Chris McCausland: 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.

CM

Chris McCausland

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

A lot of awful gigs. You can’t become a successful comedian without dying on your arse more times than you can remember.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 230 →

Carol Vorderman

Living in a campervan for a week with Timmy Mallett for a children’s TV show about 40 years ago.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 March 2026 source ↗

John Waters American filmmaker

I worked in a unisex clothes store for three days. Girls would say, 'Do I look fat in this?' I'd say, 'Yes.' I was fired.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 September 2008 source ↗

Maya Jama British television and radio presenter

I did work in retail while I was getting into presenting and the hours were long and you were always on your feet. It was good vibes, though.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 June 2023 source ↗

Julien Macdonald Welsh fashion designer

Working in a betting office on Grand National day. I was 17 and my hair was scrunched like Mick Hucknall’s.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 October 2016 source ↗

More from Chris McCausland

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

Loud and noisy.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

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

I’m judgmental.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

Question How would you sum yourself up in three words? Identity & self

Hard-working, resilient, irritating.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

Question What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy? Time & hindsight

My college years when I was 17 to 19, before the responsibilities of adulthood, just doing the things that I was good at and liked – computers, maths, further maths (I was a geek).

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

Question When were you most embarrassed? Failure & regret

When I was losing my sight, I couldn’t see where I was going, and I went into an undertaker’s thinking it was a barber’s. I asked the undertaker whether he had many waiting.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

Question What is the harshest thing anyone has said to you? Failure & regret

I was thrown out of a club by bouncers when I walked into somebody and told them that I was registered blind. They said: “Don’t give a fuck – you don’t belong in here.” As a straight white man, it gives you a taste of what other people have to contend with.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 November 2025 source ↗

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