Paula Wilcox: What is the worst job you have ever had?

The question

What is the worst job you have ever had?

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.

Paula Wilcox

Recorded 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

View all 230 →

Bill Bailey Comedian and musician

Telesales. I refused to wear a tie, but my argument that “They can’t see what we’re wearing” didn’t wash with the manager and I lasted a week.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 October 2016 source ↗

Robert Glenister English actor

The back end of a horse in panto in Newcastle in 1979.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 July 2022 source ↗

Dominic Cooper English actor

I used to clean the ovens in a bakery. Brillo pad and poison.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 August 2017 source ↗

Gloria Steinem Writer and feminist organiser

Being a salesgirl in a baby shop where the others said things like, “He’s Jewish, but she’s American.” Also, after college, being a waitress in London, and trying to make change in the old money of shillings and pence.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 March 2017 source ↗