What's The Worst Job You Ever Had?

piplip87

Spent 18 months as a Facebook content moderator. Have never looked at the human race the same again. From eating dogs to necrophilia and everything in between.

JasonStatham

I worked in Dunnes Stores. Hateful place. Hateful managers.

raclle

CBear1993 wrote: »

Quantity surveyor and I’m still doing it

I'm going back to college next year to do this. Is it really that bad?

touts

I went through a phase when I was a serious drug user. To pay for my addiction I took a number of shameful jobs. I started out as a drug mule for my dealer where I would swallow condoms full of drugs and fly them in from Amsterdam. But then they burst and I spent 3 months in hospital with the dealer threatening to kill me, my family and my dog if I ratted him out. I got a job as a fluffer on really dingy porn movies. But that didn't work out as I got repetitive strain in both hands. I ended up as a male rent boy doing tricks for €10 a go but my severe case of chronic rectal incontinence (a result of the burst condoms full of drugs) put clients off.

Well no not really. I was a Sinn Fein County Councillor. I just tell my kids the above story so they won't be too ashamed of me when their friends ask them what their father does for a living.

Strumms

JasonStatham wrote: »

I worked in Dunnes Stores. Hateful place. Hateful managers.

Ditto, prîcks in the extreme, anti human beings. Woeful experience that lasted only a couple of weeks before I walked. I was in their Northside Shopping Center Supermarket branch... absolutely vile management... one there ‘CG’ needed to be drop kicked off his ego mountain....

touts

Strumms wrote: »

Ditto, prîcks in the extreme, anti human beings. Woeful experience that lasted only a couple of weeks before I walked. I was in their Northside Shopping Center Supermarket branch... absolutely vile management.

Not just Dunnes to be fair. Most supermarket jobs are pretty poor experiences. The night shift in 24hr Tesco's are supposed to be awful. I knew one guy who was a hard worker but only lasted a couple of weeks in one. And some SuperValus are even worse. There are a few "Family run" stores which have owners with no experience in management before buying the franchise and they are horrific to their staff. I would be very slow to let my kids work in a supermarket for anything other than a boot up the arse about how bad the real world can be.

Strumms

touts wrote: »

Not just Dunnes to be fair. Most supermarket jobs are pretty poor experiences. The night shift in 24hr Tesco's are supposed to be awful. I knew one guy who was a hard worker but only lasted a couple of weeks in one. And some SuperValus are even worse. There are a few "Family run" stores which have owners with no experience in management before buying the franchise and they are horrific to their staff. I would be very slow to let my kids work in a supermarket for anything other than a boot up the arse about how bad the real world can be.

Yeah an eye opener alright. Eyes frozen open in my case trying to wash blood off the walls in their walk in meat freezer out back, given a butchers hat, white coat and gloves as ‘PPE’.... in minus xx temperature, I’d been working out front in a T-shirt before that.

24 hour late shift in the spar on dame street.

"Bernard! Bernard!!!!"

That's all I will say

.anon.

Deleted User wrote: »

24 hour late shift in the spar on dame street.

"Bernard! Bernard!!!!"

That's all I will say

Is that the one that's known locally as 'Gay Spar'?

.anon.

.anon. wrote: »

Is that the one that's known locally as 'Gay Spar'?

It was amazing how many times we got asked directions to a bar that we could _almost_ see out the window.

McGinniesta

My first job was as a trainee accountant with a printing firm in an industrial estate in North Dublin. I loved the work but my immediate boss was a 50 something woman from Killarney who reminds me of Tony Sopranos mother. She was a human black hole who had the ability to suck the air out of any room that she walked into.

She made my life a misery for 18 months and she began to affect my mental health negatively. The mere mention of her name is enough to send a cold shiver down my spine.

ILoveYourVibes

Agricola wrote: »

Call center. Modern day Victorian work house.

