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Worst or weirdest jobs
After learning yesterday that LB used to work in a tampon factory, what are other people's worst or weirdest jobs?
My weirdest job was working in a cemetery, no grave digging though just admin. I actually loved it, turns out the living are more scary than the dead. It was only a long-term temp job working for the council otherwise I would have loved to stay on.
Although we had a database on the pc, all the burials had to be recorded in the books, some of which were over 100 years old. Never a dull moment & we even did some gypsy funerals which were always eventful. Very rewarding job too.
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Comments
Oh the FAME....
You can't leave it there though - tell us about some "eventful" funerals!
washer upper at a cafe - my skills didnt finish there either i got to clear out the ashtrays
chambermaid at a big hotel - the morning after the weddings were the worst - included cleaning out toilets and changing very soiled bedding!!
work experience at a play group - put me off kids for life
work experience at debenhams - not exactly the classy experience i was hoping for - helping measure old ladies boobs was not my idea of fun and when i used to take the cling film of the new clothes i always always used to get electric shocks of the metal
all that before i got this job at 18yrs old!!
For the gypsy funerals they would turn up in their hundreds. The women and young girls would wear clothes like they were out on the pull. One funeral in particular had 4 truck loads of flowers in a variety of shapes suck as mobile phones, cars & a double bed (?). After the burial they would go and get some alcohol in the system at the wake then come back later. We normally had a few plain clothes police to attend to break up any fights. They would block up all the nearby roads on the way to the cemetery. We even had people lying down on graves & refusing to budge. Not forgetting the BBQs they used to have at weekends.
For a normal funeral, the burial would happen and then the people were gone not long afterwards so the gypsy ones were always so much more of a handful!
We dealt with animals getting loose from nearby fields (horses, goats), finding out coffins didn't fit at the crucial time because the funeral directors gave us the wrong measurements and a man throwing a 6ft wooden stake at us amongst other things.
Blasphemy is OK tho, But don't mock funerals
Sounds very eventful K8.
I had a temp job in a very dull insurance office just off of Trafalgar square for a month. Very uneventful but I thought it was very sad that the people who worked there found it very dull too, yet they were commuting 2hrs + each way to get there. A very sad way to live your life. It was rather old fashioned even for the early 90s. It had a directors bathroom on our floor, so we plebs had to go down 5 floors to use the loo. Very cost effective.
I also was a mobile DJ for a couple of years part time. Get to see some interesting sights doing that. I think the worst do I did though was at a very rough pub in middle of a not great council estate, the St Helier Arms in Carshalton. It was a pub that was bulldozed in the end after a couple of murders. Anyway, it was the night before the FA cup final and I think it was Chelsea v Liverpool. I arrived, introduced myself to the landlord who was fine, then some of the bar flys decided to introduce themselves too. One shock my hand and remarked that I didn't have a calluses on my knuckles, then another announced that if I played the Liverpool song, he would smash up my gear. The night went on ok but I couldn't wait to get out of there. At the end of the evening, I was packing away and girl came over and asked if I could carry on. I explained that it was time etc and she said "Oh go on. You wont get shot or nuffin'". Up to that point, I thought the worse that could happen was that things could get a rowdy. It hadn't crossed my mind that firearms could be employed at any moment! I pack up quick and got out and told my boss there was no way I was ever going back there.
I work for a bank, although I am not a banker. I pretty much despise the firm I work for. And no, I don't get fabulous bonuses. My husband gets better bonuses than me, working for a quasi-govt organisation.
Problem is though, none of the bankers I work for appreciate just how much they are hated.
You were describing it. Cor blimey D2D, you're a writer, you should be able to tell the difference.
As a laboratory technician for the Open University's summer schools, my main duty was to dispatch and dissect rats and caterpillars to make tissue preps for active transport experiments
Prior to that I was a laboratory technician in the Research and Development lab for a well known pregnancy and fertility testing kit manufacturer; my main duty was to preserve and test vats of female urine to check the validity of the kits
I've also worked in a stables where the routine cleaning of male horses' genitalia was a pretty grim job. Do I qualify as a fluffer too?
My absolute favourite was the beautiful home of a former England cricketer - he and his wife were old-school posh people who expected me to work hard (I did) but kept my energy up with tea and cake. They bought a Burmese kitten, which used to hop up on my Hoover and ride around the house with me.
To clear things up, I should have written:
The traveller ladies and young girls were not dressed in the tradition black attire associated with funerals. They were, however, dressed in brighter, more revealing clothes likely to be found on young women upon a Saturday night.
Sorry to have offended anyone.