What is the best and worst employment you ever had [Archive]

Waxing_Gibbous

10-09-2009, 04:32 PM

The worst job I ever had was as a machine greaser in a lumber mill eeuuuccch!
The second best job I ever had was in the same mill as a "Spark Chaser". When somebody was welding or grinding I had to sit there with a fire extinguisher and spritz any stray sparks. $16.50 per hour in 1977! Serious money when you're 17.
The best job I ever had was with Shell in London. I was overseeing the due-dilligence phase of the divestment of Billiton. I had a 12th floor thame-view office (to which I was not technically entitled), a secretary, a PA, a car and driver(ditto entitlement), an expense account, a rent free flat in St. James's and I got to fly all over the world first-class or in the corporate jet! Best of all though, I got to push around a bunch of high-priced slolicitors. Bliss. Too bad they sold the company to the first-comer. I could have done that for years!

Benno85

10-09-2009, 04:33 PM

Best for me was managing the now-closed local Ocean Master store. I worked up some great rappore with the locals, and it was just enjoyable work.

Worst by FAR was door-knocking for a rather over priced vacuum cleaner :screwy:

FredSnerd

10-09-2009, 04:47 PM

My worst job was innoculating chickens (you had to insert a tablet with a syringie type thing via its back passage). I still have nightmares. My best job is the one I'm doing now - retired. I dont know why I didnt do it when I was 25.

jjjnettie

10-09-2009, 04:47 PM

Worst job, Meat Packer at the local Abattoir. They'd kill approx 600 beasts a day, there were 6 packers so I was packing the equivalent of 100 beasts in boxes each day. Hard yakka. The temp in the cold room was 4 degrees, but we were sweating.
Best job? Working for Olympian Guy Creighton, tending his horses, exercising them, cleaning stables, getting them ready for events and looking after them once they'd competed. Hard work yes, but I got to meet the elite horse men and women at that time, legends amongst the horsey fraternity. Invaluable experience.

leon

10-09-2009, 05:21 PM

My worst job, well there have been a few in my 60 years of existence, however i would have to say being a process worker on a factory line, i hated it, but with a young family one had to stick with it. :shrug:

So now after all those years, and I'm reluctant to say this here, as many people might think, hell, how could you do that. :shrug:

Some time ago shortly after Alices mum passed away , there was a add in the paper from a Funeral Home looking for an active retiree to become a Funeral Director Assistant.

To make a long story short I applied and ended up with the job out of 75 applicants, so that in its self at nearly 60 was pleasing. ;)

It is the most rewarding job I have ever experienced, and yes, I love my work, because at the end of the day we can turn a very sad moment into something special for the people concerned.

The fellow I work for Is Brian Harrisons, he, Brian, is fantastic, and after the first few weeks I felt that I had known him forever.

I admit that this sort of work is not for everyone, and the first time I had to handle deceased persons was a little daunting, but I, and Brian can make a difference, and that is what it is all about.

Leon :thumbsup:

DavidU

10-09-2009, 05:21 PM

Worst, being a brickys labourer or working a furnace during summer.
Best, probably playing guitar infront of thousands of people & getting paid for it.
Vars, technical director at Ch7 is impressive.

AstralTraveller

10-09-2009, 05:22 PM

Best job by far is the one I'm doing right now. (Hey - I couldn't have gotten away with this anywhere else.) It's intellectually stimulating, rewarding and I meet lots of nice people.

Worst job is a toss up. I from a brain-deadening perspective it was a temporary job in Lysaghts tarping the load on trains. Indoors, noise, dust, mono-syllablic co-workers. I could feel my brain rotting. Standing in one spot for 10hrs sorting bananas was also pretty brain deadening but the co-workers were more interesting, we had a view outside and it was only one day per week. From a physical perspective, I lasted one day picking and packing watermelons for a known slave-driver before my back gave up. I spent a couple of weeks trashing a banana plantation for a small grower who was going bust. It just wasn't possible to go fast enough for him. From a health perspective, I spent 5 months working in a small regional office, as in just the two of us, in a town with a strong drinking culture and where I had to socialise with the boss and his clients. I went on the wagon for a few months after that to dry out.

dpastern

10-09-2009, 07:29 PM

Best job - probably the current job. Worst job? Working for Apple Australia. Rotten to the core and bad Apple both spring to mind. Sorry, I'm not a fan of large US companies.

Dave

Barrykgerdes

10-09-2009, 08:02 PM

Worst jobs

instructions from "she who must be obeyed"

What I earned my living at. They were all great. I found what I liked to do and got somebody to pay me for it.

