How about cleaning out hog lots and farrowing houses. And, it doesn't matter if your using a shovel and pitch-fork or a skid-steer, it still isn't the nicest place to be. But I would choose the skid-steer!
Or if you've ever had the fun of sorting hogs, that's a real treat too. You'll find out just how smart hogs are the first time you end laying in the manure!
I guarantee you'll learn real quick to keep your mouth closed! Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "Tastes like $^&*"
The Hardest Job I Ever Worked... Yours?
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iowabeakster
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mark, just-beemimg,
yucky for sure! livestock agriculture is the worst!
We buried my grandfather last year, he worked 40 years in a hog slaughter house.
Good luck finding an American born citizen (today) that would do that for 40 hours. My roomate (crazy grad student from wisconsin, GO PACKERS) told me his high school buddy went to his first day at the slaughter house, went home within his first hour.
Thinking about that job makes me feel very lucky and blessed.
yucky for sure! livestock agriculture is the worst!
We buried my grandfather last year, he worked 40 years in a hog slaughter house.
Good luck finding an American born citizen (today) that would do that for 40 hours. My roomate (crazy grad student from wisconsin, GO PACKERS) told me his high school buddy went to his first day at the slaughter house, went home within his first hour.
Thinking about that job makes me feel very lucky and blessed.
I was dreaming when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray...
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mechanic savant
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- Location: wales,ma.
My worst job!!! it's the one that I dissability ,retired from 2yrs ago ...GT&TT mechanic (thats garbage truck&trash truck) people throw "everything " out in the trash including other people!!! radio-active medical waste,sharps from free clinics,family "pets" roadkills etc. I don't care how throughly you steam clean them first there's always a few treasures lurking in the nooks&cranies waiting to fall,splash,squirt or ooz onto you ..every scratch or cut has the potential to pass on life threatening disease (we had a wave of hepatitus go through the shop @ one point) ..once a truck tripped a radiation detector @ the burning plant .the truck was quarantined ,the load dumped & sorted till the source was found ,then the truck was returned to the shop w/out telling us about the contamination .. managment said "that trucks out of service for a few days , replace the floors in the back & go through the chassis " did I mention the maggots in the summer..yes sirree take one loaded 30yd packer load it w/god only knows what & have it break down on a highway on a hot summer day , let steep in sun on interstate @ 100 deg for a few hrs then someone has to get under that oozzing thing & do wharever is nessecary to make it roll so it can be towed to the shop for repair !!!I've worked w/vehicles for 35+yrs never had skin fungus till recently dermatologist says wadda ya expect ,thanx doc ...I'm out now ,somthing to do w/1herniated & 2bulging discs & stage 3 shoulder impingment on both sides ..w/enough anti-inflamatorys I can still ride relativly pain free at least on a roadster , criusers & sportbikes hurt too much , heavy weieht tourers weigh too much.. 
From your description, I was thinking that your job was definitely the most... um.. "unsavory."
But considering that you've also trashed your back and shoulders due to your work, it seems like it was the most physically demanding as well.
I think that we can officially declare Mechanic Savant the champion of brutally tough jobs.
Good thing that you're now retired and can enjoy that bike of yours! You've earned it, mate.
But considering that you've also trashed your back and shoulders due to your work, it seems like it was the most physically demanding as well.
I think that we can officially declare Mechanic Savant the champion of brutally tough jobs.
Good thing that you're now retired and can enjoy that bike of yours! You've earned it, mate.
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mcooperstein
- Moderator
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- Location: Big Stone Gap, Virginia
hardest job I've worked...
It's got to be my present occupation: nursing. I don't know what I was thinking when I started this 3 years ago...went back to school to get a BSN in nursing at 52. Now that I'm through and working...it's harder then anything else I've ever done. Twelve+ hour shifts, people dying on you a lot (I work in a cardiac critical care unit), krappy pay. Real krappy pay! I was a computer programmer for 20+ years prior to this endeavor, and thought *that* was stressful. I had NO idea!!! My wife is an ER doc, and you'd think I would have gotten a clue...but recently I've come to the realization that I must be mentally retarded or something!!!!
