Frank Cottrell-Boyce: What is the worst job you have ever had? — FLAPSS

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.

FC

Frank Cottrell-Boyce

British screenwriter, novelist and actor

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

I spent an advent in my late teens throttling turkeys.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 July 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Laura Kenny English cyclist

I’ve never had a job.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 January 2017 source ↗

I worked in a Helms Bakery assembly line that separated egg whites from the yolks and from time to time a box of rotten eggs would come through. Need I say more?

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 October 2023 source ↗

Peter Sarsgaard

Caddying for really rich people at this country club in Connecticut when I was a teenager. They would talk like I wasn’t there so I would hear all about their lives, their affairs and their stupidity, and yet I couldn’t say anything.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 February 2024 source ↗

Chris Hoy British track cyclist, 1994–2013

Delivering papers in the freezing cold for my granny. I got paid in Panini football stickers, so it wasn’t all bad.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 February 2018 source ↗

More from Frank Cottrell-Boyce

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Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief

So many. All childcarers and most primary teachers.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 July 2023 source ↗

Question Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought? Money & investment

I took the whole family to live in the Basque Country for a year. My children and I have a hereditary blood condition so I took out a health insurance policy. I’m still furious that none of us so much as stubbed a toe.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 July 2023 source ↗

Question What lesson has mattered most in your life? Time & hindsight

That it’s impossible to persuade other people of the value of the lessons that life has taught you.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 July 2023 source ↗

Question Which trait in yourself do you like least? Identity & self

My inability to say no.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 July 2023 source ↗

Question How would you describe what love feels like to you? Relationships

The unguiltiest pleasure.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 July 2023 source ↗

Question When were you most embarrassed? Failure & regret

I once found myself chatting to a big handsome bloke at a party in Oslo. I said, “And what do you do?” “Well,” he said, “I am the king.” Being a great wordsmith, I zinged back, “Oh. Errm. Cool.”

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 22 July 2023 source ↗

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