Dead-End *Shit* Jobs ... Yours? (Rated-R)

**MJDeMarco** · Nov 29th, 2007, 02:02 PM

I'm posting this here in Your Fastlane Plan because sometimes, dead-end jobs are a necessary evil. We all have bills and obligations to pay -- sometimes dead-end *shit* jobs are just the bandaid we need to pay the bills while our greater focus is put into our efforts on business growth.

So with that said, what Dead-End *shit* jobs have you had? Do you currently have?
I was thinking back to all the crap jobs I've had and I am amazed I had the fortitude to endure it all.

My list:

1) Pizza delivery (Had to mop floors too)
2) Subway sandwich lunch driver (Lasted 3 weeks)
3) *Student* Painter (Lasted 6 weeks)
4) Charity organization can collector
5) Bus boy, Chinese restaurant (cockroaches in back!!!)
6) Wholesale flower deliverer
7) Plumbing day laborer
8) Stock boy, Sears Roebuck
9) Newspaper delivery at 3am in the morning
10) Hospital TV system auditor (lasted 2 days)

Much of these jobs I had after college graduation.

If you find yourself in a *shit* job, take a deep breath and reassure yourself that it is only temporary. Your job is no predictor of your true potential but only a byproduct of your circumstances and your choices.

I did my best thinking while enduring these jobs -- I remember mopping floors and coming up with ideas as well as stockpiling motivation. The thoughts "I'm better than this!" builds and builds until the fire under your ass can no longer be tolerated and leaping into action is no longer an option, but a survival move.

**Sid23** · Nov 29th, 2007, 02:07 PM

1) Little league baseball umpire
2) Bartender (several different times)
3) Temp at ad agency (cold called radio stations)
4) Law Clerk
5) Waiter
6) Waiter for catering company at events
7) Produce stocker
8) Temp at non profit - prepared mailers

**BEAR** · Nov 29th, 2007, 02:24 PM

I have had many "shit" jobs over the years.

Even though each sucked at the time, I did learn something from each of them and they all had a part in sculpting who I am today.

I started at 15 yrs old and was on my own at 16, had my first daughter at 20 so yea, I HAD to make ends meet and keep my undesired "shit" jobs.

construction labor
dishwasher
fast food (many times over the years)
bus boy
waiter (on the Tahoe Queen, that job wasnt too bad)
more construction labor
auto detailer
warehouse worker
heavy equpment oporator
mechanic ( a few times)
service writer
clerk (at a local grocery store)
Realtor
Asst. manager (construction company)
Manager (differnt construction company)

Whew, I know that I have forgot a few but I sure am glad to finally be on my way to my dreams with my own company, but with the knowlege (and mistakes) from all my past employers.

**yveskleinsky** · Nov 29th, 2007, 02:32 PM

1. Early shift at McDonalds (first job). Man that was awful.

2. Cleaning lady for (all male) publishing company. This job was worse. ...I had no idea how bad a men's bathroom could look. How can people be that gross- without even trying?! I am actually starting to gag just thinking about it.

3. Substitute teacher. Awful. You walk into a classroom, and have kids trying to manipulate you for 5 hours. ...Or sexually harass you as was my experience working with jr. high kids.

4. 7-11 cashier- graveyard shift. Never got robbed, but had to clean up puke and chase off homeless people more than once.

5. Telemarker for motor club. 'Nuff said.

**phlgirl** · Nov 29th, 2007, 02:39 PM

Oh this is a good one, MJ!!! Love this idea.... I think you can learn a lot about someone, by understanding where they have been.

Orange Bowl (think Orange Julius) at the mall - I worked the counter
Salad Alley - hostess
Bell Atlantic - directory assistance operator (555-1212) - my mom worked for the company and got me this job, as soon as I was legal
Pizza Hut - I made the pizzas, at a delivery only location in my hometown and then moved up to waitress, in college! lol
Players Niteclub (PSU) - waitress
Telemarketer - cannot even remember what I sold - lasted a few weeks, at most
Hotel State College - front desk/reservations & bookkeeper
Mid America Group (business insurance) - receptionist
CIGNA - Staff Accountant
IBM - SAP Software Consultant
Rohm & Haas - SAP Software Config/Support

Wow.... thanks for the trip down memory lane! Pure comedy. Not sure the last few would be classified as **** jobs but it just depends on how you look at it. They all serverd their purpose in my life....

