10 worst jobs.

[timouse]

in no particular order, from AlterNet.

Poultry processor

Sewing machine operator

Farm laborer

U.S. soldier, active duty in Iraq

Mississippi prison inmate/forced laborer

Nanny on a temporary visa

Laundry worker

Roofer

Recycling plant worker (materials recovery)

Street prostitute

[Velvet]

I did roofing once and swore I never would again, though I'd do it until retirement vs. twenty years on a Mississippi prison work gang.

[traveler]

concrete foundation maker. Ouch!

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

The worst job I remember seeing someone do was walking up and down the tracks at the Calcutta train station with a bucket and a trowel to scoop up all the shit that the people who ignored the "Do not use restroom when train is in station" signs left behind.

[Esau.]

Worst place, I've ever worked in (and there have been lots) was Columbian Chemicals here in Hamilton. They make industrial and rubber carbon blacks.

I only worked 1 year there (contracted in through my union), mostly revamping the old electrical, rewiring lines, adding new HPS lights etc. People who took or take jobs there through my union, usually don't get layed off since no one wants to work in there.

Besides being really hot (especially in summer) and just plain dirty since everything there was coated in carbon black, the carbon black dust is so fine it would invade your pores and on a hot saturday or sunday night I would sweat out black, leaving a black ring around the collar. That was after a handful of showers.

No matter how much clothing you wore (long sleeves, long pants, cover-alls etc.) the shit would get into your pores. I would guess it took 2 months after we finished there before I finally stopped sweating out black. All clothing and bedding had to be washed in the big washing machines and thrown out eventually.

Nasty nasty place, I could never imagine working there for any great length of time.

http://www.columbianchemicals.com/

[Freak By Night]

I thought "assistant crack whore" was the worst job ever.

[bradm]

the carbon black dust is so fine it would invade your pores and on a hot saturday or sunday night I would sweat out black

Do the emo kids know about this exciting career's wonderful fringe benefits?

Aloha,

Brad

[phishtaper]

I thought "assistant crack whore" was the worst job ever.

nope, Canadian assistant crack whore is the worst

fwiw, norm and me share a b-day

[Hal Johnson]

I roofed for a couple of summers - horrible wretched work. Did keep me in decent shape though. In fact, I roofed Max Websters shed a couple of weekends ago. Made me feel all manly.

[Esau.]

I have a few friends and an ex-brother-in-law who do the type of roofing they are speaking of in that article, there's no way you would ever catch me doing that shit.

I have no problems shingling roofs though, since its pretty easy work and the only burns you get are from the sun.

[Hal Johnson]

I didnt read the article. I just saw roofing and thought, holy crap, somebody understands. It really is a bad job. Just carrying bundles of shingles up two-story ladders in the middle of the summer sucks. Then cleaning up all the old shingles. Ohhh man, brutal. Not to mention stripping the roof on a hot day.

[Esau.]

Its a bad job when you carry them up, I can agree with that.

Whenever I was laid off from my usual job or wanted some extra cash, I'd shingle roofs with my friend Tim who does it for a living and we'd just kicked the delivery guys twenty bucks to hoist or conveyor them up to us. On the new construction jobs where the skids were already dropped off at the site we'd just find the guys who load the roof sheeting (plywood) for the carpenters and get them to lift the skid of shingles up for us to unload. I never minded stripping the roofs and we would just hire some teenager for the day from a temp place to clean up for us. Well spent 80 bucks.

But after two major spinal surgeries, my days of doing any of that are pretty much over.

[Hal Johnson]

No kidding, if there's one job worse for your back...

Another job that sucks large is excavation. Especially if you dont have a decent way of getting the dirt out of the house.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

i worked in a steel yard for a summer- it was horrendous and really hot. there was a crazy heat wave that summer and sitting atop rebar cutting it with a torch was hellish. 'would blow out black crap from my nose afterward, not a healthy place to be really. also broke a couple of fingers there, and was lucky not to lose the ends of my fingers in the process. that said i've never been as strong as i was that summer and certainly never will be again

i can't believe how often i'd go boosing during the week back hten- mind boggling really. one time my grandparents (Oma & Opa) came to visit us, i got home from work and my Opa (who was a blue collar worker all his life) just grinned when he saw me, filthy and exhausted

[SevenSeasJim]

I worked at the #3 Coke Plant in Dofasco for 2 summers. Fuck I hated that. Every day I said to myself "Stay the Fuck in School".

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

I worked a summer at Ft. Henry in Kingston, and hated every minute of it (except, I suppose, when I got to fire the cannon); funny the things you'll do for $8 an hour when you're 20 years old (which back then was worth a bit). The mentality there was like the military in the same way that security guards or border guards are to cops, if that makes sense. Met some great people there, mind you, but that was entirely in spite of the job.

Advice: never work anywhere that compels you to march in 35-degree temperatures wearing a heavy wool uniform while people scream at you all day long.

[Velvet]

That list seems to imply that being a sewing machine operator is worse than being a Texas prison inmate/forced laborer, which I find doubtful.

[bradm]

That list seems to imply that being a sewing machine operator is worse than being a Texas prison inmate/forced laborer, which I find doubtful.

Note that the list is "in no particular order."

Aloha,

Brad

[Velvet]

Note that the list includes "Mississippi prison inmate/forced laborer," but mentions no other state's prison inmates.

[AD]

i'd add 'North Korean anything' to the list

[MarcO]

what about the job where the zoo worker/care giver has to insert his or her arm into a elephant's giant anus and massage it's prostate, for some necessary yet horrifying reason that escapes me. One quick move from the elephant and the person's arm is likely to be broken into bits.

[Freak By Night]

what about the job where the zoo worker/care giver has to insert his or her arm into a elephant's giant anus and massage it's prostate, for some necessary yet horrifying reason that escapes me. One quick move from the elephant and the person's arm is likely to be broken into bits.

The was a guy on this board who did just that, but with cows and other farm animals. He's a vet.

His nickname was "brownarmer".

[Davey Boy 2.0]

puts booche's casserole dish predilection to shame.

actually it even might give him something to *reach for*

[bradm]

I recall an interview with one of the actors who starred in All Creatures Great And Small, which was set in a rural veterinary practice, and the actor talked about how, just as a real vet has to do, they occasionally had to do an "arm up the cow" scene (which involved the actor really shoving his arm up a cow). I added "Arm Up The Cow" (or possibly "Arm Up The Cows") to the song title file.

Aloha,

Brad

[Velvet]

And wouldn't "Iraqi insurgent" be a bit worse than "U.S. soldier, active duty in Iraq"?