Victoria Derbyshire: 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 Victoria Derbyshire said elsewhere, not written here

Working in a furniture factory in Warrington when I was 17. It was a summer job, and I had to cover the studs in the back of Chesterfield sofas with leather.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 September 2021 source ↗

Others on this question

View all 229 →

Gloria Estefan Cuban-American singer and songwriter

I’ve only done two and loved them both – one in the band, and the other as an interpreter in customs.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 June 2019 source ↗

Johannes Radebe

In South Africa I washed cars, I danced in parking lots and shopping malls, and was a children’s entertainer.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 28 March 2026 source ↗

Naga Munchetty

Double-glazing sales when I was about 16 – on the phone, cold calling. Horrendous.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 July 2025 source ↗

Jane Asher English actress and author

Doing an episode of Doctors was a bit of a nadir.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 6 May 2023 source ↗