Bill Bailey
Comedian and musician
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.
What is the worst job you have done?
Question
How does a new work begin for you?
Craft & work
Question
What is the biggest obstacle you have faced professionally?
Craft & work
Question
Which writers or artists most influenced your work?
Taste & recommendation
Question
What is the part of your job that people would be surprised is most of your job?
Craft & work
Question
In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to?
Daily life
Question
What scares you about getting older?
Time & hindsight
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.
I was a dishwasher in Paris and a hospital orderly in London. But I did anything that was going.
James Ashwood, IndieLondon source ↗
Others on this question
View all 232 →I worked in a cafe, which I loved, but when it was quiet we had to scrape the fat out from between the tiles on the floor with a butter knife.
I don’t think I’ve ever done a job that I hate. I worked as a temp briefly when I was out of work and it was fun.
Bernadine Evaristo
English author and academic
On a cosmetics production line. I walked out after half a day.
More from Geoffrey Rush
View profile →Choosing parts is based on a series of instincts and hunches
I often thought I was in the wrong business. I was pretty seriously thinking of tossing it in before I shot Shine.
The constant touchstone for me has been the Lecoq school and the mask work and clowning in Queensland
I am being careful not to clutter my life with career administration so I can keep the focus on the acting.
There’s been a lot of stuff that I turned down.
It’s not sudden.
More on craft & work
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- How does a new work begin for you? 70 answers
- How do you know when a piece of work is finished? 69 answers
- What do you do when you feel creatively blocked or stuck? 69 answers
- How much rewriting or revision do you do? 51 answers
- What is the part of your job that people would be surprised is most of your job? 47 answers
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