see although that job is obviously unpleasant and arguably morally wrong at least you are producing something that people will eat. I think really soul destroying jobs are ones were you are doing nothing useful at all like telesales or advertising or influencer.
Soul destroying jobs
- Thread starter savoloysam
- Start date
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Chopping the tops off parsnips.
Got fired from that for being left-handed. It was in the middle of nowhere and the agency laid on a minibus to drop people off there and pick them up. But if they shitcan you in the middle of a shift, no minibus. Lucky for me I have a good sense of direction so I didn't get lost on the 15 mile walk home.
Got fired from that for being left-handed. It was in the middle of nowhere and the agency laid on a minibus to drop people off there and pick them up. But if they shitcan you in the middle of a shift, no minibus. Lucky for me I have a good sense of direction so I didn't get lost on the 15 mile walk home.
Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
I once worked in an NHS payroll department. It involved copying the salary figures from one program that recorded people's hours into another program that printed out the wageslips. It clearly should have been automated 20 years previously but all their software was about 25 years old. It was extraordinarily dull and was one of those offices where no-one would even stop to chat at your desk because there was an arsehole of a manager who would ask why you weren't working. Probably the most bored I've ever been and that's saying something.
i had a telesales job where we were all in one room, desks arranged in a big square all facing into the room, so all staring at each other. everyone had a phone book. everyone had a script. working through the phone book line by line. most people hung up instantly. I think I did one or two shifts and then never went back. not sure I ever got paid but was just happy not to go back.
JimW
支那暗杀团
Some quite dull but none I'd go as far to say were soul-destroying. The car parts factory was repetitive work but you did shift round types of cutting machines and I wangled my way into being something of an expert on one of the older presses where you could spend time fixing bits and bobs too. Lasted a couple of years.
bellaozzydog
rolling turds in glitter
I’m 50 and I’ve never done an honest days toil in my life
I’ve only had one proper job and that was between university and joining up
I did work experience when I was at school in an insurance office filing stuff for a week, that was beyond my level of tedium comprehension.
Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber is an excellent book on the state we find ourselves in.
I’ve only had one proper job and that was between university and joining up
I did work experience when I was at school in an insurance office filing stuff for a week, that was beyond my level of tedium comprehension.
Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber is an excellent book on the state we find ourselves in.
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The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
When I left school I had a job in a market garden , most of it was ok apart from the tomato tunnels . These were huge frames under polythene crammed with indeterminate tomato plants ( the type that sprawl) tied to frames and my job was to pick out the little side shoots between the main stem and the shoots that had fruits on. Hot humid , an endless maze of plants and the heady pungent aroma of tomatoes . Nails clogged up , fingers dyed green . I used to imagine I was in Vietnam , bathed in sweat , then panic when I couldn’t find the right end of the tunnel to get out .
Still get flashbacks .
Still get flashbacks .
krtek a houby
Anger is Hi-NRG
Post Tomato Stress Disorder
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
The worst job I ever had was temping in the clearing department of a well-known bank, 25 years ago and I still remember the experience with horror
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
I agree re-telesales, but savoloysam had a very different experience with local advertising, which I think they said was tele-sales, and clearly a fuckwit as a manager.
I was field-sales and enjoyed it, I was helping small local businesses to promote themselves to the community, I enjoyed talking and learning about their businesses and understanding exactly what they needed to promote at any given time, and then coming up with the ideas to do it. On the pirate stations, some of our best ideas came about in the pub, just kicking around ideas with some of the DJs, drinks paid for by me 'liberating' petty cash.
When I became a manager, I was very different to the one savoloysam had. With new inexperienced members of the team, I would train them, starting off explaining we were not high pressure double glazing sales people, looking for a one-off big hit, our role was to work with our clients and build long-term relationships, the more successful we were in helping them, the more they would use us again. My favorite line was, 'you have two ears, and one mouth, use them proportionally!'
I think I was a good manager, always looking out for the team, and rolling up my sleeves to jump in if anyone was struggling, and helping out, I guess that's why on a couple of occasions I move on from one newspaper or magazine, to take on a new position elsewhere, I had some of the best on the team making the switch with me.
ice-is-forming
let me rephrase that... Fuck off
I had something similar happen, but it was picking the brown bits out of frozen raspberries. Think I lasted 10 minutes before I walked out crying from boredom, into the middle of nowhere, then spent 10 hours walking home.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Warehouse in Kew that imported Xmas tat from China, taking it out of the boxes and putting them in to other boxes to send off to garden centres and so on. Two other blokes doing the same thing who were law students and thought they were something special. Lasted a week.
JimW
支那暗杀团
Your past can sometimes ketchup with you.
krtek a houby
Anger is Hi-NRG
Rather have it be heinz me
Potato picking. This was an earn some extra pocket money job rather than career and me and my mates pretty much resigned after an hour of it and just pissed about throwing potatoes at each other.
Milk round wasn’t much fun either. Getting up at 5am in the middle of winter before school wasn’t great. It meant I could buy cigarettes and beer though.
Milk round wasn’t much fun either. Getting up at 5am in the middle of winter before school wasn’t great. It meant I could buy cigarettes and beer though.
newme
Giant in Pastyland now
Never really had a job that wasn't, had some that were well paid or vaguely interesting for a time but I seem to end up every time doing something different to what I was hired for. Went in as accounts, turned out doing procurement, that went to designing spreadsheets, then public procurement, now in the same role I'm back to data analysis but presenting to some blood investment bank. I hate PowerPoint.
