James Norton: 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 James Norton said elsewhere, not written here

I worked in the customer services department of a mobile phone gambling company and it was very depressing, because the people calling up were usually not happy.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 July 2022 source ↗

Others on this question

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Paterson Joseph British actor and author

Pressing uniforms in a laundry. I was 14. I lied about my age and said I was 16, even though I probably looked about 12.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 February 2020 source ↗

Anne Enright Novelist and short-story writer

When I was 17 I took on a class of six-year-olds for a week. When the Angelus rang at noon, they stood up in silence and I realised I was supposed to recite the prayer, which I did not know. I said: “There will be no Angelus today because of that child fidgeting at the back.”

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 September 2024 source ↗

Victoria Pendleton British cyclist

Six weeks in my dad’s office doing admin was enough to persuade me to pursue a career in sport.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 July 2017 source ↗

Adrian Edmondson English actor, comedian, musician and writer

I worked in the largest pork pie factory in Europe. I had a plastic mushroom-shaped thing and had to tamp down the meat into the pie base. It was a conveyor belt of pies from nine to five. The worst thing was the crackly AM radio, which was played loudly through the tinny tannoy system. I still can’t listen to I’m Not In Love by 10cc without thinking of raw minced pork.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 July 2018 source ↗