Favorite Stupid Job

[tigra 0]

I worked 3 winter breaks at UPS when I was in college. The pay was better than anything else I could get at the time, but since I was heading back to school, staying on full time wasn't an option. The first year, I worked in their package center helping the customers fill out the forms and address labels properly. (Kind of boring, but fun) Then I did two winters as a driver's helper. That was hard work, but the pay was pretty good for a part time temporary job! The driver would load up a cart for me and drop me at the end of one block, take off and make deliveries out of the truck a few blocks away and meet me someplace in between, usually to load me up again. You kept going until the truck was empty OR the driver had hit 12 hours. (Union rules? They also paid time and a half after 8 hours!) And they do seem like a pretty good company to work for in terms of training, benefits, that kind of thing!

[McDuck 0]

Cingular customer call center while waiting for a real job. After working there, and fixing nearly $400K of "billing errors", I'll never own a cell phone again...at least not with Cingular.

Kevin - Sonic Beef #5 - OrFun #28
"I never take myself too seriously, 'cuz everybody know fat birds don't fly." - FLC
Online communities: proof that people never mature much past high school.

[skybytch 273]

I did an Xmas season with UPS once. That was a fun job. After the holidays I was top of the list for a full time position. If only they hadn't been in the middle of a hiring freeze at the time...

Doubt I could do that job now. Just thinking about lifting/carrying that much for that long makes my back hurt!

[Deuce 1]

Quote

I did an Xmas season with UPS once. That was a fun job. After the holidays I was top of the list for a full time position. If only they hadn't been in the middle of a hiring freeze at the time...

Doubt I could do that job now. Just thinking about lifting/carrying that much for that long makes my back hurt!

Then do the sort!

[tigra 0]

I'm with you. I was a lot younger when I did it before, and it was only for a few weeks! Back then, the maximum package weight was 50 pounds, and I didn't have to lift many of those, but the smaller ones add up too! I actually managed to do something to my knee just from hopping in and out of the truck- no permanent damage but it was sore and swollen enough to need crutches for a few days. Plus, the second year my driver was cranky and acted pissed that he got stuck with a girl- didn't matter how hard I worked. So, all in all, that's not a job I would go back to.

[drae 0]

I worked at a large Florist in Florida once. My job - removing thorns from long stemmed roses. Bet you wondered who was responsible !!

[tempretired 0]

While in college, for 4 years, I was a laborer for a contractor that did everything but was a specialist in Masonry and Concrete.

It was a crazy experience as the only laborer supporting the boss and about 5 other masons all yelling for something at the same time. My memory only recalls that the workdays were 100 degrees or 20 degrees and the worksite was always filled with mud or the ground was as hard as a rock and digging with a shovel was not an option. All for $10 per hour and no benefits. My name was also shitfor (short for "shit for brains). We also built several homes per year. Most of the work was mindless and my shovel was my favorite tool. Some days, I spent hours digging footings by hand.

All kidding aside, despite my description above, it was the best job I've ever had despite it's pay. My co-workers were tough and rough around the edges but we were friends and there were no blue collar work place politics. You'd also learn a lot to help yourself with home improvements.

[JohnRich 4]

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One time I watched concrete dry overnight, and protected it from vandals.

In the Marines, I was onced assigned a four-hour shift guarding a flag pole. It seems that someone had tied a knot in the rope the previous night, so that when the flag was raised in the morning, with all the Generals present, the flag only went half-way up and got stuck. Very embarrasing. So the solution was to assign guard duty to walk around the pole in circles all night. That will drive you absolutely freaking crazy!

Of course, the easiest solution would be to just send someone out early to check the darned rope before flag-raising. I figured that out after about my 5th revolution. But this was the Marines, and that made too much sense.

[freefal 0]

I actually got paid to watch paint dry one time... I swear! I worked for the public works departement in a suburb of St. Louis for a couple of summers in high school. I worked with the sign guy which meant that in addition to installing and maintaining signs we also painted curbs, lane markers, etc. One time we ran out of the useual quick dry paint so we had to use some older, slower drying yellow, paint for a curb near city hall. Since there were a lot of people around we were instructed to stay there and make sure no one stepped on the wet paint or tried to park next to it while it was drying.

