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The job from hell?
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| phoenix |
Posted on September 19 2008 03:11 AM
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Member
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 25
Joined: 2008-09-14
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After chatting on the new "driving skills..." thread, I'd like to challenge whoever can be bothered to come up with worst imaginable job for a dyscalculic (just so those of us who still havnt decided what we want to do "when we grow up" still have a shot at happiness ... |
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| tammyk1 |
Posted on September 19 2008 03:32 AM
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Member
Location: ohio
Posts: 128
Joined: 2008-09-03
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Chemist, Algebra teacher, or any form of Engineering degree
<shudders at the thought of an all math curriculum>  |
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| Kathy |
Posted on September 19 2008 03:39 AM
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Member
Location: Bribie Island Queensland Australia
Posts: 407
Joined: 2005-04-03
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Hi Phoenix,
Working in a school canteen without a till - everything added up in your head to give correct change, makes me neuseus just thinking about it!!
Cheers
Albert Einstein said: "Many of the things you can count, don't count. Many of the things you can't count, really count!." |
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| phoenix |
Posted on September 19 2008 03:46 AM
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Member
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 25
Joined: 2008-09-14
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maybe I can improve on my previous suggestion on the "driving" thread:
How about - a job combining quantitative software design, inner-city peak-hour driving in foreign countries, operating a cash-only till and calculating intravenous drug doses for sick children WITHOUT A CALCULATOR AT HAND - the horror!
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| phoenix |
Posted on September 19 2008 03:47 AM
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Member
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 25
Joined: 2008-09-14
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oh yes Kathy, even better, WITHOUT a till!! |
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| Dulcy |
Posted on September 19 2008 04:18 AM
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Member
Location: American Southeast
Posts: 202
Joined: 2008-08-27
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Before my current job, I did a short stint at Kinko's. It's a long story, but the short version is that I had worked a long time in Public Television, I quit to go work at Kinkos, then I quit to work at my current job.
They put me on the register. I was either taking orders or running the register. (I had worked at Kinko's before, many years ago, so it's not like this was all new). I took really excellent orders. I can be extremely detail oriented.What few people knew at the time was that my apron was full of mathmatical formulas with titles like "To calculate square feet" and "quantity discount charts" etc. Taking orders was no problem for me.
What WAS a problem was running register. I was straight up with the manager. "If you put me on register it will suck for everyone involved." But of course, he didnt' listen. After all, he'd worked with me before and knew how "smart and detail oriented" I am (hahaha. Sucker.)
So every nearly every afternoon, from the time I got hired back to the time I left, I'd be in the back trying balance the stupid drawer while he just sighed tiredly, going "You're drawer is messed up again."
I didn't even care. I was all like "No $%^&, Dick Tracy, I warned you. This is YOUR fault."  And it really was, I told him repeatedly that putting a person with barely a 2nd grade math level in charge of the till was kind of a really stupid idea. But hey, nobody ever listens to me. It ain't like I was dishonest about it.
Fortunately, we were friends. And I almost always managed to fix it, but it was ALWAYS a huge headache.
So, I'd have to say running a register is a pretty hellish job.
Edited by Dulcy on September 19 2008 04:22 AM
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?"
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver |
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| phoenix |
Posted on September 19 2008 04:26 AM
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Member
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 25
Joined: 2008-09-14
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I hear you. During a short-lived job at a cafe, I was cooking out back, but had to cover the till one busy lunch hour (something I had of course dreaded). Will never foget the long ling of annoyed customers looking on in disbelief as I accidentally rang up two "$250" coffees in a row... |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on September 19 2008 06:00 AM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6136
Joined: 2008-05-25
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9/18/08
Two of my worst jobs have been making hambergers with "special orders" (hold the pickles on this one,... hold the mustard on that one) at McDonalds, and being a hostess at a Mexican Restaurant where I had to remember which of the 20-some-odd tables were in which section, (each section had its own waitress) and then to systematically seat each newly arrived customer in a section belonging to a different waitress. Also, the sections shape-shifted depending on how many waitresses were on duty. This was, of course, back before I knew about dyscalculia, so I thought that the 'whirling feeling' was because of either lack of experience, or not being smart enough to keep it straight. Come to think of it, more experience and being smarter would have helped. :-) justfoundout |
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| Laura |
Posted on September 19 2008 10:16 AM
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Member
Location: Scotland
Posts: 1229
Joined: 2006-11-16
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My worst job that i did eventually enjoy was as a Deli Assistant in a Supermarket way back when i was 16 years old. I did the job for 3 years. Basically i would be dealing with customers, slicing meat, cutting cheese, serving salads etc. However the worst bit was weighing the meat. For example customers would say to be half a lb??? What the hell. So i eventually asked my very nice boss if she could explain the measurements.
So here it goes
6oz- 175-180g(depending on the meat)
1/2lb- 230g
1lb- 475-480g(depending on the meat)
1/4lb- 115g
3/4lb- 345g
Think thats all the measurements i needed. I would of been lost without that. Then i went onto another job in another Supermarket where i didn't really need them as i worked on the Hot Chicken Counter woohoo!!! My mates worked on the fish and meat counter and another one on the Deli and they always just guessed so i gave them a wee lesson on measurements and they couldn't believe i knew all these measurements. Woohoo for me heehee!!!