You are not lying...they have people working shifts ....19 yr olds going into work at 3.30 in the morning ...not allowed anything at your desk ..you share a desk ..awful ..crap wages too

monkeysnapper

I can’t say I’ve ever had a job I despised as much as others on here but I once gave in an application form for a job in a call center and went along for interview and part of that was sitting next to a worker and I listened in for 15 mins to see nature of the job ....

I can tell you I couldn’t get out of there fast enough , that was 25 years ago and I can still feel the pain coming off that poor girl to this day .... nobody should have to listen to that kind of abuse....

Psychedelic Hedgehog

Strumms wrote: »

Ditto, prîcks in the extreme, anti human beings. Woeful experience that lasted only a couple of weeks before I walked. I was in their Northside Shopping Center Supermarket branch... absolutely vile management... one there ‘CG’ needed to be drop kicked off his ego mountain....

My wife was a trainee manager there once upon a time. What finished her off was an armed robbery where she was threatened with a firearm. Her superiors confronted her on her response, asking why didn't she put up a fight and try and disarm them.

Cnuts.

Strumms

Psychedelic Hedgehog wrote: »

My wife was a trainee manager there once upon a time. What finished her off was an armed robbery where she was threatened with a firearm. Her superiors confronted her on her response, asking why didn't she put up a fight and try and disarm them.

Cnuts.

Yes, “because I value my life ahead of your poxy cash” would have been a good response.

I looked up the arsehole who I had the difficulty with on fb ... in 20 years he progressed from being a Dunnes manager to now a manager in a tiny SuperValu in the back arse of nowhere, a pic presenting a prize of a coffee maker to a customer who has an expression of “ I don’t want this coffee maker or you anywhere near me now hurry the fûck up !”

Nice job CG.

Nigel Fairservice

JasonStatham wrote: »

I worked in Dunnes Stores. Hateful place. Hateful managers.

I worked from Dunnes for a while in college. They were a rubbish company to work for. They were always rostering me for times when I was meant to be in class. I was officially in the drapery stockroom but they lumped me with the hygiene too. I never had the proper things to do the job. I often had to clean kids puke up with the paper that would be stuffed inside shoes and handbags. The paper wasn't very absorbent, it really just spread the puke around more but it's all I had. The drapery manager expected me to move all the clothes railings every night and brush up the dust bunnies from the clothes on top of my stockroom stuff. This was a fairly big Dunnes and the drapery section was massive. I didn't have time to do it all in a 4 hour shift. I'd see the fecker move the railings to check under them when I was clocking in and he'd call me over to ask why he was finding dust bunnies in the most condescending way he could. He couldn't seem to get it into his head that I just didn't have the time to move every single fixture every night to sweep under them and do all my other jobs. That was 16 years ago and that manager is still there in the drapery section....my idea of hell. I got a job in Super Valu instead and it was a much nicer experience.

Mad_maxx

piplip87 wrote: »

Spent 18 months as a Facebook content moderator. Have never looked at the human race the same again. From eating dogs to necrophilia and everything in between.

i imagine there are freaks out there who would pay to work in that role

pgj2015

picking mushrooms when i was around 15. i think i got 7 euro for 4 hours work. you got 20 cent for filling a huge basket.

I never went back after the first day.

smellyoldboot

Worked as a barman in a hotel when I was 18/19. All the "free" drink you could manage but ****e pay, working for the worst kind of petty self important managers imaginable and dealing with the public? Especially with drink on board? No thanks. Lost what little remaining faith I had in humanity that summer. I have always sought out roles that insulate me away from the great unwashed/uneducated since.

Mad_maxx

McGinniesta wrote: »

My first job was as a trainee accountant with a printing firm in an industrial estate in North Dublin. I loved the work but my immediate boss was a 50 something woman from Killarney who reminds me of Tony Sopranos mother. She was a human black hole who had the ability to suck the air out of any room that she walked into.

