Telesales. I refused to wear a tie, but my argument that “They can’t see what we’re wearing” didn’t wash with the manager and I lasted a week.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 October 2016 source ↗
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.
Telesales. I refused to wear a tie, but my argument that “They can’t see what we’re wearing” didn’t wash with the manager and I lasted a week.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 October 2016 source ↗
When I was about 18, I worked on the chicken counter in a large supermarket, and every morning I had to pierce 64 birds on to industrial skewers to load up the rotisserie. That was very grim.
Selling fire alarms at 18 or 19.
Once, I was MC at a Christmas gig in Romford and a woman threw a dildo at my face.
When I was 17 I took on a class of six-year-olds for a week. When the Angelus rang at noon, they stood up in silence and I realised I was supposed to recite the prayer, which I did not know. I said: “There will be no Angelus today because of that child fidgeting at the back.”
A bilious green suit springs to mind.
Not being chosen as the next Bond.
My parents, for not pursuing an academic career.
Slightly longer arms.
Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads. When I first heard it at 15, it was different to all the punk I was listening to. When I was starting out in my career, it was all about: ‘How is this possible? How am I doing this?’ Now it’s: ‘Is this my life? How did I get here?’ The lyrics are all about returning full to nature. That’s how I imagine death to be. So that’s what I want at my funeral. And they’ll play Combine Harvester by the Wurzels as people are leaving the church.
Aung San Suu Kyi, for her resilience and determination.
Gavin Rossdale, Adrian Edmondson, Gloria Estefan, Rita Wilson, Melanie Blatt, Rick Astley
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