What's the easiest job you had? How about hardest?

[Zeze]

Easiest:

1. Summer temp job in college- a very small office needed someone to fill a maternity leave. All I had to do is answer phone as a reception desk. I answered maybe 3 calls and transferred all day. I remember neffing in ATOT as a kid and Diablo 2 forums. I was dying of boredom. It was a beautiful summer too.

2. A contract gig 5 years ago for PSO IT. Once things reached a stable state, we got to work from home about twice a week. And it wasn't busy. You can might as well call them 2 PTOs after my morning meetings at 9am. 70% downtime and because I'm home, I wasn't bored. Best job I ever had and best money I ever made actually.

Hardest:
1. Being a server for Macaroni Grill (Italian chain). Similar to popular joints like TGIF, weekends got terrifyingly busy. This is the only time I had a brief breakdown at the peak rush on Mothers Day. Man I'm such a good boy- I almost always worked somewhere since I turned 15.

2. I was a migration PM for a huge company. It was a huge pressure cooker and member impact was people not getting their meds, and at worst cancer drugs. I'd wake up at 430a arrive by 530a, get on a status call with India and Philippines, then get on the gauntlet call with directors and 80 people. You better had your updates correct and be able to answer Qs.
I also worked through Jan 1st (new client migration every calendar yr) and worked through 4th of July at 70 to 75 hrs_wk.

This also paid well thank god. Those July 4th weekend releases were awful.

 

[Skunk-Works]

Easiest- Summer job when I was around 14 working at two schools as a janitor's helper. It was an awesome summer with money in my pocket, and to top it off, and unbenounced to me, my sister entered me into a contest to be "bat boy" for the Colorado Rockies. I won, got to tour the stadium meet the players and all that.


Hardest- Burger King. Supervisor was a witch and customer service sucked!! To top it off they used the old 1980's cash register and yet across the street McDonalds had touch screens. I was placed on making hamburgers and I lasted but two months.

 

[IronWing]

Easiest: Tape monkey for server backups. The tapes were on those big ass reels. I just had to change them out every day. Runner up: human optical scanner grading exams. The prof used the fill in the oval answer sheets but didn't have a reader so I was the reader.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'd say my current job is probably my easiest. Interestingly, also my highest paying. The easier a job is the more it seems to pay.

Hardest, I'd say summer student janitor job. It involved cleaning and other maintenance related stuff around the school. It was not really hard, but harder than all my other jobs. I actually had to work physically. The nice thing about that job though was that it was super laid back. We pretty much worked at our own pace and everything was really easy going. There was also some frustrating aspects, like once we had to move 50+ tables into the boiler room, and then we had to move them out because someone making decisions changed their mind.

Overall I've had it fairly easy employment wise so I consider myself lucky. Never had to work fast food or retail.

 

[snoopy7548]

Easiest: Two different data entry temp jobs during one summer in college. One was for a youth baseball card place and the other was for a rehab place. At the rehab place, I found out my friend's brother was arrested for a DUI when I had to type in their file. I also sat next to the IT dude who was kind of a prick, though; he and this secretary were whispering about somebody not refilling the coffee pot (it was me) and they were insinuating that it was the temp (me) without any evidence. What a bunch of pricks.

Hardest: Probably the start of my first job pushing carts at a grocery store, but after I was moved inside I loved that job. Or maybe when I worked at a marina and had to clean boats all day long, but man did the owner's son have excellent pot.

 

[bbhaag]

Easiest job I ever had was working at the local park district over the summer. All I did was drive a truck around to the different city parks and either mow the grass with a rider or empty the trash cans. It was mundane but the guys I worked with made it fun.

The hardest job I've ever had is my current one. My bother and I own a greenhouse. Between the growing schedule, hiring employees, maintenance, marketing, and all the other things I'm forgetting everyday is a challenge. Take our virtual tour and let me know what you think.
Washington Greenhouse

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Easiest: managing a car rental office in Santa Barbara. My office was across the street from the beach. This was before cell phones so, I ran 200 feet of phone cord over a palm tree and down to a recliner in the beach.

Hardest: middle manager in the world's largest corporate food service. Trying my level best to give good food and service in the face of corporate greed and one size fits all attitudes from the powers that be. A major factor in my decision to never work for corporate food service again.

 

[Thebobo]

Hardest - Landscaping. But I was in great shape after a year.

Easiest - my current job

going to add a category.

Most Fun / rewarding.

Working on the Appalachian trail for 2 summers as a "Trail Patrol Person" for $12.50 a day and milage on my vehicle. Even had a uniform...

 

[purbeast0]

Easiest: my full time job that pays the bills.

Hardest: being a dad.

 

[Genx87]

Easiest- Worked on a contract for the fed govt in summer\fall of 2002. Lots of hours but very easy work. And it was in Las Vegas. 24 year old single guy living in Las Vegas making 2400 a week. What could go wrong?

Hardest- My current position. Lots of responsibilities. Going through being acquired, job role is changing. And will continue to change. Lots of uncertainty. But also a lot of work.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Easiest: Operations help desk for mil. Long hours of shift work, but mostly quiet since we kept our screws tightened up pretty well.

Hardest: Wal-Mart. I'll murder/death/kill before I work in customer service like that again. Truly miserable experience.

 

[amdhunter]

Easiest: Working a mailroom for the American Kennel Club back in the mid-90s.

Hardest: I got a job through my brother who hooked me up with a dead animal pickup service. Pretty much you go to various veterinary offices and deliver them to get cremated. Or pick up dead animals in the street. I thought it would be pretty easy until I ran into a frozen rottweiler that I couldn't pick up. It turns out all of the animals are frozen in vet offices...and then there's those dead animals who's skin literally peels off when you pick them up because they are rotten.

I quit after they handed me a chainsaw and told me and a co-worker to go pick up a dead horse in Central Park. Yeah, F that.

It was decent pay though - $10.75 for a job in 1997, with a ton of overtime. They didn't even pressure you to do all your pickups and you got to drive all day. I was living with my mom as well so I got to pocket everything.

 

[Zeze]

Most rewarding: My freshman year in college, I worked as a day camp counselor in a summer program for one of the most expensive private boarding school in US (Philips Academy). Basically the boarding school has a beautiful campus and during the summer, we run a program for 7-10 year olds.

I was paid $9/hr to play with the kids all day - mostly summer in the beautiful sun. Swimming class, canoeing class (beautiful lake), archery class, drama class, etc. I was tanned, I was facking in great shape too.

I LOVE KIDS. I bonded with them so much, and it was amazing to see how smart they are at 7.

Outdoor all day
Love kids / hug them / joke with them
Soak in all that summer weather & sun, not a day wasted
Tasted white meat

And the counselors (us) are all similar age group. Tons of us flirted and facked. I got to fingerblast a cute white girl. She was my first white experience - a beautiful blond.

I always fondly remember this job. I talked about it few times to my friends and wife. It's crazy I'm now so old that I'm looking that their website curious about that cost per kid. It's $2000 a month LOL - same as what I pay for daycare.

 

[Thebobo]

Yea back in my early days I was offered a job a s camp counselor but the kids were like 12-15 and I said no way. ~

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Yea back in my early days I was offered a job a s camp counselor but the kids were like 12-15 and I said no way. ~

Being a camp counselor was one of the best jobs I ever had. Introducing inner city kids to Lake Superior was awesome!