TD
Serving bar snacks in a pub in my teens. Once I spilled an entire family’s Sunday lunch into the dad’s lap.
The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 December 2016 source ↗
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.
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Others on this question
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Melissa McCarthy
American actress
I shucked oysters for a day without the proper knife or gloves. I had to go to hospital as I’d ripped my hands up. I can’t recommend it as a career option.
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.
Jack Whitehall
English comedian, actor, presenter and writer
It’s also one of the best jobs I’ve done, but two hours in, when everyone’s pissed and ignoring you, hosting the Brit awards can be a tough gig.
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.
More from Tess Daly
View profile →Bruce Forsyth, because not only is he the most talented showman, he is the most generous individual.
Holding my two babies, Phoebe and Amber, for the first time.
On a motorway three years ago. An HGV hadn’t seen me and pulled out. My father-in-law’s a truck driver and he said black cars are not very visible. I don’t drive them any more.
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