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 Rory Kinnear said elsewhere, not written here
It’s a toss-up between organising a new filing system at Hammersmith & Fulham social services and relying on tips in the least popular restaurant in London to get through drama school.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 August 2017 source ↗

Others on this question

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Bill Bailey Comedian and musician
Telesales. I refused to wear a tie, but my argument that “They can’t see what we’re wearing” didn’t wash with the manager and I lasted a week.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 October 2016 source ↗
Louis Theroux British and American journalist and author
There was a period in the early 2000s when I had been doing celebrity profiles and thought I’d lost my way creatively.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 November 2018 source ↗
Telesales – having to sell terrible kitchens. I thought, maybe I’m not a good actor because I can’t even convince myself that these kitchens are worth paying for.
Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 October 2025 source ↗

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