The Worst Jobs in History

Posted by: Roy T on 28 August 2004

I for one am looking forward to the little thespian sitting on one stool examining others, should be good for a laugh.

More Parky Than Starky.

CH4 Saturday 20:00 The Worst Jobs in History

Dark Ages
Tony Robinson sets out to investigate life in the underbelly of our history. For the first episode of this a new six-part series, Tony revisits the first millennium, entering the strange working worlds of Bog Iron Hunters, Charcoal Burners and Coin-Making Thralls.

Posted on: 28 August 2004 by Markus

I was interested in the title of your thread "worst jobs..." but don't seem to follow your post. I was going to write about my worst jobs but can't tell if that is what this thread is about. Can you clarify?

Markus

feeling a bit dense and lost here....

Posted on: 28 August 2004 by garyi

My worst job ever.

I worked at an old peoples home, thing is I was kind of a janitor. ONe day the bastard irish man of an owner sent me to the upper field to tend to it. Basically he wanted any bad stones removed (in wiltshire lots of flint) because he wanted horses put up there.

Well I had to rack this field by hand, about an acre of land.

After he sent a plough up there, turned it over then told me to go in again. I was so sad, and this was before the days of ipod, my wlakman would last around an hour.

Posted on: 28 August 2004 by Roy T

Markus,
each week on tv in the UK Tony Robinson (of Blackadder fame) picks a period in British history and attempts to gain insight into various jobs undertaken by the common people. I am waiting to see how he manages when he copies the job of the kings arse wiper a very important job at the time.

Tony has carved himself a nice little niche by undertaking the light weight slightly educational history orientated programms on Channel4. Not exactly a scholarly hour but one where I hope to have a bit of a laugh at his attempts to step back into history and perform disgusting, hard or slightly Dangerous tasks.

I would like to see how he copes with the tasks undertaken in bygone years by the "groom of the stool".

Roy T

Posted on: 28 August 2004 by Jez Quigley

I'm looking forward to this week's edition where he is stood up to his knees in stale urine

Posted on: 29 August 2004 by Berlin Fritz

Stale Urine ! isn't that a willage in Berkshire ?

Fritz Von Borinborinborin³

Posted on: 29 August 2004 by Berlin Fritz

Mind you pickin up Sir Winston's Cigar butts after him was a pain, well paid though, talkin of Willy Whitelaw ?

Fritz Von Thisisnotalovesong²

i fink the Chief's dancin ? last neet has given me the Havanna shuffle ?

Posted on: 01 September 2004 by Tim Jones

I guess it links in with his identity as Bladrick. But he's a bit of a wuss really. He nearly pissed his pants about doing a teeny bit of abseiling.

My worst job (from my point of view) was as a toilet cleaner in Leatherhead Leisure Centre.

Tim

Posted on: 01 September 2004 by Mick P

Chaps

I started my career as an Appretice Toolmaker at the age of 16. All apprentices had to complete a 3 or 6 month stint on the maintenance section repairing anything that broke.

The factory employed 3000 people and had its own sewage farm.

Because I was the youngest apprentice at the time, I had to wade through 3ft of human dung in order to replace a broken tapered pin which had snapped in the center of the sprinking system.

It took me 20 minutes to squelch through the dung, two minutes to replace the broken pin and another 20 minutes to squelch my way back. It was a most unpleasant experience.

That was the day that I decided to leave the shop floor and work in the offices.

Regards

Mick

Posted on: 02 September 2004 by Robbie

At the age of 16 I worked every Saturday morning as a maintenance boy in a pig slaughterhouse.It was very well paid but the things you had to do were quite horrible. Eg cleaning the rails were the pigs had their throats cut, or cleaning the rails from the fat that resided on the rails,or cleaning the silo where the internal organs of the pigs were stored ( and that on a summers day !).

Rob.

Posted on: 02 September 2004 by oldie

Mick,
That explains a lot !!

I must be very lucky as I've always enjoyed the jobs I've had.With the exception of the last couple of years at Bri--ton Uni----ity, but that really wasn't the job just the local managment.
oldie.

Posted on: 02 September 2004 by Fisbey

The one I'm in now - pays well, but very badly managed, more like a social club than a workplace for the most part, some very lazy people here - I sometimes hate it here....

Makes me very angry AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!

Posted on: 02 September 2004 by domfjbrown

I've never had a REALLY crappy job - most of them are boring, but none of them have been totally awful (though I've had a couple of horrible bosses).

Any job has to be better than the "Confectionary Packaging Executive" though - imagine having "Fudge packer" on your CV

__________________________
Don't wanna be cremated or buried in a grave
Just dump me in a plastic bag and leave me on the pavement
A tribute to your modern world, your great society
I'm just another victim of your highrise fantasy!

Posted on: 02 September 2004 by oldie

Domf,
Could be worse, could be "Rock Sticker"
oldie.

Posted on: 02 September 2004 by Nigel Cavendish

Worst job - working for Mick Parry

cheers

Nigel

Posted on: 05 September 2004 by Berlin Fritz

quote:
Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Chaps

I started my career as an Appretice Toolmaker at the age of 16. All apprentices had to complete a 3 or 6 month stint on the maintenance section repairing anything that broke.

Mick, Me old comfortable middle-class mucker, that reminded me of the bogs at Wembley in the good old days, innit.

Graham George Of Hammer
The factory employed 3000 people and had its own sewage farm.

Because I was the youngest apprentice at the time, I had to wade through 3ft of human dung in order to replace a broken tapered pin which had snapped in the center of the sprinking system.

It took me 20 minutes to squelch through the dung, two minutes to replace the broken pin and another 20 minutes to squelch my way back. It was a most unpleasant experience.

That was the day that I decided to leave the shop floor and work in the offices.

Regards

Mick

Posted on: 10 September 2004 by Andrew Randle

Mick,

I'm guessing that it's one of those tapered brass pins. It's usually the case that where there's muck there's brass.

Andrew

Andrew Randle
The Hi-Fi Doctor

Posted on: 10 September 2004 by Derek Wright

Worse job lasted a week scraping clean the metal tins that potato crisps were shipped out in.

Visualise the Disney film - The Sorcerers Apprentice with the constant incoming tide of buckets except in my case it was a converyor belt delivering metal tins that had to be scraped clean and hung up onto an over hanging conveyor of hooks to take the tins into the drying ovens.

The next job was a pleasure - barrowing filed tins of crisps from the packing stations to the loading bay.

Derek

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Posted on: 10 September 2004 by garyi

Derek, this will sound sad but the shear amount of crisps coming out of walkers (I work in catering and I know we order millions and millions of £ worth every year and we are not by any means big) I was wondering what are they frying those critters in?

Posted on: 10 September 2004 by Derek Wright

Gary - I cannot remember the type of fat or oil, this was in 1962 - I remember that the oil in the atmosphere meant that one's hair was always 'Brylcreamed"

The factory was a Smiths Crisps factory and they produced the crisps at an incredible rate

Derek

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