The best part was when this old lady started complaining about how her tax dollars were being wasted while we just sat there and demanded to know what we were doing. When my friend very politely replied, "Actually maam, we're watching this paint dry." The look on her face was priceless!

"Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

[usedtajump 1]

Valet car parker at DFW Airport. Paid $10.00/hr for just checking my brain in at the door every morning, then got to drive all the latest high end cars, got good tips, no work to take home and every weekend off.

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[PLFXpert 0]

Quote

My job - removing thorns from long stemmed roses. Bet you wondered who was responsible !!

No, actually I wondered what type of genetic engineering they concocted to make them grow, without. (not being sarcastic) Geez! Someone has to remove those?

Roses are nice---but I love my orchids

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[racer42 0]

Yep. That was me downstairs scanning to my hearts content.

L.A.S.T. #24
Co-Founder Biscuit Brothers Freefly Team
Electric Toaster #3
Co-Founder Team Non Sequitor
Co-Founder Team Happy Sock

[fireflytx 0]

When I retired when I am really old I want to work in a pet store

"Well behaved women rarely make history"

[Firephoto 0]

Police reporter for a county newspaper in Arkansas. It was absolutely the funniest job I ever had. I am a photographer the only way the paper would hire me is if I would do the police reports too. I said sure I can write ( I failed High School english not once but twice.)

All I had to do was drive to the local police stations and read police reports and write a simple paragraph or two on the interesting ones.

Prostitutes propositioning off duty cops, cops confusing half pounds of weed for half ounces. There are some really stupid people living in Arkansas.

But hey I got a job as a staff photographer and spent more time shooting pictures then writing.

[gemini 0]

Before there was EMS many small towns contracted with funeral homes for ambulance service. It was weird because sick people don't like being picked up in a hearse for transport to the hospital.

Anyway the bad part about the job was during the days and weekends we had to do odd jobs around the funeral home. The worst was door greeter. You stood there is a suit and tie trying to look sincere to people who were usually having a very bad time.

The second worst thing about the job was dealing with the undertakers who insisted that working with dead bodies was a job we all should want, and that their costs were acceptable because they rendered a valuable service to the families. Jackels and vultures always came to mind when they were talking.

The best thing about the job was actual emergency calls and being able to do something to really help someone.

Oh yeah, it was also neat to invite friends over to the funeral home at night to see a "dead body". For some reason everyone wanted to do that in the old days. The "dead body" was one of the other ambulance crewmen under a sheet. Since the light switch was over the prep table, they had to enter a dark room and reach over the sheet to turn on the light. All the crewman had to do was sit up.

Damn some people can move fast! We're lucky we never lost anyone leaping down the stairs to get out of there.

Blue skies,

Jim

[tempretired 0]

Replying to "Gemini" about Funeral Home comedy.

While pledging a fraternity in college, we had an initiation function that included something that we had to do at one of our fraternity alumni's funeral home. All week long, the brothers told us to make sure that we brought our condoms, which scared the hell out of us. The night of the function, the biggest loudest brother gave us a little pep talk. He told us that normally the fraternity followed sound moral values but that night was different and would be the only night that they would have no morals and gave us each a condom in case we had forgot. He gave us the opportunity to back out at that moment with no questions or shame; however, the downfall was that we would be kicked out of the pledge class. All 9 of us stayed. They told us that we would now be blind-folded and driven to the brother's funeral home for the initiation. They wanted us blind-folded so that we could not tell the authorities if we had later turned on them. After about a 3/4 hour drive and couple minute walk, they put us in a circle and asked us to stay there blind-folded until they determined if they were ready for us. After about 5 minutes of standing in a circle blind folded, no of the brothers came to get us. So, we took off blind-folds and found ourselves in the middle of the woods and had no idea of where we were. It took us hours to get back to campus. We didn't mind the walking considering that we were thinking things were going to be far worse. I still wonder if any of those guys were really considering doing it.

[SLOfreefall 0]

Another mindless job was making the rounds to all the local vets and picking up the dead, frozen animals. We would load a pickup throughout the day and haul them back to Animal Regulation where they would be stored until the fertilizer company made their pick-up. Near the end of the day, many of the animals would begin the thaw, and handling them was not very fun. Solid on the inside, but squishy on the out.

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

Folding letters and stuffing envelopes for a direct mail warehouse.

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[Lindsey 0]

So many mindless jobs to choose from....

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail