Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
What is the shortest job you have had?
- Thread starter Reevefoug
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
3 months at Wal-Mart in the TLE (tire/lube/express) department making $4.55/hr (mid-western state). Didn't take me long to realize that there was just no way I was going to be able to make it on income like that. Kicked my butt in gear, went to college, got a job in California, and here I am married and all! And I have a MBP! 
Last edited:
Interesting. Unethical processes, or?
No need for specifics per se', merely curious. I have always been fascinated with Car Dealerships, and their practices. When it comes to sales, I would make a terrible sales person. To me, you either want the product or not. Why do I have to 'convince you' to buy it. LOL
No need for specifics per se', merely curious. I have always been fascinated with Car Dealerships, and their practices. When it comes to sales, I would make a terrible sales person. To me, you either want the product or not. Why do I have to 'convince you' to buy it. LOL
2 days on a high rise summer construction job, got let go cause they did not need me. Just as well. My best summer jobs were as an electrician, highly recommended as a vocational profession.
I generally understood the auto sales business before I took the job and dealerships can be run ethically. Many are. Just because a dealership or salesperson needs to make money doesn't mean they're not honest. And you might be surprised how many customers are total buttheads or have no idea how narrow the margins are on some vehicles.
Finally, you're right. In the vast majority of cases, people already know what they want when they walk through the door. Some look forward to haggling on price - even if only for a few dollars. Others just want to get the purchase over with. Still others are a bit confused or overwhelmed and a salesperson's job is to help them find their vehicle based on wants, needs and budget.
With all of that said, the shop I was employed at did not employ ethical standards - and preyed on lower-income, subprime-credit buyers. In addition, sales people would get into heated arguments on the showroom floor - in front of customers - accusing each other of stealing commissions. Also, a number of my fellow staffers were wearing ankle bracelets for drug-related probations.
At the end of my workweek, I concluded that, while I was not a vain person, I was better than that. And so I quit on the spot. When I got home, there was a phone message for me, offering a job back in the media - where I had been for decades. So it was a clear sign that what I did was right. A year later, the dealership was under new ownership.
Last edited:
Good for you mate.1967 One day @ mom&pop type restaurant, someone touched my sister inappropriately, as I held a pitcher of recently cleaned fryolator grease, still warm.
99* to the crotch of individual . Owner fired me but, did give me a last meal, minus cleaning bill.
[automerge]1595179463[/automerge]
I had a job working nights in a hotel. It was supposed to be quiet and apart from doing rounds and checking the fire, you were supposed to be able to sleep most of the time
First night there was some sort of sales convention and I had to stay up all night working the bar serving a bunch of drunk salesman. Apart from really not enjoying it and being really tired, My digestive system couldn't cope with it (I'd worked nights before though) and I decided it wasn't worth it for the money so quit after 2 nights. Dealing with drunks is a special skill anyway.
But if you want to know the WORST job I ever had it was shovelling cauliflower 12 hours a day into a hopper every 30 seconds when a bell rang.
Apart from smelling like a cauliflower, I was programmed like one of Pavlov's dogs to lift my arm over my shoulder every time I heard a bell! I did it all summer though. Couldn't sleep and the flies loved me.
Last edited:
Perhaps it's worth adding: I did a lot of really physical, hard jobs when I was young and a student. Digging ditches by hand, barrowing clay and bricks, cleaning drains, but nothing beat shovelling cauliflower for the sheer boredom of it.
2 weeks as an EMT. I was going to college in Maryland and got a job part time as an EMT. However, HR made a mistake upon hiring and realized that my EMT wouldn't be valid for work in DC. So they admitted the mistake and said that the schedule they gave me wouldn't work (I could only work certain days of the week due to school) and I would have to work other days instead (Days that interfered with full time school).
So I was forced to quit. It was 2 weeks of training and I didn't even do any EMT jobs!! Lol... They did offer per diem which they normally don't do but I ultimately quit because if they made a mistake like that, I can't imagine how much of a headache it would be in the future working for them.
So I was forced to quit. It was 2 weeks of training and I didn't even do any EMT jobs!! Lol... They did offer per diem which they normally don't do but I ultimately quit because if they made a mistake like that, I can't imagine how much of a headache it would be in the future working for them.
Telemarketer. We started at 1:30 pm and I left at my break at 4:00. Never even told them I was leaving.
But there are those who dearly love cauliflower and certainly would appreciate your sacrifice. I also realize though that we were not the ones paying you, and we probably also complain about the price of cauliflower as it is.
File under heading of "if you do it right it's only what's expected but if you mess up it's a really big deal."
Same as with a lot of jobs... including that substitute paper route job I had now and then. Sometimes by time I got home from that gig and was ready to hit the shower before going to school, there was already some irate customer had phoned my dad yelling about how "the stupid girl" left the paper on the bottom step instead of on the porch proper.
Heh, and there I was thinking I could throw a paper 30 feet to (more or less) its destination pretty well "for a girl" from a bike on the road. What did a customer want, a major league pitcher for 75c a week? My experience did not make me humble, I'll say that much. I was uppity from before I ever hit the real job market 10 years later (and ny brothers had the good sense never to have me make their collection rounds while they were away at summer camp).
1 day - at the recycling and waste plant - was just too much for me but the lady in charge praised me for what I did
Probably some temp job when I was younger until I found a permanent one. Think it might have been a day and a half or so.
[automerge]1595620242[/automerge]
[automerge]1595620685[/automerge]
[automerge]1595620242[/automerge]
That was my ex wife's record. She was only there like a half a day, and they were expecting her to know the whole catalog.
[automerge]1595620685[/automerge]
Agree. Obviously you should have the product knowledge and be able to answer questions and discern what the customer is looking for, but when you told someone your budget like 4x, and they still offer crap well out of range all they do is waste both of your time. Same with I never understood why telemarketers cried about Telezapper. Don't you want something that can weed out the people who don't want your stuff instead of risking getting one of those customers that waste your time.
Last edited: