People Describe The All-Time Worst Jobs They've Ever Had

Dream jobs are the ones where they don't feel like work at all.

Very few are lucky enough to earn a living while fulfilling their passions. In contrast, others show up despite the arduous tasks involved in raising a family or living a comfortable life.

Some of those jobs, however, can be downright miserable and worth considering leaving.

Curious to hear examples of these, Redditor NoMarket2312 asked:

"What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?"

These can take a toll on your mental health.

Cleaning The Club

"Floor staff at a nightclub. I had to collect empty bottles and cups that people would leave on the floor. It involved a lot of getting pushed, injured on broken glass, being ignored by people too big and strong to move out the way and getting touched for a laugh."

"Leaving that job was such a big positive for my mental health."

– TheNameless00

Morbid Misery

"Picking up and disposing of dead animals. (Mostly farm animals who had died). Try putting a putrid corpse in a clear plastic bag and drive around in a truck filled with such things. Also the incinerator was a smell you will never forget."

– Maleficent_Delay9902

Phone Trauma

"Call center. Still hate answering the phone."

– feelinit9

"I have been with my current company for 6 years and they have been determined to pull me into the call centre whether I like it or not. I initially applied for an admin position. They called me into an interview and told me that the admin position had been filled but wanted to interview me for a call centre position. I agreed to it, knowing that I would turn down any offer."

"A few days later, the offer came for the call centre position and I did turn it down. They then came back and offered me the original admin position I applied for with the caveat that I might occasionally have to cover the phones if someone was away."

"I was desperate for work so I took it. What I didn't expect is one of the call centre agents dying a few months later. They had me doing two hours on the phones for 8 months."

"The higher-ups knew I wasn't happy there, so I was eventually able to parlay that experience into a promotion into a newly created department. Like the interview for my first job, it was similarly bait-and-switch."

"They told me the job was admin work until I had accepted it and then told me there was actually some call centre work. By that point, it was too late to decline the role. And to be fair, it was actually a step up from the previous role."

"After a few years, I again made the effort to get out of the call centre. I applied for and got another promotion. The role this time, Quality Assurance for the Call Centre. I have to listen to current agents make calls to ensure they're following procedure. At least I'm not taking calls myself."

– Surax

Maintenance And Madness

"Kitchen hood and exhaust cleaner."

"Very dirty and greasy, unstable hours, weather conditions because you're outside. Only night shift. Climbing on to sketchy roofs with sketchy ladders that were almost always unstable. Not the greatest pay. Expected to do stuff close to freaking dying for pitiful wages or get fired."

"Id refuse to do certain jobs due to the extremely unsafe conditions at the job site, and I ended up being fired for it...we were using a broken ladder to climb 2 and 3 story tall buildings for months before it got replaced. Lack of working equipment...if you weren't prepared to die for the company, you were removed rather quickly for having a 'bad attitude.' "

– Far_Friendship9986

We all gotta start somewhere.

Confessions Of A Mascot

"Dancing Bear."

"I was a waiter at a kids restaurant, which had a bear as its mascot. The new guy had to 'be the bear' on their first day, which meant putting on a massive bear costume over our waiter's uniform, including a huge fur head that you could barely see out of."

"You were then led around the place to wave at the parents and play with the kids, once per hour. If you spoke, you were fired, as some of these kids were return customers who would recognize a waiter's voice."

"Wanting to impress my boss, I really hammed it up. I danced, I gestured, I goofed around, I sat on a mother's lap, I ruffled a father's hair while he growled 'get off me or I'll stab you.' The boss loved it so much that he made me be the bear every day I worked there."

"Which would be great, except it was August, and so hot that the restaurant's aircon broke. The bear suit hadn't been washed in the history of the restaurant, so served as a memorial to the sweat of a hundred fallen waiters. Little kids would run headfirst at the bear and headbutt my testicles with depressing regularity."

"And all it earned me was the disgust of my wait team, who thought I was 'goofing off work' by being the bear, since it was clearly easier than carrying two plates of reheated lasagne across the room and refilling drinks."