Mark
Mark
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yjleesvrr
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- Location: Blacksburg and Haymarket, VA/Basking Ridge, NJ
Like Mark, I'd have to say my current job. Starting a company, using your own financial resources and credit to get the company off the ground while not taking pay for the first 8 months, spending almost half your time away from home, hiring your first employees, exposing yourself to various forms of risk, taking the first steps to entrust others with various aspects of your enterprise, planning cash flow, getting a line of credit, dealing with employee screw-ups, firing an employee, resolving conflicts between employees, handling client/customer complaints when they get escalated up to senior management level, bidding on contracts and winning some and losing some, dealing with uncertainties in the marketplace, and imposing upon yourself a degree of professionalism even though you're the top dog both operationally as well as on the board of director level.
Being an entrepreneur is the hardest thing I've ever done, but it has also been the most rewarding from a personal point of view. You learn a great deal about yourself. The pay hasn't been bad either, but there are days I feel like I'm underpaid given the responsibilities and burden I feel.
Would I do it all over again? Oh yes.
Being an entrepreneur is the hardest thing I've ever done, but it has also been the most rewarding from a personal point of view. You learn a great deal about yourself. The pay hasn't been bad either, but there are days I feel like I'm underpaid given the responsibilities and burden I feel.
Would I do it all over again? Oh yes.
Member #93, June 2002
'14 BMW R1200RT "Wethead"
'77 BMW R100/7 "Airhead"
'14 BMW R1200RT "Wethead"
'77 BMW R100/7 "Airhead"
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thenewcamus
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Well I thought I had something to contribute to this thread, but you guys have been through some pretty creative torture to make money. WTH, I'll throw my worst on the pile:
When I was 15 I started cleaning (strip and re-wax) supermarket floors at night. Me and one other guy doing 15000 sq ft stores every night from 11 to 6, working with noxious chems and swinging a mop for 7 hours straight while listening to Rod Stewart and Celine Dion over and over on the PA.
At 16 I decided I wanted to work outside and took a job with the concrete company my dad worked for (he was an Estimator, I was a "laborer") again, all nighttime work. If you have ever rented a car from Hertz in Orlando, the huge one by the airport...I cut every crack joint in that enormous parking lot with a Concrete saw. 8 hours a night covered in dust guiding that fu&^er back and forth across an endless sea of concrete. Thats where I learned patience.
At 17 I did a stint at Red Lobster washing dishes and weighing crab legs for the "All you can eat Crab Festival". Oh and washing out the fish freezer and fielding bizarre comeons from the crosseyed male kitchen manager.
Fast forward to cushville, at 27 I now do Network Security and realize that (in many cases) you really do work less as you make more money.
When I was 15 I started cleaning (strip and re-wax) supermarket floors at night. Me and one other guy doing 15000 sq ft stores every night from 11 to 6, working with noxious chems and swinging a mop for 7 hours straight while listening to Rod Stewart and Celine Dion over and over on the PA.
At 16 I decided I wanted to work outside and took a job with the concrete company my dad worked for (he was an Estimator, I was a "laborer") again, all nighttime work. If you have ever rented a car from Hertz in Orlando, the huge one by the airport...I cut every crack joint in that enormous parking lot with a Concrete saw. 8 hours a night covered in dust guiding that fu&^er back and forth across an endless sea of concrete. Thats where I learned patience.
At 17 I did a stint at Red Lobster washing dishes and weighing crab legs for the "All you can eat Crab Festival". Oh and washing out the fish freezer and fielding bizarre comeons from the crosseyed male kitchen manager.
Fast forward to cushville, at 27 I now do Network Security and realize that (in many cases) you really do work less as you make more money.
Josh
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2004 Rockster Citrus Green
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2004 Rockster Citrus Green
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iowabeakster
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yjleesvrr
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Harry - it's http://www.visionpointsystems.com. Our current website sucks. We're in the midst of revamping it and will have a new site up in a couple weeks. We've been able to grow the company despite a relative lack of marketing collateral. That's what good contacts and customer referrals will do for you - make your life easier.
Member #93, June 2002
'14 BMW R1200RT "Wethead"
'77 BMW R100/7 "Airhead"
'14 BMW R1200RT "Wethead"
'77 BMW R100/7 "Airhead"
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yjleesvrr
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- Location: Blacksburg and Haymarket, VA/Basking Ridge, NJ
Harry - I'm very fortunate in that I have an excellent staff. I tried to set a corporate culture that rewards and recognizes commited people who perform and the rest has started to take care of itself. It's not without struggles however as you ALWAYS have issues when a group of people get together for 8, 9, 10, or more hours a day to solve problems.
