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 Jessica Raine said elsewhere, not written here
A temp job at BT. I still have nightmares about ADSL lines. I still don’t know what one is. I would find myself on national conference calls being questioned about ADSL lines and told that the problem was in London. I would try not to breathe so they would forget I was there.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 March 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

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Neil Gaiman Author of fiction, comics and screenplays
The only job I quit was, aged about 23, subediting a “men’s” magazine. My job was typing out readers’ pornographic fantasies. I started wishing people would reproduce by splitting down the middle.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 October 2023 source ↗
Joseph Fiennes English actor
Several: cutting the local vicar's lawn, shovelling shit from a stable, waiting tables, picking up and washing actors' smelly pants and socks.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 October 2008 source ↗
At university, I worked at a hotel in housekeeping. We saw so many weird things in people’s rooms. Guests would leave sex and party stuff behind!
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 July 2025 source ↗
Julian Lennon English musician, photographer, and philanthropist
I was a waiter with my old friend Justin Clayton; we would sneak in too many drinks and were fired after spilling soup too many times on customers.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 September 2022 source ↗

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