Jessica Raine: 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 Jessica Raine said elsewhere, not written here

A temp job at BT. I still have nightmares about ADSL lines. I still don’t know what one is. I would find myself on national conference calls being questioned about ADSL lines and told that the problem was in London. I would try not to breathe so they would forget I was there.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 9 March 2019 source ↗

Others on this question

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Andrea Riseborough British actress

Either shredding duck in a Chinese restaurant, or Oblivion.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 November 2016 source ↗

Keir Starmer

Leader of the opposition. I worked with the police service in Northern Ireland and then ran the Crown Prosecution Service. In each of those jobs, if something needed fixing, I could fix it. As leader of the opposition, you are not in power and it’s the most frustrating job I’ve ever had, and a job I hope I don’t have for much longer.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 August 2023 source ↗

Roger Allam English actor

Picking tiny bits of glass out of long grass for Haringey council, 45 years ago.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 June 2017 source ↗

Stephanie Beacham

I was 15 working in Boots on Barnet High Street and it was terrifying. At coffee break you had to know whose cup was whose, and taking the wrong cup was a crime. I’ve met bitches, but I tell you they started out in Boots in Barnet.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 May 2025 source ↗