– PinkyLobely

Street Vending

"In college, I sold chocolate-covered frozen bananas on the streets of Manhattan. People repeatedly told me where to shove them!"

– Calm-Kaleidoscope204

Insurance Salesperson

"I sold life insurance for a lil bit, did some cold calls/ knocking on doors."

"Now I understand why people hate those young preachers on bikes. I sold ZERO policies by knocking on doors. Lasted 3 months, quit, went back to warehouses making way more $."

– Toilet_Rim_Tim

"Gas station in the bad part of the city under a blowhard boss, much like you described your former boss. Was his name Chris, and was he former military? It was tolerable as a 2nd job up until he was hired. Best night ever though was getting a call from corporate saying that no, the bloated loser called manager couldn’t fire me, and they knew he’d lied about the events that led up to my 'firing.' "

– PeepsMyHeart

Mall Mayhem

"It was my job as a security officer for the Jordan Creek Mall in West Des Moines. The women in the mall constantly laughed at us, and the men didn't respect us. Women didn't want to be with us, and men didn't want to be like us."

"Every morning when I put that plastic badge on and looked at myself in the mirror I was disgusted with myself. I was a minimum wage loser who wrote tickets for people parking in handicapped spots and called the cops to do my job for me."

"One time I wrestled with an obese woman in Victoria's Secret who was trying to steal a bra and got beaten up, and the local news showed footage of it."

– Long-Tip-5374

Faculty Member

"It might be the one I'm currently doing. Middle school public school Language Arts teacher. I'm quitting after this year. (And I've held jobs in food service, offices, and retail. This is worse.)"

– moinatx

Working in customer service can be highly unpleasant.

Unprofessional Boss

"I once worked in a store where the boss kept changing the rules, and the tense atmosphere made even lunch breaks feel like a luxury. It taught me how crucial respect at work is."

– Novalyricus

"I've been there! One of my old bosses was a micromanager who would often look for sh*t to start fights over. One time they picked up a box that had 'Dell spare parts' written on it and asked 'what's in this box marked Dell spare parts?' and apparently my answer of 'Dell spare parts' wasn't the right answer and they put the box down and stormed off."

"If they'd looked down into the partially opened box, they would have seen spare parts for Dell laptops in there."

"I also got told that I wasn't allowed to have a can of (no sugar) coke at the service desk because it could encourage kids to walk across the road and buy their own sugary drink, which was unhealthy (almost their exact words). So their solution was to physically place the can inside my coffee cup."

"They also had a 'it's gonna be one of THOSE days' outfit, so if they showed up wearing a specific outfit, you knew they were gonna be on the warpath."

"It was so fun, I actually looked for work elsewhere, but when they retired, my love for my job suddenly came back 🤔"

– davidgrayPhotography

Wake-Up Call

"lasted 8 months as a Starbucks barista in a rich area before losing all faith in humanity, faith in others' ability to be competent, and common sense and a will to live."

– Ok-Theory571

"I worked there for 2 years as my first real job, I will never forget the faces of the people who made me cry. Specifically the man who ordered a tall veranda blend and then wanted to yell at me because I couldn’t make a different turkey bacon sandwich that wasn’t the only turkey bacon sandwich we offered."

"All of that for coffee. I got in trouble for not shaking a tea. I quit after that."

– royalfire798

My first-ever job was selling video game cartridges at a Nintendo store in the local mall.

I was 15 and was often left alone by my co-worker, who would go on "breaks" that included going on a shopping spree at Wet Seal and Spencer Gifts.

The co-worker was dating the store manager, so she got away with everything. I was often left fending for myself against impatient customers who gave me a rough time for not knowing how to do transactions outside of a normal sale, like returns and exchanges–which I hadn't been trained on.

One time, a kid reached over the counter and stole an item. I called the mall security guard who caught the young thief, but I had to deal with the mom's wrath. She berated me, insisting her boy would never do such a thing and that I wasn't doing my job right.

I saw a side of the mall experience I hadn't noticed before as a frequent customer, with too many entitled customers and the teen miscreants causing chaos for employees.

After a month, I quit for my sanity.