What's the worst part of your job?

[Susan9608]

I'm at work, pondering what is truly the *worst* part of my job? Is it the potential risk of contracting disease? Is it the long hours? Is it the fairly lousy pay? Or could it be dealing with child abuse or neglectful parents? Or all the sadness that surrounds my job?

In the midst of pondering this, I had to feed one of my patients, and it hit me - the *worst* part of my job, for me, is handling other people's breast milk. For some reason, I find this so, so revolting, especially when I have to fortify it. <shudder> Ew, ew, ew, ew!

So I'm curious - what is the worst part of everyone else's job?

[daftscotslass]

I really have two occupations. This summer I'm working in the creche of the hotel I used to work in. I'm enjoying being back with my friends but I hate the environment. I hate the whingy customers in the place (when I worked on reception I was threatened several times and twice of those *I* got into trouble for asking the customer to back off). I hate how people are on holiday and keep their year old babies up ALL DAY without a nap, dump them on us, and think they will have a good time even though they are exhausted. In that whole environment, people just think they can talk to you however they want because they are "paying customers". Oh, and I hate changing babies of complete strangers.

As of August I will be teaching full time, primary (elementary) age children. I hate how kids speak to me sometimes - I would never have spoken to an adult like that when I was their age. I was shocked, really. A five year old girl, when she wouldn't do something I asked her to, told me she would get her mother to kill me. A little boy shouted in the face of one of my support staff. I, like you Susan, hate seeing the signs of abuse or neglect. I hate it how some children can't even talk properly by the time they start school because their parents just don't talk to them.

[pinnygiggles]

I run a quality assurance department at a small consulting firm, which consists of editing consulting reports and dealing with crap aftermath of bad conclusions, etc. My job would be a lot better if they taught writing at colleges. They do, you say? Could have fooled me.

I'd have to say the worst part of the job is dealing with all the sudden changes. Someone will invariably come up to my desk all panicked "_______ report needs to go out today!" which means I need to rearrange everything, throwing me off schedule (and often resulting in me having to stay late, most of the time on FRIDAY), which pisses off my boss, even though lots of times, she's the one behind ________ report needing to go out that day. What she doesn't realize is that rush jobs throw us off more than if the job was just tossed into the queue normally! This is for two reasons. The writer invariably has done a crappier job and not even run spell check. And two: It just disrupts the natural flow of work.

It drives me crazy, but what are ya gonna do, you know?

[WEAVER]

I work at Limited Too, and although I love my job, the customers sometimes are impossible to please.

We get some real "winners" that will call the store with their child's size and say things like "put together some cute outfits, hang them on a hanging rack, don't forget the accessories and I will sort them when I get I there. Make sure you have a lot of outfits, I am going to spend some money if you do it right, but I do not have all day to go in there in look around".

Do people think they are really that much better than others??? Can't even take soemtime out of their day to spend with their child shopping for their clothes? They seriously call the store sounding like they are some movie star shopping in Beverly Hills-----we are in Alabama people---HELLO!!!!

While I am ranting, my other peve is people who buy the clothes, let their child wear it for pictures or a special occassion and bring it back----YUCK!!!
They will go on, "My daughter ripped the tags off of it before she tried it on, but when she did it just did not look right on her". (meanwhile the dress is a wrinkled mess, arm deoderant residue under the armpits etc)---what are people thinking?????

[zoepiglet]

I work in a restaurant and am currently looking for something office based.

The worst part of my job is having to grin from ear to ear when I'm exhausted and far too hot because our air conditioning doesn't work, covered in coleslaw or something equally lovely, and some customer is testing my patience by wanting to change everything about our fairly standard menu on a busy day. My mother always told me "not to **** with the people who make your food", and of course one is entitled to complain if something is wrong - but I have been yelled at and on one occasion had a plate forcefully slammed at me (when someone in the kitchen hadn't got something non-standard correct, surprise surprise). I also can't stand people who let their children run around when we are carrying roasting hot heavy plates - you should see the parents' faces when precious little Tommy darling runs round the corner for the fortieth time and some big bad waitress nearly goes flying with a massive platter. I know they're there to relax a little, but it's such bad parenting. I also dislike people who turn up at 10:30 on a Sunday night and sit there for hours so we can't go home, and how we're often kept in til 1am cleaning and have to pay for our own taxis home when everywhere else in the mall closed hours ago and had taxis paid.

