Two jobs:

1. Christmas tree harvesting off the Oregon coast. They sent you in groups of two and you had to bundle up to 20 trees in a "nat" (20' long 3" thick ropes) for helicopter extraction. Conditions were wet and cold and they only gave us a 30 minute lunch break....I still have the boots I purchased to keep my feet dry.

2. Lumber Mill - pulled plainer chain and on the first day I worked the wood chipper. I swear I couldn't write with a pencil for a few days after day one and my lower got screwed up...I was basically bent over ALL day throwing wood scraps on the conveyor belt to the chipper and they came in dumpsters every 30 minutes.

As a teenager, I once had to drive my aunt to the airport. In a Chevrolet!

Chiefsplanet Admin :D

After college I bummed around from a few jobs.

The hardest, wasn't physically hard.
I worked overnights at a halfway house. Made sure all the kiddos slept through the night and didn't try to sneak out to the girls dorms. Have to get the guys up and ready for breakfast/school.
One morning this little kid had an epic meltdown. Probably 9 or 10 years old. He wouldn't go to breakfast with the other kids, so he had to wait with me for school. He then decided that he wanted breakfast. It was too late and breakfast was over. He went APESHIT!!!
Never seen an epic meltdown like this--and I have a 3 year old.

I put my 2 weeks in the next day. And as it turned out, the poor little kid was diagnosed as "M.R.". Just a terrible experience that I was no way qualified for.

What did you get paid for this? Back in the late 50's I would make 15 buck a day doing this. Then I found that riding a hay sled (drug behind the baler) I could make a penny a bale and the baler kicked out 2000 - 2500 bales a day.

Worst job was rolling sod in November. . .wet and heavy always bent over. But it paid fairly well. I could make 25 buck a day back then.

I've only had 4 jobs my entire life (not counting graduate assistantships, which I count as school).

The only bad job I had was McDonald's, which I stuck with for 6 months. Among the great things I got to do there were:

1. Clean out the girl's bathroom on a Friday night when it was covered with puke.
2. Empty the trash - coke starts smelling really nasty when mixed with trash
3. Carrying the grease vat out to the barrel. That nasty smelling grease was spilling everywhere.
4. Getting yelled at constantly by the managers.
5. Getting the vinyl cleaner mixed up with the stainless steel cleaner. The vinyl cleaner would just leave these huge streaks on the stainless.
6. Getting clocked out 3o minutes after the store closed but have to stay for another hour or two finishing up. (I was too stupid to know that was illegal).
7. Having to wear those bright green polyester uniforms. By the time you got home you stank of grease and sweat.

DETASSELING

Terrible. Just terrible.

Ok, so what is so bad about detasseling corn? Honest question. Is it the boredom or it makes your arms ache or your fingers bleed or what?

Summer job at 15 at a wastewater treatment plant, mowing & painting etc. The worst part was painting the railing around 4 HUGE concrete tanks of 20 foot deep, powerfully roiling, boiling excrement. Its kept at a full boil with air to settle 'the solids' & aerate it. Falling in was a no joke death by literally being sucked to the bottom & drowned with shit, they were always reminding me to be careful when i had to lean out to get the inside parts of the posts & rails.

There were 'slag ponds' with the craziest looking, neon green, redeyed frogs you've ever seen in your life...like, acid trip crazy.

Mom had to threaten every torment known to a 15 year old to get me to finish the summer out. Going in hungover, worrying if i would slip & suffer 'death by shit' that day.

Had a 1 day gig in the hills outside Clarksville Tenn, a local friend asked me if i wanted to go harvest tobacco for like $10 an hour back in 95, when i'd had a 3 or 4 day Army weekend. My pals buddy that hooked us up, was the most real deal way out in the hills, hillbilly i could ever imagine...big 'ol boy, bib overalls, no shirt, bare feet, huge shaggy beard & hair. He looked exactly like the wrestler 'Hillbilly Jim'. Grew his own dope (didnt partake, no Article 15 for me thanx), made his own shine, had his fighting cocks practice for us with their rubber spurs.

That was the cool part...the work was the hottest, most backbreaking work i've ever done...its so muggy in those valleys & fields & the work was very fast paced & far more physical than i'd bargained for. Stoop low to cut the stalk, reach high with weight in hand to hang on a rack...i was basically sick the rest of the day.

You got $15 a day in the '50's? We got $5.

Holy shit.

Do you know brent palmeter?

That and it was hotter than **** and fast paced and repetitive and didn't pay worth a damn and just generally sucked ass.

I pulled wells for a few weeks right after I got married. That sucked like no other, break the pipe loose grab one end take off running to lay it out....the whole time the pipe is spewing oil all over you. Go home take a bath, didn't have a shower at that time. Take one bath get out drain, clean the tub fill back up take another batch finally get most of the oil off. Get out dry off clean the tub again. Throw clothes in washer, ruin the old lady's dress...didn't know it was in there. Get yelled at! Get up next morning do it all over again!!! Glad that job didn't last long! I would work at McDonalds before I went back to pulling wells!

ROFL
I bumped this figuring you would respond to that.