I don’t think I’ve ever done a job that I hate. I worked as a temp briefly when I was out of work and it was fun.
What is the worst job you have done?
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What keeps you awake at night?
Daily life
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Craft & work
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.
Digging foundations in the freezing-cold Chicago winters.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 August 2024 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 229 →
Tess Daly
English television presenter
Serving bar snacks in a pub in my teens. Once I spilled an entire family’s Sunday lunch into the dad’s lap.
Sharon Corr
Musical artist
I worked in my aunt’s bar in Dundalk for about eight years and I remember cleaning the whole bar, including the bathrooms, after a particularly rough St Patrick’s Day.
Bryn Terfel
Welsh bass-baritone singer
I cleaned the toilets at the local pub every Saturday morning.
More from Michael Flatley
View profile →My recent battle with cancer.
You’re going to come up against brick walls in life. You’ve got to go over them, under them, around them, or crash through them, but somehow or other you’ve got to get to the other side.
On my deathbed thinking I wish I would have done something that I didn’t do.
Rhythm patterns from my dance shows.
I always try to see the good. I never look for the bad.
Aside from the night that my wife said yes, creating Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, and employing thousands of dancers for the last 30 years.
More on craft & work
- What do you consider your greatest achievement? 190 answers
- How do you know when a piece of work is finished? 67 answers
- What do you do when you feel creatively blocked or stuck? 66 answers
- How does a new work begin for you? 61 answers
- How much rewriting or revision do you do? 46 answers
- What is the part of your job that people would be surprised is most of your job? 40 answers
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Adeel Akhtar, Adjoa Andoh, Adrian Dunbar, Adrian Edmondson, Aidan Gillen, Alison Steadman
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