Adam Kay: 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.

Adam Kay

British comedy writer, author, youtuber, comedian and former physician

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

A comedy gig at an army barracks for thousands of angry, horny squaddies just back from six months in the desert. I was on straight after the stripper.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 June 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Jo Nesbø Norwegian writer and musician

I worked on a trawler and I was seasick the whole time.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 April 2026 source ↗

Sheena Easton Scottish singer

A cafeteria in Glasgow where the manager was horrible. I walked out and got a great job in a betting shop.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 April 2017 source ↗

Adrian Edmondson English actor, comedian, musician and writer

I worked in the largest pork pie factory in Europe. I had a plastic mushroom-shaped thing and had to tamp down the meat into the pie base. It was a conveyor belt of pies from nine to five. The worst thing was the crackly AM radio, which was played loudly through the tinny tannoy system. I still can’t listen to I’m Not In Love by 10cc without thinking of raw minced pork.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 July 2018 source ↗

Jonathan Rhys Meyers Irish actor

Two days as a labourer in my 15th summer.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 August 2018 source ↗

More from Adam Kay

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Question What disappointment has stayed with you longest? Failure & regret

I’ve never been upgraded on a plane.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 June 2023 source ↗

Question If you could revise one chapter of your past, what would you change? Failure & regret

I could have done without being sexually assaulted, or having an eating disorder, or pushing myself to breaking point, but every chapter of my life brought me here.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 June 2023 source ↗