She made my life a misery for 18 months and she began to affect my mental health negatively. The mere mention of her name is enough to send a cold shiver down my spine.

know what you mean

i worked on a dairy farm for four months in New Zealand in 1998 , went over in a group where our employment was arranged in advance , farm work in new zealand is often a decent option on a working holiday as accommodation is free and you can save pretty quick for travelling as not much to do locally , bit like fruit picking in australia in that regard , i had no say in where the job was and unfortunately i was given a real sh1thole location in the south island

the owner of the farm was a nice guy but it was so big i only saw him for five minutes once per week , instead i had to answer to the cruelest , nastiest vilest human being ive ever met in my entire life , a vicious sectarian bigot from Scotland who whenever she asked me to do something , would demand i repeated back to her exactly what she had told me to do , she would also demand i waited ten seconds before doing so as speaking too quickly was a form of arrogance , deeply ironic as she was thee most arrogant person ive ever met

she would provide free amateur psychoanalysis for me daily , telling me i must have been damaged by my parents as i had an attitude problem , that i couldnt think for myself like due to the pope doing it for me

one day during milking , she didnt like the way i was putting the machines on the cows udders and told me she would pIss herself laughing if i got my head kicked in , i shot back that " then you would have to go home and change your knickers "

every minute of every work day for four months was verbal abuse and screaming in my face , the day of the omagh bombing , i thought i might see if there was any shred of humanity lurking deep in this monster and asked her if she had heard about it , her reply

" that doesnt effect us milking cows in new zealand "

one day she drove her quad bike across a paddock and rammed straight into me , nearly knocking me off the bike , she told me she would tell the local police that i tried to kill her if i told the boss

on my final day at this place , i failed to complete a task to her satisfaction , she drove up to the cottage i was sharing with three other farm staff , charged in the front door of the house and tried to attack me in the house , i told her to " go back to scotland you fcuking nazi "

she punched me in the shoulder and walked away and told me to " never darken this door again "

single most evil human being ive ever encountered , i suffered a nervous breakdown in early 1999 having cut short my year break due to this disastrous experience and had depression for two years afterwards , the effects of it only hit me quite a few months after i left , i thought i would be giving up by quitting but i should have quit as soon as i realised i was dealing with someone so profoundly bad

i couldnt tell my parents as my father never gave me a single bit of support in any situation growing up , he was a useless father to all of us but thats another story , sometimes having no parents you can rely on is disastrous , your still quite young at twenty and an event like that can do lasting damage , i never fully got over it as the projection , gas lighting and black lies left me with permanent doubts which emerge every so often at important times , some people have a toxic influence that endures

Capt. Autumn

Mad_maxx wrote: »

know what you mean

i worked on a dairy farm for four months in New Zealand in 1998 , went over in a group where our employment was arranged in advance , farm work in new zealand is often a decent option on a working holiday as accommodation is free and you can save pretty quick for travelling as not much to do locally , bit like fruit picking in australia in that regard , i had no say in where the job was and unfortunately i was given a real sh1thole location in the south island

the owner of the farm was a nice guy but it was so big i only saw him for five minutes once per week , instead i had to answer to the cruelest , nastiest vilest human being ive ever met in my entire life , a vicious sectarian bigot from Scotland who whenever she asked me to do something , would demand i repeated back to her exactly what she had told me to do , she would also demand i waited ten seconds before doing so as speaking too quickly was a form of arrogance , deeply ironic as she was thee most arrogant person ive ever met

she would provide free amateur psychoanalysis for me daily , telling me i must have been damaged by my parents as i had an attitude problem , that i couldnt think for myself like due to the pope doing it for me

one day during milking , she didnt like the way i was putting the machines on the cows udders and told me she would pIss herself laughing if i got my head kicked in , i shot back that " then you would have to go home and change your knickers "

every minute of every work day for four months was verbal abuse and screaming in my face , the day of the omagh bombing , i thought i might see if there was any shred of humanity lurking deep in this monster and asked her if she had heard about it , her reply

