Natalie Imbruglia: 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.

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I’ve enjoyed every single job, including working at my dad’s chicken shop selling potato gems (fried potato circles) to the surfer dudes.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 July 2026 source ↗

Others on this question

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Rachel Whiteread English artist

Serving tea in an insurance office to people who seemed to despise me at the age of 16 was pretty unpleasant.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 December 2017 source ↗

Steve Pemberton British actor and comedian

Collecting glasses in a Lancashire pub. Try to take a pint glass with a millimetre of foam still in it, and you get a lit cigarette on the back of your hand.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 May 2019 source ↗

John Simm English musician and actor

Working in a very busy bar in the West End when I was trying to pay my way through drama school. I had to dance in a cage in a vest and cycling shorts to Venus by Bananarama, Greased Lightnin’ and Y.M.C.A. every night. It was excruciating.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 11 March 2023 source ↗

Archie Panjabi British actress

Redeeming mortgages. I did it for a few weeks, and it sealed the deal that I wanted a career in entertainment.

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