**JesseO** · Nov 29th, 2007, 05:47 PM

1. Bagger at grocery store
2. Cashier at grocery store
3. Night crew/stocker at 3 grocery stores (hours were horrid)
4. Management at grocery store
5. Meat department in grocery store
6. Telemarketer for 4 different companies (good money, easy job)
7. Installations for window covering company
8. Property manager (great job for obvious reasons, I think)
9. Assistant on a couple side businesses

**MJDeMarco** · Nov 29th, 2007, 05:55 PM

Cmon guys ... DEAD END SHIT JOBS!

Property Manager, Realtor, Bartender ... these are respectable jobs! Mopping floors and scooping up turds in backed-up toilets aren't!

**Sid23** · Nov 29th, 2007, 05:59 PM

bartending jobs ARE shit when you have to clean up the bathroom at the end of then night. which i had to do most night.

sometimes it was puke though. much easier to clean.

**MJDeMarco** · Nov 29th, 2007, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by SeanS

bartending jobs ARE shit when you have to clean up the bathroom at the end of then night. which i had to do most night.

sometimes it was puke though. much easier to clean.

Ok I stand corrected! Sorry!

**citta ventosa** · Nov 29th, 2007, 06:35 PM

My list in chronological order:
1. Construction and roofing (scraping tar off of roofs in 100+ degree heat...not for me)
2. Summer painting jobs
3. Temp work at a CPA society
4. Temp work at a Radiological society
5. Intern for a radio promotion company (I quit this after 3 months of "paying my dues" i.e. getting coffee/lunch for the execs, dubbing new release CDs, and learning absolutely nothing)
6. Answering phones for an Italian restaurant
7. Pizza delivery driver

For me, the office gigs were the least tolerable. Clock in, clock out, rinse & repeat...

*takes deep breath*

**MJDeMarco** · Nov 29th, 2007, 06:37 PM

Welcome Citta!

**andviv** · Nov 29th, 2007, 06:54 PM

Pizza delivery (driving and then closing the store, moping floors, cleaning the freezer, dishwashing, etc)
Picking up the plates and trays from tables (no, wasn't a waiter, didn't usually get any tips either, just wait for patrons to be done and then clean their mess)
Waiter (catering service... however I happen to be a waiter for the Playboy party, so that wasn't bad at all)

All the others have been OK.

Phlgirl, SAP consultant? that's big money, highly desired job!!!!

**citta ventosa** · Nov 29th, 2007, 07:15 PM

Originally Posted by PhxMJ

Welcome Citta!

Thanks, happy to be here

**phlgirl** · Nov 29th, 2007, 07:54 PM

Originally Posted by andviv

Phlgirl, SAP consultant? that's big money, highly desired job!!!!

Agreed. It was a great experience and up until the burn out phase, I really enjoyed it.

I think I just got carried away on the trip down memory lane.

SeanS - I hear you on the 'after the bar is closed' activities. I think girls are even worse than men at that age.

**phlgirl** · Nov 29th, 2007, 08:19 PM

****Ok, so I just thought about that for a minute and although I absolutely agree that the money is top-notch, when you find yourself heading to the airport on Sunday night and then flying home Friday, working a minumum of 12 hours each day and staring at the same hotel room wall each night, the hourly wage doesn't seem to make much sense anymore.

Particularly when you add a few winters in Buffalo, NY to the mix. You get about 48 hours a week with your friends/loved ones so the quality of life is pretty weak.

Don't get me wrong.... no complaints. I would not change a thing. I learned a TON and met great people but it does have it's dark side. It's a trick you see..... there is no logical way out. What's the level for a consultant? Senior consultant. Lovely paycheck but there is no career path which leads you off the road. It slowly drives you insane.

**JScott** · Nov 29th, 2007, 09:54 PM

Btw, DeadEndShitJobsYours.com is free in case someone wants to grab it

**Rawr** · Nov 29th, 2007, 10:17 PM

Nice lists everyone. One has to experience these kinds of jobs to get appreciation for the latter ones. A thing that can make a shit job tolerable are the little extra perks..which I fully exploited at every opportunity.

So, from the top:

1. Arby's cashier. Oooh boy. First job ever at 15, hired 4 weeks before I turned 16. I was getting paid $5.60 (got a raise after 6 months to 5.75!) Folks who started at 16 got paid 7.50. So I fully made up for this by eating extra Sbarros and chicken fingers. Working here for a year was enough to never make me consider fast food again.

2. Working at Mall of America at those pay a buck try to get the ball in the hoop games - or make a ping pong ball into a cup thats floating around game. The best part was working the baskeball games because I would just work on my jumpshot all day. Taught me how to work under massive pressure (ever had 30 people surrounding you at one time all wanting something?)