Barry:thumbsup:

[1ponders]

10-09-2009, 08:20 PM

Worst job, selling vinyl siding door to door. I must have had a moment of insanity which lasted all of 1 week.

Best job, back in the early to mid 80's working as a maintenance officer and groundsman at an art college in eastern Sydney. At 22 I'd never been out of Qld and then I hit Paddo in the Mid 80's. What an eyeopener. And the job was brilliant. Didn't make much money but had a hell of a lot of fun.....and education. :lol:

DistroMan

10-09-2009, 08:24 PM

Worst: A month on a Carnival following the circuit. Rain, hail, wind, heat, cold. All in one month? You bet. Horrible boss. Lucky I could duck flying pieces of timber.

Best: As FredSnerd said, "the one I'm doing now". Retired is great. :rofl:

h0ughy

10-09-2009, 08:30 PM

worst job - storeman in a very hot warehouse - no windows and working dogwatch 3 nights in a row after working in the warehouse, at an ampol service station......cleaning , packing shelves and serving drunks

Best job - not the one i am at now (though it does pay the bills) but designing roads at the RTA in the early 90's. Now i plan for infrastructure at local government level. Pays the bills and the astro goodies

matt

10-09-2009, 08:35 PM

By far the worst job I ever had....was selling AUSTAR door-to-door.

I was between jobs back in 1996 and needed something to pay the bills.

The 'patch' they gave me had already been well-and-truly over saturated. Every door I knocked on either already had it or had had it, got jack of it, and never wanted to hear about Pay TV again. I can tell you for those few months of slogging it out, pounding the pavement, I've never heard so many colourful forms of the phrase "take a hike":lol:

One bloke even threatened to set his two huuuge dogs on me.....

The funny thing is, I really enjoyed the company of my fellow workers. There was a real camaraderie between the troops...as we all knew what the coming day presented us with!

Pulled beers in a few dodgy pubs over the years, too.

Best job? I've had some great radio gigs over the years. I enjoyed being Sports Editor at a radio station in Geelong for 18 months back about 5 years ago. Attended every and any major sporting event I wanted in Melbourne. Covered the Oz Open tennis...Rip Curl Pro at Bells...and of course, followed the Cats around in the AFL and got to be part of the live call team covering the footy. Also some great breakfast host jobs on a number of stations around the traps.

astroron

10-09-2009, 08:47 PM

Scrubbing the steps of the old bus station under the Brisbane Mall by hand on my hands and Knees and being spat on by drunks.
British Army, flying all over the world and getting paid to do it.
there where some crap times, but the good times outweighed the bad.

DJDD

10-09-2009, 08:57 PM

worst job: pizza hut store manager...

between uni and a job...one month...chucked it in and my wife supported me... why so bad? just finished a PhD and could not get a job...depressing...

also, saw the worst in people... :(:sadeyes:

best job: still looking... :)

Fossil

10-09-2009, 09:17 PM

Best job I ever had - Police Officer

Worst job I ever had - Police Officer

dpastern

10-09-2009, 09:18 PM

Some really interesting jobs here, keep them coming :)

DJDD - it'll happen, give it time.

Dave

dpastern

10-09-2009, 09:19 PM

That's one tough job, I don't envy you. I know the police cop a lot of flack (some if it deservéd imho), but on the average, you guys do a grand job for very poor pay and conditions.

Dave

Darth Wader

10-09-2009, 09:51 PM

That's terrible! :sadeyes:

AstralTraveller

10-09-2009, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by astroron
Scrubbing the steps of the old bus station under the Brisbane Mall by hand on my hands and Knees and being spat on by drunks.

Yeh, I agree. Living in Brisbane - yuk. :P:P:P:P:P

Darth Wader

10-09-2009, 10:13 PM

:lol::lol::lol:

coldspace

10-09-2009, 10:22 PM

Worst job :(= Stripping aircraft piston engines down and bead blasting them clean in a hot workshop so the aircraft engineers could rebuild them as a 17 yr old and trying impress the boss so they would give me an apprenticeship, I quit about 7 months later when I felt I was been used for slave labour and no apprenticeship offer.

Best Job is now :)= Owning/Running my medium sized airconditioning buisiness, it gives me alot of freedom to do most things and to fund my astro addiction as long as the work comes in and my 6 staff are happy everything runs smoothly, well most of the time.

Matt.

styleman333

10-09-2009, 10:36 PM

Worst job ever was when i was 19 and had a girlfriend living in Qld and decided to go up and stay for a few weeks and i seen a advertisment in the paper wanting some ppl to do some selling and marketing all the way to Qld all expenses paid ;) sounded good , earn a bit of cash and a free trip up .
Little did i know till the day i arrived to join another 6 ppl what we was selling ......male nude calendars . I have never ever been more embarrassed being in Taree using such jingles to the passing ppl on the street as

" wouldnt this look ridgy digh on your fridge" or
" a different hunk for every month "

And knocking on ppls door at 7.00pm and having 6'4 truck drivers answering the door and me asking for their wifes and having to explain what i was selling. Needless to say i lasted 2 days and got the hell out of their and caught a coach straight to Qld .

:ashamed::ashamed::ashamed::eek:

ngcles

11-09-2009, 12:07 AM

Hi Jonathan & All,

Your fourteen words sum it up absolutely perfectly :thumbsup: . I had 22 years of it (you don't get that long for Murder, I know); loved it and hated it.

You'll never know until you've done it, how great and also how gut-wrenchingly awful it can be.

Best,

Les D

snowyskiesau

11-09-2009, 12:12 AM

Worst job - joined the RAAF at 17 to learn electronics. The electronic side of things was great but the people in charge were not. Got fired from that gig which is not an easy thing to do.

Best job - working for an IT start-up doing anti-virus/anti-spam email filtering. Got involved at all levels of design and support.

I'm currently employed full time looking for work :(

Kindred Spirit

11-09-2009, 12:18 AM

Worst job-Student Nurse, under the old hospital training system. All the menial and unpleasant tasks. First paycheques were $37 p/f. Full time shift wk and had to study and produce good marks. I lived at the hospital's nurse's home from the age of 18 'till I graduated at 21. Needed Mum's permission for any outings. Yes Sister, No Sister, 3 bags full Sister! Don't get me started on Matron!:scared:

Best job- Operating Room Nurse. Almost 30 years. Still do a lot of yucky things, but I look at it differently now. :juggle:

marki

11-09-2009, 12:19 AM

Worst job: whilst at uni thurs evenings spent sifting through stool samples for parts unknown at a large metro hospital :sadeyes: :P.

Best job: I have had a few that would fall into this catergory but my current job as a high school science teacher is the one I have stuck with longest so I must enjoy it :).

Mark

chrisp9au

11-09-2009, 08:39 AM

Worst job: Purchasing and supplies in a juvenile justice center. For a simple country boy like me to come against some of those individuals was real scary. I'm told that in most cases it was their parents who should have been locked up!

Best job: Apprentice deck officer in the merchant navy back in the sixties. Hosing the flying fish off the decks in the mornings, eating top class food with the passengers, dusky skinned maidens around the Pacific, crystal clear skies at night out at sea. Why did I give it up? Women! Got tied down to just the one and that was the end of that! Ah well, at least I have the memories.

Next best job: Starts in 126 sleeps, retirement!

Cheers :thumbsup:
Chris

Terry B

11-09-2009, 10:55 AM

Worst job: I don't really have one because I always got something positive out of my work but doing 72 hour shifts in the UK in a hospital for very little money wasn't great. The hands on experience however was still OK.

Best Job: My current one as a country procedural GP. I just love the look on the new parents faces when they have just delivered their baby.

Ric

11-09-2009, 12:44 PM

BEST JOB - Exploration Geologist in the Northwest of Western Australia. We used to out into the wilderness for a couple of months at a time.

WORST JOB - Motorcycle Courier in Sydney. knocked off my bike 3 times in 6 months, low wages, pollution all day. No wonder we were called suicide jockeys.

Lumen Miner

11-09-2009, 07:29 PM

I'm with jjj on that one.

Worst- Working as a meat packer.

Best- Salesman, at Bunnings. (Current)

jjjnettie

11-09-2009, 08:29 PM

It's crap isn't it Mitchell. I'd have to get my hands strapped each morning. And that conveyor belt just never seems to stop. And if you get behind.:eyepop:
I was working with some great people though.

BerrieK

11-09-2009, 09:00 PM

Worst job: I grew up on a farm...when we were kids we got paid to clean and do jobs in a piggery...dusty and oh boy thats a difficult smell to wash off. Also hated plucking chooks (we raised meat birds from day old chicks then...off with their heads), another smelly disturbing job as a kid.

Best job: I have been a radiographer for nearly 20 years and still enjoy it (we have some really cool image processing toys in CT scan where I specialise) except when I am vomited on, piddled on, sworn at or abused by drunk patients.

Actually my best job really is being a mum and just being alive!!

