Lucy Beaumont: 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 Lucy Beaumont said elsewhere, not written here

I worked in a paper factory at five o’clock on a Saturday morning when I was in my early 20s. I’d go out raving the night before, get an hour’s sleep and then go to the factory. I was covered in paper cuts and used to think I heard people talking to me; they gave me a lot of breaks because they thought I was going mad.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 October 2024 source ↗

Others on this question

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Sandi Toksvig Danish and British broadcaster, comedian and writer

Working on an assembly line in a plastics factory.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 March 2018 source ↗

Andy Serkis English actor

Putting ball bearings into Mum roll-on deodorant bottles in a factory, one summer when I was 17.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 July 2017 source ↗

Ralf Little English actor, writer, former semi-professional footballer

For two weeks I worked behind the players’ bar at Bolton Wanderers football club – footballers don’t tip.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 February 2020 source ↗

Jennifer Hudson American singer and actress

I’ve loved all my jobs, even when I worked at Burger King.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 January 2018 source ↗

More from Lucy Beaumont

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Question How would you describe yourself in three words? Identity & self

Lovely but useless.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 October 2024 source ↗

Question Which trait do you most dislike in yourself? Identity & self

Thinking that I’m right when I’m wrong. But not only that – being able to convince other people I’m right and then finding out I’m wrong.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 October 2024 source ↗

Question Which moment embarrassed you most? Failure & regret

I worked with Stephen Fry recently and we had a real heart-to-heart. I asked: “What was it like being in prison for being gay?” And thank God someone came in and he didn’t hear me say it. I was mixing him up with when he played Oscar Wilde. I could picture him in his cell.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 26 October 2024 source ↗