John Waters: 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 John Waters said elsewhere, not written here

I worked in a unisex clothes store for three days. Girls would say, 'Do I look fat in this?' I'd say, 'Yes.' I was fired.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 September 2008 source ↗

Others on this question

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David Jason English actor

Scrabbling about under dusty floorboards as an electrician in my early 20s.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 May 2021 source ↗

Alison Steadman British actress

Washing dishes when I was a student.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 January 2009 source ↗

Sally Lindsay

Cold call market research at uni.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 August 2025 source ↗

Martin Compston Scottish actor

There was a period when I did four or five terrible films. My agent said: “Don’t do them.” But it was my month’s rent for a day’s work. One time, my green room was a lorry. It started snowing and it was just me and a plastic chair in the back of an open lorry. It was pretty grim.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 March 2022 source ↗