What were your worst experiences at jobs you worked at?

I was 16, expelled from school, rather slow and had a poor sense of direction. It wasn't exactly smart to go into the postal service. The two or so months that I worked as a postman were excruciating.

(After these experiences, I went back to school and graduated from high school with some years delay.)

After my doctorate in my early 30s, I moved to Vienna and was looking for a part-time job. I like computers but don't know much about hardware. Nevertheless, I found a job as a hardware salesman. The policy there seemed to be working very quickly and precisely. Zero tolerance for mistakes. No coffee breaks. My negative attitude was probably more obvious than I thought. After just one day, the owner of the store personally fired me.

Another awkward transitional job. Searching for information in a complicated computer program and answering questions from rail customers on the phone. The young woman who instructed me was on her period and very irritable. She talked to me like I was her servant. I became very upset. I got up, went to the team leader and said goodbye. Apparently to my instructor's surprise.

My best paid job as an employee was as a trainer for jobseekers in the service of the Austrian employment office. I found that middle-aged women in particular can be very sneaky. I accompanied a group of women for a week, then went to the dentist for a root canal treatment. When I came back, the group wanted to have a serious word with me. My lessons were not motivating and demanding enough, they said. Which in turn I didn't find very motivating.