Toughest job you ever did?

[shockedcanadian]

I was thinking about this as I'm getting older, not as physically dominant as I once was, but still holding on pretty well. Sometimes memories help keep me young.

I've had a few tough jobs, but for me it was probably working at a moving company. Constant work, garbage pay, it was a summer job for me before I went back to school.

One day we are doing a government office. 7th Floor, we get up there as one of the elevators is broken, the second one goes "On Service" for some lazy employees who are themselves moving their entire floor. So what do we do? What all underpaid idiots do, we go down 7 flights of stairs with massive desks cubicle walls, heavy duty metal cabinets and drawers. Then we have to walk back up seven flights and work the next load. Did that for 8 hours with a half hour lunch. It was in the summer and I was sweating like a pig.

People were bitching and crying, I'm Canadian so I'm use to hearing it, but I just did my thing. Whining solves nothing and just gives yourself an excuse to slack off. I liked the challenge anyways, I was young enough.

I recall withholding my school work on my resume knowing they wouldn't hire me, then one day, just not showing up. Phone is ringing every day, first threatening me with the voice message ("you will lose your job"), then begging me to show up for work one day ("hey give us a call, we have some good hours if you want them"). lol. They were just begging for any fool to stay the full day let alone work hard for 3 months. There were some real hard working guys there just paying their bills, but also a few arrogant pricks who liked to look down on others who were just doing their job.

So, that's my story. Any one else care to share?

 

[Auld Phart]

 

[Dekster]

Installing irrigation systems. Back breaking labor often in full sun and often is ground so rocky a shovel wouldn't even work, especially on some of the commercial jobs

 

[occupied]

I work the toughest of jobs now and have for the last 35 years. I build gulf coast beach houses and in my spare time I pull logs out of a snake and alliigator infested swamp to build furniture. For me the only tough job is the one you hate.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Sprayed attic insulation in Texas in the summer.
Fuken Brutal!!
The temps reached 150 to 160 and you could only be in the attic for 15 minutes at a time.
You'd climb down from the attic and the 95 degree day would give you goosebumps.

 

[bluzman61]

I was thinking about this as I'm getting older, not as physically dominant as I once was, but still holding on pretty well. Sometimes memories help keep me young.

I've had a few tough jobs, but for me it was probably working at a moving company. Constant work, garbage pay, it was a summer job for me before I went back to school.

One day we are doing a government office. 7th Floor, we get up there as one of the elevators is broken, the second one goes "On Service" for some lazy employees who are themselves moving their entire floor. So what do we do? What all underpaid idiots do, we go down 7 flights of stairs with massive desks cubicle walls, heavy duty metal cabinets and drawers. Then we have to walk back up seven flights and work the next load. Did that for 8 hours with a half hour lunch. It was in the summer and I was sweating like a pig.

People were bitching and crying, I'm Canadian so I'm use to hearing it, but I just did my thing. Whining solves nothing and just gives yourself an excuse to slack off. I liked the challenge anyways, I was young enough.

I recall withholding my school work on my resume knowing they wouldn't hire me, then one day, just not showing up. Phone is ringing every day, first threatening me with the voice message ("you will lose your job"), then begging me to show up for work one day ("hey give us a call, we have some good hours if you want them"). lol. They were just begging for any fool to stay the full day let alone work hard for 3 months. There were some real hard working guys there just paying their bills, but also a few arrogant pricks who liked to look down on others who were just doing their job.

So, that's my story. Any one else care to share?

The toughest job I had, physically, was probably in a group home for mentally and/or physically handicapped adults. Some of the residents didn't handle their anger issues too well, and would sometimes have to be physically restrained to prevent them from harming the other residents. I also did a LOT of cooking and cleaning. The cooking part was fun, the cleaning part, not so much. I also drove the residents around quite a bit, in the group home station wagon. That was sometimes a hassle, getting all six residents rounded up, and being the only staff person working. But for the most part, it was very rewarding work. I learned more about life in the year and nine months I worked there, than I would've learned in four years at college.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I work the toughest of jobs now and have for the last 35 years. I build gulf coast beach houses and in my spare time I pull logs out of a snake and alliigator infested swamp to build furniture. For me the only tough job is the one you hate.

Hell,we wade into alligator infested swamps at night for fun and frog legs.

 

[forkup]

I was thinking about this as I'm getting older, not as physically dominant as I once was, but still holding on pretty well. Sometimes memories help keep me young.

I've had a few tough jobs, but for me it was probably working at a moving company. Constant work, garbage pay, it was a summer job for me before I went back to school.

One day we are doing a government office. 7th Floor, we get up there as one of the elevators is broken, the second one goes "On Service" for some lazy employees who are themselves moving their entire floor. So what do we do? What all underpaid idiots do, we go down 7 flights of stairs with massive desks cubicle walls, heavy duty metal cabinets and drawers. Then we have to walk back up seven flights and work the next load. Did that for 8 hours with a half hour lunch. It was in the summer and I was sweating like a pig.

