What Was Your Hardest/Dirtiest Job?

Hardest job?
Working in a bubble wrap factory.
Imagine the self control needed.

I'm writing a blog about the hardest/dirtiest jobs people have had.

What was yours?

KB • The hardest and dirtiest job I ever had (literally) was as a nurses aide (nursing home and hospital environments to work my way through college.
I preferred the hospital because the pay was better and many people walked out upon discharge.
While these jobs were demanding physically and emotionally, I enjoyed them greatly.
I worked off-shift most of the time (2nd or 3rd shifts). I was consistently praised by my patients in two areas; back rubs and enemas!
It's all about flow. 

JH • The dirtiest job i have had was at Grede LLC. Working in the foundry where silica sand and small aluminum flakes fills every pore of your body with black. And the smell would only be described as a Zoo/birth of something unknown.

CF • The dirtiest, hardest job ever was working at a service station when I was 12-14 years old. I was originally hired to work the cash register but the owner showed me how to change oil on cars, fix transmissions, plug/change tires, clean break lines, etc. What an experience I had at such a young age.  I do remember how to change oil and plug a tire but I decided a long time ago to hang up my oil pan for good!

AP • My hardest job was working in an industrial laundromat. I woke up at 4:15 AM and drove a half hour to so I could punch in by. 5:00. Usually it was already 85 degrees inside and incredibly humid with nowhere to go but hotter. I especially enjoyed the smell of week old mildew. I was lucky. My position was at the iron. Others were at the steam press or loading the washers. I learned some important things. 1. Some people want their sheets ironed. 2 How to lose weight without trying. 3 The real value of a dollar and 4 why I was going to peruse a post secondary education.  

JPM • My dirtiest job wasn't necessarily my hardest job, but it wasn't one for the squeamish! When I owned the Sporting goods shop, we used to buy much of our bait in bulk and separate it ourselves by hand. Leeches by the pound to count individual dozens, hellgrammites (Dobson fly larvae - they pinch too!) by the thousand, same with wigglers (mayfly larvae), waxworms (bee moth larvae) by the tub of 500, spikes (maggots) the same way. Night-crawlers came in by the flat of 500. There is nothing like grabbing a handful of a squirming mass of thick worms to get you going in the morning! Sounds awful to some, but it was actually kind of fun! Had my daughter doing a lot of it when she was little! She loves to tell stories about adopting "pets" and putting them in her pockets to later bring out in a grocery store, school, or restaurant... Ahhh, those were the days!

VS • In college, I worked at the Primate Lab in the Psychology Department at UW-Madison and I had to feed and clean up after all those little critters. When I would walk into their habitat, they would all jump all over me. I was soooo scared because one of the groups I took care of were the cotton-top tamarins, which looked EXACTLY the Gremlins. I ended up loving them (although I never did get used to cleaning monkey poop!).

TD • The hardest job I ever had was working as a laborer for my Dad's building company. I came home every night covered in dirt, sweaty, with every muscle in my body aching. But, it was also the best because he taught me work ethic and that there is no shame in a hard days work. Thanks Dad.

DLB • The toughest job I ever had was cleaning boats one summer for $7.00 an hour. On the days I wasn't doing that, I was weighing scrap at a scrap yard. Believe it or not, although the scrap yard was dirty, it was much easier than making people's yachts look perfect, with absolutely no streaks, all while dodging big, scary spiders while I was all by myself!
I had the best tan I ever that summer.....

MT*My hardest job is being a dad.  At some points, also the dirtiest.  J  My actual dirtiest was either rust proofing cars or cleaning buffing machines.  

Everet Kamikawa • Good discussion so far. My dirtiest job was cleaning apartments after people were evicted. Cut hair, cockroaches, dirty diapers, bad food, poop, some of the worst smells I've ever smelled. I literally had to stop myself from heaving each time I opened the door on another apartment to clean.

Thanks for participating everyone!

Ev

"A Heck of A Nice Guy"