Jodie Whittaker: What is the worst job you have done?

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 Jodie Whittaker said elsewhere, not written here

Working in a soap factory in Huddersfield. I was in my late teens, so I was basically hungover every day.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 September 2018 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 231 →

Naga Munchetty

Double-glazing sales when I was about 16 – on the phone, cold calling. Horrendous.

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

PP Arnold

I worked in a Helms Bakery assembly line that separated egg whites from the yolks and from time to time a box of rotten eggs would come through. Need I say more?

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 October 2023 source ↗

James Norton English actor

I worked in the customer services department of a mobile phone gambling company and it was very depressing, because the people calling up were usually not happy.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 July 2022 source ↗

Melissa McCarthy American actress

I shucked oysters for a day without the proper knife or gloves. I had to go to hospital as I’d ripped my hands up. I can’t recommend it as a career option.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 January 2019 source ↗