People were bitching and crying, I'm Canadian so I'm use to hearing it, but I just did my thing. Whining solves nothing and just gives yourself an excuse to slack off. I liked the challenge anyways, I was young enough.

I recall withholding my school work on my resume knowing they wouldn't hire me, then one day, just not showing up. Phone is ringing every day, first threatening me with the voice message ("you will lose your job"), then begging me to show up for work one day ("hey give us a call, we have some good hours if you want them"). lol. They were just begging for any fool to stay the full day let alone work hard for 3 months. There were some real hard working guys there just paying their bills, but also a few arrogant pricks who liked to look down on others who were just doing their job.

So, that's my story. Any one else care to share?

I'm an industrial cleaner. Guess I could say I have a tough job sometimes. Full hazmat suit in a tower filled with a poison you could only lay in to work. Get's so hot longest you can work for is about an hour no matter how fit you are, providing you took enough fluids before you started. 12 Hour shifts, 3 actual shifts working, rinse and repeat.

 

[bluzman61]

I was thinking about this as I'm getting older, not as physically dominant as I once was, but still holding on pretty well. Sometimes memories help keep me young.

I've had a few tough jobs, but for me it was probably working at a moving company. Constant work, garbage pay, it was a summer job for me before I went back to school.

One day we are doing a government office. 7th Floor, we get up there as one of the elevators is broken, the second one goes "On Service" for some lazy employees who are themselves moving their entire floor. So what do we do? What all underpaid idiots do, we go down 7 flights of stairs with massive desks cubicle walls, heavy duty metal cabinets and drawers. Then we have to walk back up seven flights and work the next load. Did that for 8 hours with a half hour lunch. It was in the summer and I was sweating like a pig.

People were bitching and crying, I'm Canadian so I'm use to hearing it, but I just did my thing. Whining solves nothing and just gives yourself an excuse to slack off. I liked the challenge anyways, I was young enough.

I recall withholding my school work on my resume knowing they wouldn't hire me, then one day, just not showing up. Phone is ringing every day, first threatening me with the voice message ("you will lose your job"), then begging me to show up for work one day ("hey give us a call, we have some good hours if you want them"). lol. They were just begging for any fool to stay the full day let alone work hard for 3 months. There were some real hard working guys there just paying their bills, but also a few arrogant pricks who liked to look down on others who were just doing their job.

So, that's my story. Any one else care to share?

I'm an industrial cleaner. Guess I could say I have a tough job sometimes. Full hazmat suit in a tower you could only lay in to work. Get's so hot longest you can work for is about an hour no matter how fit you are, providing you took enough fluids before you started. 12 Hour shifts, 3 actual shifts working, rinse and repeat.

Sounds like a LOT of fun! (Just a hint of sarcasm.)

 

[occupied]

I work the toughest of jobs now and have for the last 35 years. I build gulf coast beach houses and in my spare time I pull logs out of a snake and alliigator infested swamp to build furniture. For me the only tough job is the one you hate.

Hell,we wade into alligator infested swamps at night for fun and frog legs.

That's cool, I love being out there at night. I do not like frog's legs though.

 

[forkup]

I was thinking about this as I'm getting older, not as physically dominant as I once was, but still holding on pretty well. Sometimes memories help keep me young.

I've had a few tough jobs, but for me it was probably working at a moving company. Constant work, garbage pay, it was a summer job for me before I went back to school.

One day we are doing a government office. 7th Floor, we get up there as one of the elevators is broken, the second one goes "On Service" for some lazy employees who are themselves moving their entire floor. So what do we do? What all underpaid idiots do, we go down 7 flights of stairs with massive desks cubicle walls, heavy duty metal cabinets and drawers. Then we have to walk back up seven flights and work the next load. Did that for 8 hours with a half hour lunch. It was in the summer and I was sweating like a pig.

People were bitching and crying, I'm Canadian so I'm use to hearing it, but I just did my thing. Whining solves nothing and just gives yourself an excuse to slack off. I liked the challenge anyways, I was young enough.

I recall withholding my school work on my resume knowing they wouldn't hire me, then one day, just not showing up. Phone is ringing every day, first threatening me with the voice message ("you will lose your job"), then begging me to show up for work one day ("hey give us a call, we have some good hours if you want them"). lol. They were just begging for any fool to stay the full day let alone work hard for 3 months. There were some real hard working guys there just paying their bills, but also a few arrogant pricks who liked to look down on others who were just doing their job.

So, that's my story. Any one else care to share?

I'm an industrial cleaner. Guess I could say I have a tough job sometimes. Full hazmat suit in a tower you could only lay in to work. Get's so hot longest you can work for is about an hour no matter how fit you are, providing you took enough fluids before you started. 12 Hour shifts, 3 actual shifts working, rinse and repeat.

Sounds like a LOT of fun! (Just a hint of sarcasm.)