BEEN THERE DONE THAT, GOT THE T-SHIRT |
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| Lostinspatial |
Posted on September 19 2008 12:45 PM
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Member
Location: That would require me to know where I was
Posts: 429
Joined: 2008-06-08
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My worst job was working as a waitress at a bar. Fun for someone with name face recognition while drunk people were wandering all around and I had to count back change. The worse was the bachelorette party from hell. They all wanted to pay for their drinks individually, they couldn't coordinate drink orders (e.g. order at the same time). And they left less than a dollar for a tip. We pooled tips with the bartenders, etc. I wasted most of my night on them, and had all of $2 to show for the night. So the bartenders felt sorry for me and told me to keep my tiny pool of tips. And they gave me a beer, which was nice of them! 
Edited by Lostinspatial on September 19 2008 12:45 PM |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on September 19 2008 05:36 PM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6136
Joined: 2008-05-25
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9/19/08
Dear Lisa_,
I put myself in the shoes of the other's postings, but I laughed out loud at yours.
- justfoundout |
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| Toe_Nail |
Posted on September 19 2008 07:54 PM
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Member
Location: No value
Posts: 915
Joined: 2006-08-13
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Doing store inventory has got to be the kind of work I hated most. I never worked as a waitress but I think that would be also nighmare-ish.
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer -- Albert Einstein |
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| tammyk1 |
Posted on September 20 2008 07:15 AM
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Member
Location: ohio
Posts: 128
Joined: 2008-09-03
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I worked as a bartender, waitress, and a bank teller...
As a bartender the drunker they get the less you have to worry about it.
As a waitress, well lets just say I was always walking out with less than 15% due to my inability to count, I started carrying a calculator.
Bank teller, I was slow, but I had an adding machine and the customers liked me.
I have since retired (or been fired) from my number management positions. |
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| Tigerfeet |
Posted on September 22 2008 04:41 PM
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Member
Location: Scotland
Posts: 51
Joined: 2008-06-24
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My worst job must be my last one which required excellent time management, short term memory and number skills - none of which I have. Working a (very) busy bar without a till or price list is pretty high on the list too though *dies just remembering it*.
My new job is typing up quote estimates and providing job sheets including material quantities for a maintenance company, fortunately they are pretty relaxed and easy going about me triple-checking everything compulsively.  How DO I end up in these types of job?! |
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| classclownfish |
Posted on September 25 2008 04:04 AM
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Member
Location: MD
Posts: 125
Joined: 2007-10-12
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My job (web developer) isn't too bad for a dyscalculic, but I was thinking the other day about the job that would be the job from hell for a dyscalculic:
Microsoft Product Key Activator
You know, those people that when you have to activate Windows or whatever over the phone and they read you back this 48-letter/number key? Its practically impossible for me to type in all those characters correctly (really frustrating, since i am a tech-oriented person and have to do it fairly often), but I can't even imagine being dyscalculic and reading hundreds of those keys over the phone every day. *Shudder* |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on September 25 2008 02:26 PM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6136
Joined: 2008-05-25
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9/25/08
Dear Tammyk1,
I usually end up either quitting or being fired from those jobs, too.
Dear Tigerfeet,
I end up in those same type of jobs. My explanation, in my own case, is that (1) without a degree, I can't get an 'easy' job that pays enough (2) I'm honest, careful, bilingual, and nice to customers. So, on the surface, there's no reason to hire me for the job. I need the money, so I take the job. And before I found out about dyscalculia, I just kept 'trying hard' to learn the job and to get 'better and better' at it. Then I was always left wondering why that never happened, until I found out about dyscalculia. - justfoundout
Edited by justfoundout on September 25 2008 02:27 PM |
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| evie dee |
Posted on September 25 2008 03:19 PM
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Member
Location: Detroit, Michigan
Posts: 570
Joined: 2007-12-01
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Being an appointment setter. I thought it would be secretarial work (comes easy to me for some reason), but it turned out that I would be making cold calls to business for four hours. Lost it a week after they got hired. Guess what? It's out of business-it was an Internet start-up. |
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| justfoundout |
Posted on September 26 2008 12:28 AM
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Member
Location: Texas USA
Posts: 6136
Joined: 2008-05-25
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9/25/08
Dear Evie Dee,
Thanks for that story. The job that I'd had for 10 years, and which I lost, finished being outsourced to Costa Rica a couple of months ago. For some reason, hearing that that office is now closed down helped me 'get over' what had happened to me there. Nobody is there now. It's just building waiting to get leased by some other company now. Everybody has spread out over the DFW Metroplex, looking for other jobs. Sometimes I run into someone that I used to know at my old job, and we're glad to see each other. And that helps me 'get over' it, too. - justfoundout |
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| phoenix |
Posted on September 27 2008 08:45 AM
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Member
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 25
Joined: 2008-09-14
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Sometimes I cant figure out why I keep ending up in jobs that are so challenging for me or that I feel so marginally competent in. Then on my worse days I wonder if I would be like this with virtually ANY job.
Sometimes it feels as if the various 'ticks' which relate to d/c (but might not seem like 'maths' cover so many potential skill bases that I cant imagine a job where I would find the 'flow' people talk about when they claim to be in the right job for them. |
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| phoenix |
Posted on September 27 2008 08:46 AM
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Member
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 25
Joined: 2008-09-14
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whoops that was not supposed to be there! Seeing the word 'maths' beside a smiley face just seems so wrong!! |
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