Kerrie

jjjnettie

11-09-2009, 09:43 PM

Piggery work ewww no thanks.
Raised a few myself, can't imagine THAT multiplied by a couple of hundred.:eyepop:
But speaking of being piddled and pooped on, Dairy work has some very special moments too. You have to stand in an unfortunate position when you're milking from a carousel.
It's supposed to be very good for your complexion and hair.:rofl:

astroron

11-09-2009, 10:07 PM

It's supposed to be very good for your complexion and hair.
Jeanette Is that why you have so few wrinkles:rofl::rofl::rofl:

DavidU

11-09-2009, 10:11 PM

:scared2: ladies. I'm feeling crook now

jjjnettie

11-09-2009, 10:32 PM

Too much information David?
You should be thankful I was being polite by not mentioning the very worst things about dairy work. Much worse.

DavidU

11-09-2009, 11:02 PM

LOL yes.
I'm a mear uninformed consumer. Hats off to the folks at the coal face (or rear end in this case).
The meat packing and farm stuff sounds like major hard yards !

jjjnettie

11-09-2009, 11:23 PM

Looking for beans? ;) kopi lewak

multiweb

12-09-2009, 09:16 PM

Long time ago I was a bar tender and I remember saying to the barmaid next to me: "This bloke sounds like a d**khead" to which she replied "that's my dad!" . Not sure if it was the worst job but certainly the shortest.

Baron von Richthofen

12-09-2009, 09:22 PM

My Wife tells me that being my career was the best job and her worst was a chicken boner

jjjnettie

12-09-2009, 09:27 PM

I can well imagine Vars.
My ex worked at a chooky abb. for a while.

Lumen Miner

12-09-2009, 10:22 PM

Yup, if your going slower than the belt they just stack up. The butchers wouldn't stop for you.
I didn't actually mind the packing side of it, I worked with a bunch of drugged up idiots though. All speed addicts. Would loose the plot and start pulling out carving knives, to fight with at the drop of a steak.

jjjnettie

12-09-2009, 10:41 PM

No way!

KPC has zero tolerance about drugs, alcohol and racism. (we have a lot of workers from overseas, Sudan, Korea, China, Phillipines)
No second chances.
Random drug tests happen, if you have an accident, they test you for drugs.

Glenhuon

14-09-2009, 12:00 AM

Can't really think of a worst job, although maintenance on sewage pumps would come pretty close. Had a dozen or so differrent ones over my working time, enjoyed them all in one way or another. Best would probably be the 10 years I spent as a lighthouse mechanic. Paid to go where tourists spent heaps to get too, got fed and accomodated by the company, and had enough left of the (tax free) living away allowances when I got home to pay the bills. :)

Bill

AdrianF

14-09-2009, 09:27 PM

Worst job.... door to door book salesman. But I did get to see a lot of the country. Best job is the one I have now teaching and passing on engineering (metal fabrication)skills to apprentices and trainees. One of my better jobs was diamond drilling in the gulf country around West Moreland very hectic while working and not much time to think.

Adrian

Jen

14-09-2009, 11:54 PM

:question: Worst job raising my 14 year old daughter at the moment :sadeyes:

Jen

14-09-2009, 11:57 PM

:eyepop::eyepop: sounds like a scary work place :eyepop:

DistroMan

15-09-2009, 12:05 AM

Ah, precious memories... :eyepop:

Bodie

04-11-2009, 09:55 AM

Worst job: Working at a big bank. Place reeked of office politics ... ugh.

Best job: Current one, tutor and research assistant at Uni. Wonderful colleagues even if the students can get annoying at times :-P

Jabba

04-11-2009, 11:02 AM

Worst job: Insurance Consultant in a call centre (insurance companies are dodgy as, and every second call was a dispute/complaint and most customers were ruthless on the phones, no matter how much I tried to help them)

Best job: Havent really had many jobs as I am only 22, but if I had to choose, maybe my salesman role at Harvey Norman :o

I currently work for Stgeorge Bank as a finance consultant which is pretty decent aswell, been here for the last 6 months.

:edit: I had to change my age from 23 to 22... lol I forgot my age D:!

TrevorW

04-11-2009, 12:56 PM

Honestly haven't liked any of them, work to me it is just a means to an end, if I could I wouldn't bother with it , it's over rated.

supernova1965

04-11-2009, 07:30 PM

The best is my current occupation of IT Technician second best would have to be Rubber Stamp Maker and the worst would have to be "CHEF"

Nesti

04-11-2009, 07:31 PM

Best: Soldier in the Aust Army
Worst: Same place

Jazza11

06-11-2009, 07:04 PM

Just have to say Thank You

kinetic

06-11-2009, 07:37 PM

Best: What I do right now:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=41127
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=37585

Worst: The previous employer doing the same work...Irony!

