Ann Patchett: 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 Ann Patchett said elsewhere, not written here

I’ve never had a terrible job. I’ve been a cook, waitress, bookseller, teacher, freelance writer. I know what the bad jobs are and I haven’t done them.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 April 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

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Adrian Dunbar Irish actor

Working in an abattoir.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 August 2022 source ↗

Meera Syal British writer and actress

Having to clean out my daughter’s digs at university. The memory of the state of that toilet still lives with me.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 April 2018 source ↗

Martin Kemp English musician and actor

Gary and I worked in a greengrocer’s on Saturdays and in the holidays. One of my jobs was cooking beetroot – it used to make me gag.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 July 2018 source ↗

Alison Steadman British actress

Washing dishes when I was a student.

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

More from Ann Patchett

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Question Which living person do you most admire, and why? Values & belief

A friend named Charles Strobel, who runs the Campus for Human Development in Nashville. It’s a homeless shelter. He lives a life of pure kindness, and he’s a funny guy.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 April 2017 source ↗