Worst place you've ever worked?

[~~~]

Ticket examiner on the Ayr - Glasgow trains.

Nightmare. 8 months was enough for me.

I always thought being a conductor looked a not bad job

[Cardinal Richelieu]

The next week I think I just gave her the Sunday Mail.

Christ, remind me never to cross you. That's fucking harsh.

[Tryfield]

I always thought being a conductor looked a not bad job

Have ye ever been sober on the 22;30 or 00:15 train to Ayr?

One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest v National Lampoon's Holidays v Raging Bull. Cuntish.

I must admit, I rarely bothered going through the trains at any time. This was pre-privatisation when it was BR. Scotrail wisened up and gave the poor on-board ticket guys and gals an incentive of 5% of all ticket sales. They now gallop up and down trains like Shergar.

I once chucked a guy off at Paisley. He had got battered with and ice skate, face looked like a pun o' mince.. Canny have all that blood over my train.

[I'm Brian]

In the list of shit jobs, one that must rank highly, has anyone actually been a fudge packer?

[paranoid android]

NHS Lothian takes some fucking beating.

[Dindeleux]

After dropping out of university, I was desperate for a job and ended up as a debt tracer at Wescot (debt collection agency).

Some of the tricks you were supposed to use to make your targets were unethical and immoral - others were downright illegal... like the following:

Jimmy owes money but you only have his parent's number. When you ask his mum for Jimmy's number, she refuses to give you it as Jimmy's tipped her off. She says that she'll pass on your number to him but you know Jimmy has more sense than to phone in to volunteer his new address. So you agree to her passing on the message, but ask her to phone him straight away as it's "important" (She thinks I'm trying to get in touch with Jimmy from "when he worked at Asda" - a misleading phrase to make her think we're friends without actually lying).

So she says goodbye and hangs up, but you don't hang up and instead press the "silent" button. When she picks up the phone to phone Jimmy, obviously she can't dial out because I'm still at the other end. So she tries pressing numbers, thinks there's a fault and tries again in a few minutes. Meanwhile, a girl from the other side of the office is summoned over. Next time Jimmy's mum tries to dial his number, she takes the phone off silent and says "BT Operator. There is a fault with this line. What number are you trying to contact?"

And once you have their number, it's easy enough to phone them and get their address by pretending to be their mobile phone provider and offering them £50 if they fill out a questionnaire that you need to send to their home address.

Shady b*****ds. Thank funk I got fired!

I worked in Wescot in Saltcoats (and Glasgow) for 2 years and I can confirm the above is bullshit.

[DAFC]

I posted this on the morons you have worked with thread but I guess because of them the job became unbearable.

After years of doing shitty contract work I managed to get a full time position for a decent firm doing something interesting.

I had no idea what an adult covert bully or narcissist was until I started there but straight away something was wrong but I couldn't quite work out what it was. There was banter but it seemed one way and strange, within the first week a overheard a colleague tell another that they didn't trust me and the manager told me to my face that he had never met anyone so stupid.

I was just trying to fit in and not upset anyone plus I was on a three month probation so I didn't want to respond too aggressively so I left it rotting away.

The power structure seemed to be the boss and his graduate sidekick who basically just worked together and had morning meetings in front of everyone else, three people, in a small room and then just let us get on with it and feed us the occasional bone of info.

Slowly but surely their true self's revealed and before I knew it he had poisoned half the company against me over the space of two years or so.

I managed to fight it out and counter it by joining the five a sides and getting along with a few, in one game the sidekick scored against me and another colleague shook his hand and told him well done bet they felt better scoring against him as if I was the one causing trouble etc.

It got really bad and even the person I was car sharing with joined in, I confided in him about the behaviour but he also was under the spell of my boss.

Pretty much on a daily basis I was getting put down, ridiculed or made fun of. People would ask me what I did at the weekend then make fun of it. If I was quiet and wore headphones they would laugh at my music. One of his stooges put a screw in my car tyre, then to make sure I knew it was deliberate left the same type on my seat. I became ill because of it, lost two stone through exercise to stop the fat jibes even though I was thinner than sidekick, had shingles etc.

I then started to know I was bullied and admitted it to myself, found out that I needed to take a diary of all events.

After documenting everything for over another year the sidekick left and I was given half his tasks, which tbh was less challenging than my role. He was getting paid almost five grand more than me for doing an easier less technical job anyway.

After a few months I pulled the boss into an office and gave hi a chance to admit or come clean and apologise. He said he had no idea what I was on about.

