Gulliver’s Travels at Adelaide Fringe.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 August 2023 source ↗
craft
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.
One of 24 questions in The Q&A here.
On the record
Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.
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Seventy and beyond 9
I didn’t enjoy a bar job and glass collecting – people could be really rude.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 December 2023 source ↗
I quite enjoyed all my retail jobs (I worked in H&M and Gap), but the worst times were the sale periods. The summer sales – awful.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 December 2023 source ↗
I was a secret shopper and had to do a lot of bookies – Coral and William Hill – all around London. For 18-year-old me looking all fab it was quite scary going in and saying: “Hiya, can I put £4 on No 7 horse, please?” But you got to keep the money when you won.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 December 2024 source ↗
I was the PE technician at my old secondary school, so I had to pump up all the balls, wash all the kits and get the form notes in before morning registration every day.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 March 2025 source ↗
Working at a petrol station.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 June 2025 source ↗
At university, I worked at a hotel in housekeeping. We saw so many weird things in people’s rooms. Guests would leave sex and party stuff behind!
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 July 2025 source ↗
Telesales – having to sell terrible kitchens. I thought, maybe I’m not a good actor because I can’t even convince myself that these kitchens are worth paying for.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 October 2025 source ↗
At a pub in Rotherham. I was a really bad waitress and I ended up being demoted to chopping the potatoes and I even got fired from that.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2025 source ↗
Leafleting for a window company when I was 12. I remember putting them through letterboxes thinking: I’m going to sell drugs, because this is rubbish.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 December 2025 source ↗
Working in farming in Somerset at 18, there were elements that were awful, and they were all really edifying. I mean, feeding chickens in sleet was hard work but I am so glad I did it.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 February 2026 source ↗
In South Africa I washed cars, I danced in parking lots and shopping malls, and was a children’s entertainer.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 March 2026 source ↗
I’ve never really had a horrible job – I liked working at restaurants and being a nanny when I wasn’t acting.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 April 2026 source ↗
Christmas elf at the Rainforest Cafe.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 May 2026 source ↗
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