Working in farming in Somerset at 18, there were elements that were awful, and they were all really edifying. I mean, feeding chickens in sleet was hard work but I am so glad I did it.
What is the worst job you have done?
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Daily life
Question
What does love feel like?
Relationships
Question
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Identity & self
Question
If you could edit your past, what would you change?
Failure & regret
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Aside from a property, what is the most expensive thing you have bought?
Money & investment
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.
Trying to sell frozen food over the phone for a company called American Frozen Foods. It lasted about half an hour. I found myself telling people not to buy too much of it because it could go bad, and my supervisor said, “This job is probably not for you.”
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 January 2022 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 229 →
Michael Flatley
American step dancer
Digging foundations in the freezing-cold Chicago winters.
Lupita Nyong'o
Actress
I waited tables for one night at the turn of the century. They were being fussy about how I put the food on the plates, and I couldn’t have cared less.
Jodie Whittaker
English actress
Working in a soap factory in Huddersfield. I was in my late teens, so I was basically hungover every day.
More from Ann Dowd
View profile →As a good person.
Leading with joy.
It feels like all is possible.
A surgeon. I studied pre-med in Holy Cross College for four years and then I went to acting school.
I would try to be a little nicer to my teachers.
My children’s education.
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