Worst place you've ever worked?

[Homer Thompson]

I couldn't think of anything worse. After having to do sales jobs as nothing else was avialable I hate them even more. That said the sky job I had to bring back sky customers was a piece of piss, had a sheet with about dozen different offers you could use to bring folks back onto sky. Used to get about 14-18 a shift used to make a killing in cash. Then it went to cold calling...

There isnt. I did it once for a company in Sheffield. Similar story to others, promised loads but the truth turned out to be something very different. Was promised £35 a week plus commission, which suited fine as my rent+bills were £35 a week. That turned out to be nonsense and it was commission only. I did a days training with two others who were utter, utter idiots. One took a whole morning to remember the simplest of opening spiels. We then got loads of phrases to deal with objections, all of which were shit!

The only way you could make any money out of it was to be a team leader, as you then got a percentage of all of your teams sales. The two idiots I trained with both got team leaders jobs and I didnt. The reason? They had cars.

We had to turn up at 2pm for "training" which consisted of sitting about doing nothing in the office all afternoon, then went out on the streets from 6pm till 9pm. I was awful, couldnt sell anything. The one lead I did get, I got bollocked for because I "should have known they didnt have any money". I got bit by a dog and packed it in after a week

[Florentine_Pogen]

Aye, well ah wunce goat the toap dug gig wi' a bunch o' shysters where ah served ma apprenticeship ken, an' at the time ah took over the firm wis a right fuckin' shambles wi' furriners n' banks tryin' tae run the place intae the groond, ken ?

Anywey, ah goat a few auld mates tae come in an' help oot 'an then wid ye believe it, mah customers hud a fuckin' big whip roond tae try an' dae wan o' they buyoot thingys an' MP's were gettin' involved an' eventually we goat rid o' the furriners an' some bizniss wifie fae the toon threw in a pile o' cash tae buy the place and git it up an' runnin' like the good auld days, ken, but then the bitch went an' goat wan o' the auld gaffers back tae run the shoap an' aw ah goat wiz ma' P45.

Fuckin' gutted, likesay, ken..........

Anywiy, sumpn'll turn up.......

Cheers,

Gary.

[Raidernation]

Teaching at a "Charter School" in Chicago. Not permanent like teaching in UK, have to pass an interview every year to get kept on for next year.

I did, in May 2013 get confirmed for 2013/14. On June 18th I get an email saying they'd "changed their mind and I was not being offered a position for the next year" Apparently "We've tried to contact you to discuss this but can't" Well you've a fucking email address, you have my phone number........... Sounds bad enough, but the emil was sent the day of my wife's funeral, which they knew.

[Addie]

Funny I saw the NHS pop up on here. NHS Highland was hands down the best place I've ever worked. The worst decision I've ever made in my life was leaving there. Decent pay, great colleagues, well looked after and it was a 15 minute walk from my house.

I guess it depends on the board you work and where. I worked fro NHS Blood and Transplant and although the people were nice, the job itself was too political for my liking. Aftera stint in private healthcare I have gone back to the NHS and although its early days I am rather enjoying it.

[Hedgecutter]

I was a door to door salesman back in the summer of '99 for a company called GSD in Glasgow.

I did this in Seattle for a summer between first and second year at uni. Absolutely hated everything about it (mainly myself for disturbing folk and being sub-human scum - not the greatest sales trait, I agree!), although seemed interesting and like a good idea at the time. Both my parents had been salespeople at one time too - they obviously never passed down the skills. Skint (breakfast at Denny's most days FFS), knocking on doors for spare rooms to rent unofficially and reported to the police a few times. Great times.

To top it off, I never realised that Oregon and Washington had some of the world's highest pollen levels until I arrived. I started of in Eugene but got moved down to Seattle because it was meant to be better on the coast. However, crashed my el-cheapo bike and ending up face first in somebody's flower bed definitely did not help. That said, I used to get bad hayfever before I went but it hardly bothers me now. I just assume my body had a "get f***ing used to this s*** now!!!" moment over a few months.

Great place, but mostly a terribly miserable time.

PS. It was only recently that I realised that I still stand side on when at somebody's door.

[DAFC]

Anyone ever work for Talk Talk selling broadband door to door?

Has a guy turn up a couple of years back at my door claiming to be from the government and saying that I could get free broadband.

He came in and immediately sat down on my settee without asking, then asked could he run a check on the phone. It all happened so fast then I clicked, what if this was a con and phoning up some premium number etc? I then heard the talk talk music and he said to the person on the phone some details.

I took the phone off him and told him to gtfo before I phone the police.

I phoned the number he phoned and made a formal complaint.

I feel sorry for him but what a stupid way to make people get sales! If he just said he was with talk talk and could give free adsl I would have listened.

Who comes up with these plans?

[Zetterlund]

A couple of years back there was an influx of door-to-door charities going about in the area, some of which used some questionable means to get you to sign up, The people themselves didn't work for the charity of course, they were salespeople who were only interested in their commission.

They'd do their speel at the door then ask for a drink of water or to use the bathroom so that you'd invite them in, then they'd never leave. They would tell you they got into cancer/heart disease//alzheimers/animal charity work after their gran/mum/sister/hamster died from the condition to guilt you into signing up. A guy I know did this kind of work very briefly and told me this was all part of the training, I always wondered if the charities themselves would approve of these methods or if they would just prefer not to know if it was bringing the money in.

[Zetterlund]

Anyone ever work for Talk Talk selling broadband door to door?

Has a guy turn up a couple of years back at my door claiming to be from the government and saying that I could get free broadband.

He came in and immediately sat down on my settee without asking, then asked could he run a check on the phone. It all happened so fast then I clicked, what if this was a con and phoning up some premium number etc? I then heard the talk talk music and he said to the person on the phone some details.

I took the phone off him and told him to gtfo before I phone the police.

I phoned the number he phoned and made a formal complaint.

I feel sorry for him but what a stupid way to make people get sales! If he just said he was with talk talk and could give free adsl I would have listened.

Who comes up with these plans?

My girlfriend called me when I was away working to say she'd just had an upsetting experience with TalkTalk broadband salesmen. They did as you said, came in and sat down and refused to leave, eventually after about 20 mins accusing her of wasting their time and telling her they'd have to pay out of their own pockets for not making the sale. This was despite her telling them at every stage she wasn't interested and wouldn't be signing up for anything.

I read a few things online around that time about how many complaints they had received about their door-to-door tactics and our experience was pretty typical.

[Hedgecutter]

A couple of years back there was an influx of door-to-door charities going about in the area, some of which used some questionable means to get you to sign up, The people themselves didn't work for the charity of course, they were salespeople who were only interested in their commission.

They'd do their speel at the door then ask for a drink of water or to use the bathroom so that you'd invite them in, then they'd never leave. They would tell you they got into cancer/heart disease//alzheimers/animal charity work after their gran/mum/sister/hamster died from the condition to guilt you into signing up. A guy I know did this kind of work very briefly and told me this was all part of the training, I always wondered if the charities themselves would approve of these methods or if they would just prefer not to know if it was bringing the money in.

I had a similar thing with some Marie Curie CR folk a few months back. The one evening it decides to piss it down and they're standing at the door like a couple of drookit rats. The soft touch in me invited them in and before I knew it I was giving the f***ers £10pm.

I'm pretty sure they specifically picked that night actually (with their branded yellow rain ponchos and everything).

[Uncle Psychosis]

Summer I left school I spent working in a telesales company doing cold calling. Was a horrible job. Shite pay, shite job. I'm convinced it was all a money laundering scam because the business just didn't seem to make sense. Ripped us off on our commission too.

A few months after I left the company folded without warning. The staff turned up to work to find a note on the door. Think they all got shafted out of several weeks wages :-(

[cracowjambo]

Summer I left school I spent working in a telesales company doing cold calling. Was a horrible job. Shite pay, shite job. I'm convinced it was all a money laundering scam because the business just didn't seem to make sense. Ripped us off on our commission too.

A few months after I left the company folded without warning. The staff turned up to work to find a note on the door. Think they all got shafted out of several weeks wages :-(

Where was this? I worked for a company SHG in perth that done that

[Kilbowie's Finest]

Back in my student days, I was on my way down to the South of France for a summer job selling doughnuts on the beach. I was 2 days early and hitch-hiking around, when a guy pulled up and asked if I'd be interested in doing a couple days work at a circus. OK, said I.

It was a small family affair, 'Le Cirque aux Etoiles', and their regular dogsbody had absconded. My role would be to help set the chairs out, carry props on and off, flog popcorn etc... "We can't pay you, but we'll feed you; the best thing about the job is that in the afternoon, lots of girls come to look at the animals, and you can show them around (winks)."