I then reeled of dates, times, witnesses and what was said. He looked away and started crying. For those few seconds I knew that it was all deliberate and that he was an extremely disturbed individual. I didn't go for the kill and thought that I had scared him enough to make it stop and for the next week to so he was as quiet as a mouse.

What he did next was to be expected but quite shocking. He went to his boss and complained about my behaviour.

I was then hauled up to a meeting in front of his boss and a so called impartial HR note taker. It started with 'we are really concerned about your paranoid behaviour and would like you to stop it' then 'where do you keep your notes, can you give them to us?' 'Hasnt this company just given you more responsibility, why would we do this?' well maybe because there's a recruitment freeze on? Realising that it was a kangaroo court setup I just buckled or I was going to lose my job otherwise.

Two months later I found a job online, it was the sidekicks and rather than apply I asked my boss if it was from this company. I knew it was but he denied it then a week later interviewees we waking about with him!?

A guy started and of course I had to train him to do the sidekicks job that I had been doing.

I left a few months later and was warned by another director 'oh you're going to there well I know a few people there'....

Good job, bad people, to put it mildly.

I'll bet that another poor employee is going through the same thing right now.

I learned lots from that place though, will never leave myself exposed like that again.

It's a big rant but there was no other way to write it, I still can't believe most of it myself even though it happened fairly recently.

TBH at times working there I wish I had a job killing things with my bare hands!

There seemed no way out at one stage.

[Ya Bezzer!]

I've worked for most of the big banks. If you think they are c***s to customers and the public at large just wait till you work for them.

[~~~]

I worked in Wescot in Saltcoats (and Glasgow) for 2 years and I can confirm the above is bullshit.

^^^ Jimmy

[smpar]

Worked at a nightclub in Dunfermline last summer, absolutely shocking. Most staff were arseholes, pay was shite (never got a payslip, just money straight into my account) and ungodly hours which I wouldn't have minded if I was getting a half decent wage. Sacked by text tae, shiter.

[welshbairn]

I posted this on the morons you have worked with thread but I guess because of them the job became unbearable.

After years of doing shitty contract work I managed to get a full time position for a decent firm doing something interesting.

I had no idea what an adult covert bully or narcissist was until I started there but straight away something was wrong but I couldn't quite work out what it was. There was banter but it seemed one way and strange, within the first week a overheard a colleague tell another that they didn't trust me and the manager told me to my face that he had never met anyone so stupid.

I was just trying to fit in and not upset anyone plus I was on a three month probation so I didn't want to respond too aggressively so I left it rotting away.

The power structure seemed to be the boss and his graduate sidekick who basically just worked together and had morning meetings in front of everyone else, three people, in a small room and then just let us get on with it and feed us the occasional bone of info.

Slowly but surely their true self's revealed and before I knew it he had poisoned half the company against me over the space of two years or so.

I managed to fight it out and counter it by joining the five a sides and getting along with a few, in one game the sidekick scored against me and another colleague shook his hand and told him well done bet they felt better scoring against him as if I was the one causing trouble etc.

It got really bad and even the person I was car sharing with joined in, I confided in him about the behaviour but he also was under the spell of my boss.

Pretty much on a daily basis I was getting put down, ridiculed or made fun of. People would ask me what I did at the weekend then make fun of it. If I was quiet and wore headphones they would laugh at my music. One of his stooges put a screw in my car tyre, then to make sure I knew it was deliberate left the same type on my seat. I became ill because of it, lost two stone through exercise to stop the fat jibes even though I was thinner than sidekick, had shingles etc.

I then started to know I was bullied and admitted it to myself, found out that I needed to take a diary of all events.

After documenting everything for over another year the sidekick left and I was given half his tasks, which tbh was less challenging than my role. He was getting paid almost five grand more than me for doing an easier less technical job anyway.

After a few months I pulled the boss into an office and gave hi a chance to admit or come clean and apologise. He said he had no idea what I was on about.

I then reeled of dates, times, witnesses and what was said. He looked away and started crying. For those few seconds I knew that it was all deliberate and that he was an extremely disturbed individual. I didn't go for the kill and thought that I had scared him enough to make it stop and for the next week to so he was as quiet as a mouse.

What he did next was to be expected but quite shocking. He went to his boss and complained about my behaviour.

I was then hauled up to a meeting in front of his boss and a so called impartial HR note taker. It started with 'we are really concerned about your paranoid behaviour and would like you to stop it' then 'where do you keep your notes, can you give them to us?' 'Hasnt this company just given you more responsibility, why would we do this?' well maybe because there's a recruitment freeze on? Realising that it was a kangaroo court setup I just buckled or I was going to lose my job otherwise.

Two months later I found a job online, it was the sidekicks and rather than apply I asked my boss if it was from this company. I knew it was but he denied it then a week later interviewees we waking about with him!?

