What were your worst experiences at jobs you worked at?

I was working security at a festival. After 3 15 hour shifts we where all tired and ready to snap. So my supervisor thought it would be funny to joke around with the customers.

The main act was Tom Jones, so he came up with the hilarious joke, that we all ran with. Before you read on I suggest sitting down, because there's a good chance you'll fall to the floor laughing at how funny this is. Safe. Great. The joke was - 'Do you know it's not really Tom Jones playing? It's his Scottish brother Tam Jones'. 

Supposedly one customer believed us, that a random guy called Tam Jones was the main headliner for this festival, didn't want to wait around a few more minutes for that and ended up going home  missing the real Tom Jones. Because of this we all got fired. 

Another security job. This time at a pub. Drunks, drugs, fights most weekends. It eventually calmed down, but that took a lot of steady work.

Anyway , when working a bar you expect at least one other person there just incase things get wild and you need backup. Well this company would leave me myself multiple times. I'd always manage, but it was really stressful trying to deal with these situations whilst keeping myself and others safe, lots of talking and giving out sweets to everyone at the start of the night (easy way to quickly gain their respect and they'll feel the need to give back and help if things get crazy). 

I was drained by the end of these nights. It's far too much work for one guy. I eventually quit after the third time they left me alone. Terrible company. 

Same bar as before. This time I had someone helping me. He caught some customers doing drugs so we escorted them out. Only for the manager to say 'Their my mates let them back in'.

So we let them back and as the night went on more customers seemed to be on drugs and getting wild. Luckily noone was too bad, but it wasn't a situation I wanted to be in, really unsafe. 

Whilst teaching we had a board for the teachers of the month. Stickers of our faces for when we were doing something great. As time went on I noticed that it was only the poor teachers getting rewarded (looking back it was probably for encouragement). This annoyed me, because by all metrics I was doing better than all of them (higher test scores, higher retention, happier kids ect.) there was a lot more going on that was angering me and this made me snap.

I printed out an a4 photo of me, cut it out and stuck that on the board, because it was true, I was the greatest. This act really cheered me up, I felt I was being acknowledged again (even if it was only by me). Eventually my manager had a word with me. I said that I was the best so what's the problem? It got taken down, but I was a lot happier. I bought a fake crown and wore it around the office for the next month.

Was it right? Probably not, but I got what I needed. I was depressed and felt useless for a long long time. This changed everything. 

Wasn't my works fault, but it resulted in me having to leave, so that's why I'm including it.

I didn't know about covid until friends back home in the UK told me. I was in Shanghai for Chinese New year with friends when I found out. It was a great trip, but strangely quiet. We suspected that everyone was at home celebrating the holiday. Boss phoned us telling us to cut the holiday short and return to our city. So we got on the train back the next day. Once we got off the train it was silent. The outside of the station was lined up with army tents blocking the rest of the city. Soldiers with guns guarded the tents. It was like a zombie movie. We entered the tents one by one. Got our temperature checked then where moved on to the other side. The city was dead. No cars on the road, buildings all closed. Silence. So we walked home. After about an hour I finally made it home. But before I got inside I had to get checked again. Leave my name, phone number and passport details. After all that I went into my apartment and rested. 

I was then locked in, alone for the next few weeks. I could leave to go to the shop at certain times, getting temp checked and giving details everytime I left /entered a new building. After a few days they boarded off the fire exits in my apartment. People must have been seeking out, but living on the 21st floor this freaked me out. I wasn't waiting around to see what happened next. I packed all that I could, leaving tons behind and left. Beijing, wandered about for a full day trying to find a hotel for the night. Went to the embassy the next morning then finally got a flight home. 

Scary times.