" that doesnt effect us milking cows in new zealand "

one day she drove her quad bike across a paddock and rammed straight into me , nearly knocking me off the bike , she told me she would tell the local police that i tried to kill her if i told the boss

on my final day at this place , i failed to complete a task to her satisfaction , she drove up to the cottage i was sharing with three other farm staff , charged in the front door of the house and tried to attack me in the house , i told her to " go back to scotland you fcuking nazi "

she punched me in the shoulder and walked away and told me to " never darken this door again "

single most evil human being ive ever encountered , i suffered a nervous breakdown in early 1999 having cut short my year break due to this disastrous experience and had depression for two years afterwards , the effects of it only hit me quite a few months after i left , i thought i would be giving up by quitting but i should have quit as soon as i realised i was dealing with someone so profoundly bad

i couldnt tell my parents as my father never gave me a single bit of support in any situation growing up , he was a useless father to all of us but thats another story , sometimes having no parents you can rely on is disastrous , your still quite young at twenty and an event like that can do lasting damage , i never fully got over it as the projection , gas lighting and black lies left me with permanent doubts which emerge every so often at important times , some people have a toxic influence that endures

Jesus, Maxx, that's shocking. Hope things worked out okay for you.

On the bright side, nobody is going to beat that......close the thread.

pgj2015

Mad_maxx wrote: »

know what you mean

i worked on a dairy farm for four months in New Zealand in 1998 , went over in a group where our employment was arranged in advance , farm work in new zealand is often a decent option on a working holiday as accommodation is free and you can save pretty quick for travelling as not much to do locally , bit like fruit picking in australia in that regard , i had no say in where the job was and unfortunately i was given a real sh1thole location in the south island

the owner of the farm was a nice guy but it was so big i only saw him for five minutes once per week , instead i had to answer to the cruelest , nastiest vilest human being ive ever met in my entire life , a vicious sectarian bigot from Scotland who whenever she asked me to do something , would demand i repeated back to her exactly what she had told me to do , she would also demand i waited ten seconds before doing so as speaking too quickly was a form of arrogance , deeply ironic as she was thee most arrogant person ive ever met

she would provide free amateur psychoanalysis for me daily , telling me i must have been damaged by my parents as i had an attitude problem , that i couldnt think for myself like due to the pope doing it for me

one day during milking , she didnt like the way i was putting the machines on the cows udders and told me she would pIss herself laughing if i got my head kicked in , i shot back that " then you would have to go home and change your knickers "

every minute of every work day for four months was verbal abuse and screaming in my face , the day of the omagh bombing , i thought i might see if there was any shred of humanity lurking deep in this monster and asked her if she had heard about it , her reply

" that doesnt effect us milking cows in new zealand "

one day she drove her quad bike across a paddock and rammed straight into me , nearly knocking me off the bike , she told me she would tell the local police that i tried to kill her if i told the boss

on my final day at this place , i failed to complete a task to her satisfaction , she drove up to the cottage i was sharing with three other farm staff , charged in the front door of the house and tried to attack me in the house , i told her to " go back to scotland you fcuking nazi "

she punched me in the shoulder and walked away and told me to " never darken this door again "

single most evil human being ive ever encountered , i suffered a nervous breakdown in early 1999 having cut short my year break due to this disastrous experience and had depression for two years afterwards , the effects of it only hit me quite a few months after i left , i thought i would be giving up by quitting but i should have quit as soon as i realised i was dealing with someone so profoundly bad

i couldnt tell my parents as my father never gave me a single bit of support in any situation growing up , he was a useless father to all of us but thats another story , sometimes having no parents you can rely on is disastrous , your still quite young at twenty and an event like that can do lasting damage , i never fully got over it as the projection , gas lighting and black lies left me with permanent doubts which emerge every so often at important times , some people have a toxic influence that endures

Did you never get any kind of revenge on her?

Antares35

McDonalds as a summer job when I was a teenager. I think it was while I cleaned a urinal in the mens' that I made up my mind to do well in school and go on to better things!

pgj2015

Antares35 wrote: »

McDonalds as a summer job when I was a teenager. I think it was while I cleaned a urinal in the mens' that I made up my mind to do well in school and go on to better things!

