We asked iVillagers, "What's the worst, grossest job you've ever had?" The responses we got gave new meaning to the phrase "It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it." Feeling bummed at work? Just be glad you're not at one of these jobs:




I used to clean the morgue and emergency areas at a major hospital, in a very bad part of town. I tried not to be cleaning the morgue or lab areas late at night... just creepy! And weird noises. You also never knew who or what you would be dealing with every day in the emergency area. Fights, fire starters, druggies, drunks...


My first job was working on an assembly line cleaning the poo off eggs. It stunk, was hot, and lord help you if anything went wrong — shattered slippery, stinky eggs everywhere.


My worst job was working in a medical lab. I worked in sample preparation (just out of college) and poured off urine and separated blood... not terrible, but could be pretty gross!


I worked at an upscale fast food restaurant when I was 15, where I had to get inside the oven to clean it because I was the only one small enough to do it. Ick!


I worked at a hog processing plant, on the production floor — specifically, the Loin Line. I had to peel the fat off ribs, weigh backbones, and pull tenderloins. After the grueling physical work, the sickly sweet smell of pig, being in 28-degree F temps all day, and walking around in blood, snouts and pig guts, I will never, ever eat ribs again.


The one hotel job worse than working on the front desk is working in housekeeping! That man and woman who checked into the Jacuzzi suite at 10:30 with a case of beer and two pizzas? That's the room I had to clean the next morning with pizza floating in the tub and the toilet, with butt prints on the mirrors (I'll leave the question of how they got there to your imagination!), and used "personal supplies" all over the place.


I thought, "No big deal, I can handle being a waitress at a strip club." Not! I lasted one night, and never went back, not even for the measly pay check.


Worst job, hands down, was doing flood recovery after the '93 flood in Missouri. The company my dad worked for at the time was in the flats, and all of the documents that were soaked with the nasty river water had to be individually photocopied and prepared for microfilming. It took every weekend for over a year of carefully peeling papers apart, tweaking the darkness/lightness of the copier settings, and standing the whole time to get it done. My hands smelled like the Missouri River for months!


While I was in high school I worked at a Six Flags during the summer in the burger booth. It was always 100 degrees F in there and the customers were nasty! The lines were always long, because there were only four of us working the counter and two people cooking in the back. The booth was also really small, so we were all knocking into each other trying to fill orders.


I think mine was being a waitress at Waffle House. If you're good you can get a lot of tips, but you also get hit on by dirty old men constantly!


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