Jimmy Akingbola: 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 Jimmy Akingbola said elsewhere, not written here

Working in a warehouse, packing frozen meat. It was a nightmare: I hate the cold and it was very tough.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 August 2020 source ↗

Others on this question

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Irvine Welsh Scottish novelist

Laying down slabs for the council.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 December 2016 source ↗

Jack Whitehall English comedian, actor, presenter and writer

It’s also one of the best jobs I’ve done, but two hours in, when everyone’s pissed and ignoring you, hosting the Brit awards can be a tough gig.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 April 2023 source ↗

Adrian Edmondson English actor, comedian, musician and writer

I worked in the largest pork pie factory in Europe. I had a plastic mushroom-shaped thing and had to tamp down the meat into the pie base. It was a conveyor belt of pies from nine to five. The worst thing was the crackly AM radio, which was played loudly through the tinny tannoy system. I still can’t listen to I’m Not In Love by 10cc without thinking of raw minced pork.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 July 2018 source ↗

Jared Harris

I worked on a kibbutz in Israel and had to clean out the chicken run. It was like an oven. Inside were rows and rows of chickens that had been shitting for months – the whole floor was six inches deep in chicken shit.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 February 2025 source ↗