Burger king?

Justin Credible Darts

had to do a FAS course years ago.

The governments way of manipulating the unemployment figures and making people work for less than the mimimum wage.
And if you missed a day, you earned LESS that week than that what those on the dole would get for lying in bed/

In fact it should not even qualify as a job as it is explitation and should be criminal almost like forced exploitation

Sgt Hartman

I worked as a part time security guard in Boots in Limerick on my college summer holidays back in 1999. I knew on my first day there that I was after making a grave mistake by choosing that particular job. I was just way too naive, quiet and soft for a job like that and I used to endure abuse and threats from scumbags on a daily basis. I somehow stuck it out for two months though.

One particular event comes to mind. The security guard in the shop across from Boots couldn't make a bouncing job he was supposed to do that particular evening in Punches Bar in Limerick. He asked would I be able to do the bouncer job for him that evening and I stupidly said that I would. I met the head bouncer for Punches that evening in town. He was a fat pig with a goatee and shaved head. On the way to Punches he was intimidating me, saying that he was the boss and I had to do everything he said. I should have just ran for it there and then but I was too scared at the time. He kept up his bullying and intimidation saying that I'd better do a good job for him for there would be "consequences ". Luckily though his mate turned up ten minutes before I was due to start and he gave his friend the job for the evening instead and sent me home. He "apologized " and offed to give me a paltry £10 thhe next day for the trouble (I never got the £10) When I told my brother about him he drove up to Punches that evening to confront the fat prick but he couldn't find him. I vowed after that never to work in security ever again.

Antares35

pgj2015 wrote: »

Burger king?

not quite!

carzony

Roster Manager for a large security firm. I had no experience but was highly reccomended so they hired me. Between covering sick leave, holidays, pay issues, hiring, firing and meeting with the client every morning....

I was constantly contacted out of hours and awaken to issues at 2-3 in the morning..

I left after a few weeks. The stress was too much.

Wanderer78

carzony wrote:

I left after a few weeks. The stress was too much.

Some employers simply couldn't give a fcuk about their staff, their loss, life's too short, feel sorry for the next chap in the door, he may have had it worse, and he may have had no other options to move onto, cnuts!

CBear1993

Does anybody else / did anybody else get a sense of fear or not wanting to face the day when they woke up in the morning?

I used to get this all the time as a QS when working for an employer. It meant that I moved around 3-4 jobs in the space of a couple of years, even though I didn’t want to be jumping around. I’d miss maybe a sick day every 6/7 weeks and I completely understood why I had to leave in the end. Couldn’t help it despite talking to a professional and trying a whole range of measures.

The minute that alarm went or even if I woke naturally, my first thoughts were to ring in sick and turn off my phone to avoid the day. Watching the clock when you’re in there, not being able to apply your focus to doing your tasks.

It only changed this year as I started working for myself / family business. But I have had to go out onto the job market again due to the pandemic. And I am absolutely worrying about this is going to come back.

All the signs are there that I need to do something else for a career

fryup

CBear1993 wrote: »

I used to get this all the time as a QS when working for an employer.

whats a QS ?

DopeTech

fryup wrote: »

whats a QS ?

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=whats+a+qs

CBear1993

Picture a burning building, the fire is costs escalating. You are the only person with a small fire extinguisher trying to keep the project under budget. TYou are judged on your ability to keep it under budget, even when the rest of your team couldn't give a hoot, and spend spend spend.

frozenfrozen

fryup wrote: »

whats a QS ?

the woman on room to improve who goes no dermot you can't spend 400k when their budget is 230k

razorblunt

pgj2015 wrote: »

Did you never get any kind of revenge on her?

She's a Scottish sectarian bigot milking cows on a farm in New Zealand, job done.

The Tetrarch

I was the audit senior on the annual audit of Dunnes Stores.