So, there you go - it certainly isn't the worst job in the world, but I praise anyone who can work in such an environment on today's studenty minimum wage without going insane. I am always so glad to get home to my haven with my boy and pigs!

[JennG]

Getting up and going to it. Just kidding.

I'm a caseworker for the Early Intervention program in IL. I love my job but there are days when it's one crisis after another and I've got a million homevisits as well as a stockpile of plans to write up. It can be overwhelming. Right now, I have 14 messages on my phone that I need to return, several plans to finish, several letters to write and get out, contacts that I need to make and I have a training that I have to go to. Argh! No wonder I'm tired. On top of all of this, it's going to be hot and sticky today (again) and my air conditioner in the van is on the fritz. Oh well, I better get going to work.

[katiecavyNC]

Well, my job is looking better and better! The worst part of my job is handling deadlines and last minute assignments while trying to get everything else done on time and out right.

I can't really complain since I work at home, but I find myself sitting back here way too much at the office desk...

[BabyGrl]

Right not the worst part of my job is probably how it takes me only 3 hours to get everything done, and then I have to pretend I am working for another 5 hours. And unpacking stock all alone. There are 4 other girls in my department but somehow they are always way too busy (bs) and I end up being the stock b*tch.
At my previous job I was the director of a summer day camp. The worst part of that was dealing with the parents of devil children who thought they were angels who did no wrong. I was screamed at so many times by parents because I was being "unfair" by punishing their child that hit and kicked another child because they were provoked.

[VoodooJoint]

I'd have to say the worst part of my job is dealing with the crazy people that think I can wave a magick wand (literally) and fix their lives. The worst of the worst are the people in abusive, destructive relationships that want some sort of a love charm to make certain their partner never leaves them, stops beating them or stops fooling around. It's hard to explain to these people that not only can't I help them I simply won't and instead try to give them advice to help them take charge of their lives.

[PiggieMom]

Right now the worst part of my job is not having one. Heh.

I was a manager at Burger King for almost three years while in high school though. The worst part of that job wasn't the insane hours, it wasn't cleaning the disgusting kitchen (if you've never worked in a restaurant/fast food chain you just don't understand), it wasn't getting robbed at gun point, it wasn't calling the police on crazy customers, it wasn't having to tell "adults" what to do all day when they only get paid minimum wage and have stopped caring if they do a good job, it wasn't even surprise inspections from the District Manager who was hired from the outside and had never actually worked in a fast food place but still thought he knew the best way to run things, it wasn't the old machinery breaking down all the time.

It was the customers. They were the best and worst part of the job. Most of them hated me. I had done nothing to them. I didn't ask for the broiler to break. I didn't ask for the new guy in kitchen to make their sandwich wrong. I tried so hard to get them the freshest and fastest food possible. I always smiled. I always told them to have a nice day. I worked hard at my job. I didn't get paid well, but I had a job to do and I did it. I've had customers curse me out. I've had customers threaten my life. I've had customers throw their money, food and drinks at me. I've had customers vomit at me. I've had customers come through my drive thru nude and say vulgar things to me. I've had to deal with drunks. I've been robbed. I've been screamed at and called a terrorist (still can't figure that one out).

Of course that all happened over the course of three years. A lot happens to a person on drive thru in three years. That's why most people don't stay in fast food that long. The customers were many times the best part of the job. Just having someone say "Thank you" and really mean it would make my day. Talking with the older customers about the weather. Having everything go wrong, be close to tears, and have some nice lady or gentleman tell you to take a deep breathe and get a glass of water before I take their order on front counter. Having a regular customer bring in a box of chocolates for all the people working on Valentines day. Having kids come by on Halloween and trick or treat at the store. Customers who are patient with you while your training a person.

I know a lot of people worked this menial jobs at one point. It's been two years since I worked at Burger King. And when I go to fast food places I see people there most of the time who don't care about their job. But I'm always polite. I always say thank you. And I always smile and tell them to "Try and have a good day." Some times they don't notice. Other times they smile wearily and say thank you and really mean it.

[janetangel]

I rather enjoy my job for the most part. The company itself treats their employees fairly well and plus the team I am part of, is kind of the elite team of the building. It is an honor to be part of this team. I do tech support for Intuit. The hardest time I have with my job is getting a call where I have no clue and the customer is hounding me for an instant answer. They do it to other agents too, so I know I am not the only one. When this happens, the customer and I both get frustrated and I do not feel like helping them anymore. It sucks during peak seasons where most of the calls are that way like tax season. I am dealing with accountants so they want an instant answer to get on with there day and hate when it takes so long to unravel what was already done to the program or data file and fix it right if possible OR find a work around for it. We are suppose to have the answer off the top of our heads since we are tech support and they are in a hurry.
Otherwise on a positive note, most of the people I talk to are friendly and I enjoy talking to them. I prefer to work with the accountants the most part because they know more than the average user.