Steve

Nesti

06-11-2009, 07:42 PM

Thanks - but you really don't have to. It was my choice to join and my choice to eventually leave.

I feel for the guys and girls who get injured and then get left hanging.

Thanks for your sentiment tho.

TrevorW

06-11-2009, 08:58 PM

On a serious note

best

"diesel fitter in a woman's lingerie factory"

worst

"underarm odour tester for a deodorant company"

dpastern

06-11-2009, 09:55 PM

Oh yeah...definitely agreed. I used to like my current job, now I HATE it with a passion. Bosses that are as useless as **** on a bull. Other staff that don't do their jobs right. Means more work for me, and the bosses don't care, nor do they do anything. Sent the boss an EMail today about it and probably won't have a job after this, and really don't care anymore. I'm over the job. BIG time.

Dave

DavidU

06-11-2009, 10:04 PM

does this explain the "more spare time" you have?:lol:
Maybe not a good idea to rubbish your employer on a public forum (although I understand your feelings)

dpastern

06-11-2009, 10:36 PM

Dave - I'm well and truly beyond caring what my employer thinks of me. I do my job, I do it well. Others @ my place of employment do not do their job. I do not appreciate having to do more work because others are bludgers. It is not good for my health, and it is morally wrong. My bosses like to sit on their a$$es and not fix problems or address staffing issues. To give you an example, the one guy that I have a problem with at work, 2 other staff members also have problems with, and for the same reason. He seems to have a get out of jail free card with the bosses, God knows why. One day he told one of the other techs to **** off and then raised his fist and threatened the other tech, saying "you're within Six inches of getting my first in your face". Said tech complained to the bosses and nothing was done. I witnessed it and complained, nothing done. No acknowledgement from them at all. Nada. Any other workplace he'd have been sacked (instant dismissal for that sort of thing). I've told the other tech that the next time he does it (it's not the first time it's happened), to formally complain to the police and I'll happily be a witness. That WILL force the bosses to get off their a$$es and do something.

I'm already looking elsewhere. The only reason why I stayed so long was because I hate to let a job go, and I have the hots for one of the girls @ work. She has a b/f now and isn't interested in me that way, so no real reason to stay. Hence looking for work elsewhere on the sly ;-)

Dave

edit: I might add that I then formally complained about the bosses not addressing issues and was formally warned and told that if I sent them an Email like that again, then they'd accept it as my resignation. I don't know what sort of logic they're using, since that isn't a resignation. If it comes to that (probably will on Monday after my 2nd formal complaint today), I'll force them to terminate my employment. I will not resign. I'll also take action against them with the department of industrial relations on a variety of issues.

asimov

06-11-2009, 10:41 PM

The job I'm doing right now actually! It's the worst job I've ever had because: I do 12-14 hr shifts & I'm knackered by the time I get home as it's hard yakka, physical work.

It's also the best job I've ever had because: I get to work with young female backpackers from all over the world & the moneys not bad either!

Oh, & I'm also super FIT from all this hard work ;)

Ric

13-11-2009, 09:43 AM

Hey Asi, you'd better be careful the govt will be trying to hit with a fringe benefits tax. :rofl:

Cheers

White Rabbit

13-11-2009, 10:14 AM

Worst job, removing cats eyes from a motorway in 35c heat with pic axe. They normally attach a metal blade to the front of a van and weigh it down with cement slabs. I didnt work this day so pic axe's it was. OUCH!!!

Best Job: I travelled all over europe busking and playing gigs with my best mate, I did that for about two years and had the best time of my life.

Rob_K

13-11-2009, 12:08 PM

Best job is the one I've got now - work for myself from home, interesting, cushy! Money's not great and the hours can be punishing but get paid to regularly visit places I used to only see on holidays! :lol:

Worst? None, loved 'em all (and there's been LOTS!). Can't separate work & private life unfortunately - job time is a big part of our limited time on earth, all part of the rich tapestry, LOL! :thumbsup:

Cheers -

kustard

13-11-2009, 12:11 PM

Been in this job since 1988. So same place is the best and worst. Some days are better than others. Mostly though it's pretty good and not a burden on me.

David(P): I feel your pain with bosses that don't take action against the wrong doings done by staff members. We have an engineer who does very good work but is Chinese so often has issues with understanding so you have to be patient with her. She is constantly in tears when a another engineer berates her for not being able to understand what he is saying. I've often called him up on it and have made management aware of the situation but I'm generally ignored so these days I go out of my way to be super helpful to her and a bit of a nasty person to the other engineer. Childish I know but it gets me through the day.