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[Closed] For those who may or may not sit on a high horse ...

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[#1041933]

Following on from a very recent thread, what would you consider to be the most "lowly" work you have done?

This can either be considered "lowly" by yourself or perceived to be "lowly" by those sitting on a high horse.

I await some very interesting replies 😉


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 6:49 pm
 mboy
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Money is money... Not too proud to do anything!

Must say I don't fancy working down a sewer, or anything involving working in or around other people's crap to be fair, but I'm not too proud for sure...

Worst job was selling Gas + Electric for Scottish Power door to door for a month whilst I was a student. Obviously it was VERY unrewarding, and commission only! Fortunately that was years ago... And I was skint! Got a job in a bike shop very quickly after this though, so all was good for a while.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 6:53 pm
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Well done Mark, I like that attitude 🙂

Here's one for you ...

I used to work in a boarding kennels exercising the dogs. Sometimes I had to do "the pooh run". Yep collecting dog sh*t from a field, putting it in a bucket, disinfecting area then emptying said bucket in cesspit.

Actually I found it easier working with dogs - who wants to deal with the Great British Public?


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 6:57 pm
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I dont understand the question. No work is "lowly"
People who work in whatever capacity and "put food on the table" get my respect.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 6:58 pm
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Packing and picking in a wine warehouse on the night shift, temp job. I needed the money. No shame in graft, but it was a shitty job


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 6:59 pm
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code monkey...well that's how the 'others' see us


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 6:59 pm
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I've worked with clinical waste, in operating theatres, sewerage treatment plants etc.. all as a consultant. The worst places I've seen are pet food factories and slaughter houses, although I'm well impressed with the lads working there, as one of them put it " I was sh*t at school, but at least I'm providing for my family rather than these f*ckin dole scum that are fit n able but too ****in lazy to do owt"
respect!


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 6:59 pm
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I work for a local authority. Doesn't seem to matter what role you're in, the general public seem to consider it a very lowly task that they can abuse at will.

Can you tell that I think it sucks and I'm looking to get out?


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:00 pm
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Jumping up and down in a skip full of mouldy cucumbers, trying to make space so I could put more mouldy cucumbers in it.

Or cutting open plastic bottles of milk that was so old it has gone solid, and hosing it down the drain.

But the one job I just couldn't do was sorting letters as a Royal Mail xmas temp. Only lasted about 3 hrs before I walked out. Since then I've had great respect for our postal workers.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:01 pm
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Onzadog beat me to it.... 😕


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:02 pm
 nonk
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bottom rung retail jobs are the worst i have had. folks treat you like poo.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:03 pm
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cleaning out battery hen sheds was probably the worst


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:03 pm
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carrying bags of manure to people's cars and not being allowed to accept tips off them


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:03 pm
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FWIW I didn't consider working in a boarding kennels as "lowly".

rOcKeTdOg - did you consider cleaning out battery hen sheds as "lowly" then?


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:06 pm
 nonk
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i dont beleive him.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:09 pm
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"I was sh*t at school, but at least I'm providing for my family rather than these f*ckin dole scum that are fit n able but too ****in lazy to do owt"

personally I'd far prefer people to be idle than spending their time killing animals 🙁

My lowly job was in the Soreen bakery in Urmston, working the dough divider, knocking out loaves, feeding them into the wrapping machine etc


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:10 pm
 nonk
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thats a very very important job si


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:11 pm
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OK, I didn't really read the OP properly.

I wouldn't consider any of the jobs I've done lowly, all have given me money in my pocket when I didn't have any particular skills - and when the job market was as bad or worse than now.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:11 pm
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I did shelf stacking in Sainsbury's for about 6 months around the time of my A-levels. I wouldn't say it was lowly but both the middle management and the customers would treat the shelf stackers like s***. The management knew they'd be there a few months at most so didn't care, the customers just assumed that the staff were all stupid.

Kind of ironic given that the majority of shelfstackers/cleaners etc were students, either doing A-levels or at uni.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:16 pm
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McDonalds - 'character building'. Met a very good friend there though.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:21 pm
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i used to be a paperboy (but i really liked that). First crappy job i had was at a pub in my local village. I was well paid for the type of work, but treated like expendable crap. In my last few weeks i got food poisonning from one of their staff lunches, so i spent most of it off watching telly and walking the dog! hurrah!

I enjoy bar work, i just don't enjoy being the first point of call for complaints in a dirty, poor quality pub in a true tourist trap area.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:26 pm
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no problem with any job to earn a crust but would never be a traffic warden.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:26 pm
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haha...i've got a couple of these.

whilst i was a student i was phoning people from the phonebook to try and sell them conservatories. they thought of me as low and i sure felt low. i walked after less than 3 hours.

but the worst was when i worked in a night club in val d'isere (dick's tea bar). they had terrible drains and every now and then after busy nights the got blocked up with all the crap and the floorboys had to take it in turn to don the long rubber gloves, take the drain cover off, lie down on the floor and pull it through. appropriately named the 'poo pipe' i only had to do this job the once, but it was still grim.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:27 pm
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I used to own a cleaning company and would have to get my hands dirty on a very regular basis.

It never bothered me in the slightest but the number of people that would look and/or speak down to me used to P1ss me off big time. Almost without exception it was always the below average/average achievers that were guilty of this. 9-5 workers that whose idea of risk was eating last nights chicken.

