Leona Lewis: What is the worst job you have ever had?

The question

What is the worst job you have ever had?

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 said elsewhere, not written here

I quite enjoyed all my retail jobs (I worked in H&M and Gap), but the worst times were the sale periods. The summer sales – awful.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 December 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 230 →

Martin Clunes English actor

A kitchen porter at some big telecom office in Wimbledon. I was also a kitchen porter at L’Escargot and, while I was there, a model for Gilbert and George. It was a quick £15 and they were terribly nice.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 September 2018 source ↗

Pauline Black

Giving barium enemas. I used to be a radiographer in Coventry.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 April 2025 source ↗

Craig Charles English actor

Filming a TV show in a field in the snow in February in the Dublin hills for 14 hours; the director said, “We’re not going to get that shot today.”

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 July 2024 source ↗

Denise Welch

I was a waitress at a holiday camp. On a Wednesday afternoon all the guys used to pee into the rice pudding and we had to serve it to the customers.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 December 2023 source ↗