A guy started and of course I had to train him to do the sidekicks job that I had been doing.

I left a few months later and was warned by another director 'oh you're going to there well I know a few people there'....

Good job, bad people, to put it mildly.

I'll bet that another poor employee is going through the same thing right now.

I learned lots from that place though, will never leave myself exposed like that again.

It's a big rant but there was no other way to write it, I still can't believe most of it myself even though it happened fairly recently.

TBH at times working there I wish I had a job killing things with my bare hands!

There seemed no way out at one stage.

Would have walked after the first week. Did you not think you'd find another job? How long did you work there?

[Ross.]

In the list of shit jobs, one that must rank highly, has anyone actually been a fudge packer?

I had an evening job with McKechnie Jess in Greenock, at the end of their production line putting stuff in bags and boxes before carting it into the freezers to be stored. Technically, that made me a meat packer. Close, but not quite what you were looking for.

[DAFC]

Would have walked after the first week. Did you not think you'd find another job? How long did you work there?

About five years, I was in a vulnerable situation with moving house.

Also part of me wanted to prove myself.

[P.C]

I've worked for most of the big banks. If you think they are c***s to customers and the public at large just wait till you work for them.

I had the pleasure of working for Intelligent Finance for about 4 years in Rosyth. Management was a joke. One girl actually got demoted from being a line manager because she couldn't cope with teh workload. Last i heard she was reinstated to manager...

I left after they have restructured the management levels so the position i was trying to get myself into became null and void. In my leaving email I suggested they change the company logo from "until money grows on trees" to "until you know better". I had a shorter than normal shift that day...

[TheScarf]

Funny I saw the NHS pop up on here. NHS Highland was hands down the best place I've ever worked. The worst decision I've ever made in my life was leaving there. Decent pay, great colleagues, well looked after and it was a 15 minute walk from my house.

[DA Baracus]

In the list of shit jobs, one that must rank highly, has anyone actually been a fudge packer?

Technically, yes. I worked in a sweet stall in the Wellgate in Dundee. Part of this involved restocking the plastic boxes, one of which was fudge.

[Stellaboz]

Mastrick social worker office. Bored as hell same as Fife Council. Soul casino could be grim. DeVere in Zurich was an awful job too in hindsight

[scottsdad]

I was a door to door salesman back in the summer of '99 for a company called GSD in Glasgow. We sold gas an phone contracts, basically trying to get people to change from Scottish Gas to Scottish Power, and from BT to Scottish Telecom (remember them?)

At first it was commission only. If memory serves £25 for a gas contract and £8 for a phone. We had targets of course - something like 6 gas a day and they weren;t too fussed about the phones. Trouble was I was excellent at the phonmes but couldn't sell much gas.

Started at 9 am and worked till 10 pm, 5 days a week. The long hours were bad wnough, but try to imagine a 19 year old boy going round the tenements (which we saved for rainy days) and round Kilsyth knocking doors. Soul destroying.

One couple liked me and offered me dinner. Hundreds more told me to go **** myself. I lasted 4 weeks, taking in about £300 a week. I was exhausted and miserable.

[Ross.]

Mastrick social worker office. Bored as hell same as Fife Council. Soul casino could be grim. DeVere in Zurich was an awful job too in hindsight

What were you doing with DeVere? I've been dealing a fair bit with a couple of the guys there (1 in Zurich and 1 in London I think) recently and they both seem to enjoy it.

[P.C]

I was a door to door salesman back in the summer of '99 for a company called GSD in Glasgow. We sold gas an phone contracts, basically trying to get people to change from Scottish Gas to Scottish Power, and from BT to Scottish Telecom (remember them?)

At first it was commission only. If memory serves £25 for a gas contract and £8 for a phone. We had targets of course - something like 6 gas a day and they weren;t too fussed about the phones. Trouble was I was excellent at the phonmes but couldn't sell much gas.

Started at 9 am and worked till 10 pm, 5 days a week. The long hours were bad wnough, but try to imagine a 19 year old boy going round the tenements (which we saved for rainy days) and round Kilsyth knocking doors. Soul destroying.

One couple liked me and offered me dinner. Hundreds more told me to go **** myself. I lasted 4 weeks, taking in about £300 a week. I was exhausted and miserable.

I couldn't think of anything worse. After having to do sales jobs as nothing else was avialable I hate them even more. That said the sky job I had to bring back sky customers was a piece of piss, had a sheet with about dozen different offers you could use to bring folks back onto sky. Used to get about 14-18 a shift used to make a killing in cash. Then it went to cold calling...