The Tetrarch

frozenfrozen wrote: »

the woman on room to improve who goes no dermot you can't spend 400k when their budget is 230k

To which Dermot replies, "They won't be able to live with themselves unless they overspend by miles".

raclle

CBear1993 wrote: »

I used to get this all the time as a QS when working for an employer. It meant that I moved around 3-4 jobs in the space of a couple of years, even though I didn’t want to be jumping around. I’d miss maybe a sick day every 6/7 weeks and I completely understood why I had to leave in the end. Couldn’t help it despite talking to a professional and trying a whole range of measures.

The minute that alarm went or even if I woke naturally, my first thoughts were to ring in sick and turn off my phone to avoid the day. Watching the clock when you’re in there, not being able to apply your focus to doing your tasks.

It only changed this year as I started working for myself / family business. But I have had to go out onto the job market again due to the pandemic. And I am absolutely worrying about this is going to come back.

All the signs are there that I need to do something else for a career

I want to do this next year. Can you give some insights into why you don't like it?

CBear1993

Thankless job. You're constantly on the backfoot from the beginning of the project. Your "team" of contracts manager, project manager, engineer, site manager etc will all want to get the job done as quick as possible regardless of cost. That's their job, get it done inside the programme and they look good. You on the other hand, are given an unrealistic budget most of the time, handed over to you by whoever estimated the job, or whatever silly margin your director decides it should generate.

On the consultant side, you are just minding the clients' money and licking ass. Constant battle to keep both the main contractor and the client happy.

Alos, whether its contractor, consultancy or developer/client side. You'll be flogged and worked like a dog.

Avoid at all costs unless you really have a passion for it. 90% of lads I speak to that do it dislike it, and wish they had have done something else. Constantly looking for a way out.

The only thing it has going for it is that it pays very well. But it's not worth it.

Obviousyl there are a few exceptions to the rule, If you happen to be lucky enough to work for a small company who are grand to work with, or a family business.

DM me if you want any other info @raclle

Muahahaha

piplip87 wrote: »

Spent 18 months as a Facebook content moderator. Have never looked at the human race the same again. From eating dogs to necrophilia and everything in between.

Indeed, there is an ongoing High Court case which was taken by Facebook moderators who ended up with PTSD and other mental health problems. They are saying they had to watch things like Isis beheadings, animal torture and child pornography for up to 10 hours a day


https://www.thejournal.ie/lawsuit-facebook-moderators-ireland-4918420-Dec2019/

chrissb8

CBear1993 wrote: »

Thankless job. You're constantly on the backfoot from the beginning of the project. Your "team" of contracts manager, project manager, engineer, site manager etc will all want to get the job done as quick as possible regardless of cost. That's their job, get it done inside the programme and they look good. You on the other hand, are given an unrealistic budget most of the time, handed over to you by whoever estimated the job, or whatever silly margin your director decides it should generate.

On the consultant side, you are just minding the clients' money and licking ass. Constant battle to keep both the main contractor and the client happy.

Alos, whether its contractor, consultancy or developer/client side. You'll be flogged and worked like a dog.

Avoid at all costs unless you really have a passion for it. 90% of lads I speak to that do it dislike it, and wish they had have done something else. Constantly looking for a way out.

The only thing it has going for it is that it pays very well. But it's not worth it.

Obviousyl there are a few exceptions to the rule, If you happen to be lucky enough to work for a small company who are grand to work with, or a family business.

DM me if you want any other info @raclle

Just leave CBear1993, you're here once, a job should be something you are relatively happy in. If to go by your username and you are infact born in 1993 now is the time to make a change.

Not in another 5 years where you'll still be thinking the same thing. You're way out is to just do it, there will always be something to stop you. If it pays well, get money together and get out.

You don't even have to move into something else if you don't know what that is yet, and just take some time off to figure yourself out. It's time to be about yourself, not matter what anyone around you, or you think might not be sensible.