It was fucking awful. They were a clan of talentless gypo shysters, trying to fleece the public for anything they could get. The 'acrobat' was the pudgy teenage daughter, who did an appalling ball-balancing act involving slipping off every few seconds. The 'clown' was the patriarch, a foul-mouthed, foul-smelling sexual deviant. The guy who'd picked me up was the idiot son/nephew, who got his kicks from showing young teen girls his goat.

After the show, they gave me a sandwich ("Here's your dinner"). I waited till the coast was clear, grabbed my backpack and got the f**k out of there.

You sure you hadn't ended up here Duszek?

[thisGRAEME]

Anyone ever work for Talk Talk selling broadband door to door?

Has a guy turn up a couple of years back at my door claiming to be from the government and saying that I could get free broadband.

He came in and immediately sat down on my settee without asking, then asked could he run a check on the phone. It all happened so fast then I clicked, what if this was a con and phoning up some premium number etc? I then heard the talk talk music and he said to the person on the phone some details.

I took the phone off him and told him to gtfo before I phone the police.

I phoned the number he phoned and made a formal complaint.

I feel sorry for him but what a stupid way to make people get sales! If he just said he was with talk talk and could give free adsl I would have listened.

Who comes up with these plans?

For about two hours. I was at a fairly low ebb trying to find a job and considered myself 'up for anything' to earn some money. I was interviewed by some utter Tosser in a basement in Glasgow, then invited back the next day. Ideal, thought, luck finally turning. Turn up to the same place And get a train out to somewhere in North Glasgow. At this point, I'm starting to realise why the advert was so vague, and wondering what the f**k I was doing. Stuck it out for a couple of hours and said to the boy I was done with it.

I felt bad briefly because the boy I was with, because he seemed a decent bloke, but he was clearly thick as f**k. I try not to be a snobbish w****r, but tbh, I stuck in at school and went to university so I didn't have to do this shit, rather than hang out with failed footballers selling talk talk to clueless housewives. Awful, fair play to anyone that makes it more than an hour or two, because it's absolutely soul destroying,

[jamamafegan]

Paper round. It was awful.

I enjoyed it the first time around. The lady who ran the corner shop was a very pleasant person and she made sure I was well prepared for the arduous 20-minute trek through the streets of Perth. She gave me a walk-through of the route so that I wouldn't make any mistakes and could do it as quickly as possible.

Then she left. There was a change of owner. He was a cretin. He still runs the shop to this very day. I haven't come into contact with him in recent years, so I don't know if he is still a cretin.

Anyway, he gave me a brand new route. I would have had no problem with this, but he gave it to me on the day of my first paper round under his stewardship and he refused to give me a walk-through. I didn't know some of the streets on the route and told him this, but he said that he had no time to advise me. Funnily enough, it took me absolutely ages to complete. On one street, there were two houses which were #1. The sheet of paper, which told me the names of the streets and houses, advised me that I must pop a copy of the Daily Record into #1. But there were two number #1's. Which #1 should I choose? Why are there two #1's in one street? Is this even allowed?

Putting aside all troubling questions, I decided to play a game of 'Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo' to determine which house to choose. It proved to be the least successful and most damaging game of 'Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo' in history (until Jeremy Clarkson kind of stole my thunder).

Yes, I picked the wrong house. The next afternoon, the doorbell rang. It was the cretin who runs the corner shop. I knew instinctively that I was in serious trouble. His seething face confirmed my fears. ''You took an incredibly long amount of time'', he said smugly. ''And you made a mistake. You picked the wrong #1.''

I confirmed that I had serious trouble in picking the correct #1 and would have perhaps benefited from a walk-through so that he could show me the ropes. He replied by telling me that it was an ''easy'' route and my efforts were ''below-par''. Landing a killer blow, he told me that I would be ''fired'' if I made one more mistake.

This corner-shop version of Lord Alan Sugar then turned away and disappeared into the distance, leaving me feeling hopeless. Pathetic. Like a piece of dirt. I didn't think things could get any worse. Then the doorbell rang again, a mere 5 minutes later. He had returned, looking more smug than ever.

''I have actually done your paper round route on many occasions, alongside my dog'', he said, pointing down at his ugly little bulldog. ''I have decided to take you on a walk-through to show you just how easy it is. My dog will lead the way.''

The cretin and I then proceeded to follow his dog through the Perth streets whilst it walked to every house of my paper round route in their exact order, getting nothing wrong whatsoever. The dog was taunting me as it approached each house, turning its disgusting little head towards me each time in a display of horrible arrogance. This lasted about 20 minutes, but felt closer to an hour in length. Once we returned to the corner shop, the cretinous man smirked at me and said, ''See? Even my dog can do it'', before turning his back on me. I soon turned my back on the degrading job.