I used to console my self by drawing a very large salary and selling for six figures after just 18 months


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:31 pm
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I used to work on a farm in a mechanical potato harvester sorting stones from spuds, god it was boring and it turned my snot black but at least I was in the fresh air


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:31 pm
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If it keeps my family with the things they need/want i wouldn't hesitate doing anything, (So long as it doesn't involve any sort of "abuse" 😯 )

I am lucky enough to have a job i enjoy, even if it doesnt make me a millionaire.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:37 pm
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I used to work in a factory stacking cases of cat food on pallets. minimum wage, awful hours/ cpnditions and working with all the people from the town who couldn't get a job doing anything else. I loved it. I also used to work in a bank vault, it was hot, dirty, everyone there thought the work was really important and that they were better than everyone else. Easily the worst job i've ever done. Work is work when you've bills to pay!

Arguably my "lowest job" would be cleaning up old people after they have ben incompetent, wiping drunks vomit off my boots, picking up indescriminate body parts from railway lines and being spat at by grumpy teenagers. this is also my favourite an best paid job.

each to their own i guess


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:39 pm
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Or cutting open plastic bottles of milk that was so old it has gone solid, and hosing it down the drain.

..yeah, i did that too. Some of it went back into the 'system' and into 'fresh' milk. The (long since closed, demolished and built over) dairy got in quite a bit of trouble about that.

For a little while I did the 'housekeeping' on royal navy frigates when they were in port. The sailors were decent and very appreciative that someone else was doing it for a bit I think. It was great when you popped out on deck after a morning cleaning bathrooms and 'heads' only to find you were a mile out in Plymouth Sound, and had to wait for a little boat to take you back.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:40 pm
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sorry, stoopid double post.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:44 pm
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Working in Halfords while doing my masters degree in Heamatolgy and genetics.

Customers treat you like an idiot (but you're not dumb but you don't let on) but it is funny and it gives me bicycle maintenance pocket money.

😀


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:45 pm
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Paper Round and Supermarket shelf stacker, weekend / weekdays and nightshift.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 7:59 pm
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I worked at next retail one xmas, god was awful days lasted forever, boring, unappreciated plus there clothing is naff.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 8:05 pm
 Leku
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Did a easter break from college doing the night shift de-tinning pork pies.

With the money I bought my first mountain bike - a white 1987 Peugeot Ranger from Harry Hall in Manchester. I got sold a 19" frame by a roadie (I'm 5'6").


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 8:06 pm
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Currently I work for McDonalds holding a sign with the famous Golden Arches on and an arrow pointing to the 'restaurant'. Some people think its a lowly job but I think it's ace. I get to check out all the laydeez as they go past, the pretty ones get a wink and its always returned with a blushing smile. The stoopid ****ers who take photos of me, usually from behind coz they're too cowardly to face me, can get on my nerves a bit, but then I think 'how sad are they?'


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 8:06 pm
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Paper Round and Supermarket shelf stacker, weekend / weekdays and nightshift.

what paper round are awesome, i loved mine had legs of pure muscle and took home £40 a week which as a 14 year old was loads.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 8:07 pm
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I did the local paper round and did not get paid much at the time.TBH I did quite enjoy it on (was on my bmx) I wasn't aloud to do the national papers which at the time paid the most.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 8:12 pm
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I've swept the floor in a factory in an old mill in Lancashire, collected trolleys in Morrisons supermarket, worked in a warehouse, been a postie, a glass collector, a waiter and worked in a call centre.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 8:24 pm
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jobs i have whilst in the army-
painting grass green in the winter.
sweeping the drill square as the builders where coming the next day.
painting over rust to make it look good

cant think of any more. there not lowly just bonk!! (sh1ty jobs)

my worst jobs has to be washing cars when i was 15. washed them all day for £5. didnt turn up the next week funnly enough


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 8:28 pm
 ski
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As a kid in the summer holidays I used to pick oats out of a wheat field by hand 12 hours a day for 57p an hour!

Stacking bales of wet bean straw by hand was tough on your skin, but not as hard as stacking wet hay bales! Kept me fit though 😉

Cleaning supermarket floors at 4am in the morning.

Never thought of them as "lowly" at the time, but back then I did used to get some flack from my mates who were all doing bigger better things.

Only one Job I have ever regreted doing was after recently qualifying as a Photographer. Working for a nasty gutter newspaper, nasty, nasty, nasty work back then( 20 years ago) I hated everything about that job!


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 8:32 pm
 ton
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coal man
wagon driver
plasterers labourer
shot blaster
crane driver
aerial and satellite trade counter manager..................
all pretty shyte really.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 8:34 pm
 nonk
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oats out of a wheat field?


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 8:36 pm
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packing stone fruit in nz. I can honestly now say that I appreciate hard graft.. 8)


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 8:39 pm
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Loads! In fact all of them 😉

Paperboy
Building site labourer (ace summer holiday job) (I was 14 - can you imagine what the HSE would say about that now!)
Scaffolders labourer (ditto)(the initiation rite involves them trying to kill you)
Supermarket trolley boy / shelf stacker / junior manager
Civil Servant (Ministry of War) Clerk / Senior Clerk / Manager / Middle Manager / Senior Manager


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 9:23 pm
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Thanks so much for replies, it has made interesting reading 🙂


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 11:11 pm
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loads
car washing
delivering milk at four in the morning six days a week then off to school
pipe fitting in the middle of winter
three minimum wage factory jobs which are ok at first but soon become mind numbingly boring
but now as for being thought of as lowly i get talked to like shite off some of my passengers(taxi driver)even tho i own the company and enploy 40 staff,not that they would know that and nor would i tell them.


 
Posted : 15/11/2009 11:35 pm
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