Siri Hustvedt: 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 Siri Hustvedt said elsewhere, not written here

I was a floor model briefly at Bloomingdale’s in New York in 1979. I hated it. When no one was watching, I would lock myself in the toilet and read.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 August 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

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Irvine Welsh Scottish novelist

Laying down slabs for the council.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 24 December 2016 source ↗

Brendan Gleeson Irish actor and director

Fixing a municipal sewer pipe.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 December 2016 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 ↗

Juliet Stevenson

I worked in a supermarket on the Kings Road when I was 17, standing by the beers, wines and spirits to make sure people didn’t shoplift. They were such horrible employers that I didn’t care whether people shoplifted or not.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 May 2026 source ↗

More from Siri Hustvedt

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Question When were you happiest? Time & hindsight

I have a penchant for happiness. I have experienced euphoria before a migraine, which may not count, but I have also felt immense happiness leaning back in a chair in sunlight, puttering in my garden, reading, dancing, immediately after giving birth and when writing.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 August 2017 source ↗