:lol:

Hilarious because, of course, I know who you're on about. I read your quotes in that fucking english accent of his. I can confirm that he is still indeed a cretin. The lady before him was so fucking sound, would give me xmas cards and presents. I'm sure she even have me Easter eggs. Then he turned up. Nothing. b*****d.

I like his dug though. Friendly wee dug.

[Hedgecutter]

Walkers shortbread for a summer.

6-2pm, putting biscuits in boxes with a bunch of wierdo 60 year old wifies.

Luckily I was still drunk from the night before most of the time.

And I didn't, any of them.

My other half had the same experience there but putting the stickers on the boxes (put any of them slightly squint at your peril). She describes these folk as the 60 year old women who still think that they're the school bully.

She said that it was probably the biggest incentive to do well at school to get to uni rather than have a lifetime sentence there.

[throbber]

Another shite job came for me in Oz, we were staying in a hostel in Sydney and there was a notice board that had an ad saying a "roofing company" were looking for a worker, i had done some skilled roof work before so thought it might be half decent. Got there and it was a boy about 5 years younger than me in a van and we went about cleaning leaves out of gutters. Before i started work there i got briefed on company policy and ways of going about business and how to take notes down in the company diary when it was a job to clean leaves out fucking gutters! The guy couldn't have been any more of a bell end as well, he was clearly one of those really brainwashed kids who's dad was too hard on him all the time, he told me that one person did the driving and the other person did the navigating on the tom tom so i was driving coming up to a junction whilst he was texting on his phone so i slightly leaned the tom tom to me to see which way to go at the junction, just as i touched it he perked up and moved it slightly back towards himself and said in the most patronising voice "No no, the person who isn't driving looks at the tom tom" I packed in after day 3

[P.C]

I did another sales role after I got made redundant and couldn't find another job for my experience so had to take it. I had to go tail between my legs back to MGt just to get some cash to keep me going until i found another "proper job". I knew what was coming but the first day of training where we go round the room was one of the most depressing things ive been party to. Going round asking people to say where they have worked before went something like this

Retired need extra money

College doing travel and tourism

just left school

just left school

left college

IT support for Heineken uk...

Also seeing people id worked with 10 years beforehand who were still there was just soul destroying. God even the guy doing the training remembered me

Basically we had to spend the time building people up so they could deal with speaking to folk on the phone and once they could do that they coach them into how to pressure folk into buying the product. We were trying to sell a BT package at nearly double the price of some of the other companies out there and trying to justify that despite the fact it was a slower speed for internet, less free time for calls and a crapper TV package they should move to us. The basic wage was a joke and i don't think I ever hit the magic target to ever get any of my sales added to my wages so I was living on about £6 a hour. If you have any morals then doing sales like that is not the job for you

[Stellaboz]

What were you doing with DeVere? I've been dealing a fair bit with a couple of the guys there (1 in Zurich and 1 in London I think) recently and they both seem to enjoy it.

Cold calling after being promised the world in terms of working in investments. As I say, in hindsight it was a bloody jump into the dark. Long working hours, sourcing own clients, cold calling these people during working hours. Awful. However the people that worked there were absolutely fantastic, hard to come across a much nicer bunch.

[Ross.]

Cold calling after being promised the world in terms of working in investments. As I say, in hindsight it was a bloody jump into the dark. Long working hours, sourcing own clients, cold calling these people during working hours. Awful. However the people that worked there were absolutely fantastic, hard to come across a much nicer bunch.

Makes sense that you'd hate it if it's cold calling. Everyone I've dealt with and spoken to in the office in Zürich seemed to genuinely be enjoying their job. Suppose that view of the lake they have helps.

[itzdrk]

My job at the moment is bad, having to deal with cretin shop owners on a daily basis, the only saving grace of it is i don't have to sell anything.

To be honest most of my jobs have been completely rotten & i don't know where to begin really

I did work door to door selling Talk Talk through some dodgy company, lasted a couple days. when i quit i applied for some more jobs and got invited to an interview at the same location, when i arrived i realized it wasn't up the stairs or anything it was the same place just recruiting under a different name, sat though the interview since i was there anyway and was told i had the job.

i presume their interview process was to make sure you didn't have your whole face tattoo'd or something.