Edit I meant bloody but I'm standing by the typo
Edit I meant bloody but I'm standing by the typo
dessiato
🇪🇸 my spirit is crying for leaving
I've had some awful jobs.
As a student I worked at a duck processing factory taking the insides out. Then I was promoted to stacking them on wire trays.
I worked in a call centre for BT Cellnet. We were tracked every minute of the day, including when we went to the toilet.
There's been others but these stand out.
As a student I worked at a duck processing factory taking the insides out. Then I was promoted to stacking them on wire trays.
I worked in a call centre for BT Cellnet. We were tracked every minute of the day, including when we went to the toilet.
There's been others but these stand out.
newme
Giant in Pastyland now
I had 4 timesheets at one point, all with different requirements, none of which allowed any time for filling the fucking things in.
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
I had a job with an environmental group that had me knocking on doors to raise money. I quit after an old man in long johns threatened to shoot me if I didn't get off this doorstep. That was only one in a string of awful people I encountered. At the time I was borderline homeless, so quitting was risky.
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krtek a houby
Anger is Hi-NRG
The would be shooter, was it a territorial vibe or your environmentalism that triggered him?
Either way, scary af.
Did you report his threat or is it acceptable in the eyes of the law?
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
I think it was territorial. I didn't have time to give my pitch. I didn't report it, but looking back I probably should have.
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Orang Utan
Psychick Worrier Ov Geyoor
Only a couple that I walked out of after a few hours. I couldn’t physically stay in a job like that. Would rather be on the dole.
seeformiles
Lost in the wood
High speed data input temp jobs. Usually such jobs can be OK if the people are decent but one I had was dreadful. It was supporting a financial sales team and we were in a dark sub ground level basement office with tinted windows - separate from the more senior staff in the sunny offices upstairs. Very Morlocks and Eloi vibes about the whole thing. The younger ones in the team were OK but the long term staff were thick as dogshit, flexed every last little bit of power they thought they had and treated all temps like shite (when they weren’t sniping at each other). I left when the company said that I could only stay on if I switched from the agency contract to their in-house staff at a much lower rate of pay so I walked.
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newme
Giant in Pastyland now
Saw a tech support guy who had a similar interaction, however the gun crazed guy didn't reveal this until he was inside. Then kept telling war stories and how 'company they worked for' kept trying to screw him over, then the government, then various racial slurs. Guy ended up posting on the internal message board as desperately seeking anyone to call him so he could have an excuse to leave. Police were called, mini stand off and then multiple illegal weapons recovered after they were eventually disarmed and arrested.
girasol
Addicted to handstands!
I didn't mind working as a cleaner for about 5 years, when I was younger, so much - it was for private houses, paid well and kept me fit. I think the most soul destroying job I ever had - it was only for a few days - was a temping job sending out a mail campaign: folding flyer, putting in envelope, manually adding a stamp to the envelope, sealing envelope x 5000 or something. I honestly can't remember if I had to write the address the envelope either or if it had been done already. Either way, it sucked.
Another one was watching adverts and having to note the times they were shown and some other data I also can't remember, it was long ago. Transcribing can be soul destroying too if the people who are talking aren't easy to understand
I worked in a college for a while, and enrolment week was pretty intense... A conveyor belt of people - it was hard to give a shit after a while.
Another one was watching adverts and having to note the times they were shown and some other data I also can't remember, it was long ago. Transcribing can be soul destroying too if the people who are talking aren't easy to understand
I worked in a college for a while, and enrolment week was pretty intense... A conveyor belt of people - it was hard to give a shit after a while.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
I've a long history of walking out on jobs, hence being self-employed for over 20 years now, at least if a client messing me about I can 'discourage' them from using me again, or if one is seriously pissing me off, I can literally tell them to fuck off and find another mug to do it for them, which I actually did to one a couple of weeks ago!
Coming back to this, I've just had a bullshitter ringing for a quote, I happened to know who he uses ATM, and I mentioned we were cheaper than them, he said he could get a better deal with them, I said I was surprised, and in that case he may as well use them.
He kept on talking, I knew he was bullshitting, he's coming to see me next week and has agreed to pre-payment.
Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
I didn't mind working as a cleaner for about 5 years, when I was younger, so much - it was for private houses, paid well and kept me fit. I think the most soul destroying job I ever had - it was only for a few days - was a temping job sending out a mail campaign: folding flyer, putting in envelope, manually adding a stamp to the envelope, sealing envelope x 5000 or something. I honestly can't remember if I had to write the address the envelope either or if it had been done already. Either way, it sucked.
Another one was watching adverts and having to note the times they were shown and some other data I also can't remember, it was long ago. Transcribing can be soul destroying too if the people who are talking aren't easy to understand
I worked in a college for a while, and enrolment week was pretty intense... A conveyor belt of people - it was hard to give a shit after a while.
I had a job mucking out horse stalls. It was an ok job at the time. I don't think it's the job itself sometimes, it's the amount of disrespect and abuse you have to take, even in so-call "good jobs" that get you.
Working in construction was never fun. The concrete went down in summer meaning the first fix was in an open concrete block with no windows in the middle of winter. I don’t miss bending conduit with a winter gale blowing on me. Then the second fix was in summer where you had to go above ceilings in humid rooms wearing full PPE including a hard hat. It paid reasonably well though.
Wolveryeti
Detty Pig
Your past will ketchup with you like that.
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