Dominic Cooper: What is the worst job you have done?

What is the worst job you have done?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's long-running Q&A repeatedly asks this standing question, with minor tense variation.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Dominic Cooper said elsewhere, not written here

I used to clean the ovens in a bakery. Brillo pad and poison.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 August 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

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David Gandy British model

I worked for a company that stripped an office, including the furniture, over one weekend – so I worked for 48 hours straight.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 April 2020 source ↗

Meera Syal British writer and actress

Having to clean out my daughter’s digs at university. The memory of the state of that toilet still lives with me.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 April 2018 source ↗

Nick Grimshaw English television and radio presenter

When I was doing A-levels, I worked in a factory that made homework diaries, which was fine until they banned talking and the radio.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 June 2017 source ↗

Juliet Stevenson

I worked in a supermarket on the Kings Road when I was 17, standing by the beers, wines and spirits to make sure people didn’t shoplift. They were such horrible employers that I didn’t care whether people shoplifted or not.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 May 2026 source ↗