CE
At King’s College hospital when I was 16; the job was putting hundreds of pieces of A4 paper into A4 transparent envelopes. I lasted one day.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 October 2024 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.
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Others on this question
View all 230 →
Adam Kay
British comedy writer, author, youtuber, comedian and former physician
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.
Ralf Little
English actor, writer, former semi-professional footballer
For two weeks I worked behind the players’ bar at Bolton Wanderers football club – footballers don’t tip.
Anne Enright
Novelist and short-story writer
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.”
Meera Syal
British writer and actress
Having to clean out my daughter’s digs at university. The memory of the state of that toilet still lives with me.
More from Chiwetel Ejiofor
View profile →As an optimist.
To do the very best you can and then let it go.
It’s actually people knowing how fearful I am.
Still to come, I think.
As vital as breathing.
“You’ll never do well as an actor unless you change your name.” I’m not going to say who.
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