3. Sears men's and women's departments stacking clothes. Men changing room is nothing - but women, they would leave piles of clothes on the floor - like 20 items. I would look at this mess and say "No thanks". Fired after 10 days after I went to lunch and saw a modeling contest. I liked the cute girls who were in it and joined the contest- had to do the walk and interview. Came back from 15 minutes lunch two hours later.

4. Pizza delivery - great money for a kid, pulled over twice within 5 minutes once and got away every time since I am a delivery boy (didn't even have the pizza in the heating bag at the time) Free food, pop. Not bad.

5. Chipotle. Did you know those carnitas (pork) and barbacoa (Spicy beef) meats come in one solid frozen block, and then you have to use your hands to pick them apart so they are nice and shredded for serving? Ever worked in front of a deep fryer and made a day's worth of chips? And all this fun started at 8am 2 hours before the store even opened. I lasted 2 months.. I honestly don't know why.

6. Dominos Pizza driver - nothing new, except that I worked on the college campus (private school at that) Can we say PERKS?! Especially during those 1-2am runs when I was offered such tips as: Shots, weed, makeouts, games of beer pong.. etc. I've also met a stripper who was.. umm naked and invited me in. and a few cool people along the way.

7. Cingular. Sales. Since working as the delivery guy I realized that working is dumb unless you are getting commission or tips. Got decent commissions here, and was making $14/hr average (this is just 2 years after making $6 an hour at Arbys) Learned sales here

8. Bartender. Enter Joy and Bliss. First in a semi- college crowd bar, later at a private golf course. I believe no further explanation is needed. Hot co-workers, great money, fun atmosphere. You learn how to deal with stress and pressure when times get busy, how to keep your cool, how to be witty and how to flirt. And just for MJ - I had to pick up shit off the bathroom floor and clean the toilet once.

I am just 23, and don't even know what to try else - It seems I should just work for myself since there isn't much else that's as fun and makes money. Or I shouldn't work much at all and just go travel for months at a time.

**Bilgefisher** · Nov 29th, 2007, 10:48 PM

Ive only had a couple jobs, but here is a list of shit duties I had while serving in the Navy.

-watching restricted personal 24/7 (I do mean all the time)
-Mess decks cleanup. Hands and knees scrubbing and sweeping.
-scullery 3 meals a day.
-Trash disposal room. Compacting trash with 3000# hydraulics. If liquids get mixed in, it makes an interesting mess. Especially when its 3 month old eggs that have been kept at room temperature. Yes, you end up wearing it half the time.
-grinding rust from the superstructure of the sub with air powered needle guns. This area was exposed to sea, all black and could reach temps of 130 degrees in the Georgia sun.
-Cleaning sea water heat exchanger tubes with high pressure water. (several thousand pounds.) Crawl into the heat exchanger (it was just big enough to be in the fetal position). Run the high pressure hose in and out of each of the thousands of tubes. Performed around every 6 months.
-Cleaning the bilge. Crawl head first into a bilge, shimmy over and under pipes, and clean the green oily water that is sloshing back and forth.
-tank inspection - crawling in oily and sea water tanks for inspections with baffle holes in the deck.

Funny part is, I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Amazing experience.

**thecoach** · Nov 29th, 2007, 11:22 PM

Here are a few of mine...

Maintenance at an urban campground (litterally a shit job sometimes)
Night crew maintenence at Wal-Mart
Telephone Survey person (that last 2 weeks)
Client retention telemarketing for a bank (essentially my job was call clients that have been slowly pulling out all thier business and now have only one product left and ask them why and try to get the business back...I don't think I've ever been told off more times in my life...lol)
Cellular sales in a kiosk in a mall
Bartender at a very very slow club, infact I more or less got paid to study, so I guess it was pretty good...haha
Delivering newspapers at 5am (my buddy works for the newspaper in town, so I bail him out, he buys the beer the next few times we go out)
Yardsmen at a lumber yard...lots of back killing labour like handbombing lumber, plywood and bundles of shingles in the heat of summer
Special events security...lots of caberats and concerts where people more or less come to get drunk and rowdy (still do this casually on the slow months)

Shortest job I ever had? A Sporting goods store....got hired, scheduled to work the following Monday and decided "I seriously can't get motivated about selling baseball hats and hockey pucks for $6/hour" and no showed on the first and and just called in that I quit. Didn't even work a second and I quit.

**Rawr** · Nov 30th, 2007, 12:11 AM

Thecoach - that was awesome, I think you now officially have the record for least amount of work

I worked at a republican fund raising telemarketing station. Basically bully people over the phone to give you money. Some very nice grandma pledged $2000 on her credit card.. I feel like shit because I know most of that money is not going to the republican party but to the people who run the biz... And the best part? I got a 25 CENT commission on this. Twenty five cents for 2k... what a joke

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