I would be able to do fun things like talk to customers, sell clothes, and work the cash register. Unfortunately, I was assigned to the boring task of folding clothes and watching for shoplifters.
Bummer. I worked until I got my first paycheck and then I quit and found something else.
So there are a few of ours ... remember to tell us yours!
Editor's Note: Please help us welcome Maurice Benson, our newest Student LoanDown blogger!
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