Paula Wilcox: What is the worst job you have done?

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.

Recorded Paula Wilcox said elsewhere, not written here

I don’t think I’ve ever done a job that I hate. I worked as a temp briefly when I was out of work and it was fun.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 27 June 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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Paul Whitehouse Welsh comedian

I was what I call a “nut lifter” in a factory in Enfield. I had to get nuts and bolts from the production line into big tins.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 16 June 2018 source ↗

Adam Kay British comedy writer, author, youtuber, comedian and former physician

A comedy gig at an army barracks for thousands of angry, horny squaddies just back from six months in the desert. I was on straight after the stripper.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 June 2023 source ↗

David Gandy British model

I worked for a company that stripped an office, including the furniture, over one weekend – so I worked for 48 hours straight.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 April 2020 source ↗

Stephen K Amos

I was a guard on the Orient Express – however, only when it was stationed at a railway siding in Vauxhall.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 September 2025 source ↗