It actually can be. I get paid well to do a tough but rewarding job in environments most people don't ever see.

 

[westwall]

My company had to clean up a toxic mess in Romania after the socialist collapse. Decades and decades of industrial waste had to be cleaned to make just a small place habitable again.

 

[bluzman61]

My company had to clean up a toxic mess in Romania after the socialist collapse. Decades and decades of industrial waste had to be cleaned to make just a small place habitable again.

YIKES!

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I work the toughest of jobs now and have for the last 35 years. I build gulf coast beach houses and in my spare time I pull logs out of a snake and alliigator infested swamp to build furniture. For me the only tough job is the one you hate.

Hell,we wade into alligator infested swamps at night for fun and frog legs.

That's cool, I love being out there at night. I do not like frog's legs though.

How do ya see the logs?

 

[night_son]

I was thinking about this as I'm getting older, not as physically dominant as I once was, but still holding on pretty well. Sometimes memories help keep me young.

I've had a few tough jobs, but for me it was probably working at a moving company. Constant work, garbage pay, it was a summer job for me before I went back to school.

One day we are doing a government office. 7th Floor, we get up there as one of the elevators is broken, the second one goes "On Service" for some lazy employees who are themselves moving their entire floor. So what do we do? What all underpaid idiots do, we go down 7 flights of stairs with massive desks cubicle walls, heavy duty metal cabinets and drawers. Then we have to walk back up seven flights and work the next load. Did that for 8 hours with a half hour lunch. It was in the summer and I was sweating like a pig.

People were bitching and crying, I'm Canadian so I'm use to hearing it, but I just did my thing. Whining solves nothing and just gives yourself an excuse to slack off. I liked the challenge anyways, I was young enough.

I recall withholding my school work on my resume knowing they wouldn't hire me, then one day, just not showing up. Phone is ringing every day, first threatening me with the voice message ("you will lose your job"), then begging me to show up for work one day ("hey give us a call, we have some good hours if you want them"). lol. They were just begging for any fool to stay the full day let alone work hard for 3 months. There were some real hard working guys there just paying their bills, but also a few arrogant pricks who liked to look down on others who were just doing their job.

So, that's my story. Any one else care to share?

Working an in-between job as a chimney sweep in Baltimore City. Some of the historical homes in the Roland Park area were quite interesting to deal with, what with their several stories high, steep pitch slate rooves covered in ancient moss. You can't risk a ridge hook on such frail slate tiles, so getting up there to clean the flues can be murder. One job in particular stands out. We did a historical mansion in downtown Baltimore owned by a little old lady spitfire who kept trying to build fires in her fireplace and flooding her rooms with smoke. To get to the highest ridge of her slate roof we had to climb up an outside balcony (all upper floors of her mansion had been sealed off for decades) and then put a ladder up from there. We would have needed a sixty foot ladder to go straight from ground to roof. Our company didn't own one.

So her slate roof was steep, moss covered and baking in the summer sun. With the use of some climbing gear I'd stowed in the work van we finally made it up to her chimney, but then had to climb up its side and essentially lay on the crown. Turned out birds had built a series of nests in her flue in layers several feet thick. Funny thing? Every time we came down to see if her chimney was clear enough to get a draft she'd ask us if we had really been up on her roof or were pulling her leg. In the end we cleared her flue, sold her a new flue tile, crown seal and flue cap, and had the pleasure of taking in her oral history of the area going back close to the turn of the century.

At any rate, more often than not, I'd come home from work each day covered in soot and trying to get it out of my nose and ears for weeks.

 

[9thIDdoc]

Soldier in combat

 

[Rambunctious]

Hod carrier on 6 plus story buildings....

 

[Wyatt earp]

Working at Winston Salem..

Loading cigarettes carton boxes in shipping container floor to ceiling.


You wouldn't believe how heavy they got and you had to jump up the last two rows

You would be worn out after 7 trailers 10 guys in 8 hours

 

[Wyatt earp]

Working at Winston Salem..

Loading cigarettes carton boxes in shipping container floor to ceiling.


You wouldn't believe how heavy they got and you had to jump up the last two rows

You would be worn out after 7 trailers 10 guys in 8 hours

Oh by the way one shipping container held a million dollars worth of smokes

 

[occupied]

I work the toughest of jobs now and have for the last 35 years. I build gulf coast beach houses and in my spare time I pull logs out of a snake and alliigator infested swamp to build furniture. For me the only tough job is the one you hate.

Hell,we wade into alligator infested swamps at night for fun and frog legs.

That's cool, I love being out there at night. I do not like frog's legs though.

How do ya see the logs?

It's interesting. You go out there walking the woods in the winter months and find the cyprus logs that were cut down a hundred or more years ago. That part is getting harder because the easy ones are mostly gone. You get a GPS position of the log. You come back in the spring floods and a diver (not me) goes down and attaches chains and floats to the log and a specialized boat wenches them off the bottom. You then drag them back to sawmill.