Rebecca Lucy Taylor: What is the worst job you have ever had?

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.

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

At a pub in Rotherham. I was a really bad waitress and I ended up being demoted to chopping the potatoes and I even got fired from that.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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Joanne Froggatt English actress

Scraping plates in a fish and chip cafe in Whitby.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 23 February 2019 source ↗

Romola Garai

I’ve done some acting jobs where everybody’s gone out of their way to make sure that you feel annoying and easily replaceable.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 September 2024 source ↗

Hayley Squires English actress and playwright

I worked in a call centre. I would go clubbing on a Saturday with my brother and my mates, get home for five or six in the morning, and then have to be at work at 8am.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 April 2020 source ↗

Andrea Riseborough British actress

Either shredding duck in a Chinese restaurant, or Oblivion.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 12 November 2016 source ↗

More from Rebecca Lucy Taylor

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

Big, shy, angry.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2025 source ↗

Question How would you want people to remember you? Death & what remains

I’d like all my effort noticed.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2025 source ↗

Question Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them? Values & belief

Julie Hesmondhalgh – she’s the kindest, brightest, most truthful woman. She’s so talented, works hard, cares about the right things, puts her energy in the right places. I adore her.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 29 November 2025 source ↗