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 Zoe Ball said elsewhere, not written here
The failed attempt at a home perm on myself in the 80s. I wanted to look like Kelly McGillis in Top Gun.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 December 2020 source ↗

Others on this question

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Magician’s assistant on a cruise ship for two weeks when I was 19. When I was meant to be being levitated, I was silently crying while pretending to be unconscious as I hung limply off a metal pole. It was bleak.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 December 2025 source ↗
David Vélez Co-founder and chief executive of Nubank
Los diferentes trabajos en los que he estado, después de mi graduación, han sido de 100 y 120 horas a la semana, especialmente empezando con Nubank. Básicamente vivía en el lugar de trabajo. Empezamos la compañía en una casa de dos pisos. Mi cofundador vivía en el segundo piso. Yo básicamente dormía en el primer piso, o pasaba muchas noches en el primer piso. No salimos de esa casa por seis o 12 meses porque trabajábamos como locos.
Recorded Vicky Dávila, interview, Semana, 1 October 2022 source ↗
Victoria Derbyshire British broadcaster
Working in a furniture factory in Warrington when I was 17. It was a summer job, and I had to cover the studs in the back of Chesterfield sofas with leather.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 September 2021 source ↗

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