I say this as someone who was in a similar position for years. I wasted time by delaying it and wish I had just pulled the trigger earlier. Happiness and self worth are the things worth going for in life. It sounds like where you're at now, is it's slowly eroding away your sense of self and the overall negative aspects are starting to overwhelm you.

ongarboy

Searching for and pushing lost trolleys up a hill everyday in Sydney for a supermarket chain
Call centre telemarket research in Melbourne
Putting sticky labels on 1000s of envelopes in San Francisco
Washing pint glasses in a Kerry disco at 5am back in the early 90s

As I type this out, I realise though they were awful jobs, they weren't actually stressful. I've endured far more stress and pressure in my so called career defining, well compensated white collar recent jobs....Maybe I need to review what job satisfaction truly entails...!

gogo

Worked in supermacs for a bit when in college, only lasted a couple of weeks as they asked me to plunk the stray feathers out of the chicken breasts, the chicken breasts were a shade of green for some reason, there was seemingly a legitimate reason for that.. t’was then I quit, knocked down to the level of the skivvy farm hand plucking chickens, I thought more of myself... wrongly it turns out but I was principled back in the day when I though I knew everything

KungPao

Washing pots for some wanker cook who thought he was Keith Floyd in Clerys. £4 per hour though, huge money back then lol.

raclle

CBear1993 wrote: »

DM me if you want any other info @raclle

Will do . Thanks CBear

genius200iq

piplip87 wrote: »

Spent 18 months as a Facebook content moderator. Have never looked at the human race the same again. From eating dogs to necrophilia and everything in between.

Getting paid top dollar to watch videos your friends would be sending you any way, whats the problem?
Whats the pay in facebook , 100k per year, where do i sign up?

KungPao

genius200iq wrote: »

Getting paid top dollar to watch videos your friends would be sending you any way, whats the problem?
Whats the pay in facebook , 100k per year, where do i sign up?

I’m going to guess it was 21k per year on that one, chief. 6 month contract, shag all benefits etc.

04581466

Meat factory back when I was 17 (I'm more than twice that age now...).

Didn't even last a week, went back to the hotel I worked at the previous summer and practically begged for my old job back, thankfully they took me back on board.

Not one bit surprised to hear a lot of what has come out recently about meat factories. I'd like to have thought things would have changed for the better in the two decades since I worked in one, but apparently not.

KevRossi

In the early 90's I worked in a factory in Germany that made cardboard boxes, they were designed, cut and printed there. They were made flat and were glued elsewhere. They came down from the printer on a huge conveyor belt every 10 seconds and were pushed very gently onto a pallet by a machine. Only issue was they would slide out by 0.5mm each time, so if there was 100 on a pallet, it would be out by 5cm at the top.

This was no good, so myself and another fella had the job of pushing them level every time they landed onto the pallet. So every 10 seconds I would look at him, he'd look at me and nod and we'd push this flat piece of cardboard back together, very gently by 0.5mm with our fingertips so it was level with the one below.

8 hours a fcuking day. Do 700 boxes (7 pallets), then take a 15 mins break, then another 700, then 30 mins, 700, then 15 mins, 700 and then go home. They had a counter on the thing and could see the pallets we had done. No escape. Coldotz was easier to get out of.

The guy I worked with was disabled, his knees were bad after injuring himself as a teen soldier in the war, he was about 60/62 years old and delighted with the job, as it wasn't easy for him to find one at that age. He didn't speak to anyone, would mumble something about football in the morning and leave it. "I'm here to work", was his standard quote. No book, papers, radio or headphones allowed. I went slowly mad and after about 4 weeks I just didn't bother going in one morning. Went in the 15th of the following month and got my wages.

I get a twitch just thinking about it.

AmberGold

Back in the late 80’s I dropped out of college and ended up working permanent nights in a cannery. Hard conditions, laborious work, constant noise and heat. There wasn’t one window in the place and you never knew if it was night or day. Some had worked there for 35 years and thought nothing of it.

Best education I ever had.