[BabyGrl]

OPM i know the grossness of cleaning a kitchen. I used to work at Wendy's. I once spilled an entire gease bucket on myself when trying to haul it off to the trap in back. I am sure you can appreciate the absolute foulness of that happening. My hubby who is still managing at Wendy's says the same thing. Many customers suck and yo have to take the blame for it.

[PiggieMom]

Ewwww. That would be so nasty. I've spilled grease from the grease trap onto my shoes and that was gross enough. I did burn myself terrible once while dumping a whole vat of chillie on my face, chest and arms while trying to take it out of the microwave. That is when I discovered to my horror that the First Aid cabinet was empty. It was a Sunday too, so we always ran short a couple people. I was on Drive-Thru and front counter. They wouldn't let me go home. I had to call my brother to bring me a new uniform and first aid supplies from home. It hurt so bad. It blistered and stuff. I wish I would have known better then and just left.

[Lydia]

I would probably have to say that the worst (or really most "frustrating") part of my job is wealthy people who have money and get upset if they don't get things for free.

Let me explain; I work for a certain un-named national health charity, specific to a certain chronic disease. We have summer camps for children with this disease and it's great for them to be able to be with other kids in the same boat as them... they learn to manage it better, gain self-confidence, have fun and their parents get a literal vacation from having to constantly be worrying about their kid.

For parents with little income, or limited income, we provide subsidies. Generous donors make this possible, but we have specific criterium for approving these camp subsidies. Valid, right? So then when parents who make $80,000.00+/year gripe and complain that they got denied for $700.00 of subsidy I get upset... other parents who make $15,000.00 per year still seem to offer to volunteer or at least offer to try to make a minimum payment. We actually had one parent (who makes $120,000/year) tell us that we were discriminating against her because of her financial status - ummm YEAH! That's the point!

Blah - greedy people make me angry!

[shortapsugirl]

I currently have two jobs this summer and am taking 1 summer class to finish my degree in music education. I work at a computer lab on campus most of the week then on Saturdays I work as a secretary at a real estate office. Both jobs are extremely easy and low stress but very boring! I took a history class during my first summer session and was busy in the lab and my second session class involves less work so I get bored. Although, one perk is that I've been able to grace this website and forums and learn alot while I'm stuck in the lab (I'm working as I type this ). All in all, even though I get bored it isn't that bad. My upcoming week is something else though:
Teaching Band Camp at local high school 8-11
Class 11:40-1:20
Back to band camp ASAP-3
Work at lab M-Thrus. 4-9.

I'll be ready for Friday!
With the exception of next week, boredom is what frustrates me.

[Martini]

As a manager, there are so many frustrating things about my job. Though luckily i certainly can't complain about the money and it always keeps me comming for more.

I can deal with 90% of the frustrations, but i'd have to say that dealing with lazy workers or workers that complain like their still in second grade is most definately the worse. Luckily, as i'm getting fed up with it, i've taken to just kicking workers, who don't want to work, out and ending their shift. For those that acually need a job, it seems to hurt alot, considering they arn't getting enough hours thus not enough money (seems to fix their attitude problems for at least a few weeks). You'd figure you wouldn't havn't to babysit 30 to 40 year old people, but did i ever get a rude awakening. =)

[katiecavyNC]

Yep - in my early days at said unnamed bank where I work, I was lucky enough to be a manger of the best team of people EVER. Really, they were all 100% great employees - dedicated, willing to learn, eager and good attitudes. It still sucked to be the manger and have to deal with HR issues.

I like what I do now - no one to manage except myself and my projects. Get the job done, do my fair share of the brain storming, make myself useful and collect a unique set of skills and knowlege (that's job security) and life is good.

Much better than getting grease spilled on me.

Oh, and I LOVE fast food - I'm a regular at one said golden arches near my home. The reason I will drive out of the way to eat there is almost everyone who works there is pleasant. That's it - they are just pleasant and not pissy when they wait on you. Food is good, but it's pretty much the same at every store. But the good vibes happening at this particular location makes the customers want to come back, at least it does me!