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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.

LW
Layton Williams
Recorded said elsewhere, not written here
I was a secret shopper and had to do a lot of bookies – Coral and William Hill – all around London. For 18-year-old me looking all fab it was quite scary going in and saying: “Hiya, can I put £4 on No 7 horse, please?” But you got to keep the money when you won.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 December 2024 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 230 →
Jon Sopel
Children’s underwear department at Marks & Spencer, Oxford Circus. I was 16 years old, earning money in my summer holidays.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 October 2024 source ↗
Shobna Gulati
When I was younger, I signed up to a job agency and thought I would be doing secretarial work, but they assigned me to clean toilets in a factory in Oldham.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 October 2025 source ↗
Chris McCausland
A lot of awful gigs. You can’t become a successful comedian without dying on your arse more times than you can remember.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

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