Putting ball bearings into Mum roll-on deodorant bottles in a factory, one summer when I was 17.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 July 2017 source ↗
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.
Others on this question
View all 230 →
Rose McGowan
American actress and activist
When I was 15, I conned my way into an office job at a company that represented makers of breast implants. The manager had a wart on the end of her tongue that she’d push against her teeth, making a very specific sound.
Sofia Helin
Swedish actress
Acting, when you don’t want to do it or you disagree with everything, is almost like having sex with someone you don’t like. I had one experience like that on stage, in a terrible version of The Cherry Orchard. I put on a wig, dark-coloured contacts and just hoped no one would recognise me.
David Hasselhoff
American actor, singer, and television personality
Selling fire alarms at 18 or 19.
Sue Perkins
British actress, singer, writer and comedian
Cleaning toilets in a hotel in Croydon when I was 16. A guest once gave me a half-eaten bag of pistachios as a tip, so there were perks.
More from Andy Serkis
View profile →I made a solo attempt at the Matterhorn in 1996 and came very close to falling. I waited until the dawn light came, so I could retrace my route, but I was hanging off my ice axes for 45 minutes.
Preferably not as the guy who played Gollum.
Strength, comfort, joy and passion.
To see a united Labour party.
When my wife Lorraine and I got together in 1990. We were in a play at the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester when we suddenly realised we were falling in love.
Being the father of three children.
More on craft & work
- What accomplishment matters most to you? 192 answers
- How do you tell when a piece of work is done? 67 answers
- What do you do when you feel creatively stuck? 63 answers
- How does a new piece of work usually begin for you? 60 answers
- How much rewriting or revision do you typically do? 46 answers
- What part of your job would surprise outsiders because it takes up so much of your time? 41 answers
Also answered this
Lupita Nyong'o, Jenna Coleman, Ralf Little, Brendan Gleeson, Jessica Brown Findlay, Craig Charles
Search the directory for somebody in particular.
Explore further
- All craft & work questions
- The The Q&A questionnaire — 25 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject