Craft & work

What is the worst job you have done?

244 answers answered between 1999 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A

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.

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On the record

Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.

Kurt Vonnegut Novelist and essayist
I was the third Saab dealer in the United States — you could have a dealership just by asking for one. Had to put up my own money for five cars. Terrible car then, may I say.
Recorded Frank Houston, Salon, 8 October 1999 source ↗
Erin O'Connor English model
Shooting hosiery on top of an iceberg and getting my backside stuck to it.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 March 2008 source ↗
Alan Cumming Scottish actor, producer, director, writer and presenter
I once spent a summer doing a puppet show in kindergartens around the Shetland Islands.
Recorded Ernio Hernandez, Playbill.com's Cue & A, 19 March 2008 source ↗
Cybill Shepherd American actress and former model
A movie called The Return that was about cows from outer space.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 June 2008 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 ↗
Joseph Fiennes English actor
Several: cutting the local vicar's lawn, shovelling shit from a stable, waiting tables, picking up and washing actors' smelly pants and socks.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 18 October 2008 source ↗
Omid Djalili British stand-up comedian and actor
Selling low-grade cookery books in west London office buildings.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 August 2010 source ↗
Elaine Paige English singer and actress
Maybe That’s Your Problem, a musical about premature ejaculation. It closed after only 18 performances.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 September 2016 source ↗
Melanie Chisholm British pop singer
Working in a chip shop when I was 16. I gave my friends massive portions, but the smell was gross.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 15 October 2016 source ↗
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 ↗
Ronald Harwood South African playwright and novelist
Unpacking scenery from a pantechnicon for the Carl Rosa Opera Company.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 November 2016 source ↗

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