Best/Worst Short-Term Job - Page 2

Undertoad · 06-30-2006, 10:38 AM

Worst job ever was baling hay. Partly because baling hay is the hardest, most back-breaking labor ever, but mostly because I learned 20 minutes into it that I was so allergic I might actually die if I stayed in that barn.

Best ever: as seen in my profile pic. I got paid for that.

glatt · 06-30-2006, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Worst job ever was baling hay. Partly because baling hay is the hardest, most back-breaking labor ever, but mostly because I learned 20 minutes into it that I was so allergic I might actually die if I stayed in that barn.

When I was a kid, we visited some friends on a farm for a long weekend. They somehow convinced us that it would be fun to help out with some farm chores. Spent an afternoon riding on a wagon behind the baler, stacking the bales neatly as they came off the belt. Man that sucked. After the second bale, I realized I had been tricked. Now that I think about it, it was probably only an hour or so, but it felt like a long afternoon.

Beestie · 06-30-2006, 11:30 AM

The worst job I ever had was working summers during college under the boiling south Georgia sun on the landscaping and physical plant crew at a large hospital. Typical highlights of those three cloudless, 100+ degree summers include cutting grass, digging trenches, tilling clay harder than granite and laying sod all while fighting off the gnat luftwafa. And more often than not, the sod was infested with fire ants. You wouldn't realize it until enough of them got on your arms then, with military precision, they would all bite at once - each one a red-hot finishing nail.

But I think the highlight - or lowlight - was when it was my turn to steam clean the hospital dumpsters. They would give me a full body jump suit with a built-in gas mask because the stench was nothing short of unbearable and the steam just made it worse. And until I got good at it I would accidentally pass the steam jet over an inside angle of the dumpster which would send the vile, superheated slime firing back at my suit and mask like snake venom out of a water cannon. 25 years later and I can still remember the smell and it still grosses me out. The challenge was to finish the two-hour job without throwing up in the gas mask. Most couldn't.

I currently have the best job I've ever had. I build financial applications for very grateful clients. I'm a consultant but have been at the client site for almost 7 years - an unheard of tenure for a non-employee. I have no manager and have no administrative responsibilities. I just go from dept to dept, figure out what they need and six weeks or so later, give it to them with the only contact in-between being the occasional follow-up question. I've been to my "home office" five times in the last three years, I set my own hours (which are fairly long). And while I have built a solid reputation, I don't rest on it. Each application is more sophisticated, faster and more user-friendly than the last. I can't get far enough away from that summer job. :-)

Ridgeplate · 07-05-2006, 12:44 PM

Best job: Current. I'm a systems engineer for the University of South Florida. Campus life, no pressure, free classes. Hell, I play games during the day if I get bored. It'd be hard pressed to get any better.

Worst Job: I used to have to repair (on-site) lift station pumps. For those of you who do not know what a lift station is, it's essentially an underground silo, where sewer systems deposit their, um, payload, let's say. The pumps sit at the bottom of all this swill and then "lift" the oderiferous treasure to a treatment plant, where the output is placed into every drink that has the word "cran" in it. Without going into detail, let's just say that people flush the damnedest things...

Pangloss62 · 07-05-2006, 01:48 PM

I've heard about lift stations. Don't they have those at RV campgrounds? The RV campground down at Everglades National Park was swamped by the storm surge of hurrican Wilma, dramtically reducing the number of campers. Evidently, those lifts need a minimum, um, payload or they don't work. The lift guy I talked to said there was "not enough shit" in the system to make it work.

Ridgeplate · 07-05-2006, 02:20 PM

Quite true. The pumps are submerged and require a certain amout of pressure to kick the pump relays (mileage may vary). The system I maintained turned over at around a two foot depth. The silo was twelve feet in diameter, so at somewhere around 226 cubic feet of yummy, they would spin up and pump down to about four inches. (I think the math is right...) At the same volume of just rainwater, they'd stay idle. This particular silo was about 18 feet deep, so even plain old water would trigger the system eventually. On a related note, did you know that a horsefly could grow to over two inches in length?

Kitsune · 07-05-2006, 02:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pangloss62

Don't they have those at RV campgrounds?

Myakka River campground had their RV sewage lift near the tent camping area. The smell produced when the pump turned on was a kick in the head.

That... that was not a pleasant night.

Pangloss62 · 07-05-2006, 03:00 PM

Sorry to hear that, Kit.

And yes, I would not doubt that horseflies can get to be two inches.

xoxoxoBruce · 07-05-2006, 05:55 PM

2 inches and their bite is worse than their bark.

capnhowdy · 07-13-2006, 01:45 PM

Best Job: Front man for a local club band.

Worst: Home care provider for Hospice. The work was fine. Only thing was... none of your patients ever recover or survive. I never could provide the service without getting attached to the patient. Definitely a weak point in this field.

limey · 07-17-2006, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by capnhowdy

Best Job: Front man for a local club band.

Worst: Home care provider for Hospice. The work was fine. Only thing was... none of your patients ever recover or survive. I never could provide the service without getting attached to the patient. Definitely a weak point in this field.

I've done the "provision of personal care in a residential home for the elderly" thing, where the residents only ever left horizontal in a box. I got great job satisfaction from making the residents comfortable, cheering them up, or simply being around. I accepted that they were going to die soon, and felt glad* and privileged to be the one to "lay out" two of the residents after their death, feeling that this deeply personal service should be carried out by someone who cared for them in life.
The worst of this job was that it pays minimum wage, and is a job which requires special skills and demands a lot of you, emotionally.

* this just is NOT the right word, but I'm damned if I know what the right word is ...

Stormieweather · 07-17-2006, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by limey

........and felt glad* and privileged to be the one to "lay out" two of the residents after their death, feeling that this deeply personal service should be carried out by someone who cared for them in life..............

* this just is NOT the right word, but I'm damned if I know what the right word is ...

honored?

I worked in a nursing home as a teenager. I was a CNA and assigned to several terminal patients. In one case, I was on what they called the "Death Watch" where the patient was expected to die within 24 hours and someone was to be at their side constantly. The lady was tossing and turning a lot, so I had to keep a close eye on her IV (which was in her ankle at the end). I also had the honor and priviledge of laying her out after she died, bathing and dressing her in preparation for the funeral home arriving to collect her.

Another lady had a severe joint disease and her joints were tightened to the point she was unable to eat normally (not even spoon fed). She had to be fed with with a giant syringe and you had to put your ear as close as possible to her mouth to understand what she was saying. She was a beautiful, delightful woman and I treasured those times. Other CNA's were less gentle and caring. I used to get so furious at their callous behavior.

Later, I worked in the nursing home laundry. Now that was a nasty job...washing the soiled bedsheets and dirty, cloth diapers from all the patients. I spent hours using a pressing machine to iron pillowcases in the sweltering heat. Yuck.

capnhowdy · 07-17-2006, 05:01 PM

I never could term that feeling, either. In some cases relieved would be close.

06-30-2006, 11:30 AM	#18
Beestie -◊\|≡·∙■·∙≡\|◊- Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Parts unknown. Posts: 4,081	The worst job I ever had was working summers during college under the boiling south Georgia sun on the landscaping and physical plant crew at a large hospital. Typical highlights of those three cloudless, 100+ degree summers include cutting grass, digging trenches, tilling clay harder than granite and laying sod all while fighting off the gnat luftwafa. And more often than not, the sod was infested with fire ants. You wouldn't realize it until enough of them got on your arms then, with military precision, they would all bite at once - each one a red-hot finishing nail. But I think the highlight - or lowlight - was when it was my turn to steam clean the hospital dumpsters. They would give me a full body jump suit with a built-in gas mask because the stench was nothing short of unbearable and the steam just made it worse. And until I got good at it I would accidentally pass the steam jet over an inside angle of the dumpster which would send the vile, superheated slime firing back at my suit and mask like snake venom out of a water cannon. 25 years later and I can still remember the smell and it still grosses me out. The challenge was to finish the two-hour job without throwing up in the gas mask. Most couldn't. I currently have the best job I've ever had. I build financial applications for very grateful clients. I'm a consultant but have been at the client site for almost 7 years - an unheard of tenure for a non-employee. I have no manager and have no administrative responsibilities. I just go from dept to dept, figure out what they need and six weeks or so later, give it to them with the only contact in-between being the occasional follow-up question. I've been to my "home office" five times in the last three years, I set my own hours (which are fairly long). And while I have built a solid reputation, I don't rest on it. Each application is more sophisticated, faster and more user-friendly than the last. I can't get far enough away from that summer job. :-) __________________ ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ Last edited by Beestie; 06-30-2006 at 11:33 AM.