There have been times where I had to reach for every reserve ounce of constitution I have. But some things have gotten easier with time.
There have been times where I had to reach for every reserve ounce of constitution I have. But some things have gotten easier with time.
Member #93, June 2002
'14 BMW R1200RT "Wethead"
'77 BMW R100/7 "Airhead"
'14 BMW R1200RT "Wethead"
'77 BMW R100/7 "Airhead"
A two (short) paragraph description of the growth pattern of almost all successful, small businesses.yjleesvrr wrote:It's not without struggles however as you ALWAYS have issues when a group of people get together for 8, 9, 10, or more hours a day to solve problems.
There have been times where I had to reach for every reserve ounce of constitution I have. But some things have gotten easier with time.
Congratulations on your successes and the nerve to take the risk(s).
- Bill #438, Lifetime
If I'm going to grow up, I'd better hurry.....oh well.
If I'm going to grow up, I'd better hurry.....oh well.
Had to get in on this one.
I grew up in Northern WI, in a town with a pulp mill. A local lumber guy would pay kids to peel trees in the summer (peeled trees fetch a higher price because they dry out much quicker and can be used immediately.)
We'd all get picked up at 6am and head out to the woods in an old suburban. A guy with a chainsaw would down the trees and run a strip across the top. Then, with a crow bar, we'd peel the bark off. The swamp is no place to be in WI in the summer. It's hot, it's humid, and the mosquitos have fangs. Plus you'd get covered in all the grime and sap from the popple trees while humped over them trying to get every last piece of bark off.
There was a ten minute break in the morning, a thirty minute lunch, and a ten minute break in the afternoon. Unless it rained, we worked until 4pm. Our pay was based on production - before heading home we were asked how many trees we peeled. We lied a lot. At the end of the day, we'd come home stinking, covered in bites, and exhausted. At the end of the week, the foreman would leave our pay (cash) in our mailboxes. It was usually about fifty dollars! This was the late eighties not the twenties, mind you.
Every job since has been gravy.
I grew up in Northern WI, in a town with a pulp mill. A local lumber guy would pay kids to peel trees in the summer (peeled trees fetch a higher price because they dry out much quicker and can be used immediately.)
We'd all get picked up at 6am and head out to the woods in an old suburban. A guy with a chainsaw would down the trees and run a strip across the top. Then, with a crow bar, we'd peel the bark off. The swamp is no place to be in WI in the summer. It's hot, it's humid, and the mosquitos have fangs. Plus you'd get covered in all the grime and sap from the popple trees while humped over them trying to get every last piece of bark off.
There was a ten minute break in the morning, a thirty minute lunch, and a ten minute break in the afternoon. Unless it rained, we worked until 4pm. Our pay was based on production - before heading home we were asked how many trees we peeled. We lied a lot. At the end of the day, we'd come home stinking, covered in bites, and exhausted. At the end of the week, the foreman would leave our pay (cash) in our mailboxes. It was usually about fifty dollars! This was the late eighties not the twenties, mind you.
Every job since has been gravy.
Fifty bucks a week in the late 80's! Even after padding your numbers?? Man, your boss was a straight up Scheister. It makes my $3.50/hour look like real money.
But your cost of living in Northern WI must have been cheaper that mine in Montgomery County Maryland.
...Plus, my stepdad was charging me $150.00 per-month-rent from 1986 until I moved out in 1990, which did cut into beer funds a little bit...
I guess it all kinda balances out in the end.
This topic has made for some great reading. I'm trying to imagine actually doing all of these jobs.
Yesterday I saw a man who musta been at least 45 diggin' a ditch and it made me think of this thread.
.
But your cost of living in Northern WI must have been cheaper that mine in Montgomery County Maryland.
...Plus, my stepdad was charging me $150.00 per-month-rent from 1986 until I moved out in 1990, which did cut into beer funds a little bit...
I guess it all kinda balances out in the end.
This topic has made for some great reading. I'm trying to imagine actually doing all of these jobs.
Yesterday I saw a man who musta been at least 45 diggin' a ditch and it made me think of this thread.
.
It was just a summer thing for kids (12 to 15) who weren't old enough to get "real" jobs. The parents liked it because the kids learned a few lessons about hard work and making money. The guy who ran the outfit was a friend of most of the kids parents (played poker with my Dad.) There was nothing legit about it. But at 12 years old, fifty bucks a week seemed like a lot of cash. That's before I had to buy my own bikes 