07-05-2006, 01:48 PM	#20
Pangloss62 Lecturer Join Date: May 2006 Location: Atlanta Posts: 768	Uplifting I've heard about lift stations. Don't they have those at RV campgrounds? The RV campground down at Everglades National Park was swamped by the storm surge of hurrican Wilma, dramtically reducing the number of campers. Evidently, those lifts need a minimum, um, payload or they don't work. The lift guy I talked to said there was "not enough shit" in the system to make it work. __________________ Things are never as good, or bad, as they seem.

07-05-2006, 03:00 PM	#23
Pangloss62 Lecturer Join Date: May 2006 Location: Atlanta Posts: 768	Like Flies To Shit Sorry to hear that, Kit. And yes, I would not doubt that horseflies can get to be two inches. __________________ Things are never as good, or bad, as they seem.

07-05-2006, 05:55 PM	#24
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	2 inches and their bite is worse than their bark. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

07-13-2006, 01:45 PM	#25
capnhowdy Blatantly Homosapien Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 6,200	Best Job: Front man for a local club band. Worst: Home care provider for Hospice. The work was fine. Only thing was... none of your patients ever recover or survive. I never could provide the service without getting attached to the patient. Definitely a weak point in this field. __________________ Please type slowly. I can't read very fast............... and no holy water, please.

06-30-2006, 10:38 AM	#16
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Worst job ever was baling hay. Partly because baling hay is the hardest, most back-breaking labor ever, but mostly because I learned 20 minutes into it that I was so allergic I might actually die if I stayed in that barn. Best ever: as seen in my profile pic. I got paid for that.

07-05-2006, 12:44 PM	#19
Ridgeplate Zen Laxatives: "This too shall pass..." Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Florida Posts: 53	Best job: Current. I'm a systems engineer for the University of South Florida. Campus life, no pressure, free classes. Hell, I play games during the day if I get bored. It'd be hard pressed to get any better. Worst Job: I used to have to repair (on-site) lift station pumps. For those of you who do not know what a lift station is, it's essentially an underground silo, where sewer systems deposit their, um, payload, let's say. The pumps sit at the bottom of all this swill and then "lift" the oderiferous treasure to a treatment plant, where the output is placed into every drink that has the word "cran" in it. Without going into detail, let's just say that people flush the damnedest things...

07-05-2006, 02:20 PM	#21
Ridgeplate Zen Laxatives: "This too shall pass..." Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Florida Posts: 53	Quite true. The pumps are submerged and require a certain amout of pressure to kick the pump relays (mileage may vary). The system I maintained turned over at around a two foot depth. The silo was twelve feet in diameter, so at somewhere around 226 cubic feet of yummy, they would spin up and pump down to about four inches. (I think the math is right...) At the same volume of just rainwater, they'd stay idle. This particular silo was about 18 feet deep, so even plain old water would trigger the system eventually. On a related note, did you know that a horsefly could grow to over two inches in length?

07-17-2006, 05:01 PM	#28
capnhowdy Blatantly Homosapien Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 6,200	I never could term that feeling, either. In some cases relieved would be close. __________________ Please type slowly. I can't read very fast............... and no holy water, please.

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