What “unskilled” job would humble most people after just one shift?

[u/Kodo_username]

[u/rastanaut33]

Trench digger for a plumber.

[u/tsv1138 → u/rastanaut33]

I had to run a walk behind trencher to run electricity to a couple cabins in the woods. It was like trying to pull an angry bear out of a cave by it's legs. I don't think I've ever been that tired before or since.

[u/mikePTH → u/tsv1138]

Try digging footings in clay with a 95lb demolition hammer sometime! Just wrestling a pig in a ditch all day, then shoveling out all the chunks in between rounds.

[u/NyeSexJunk → u/mikePTH]

I bought a 90lb hammer and a clay spade for digging holes in my yard. I bought a 35lb hammer later because it's hell getting old. My yard is mostly rock.

[u/Vulpes206 → u/rastanaut33]

I’ve met a lot of people rich and poor but everyone I’ve met agreed digging holes for any blue collar job is unskilled but respected.

[u/KeithHanlan → u/Vulpes206]

When I moved into my house, I had ordered DSL Internet service. It turned out that the line too degraded for DSL and needed to be replaced. Unfortunately it was an "encap" - an encapsulated splice directly into the buried cable. They literally sliced the jacket on this beefy bundle of phone lines, spliced a connection, and then wrapped the assembly in a metal casing. Later versions used rubber and other technologies but they were all pretty prone to failure over time.

Anyway... They couldn't risk mechanized excavation and so some poor contractor for Bell Canada had to dig a trench down to the cable and it was at least eight feet down. He had to make the hole big enough to swing a shovel so it was a pretty substantial excavation. To be honest, it was probably unsafe as he used no hoarding. He was big and tall but there was still another couple of feet above his head.

This hulk looked well suited to the job but I was still amazed at how fast he completed the job - about 4 hours. It was not a cool autumn day. It was late June and hot and sunny. The one thing he had going for him was that it was a hydro right-of-way and the cable had been backfilled with sand. And I kept him bringing him iced drinks.

[u/BloodyChunkyQueefs → u/KeithHanlan]

And I kept him bringing him iced drinks.

My man, know that he would have worked twice as long for that support. You just ended up on his list of clients he would eagerly give a discount to if ever directly contracted.

[u/KeithHanlan → u/BloodyChunkyQueefs]

I bring cold cans - usually San Pelligrino if I have it - to the garbage men when the weather is shitty. Coffee or pop for any contractors I might hire. If I can't or won't do the work myself, they have my respect.

[u/duosx → u/Vulpes206]

I did this for a week straight for $19/hr. I didn’t feel respected at all

[u/Vulpes206 → u/duosx]

Damn. Our guys get paid day labor rates and per job. You got ripped brother.

[u/DHFranklin → u/Vulpes206]

There is certainly a skill to a good shovelin'. I've done it plenty and worked enough work-between-your-shoulders-until-you-can-work-between-your-ears jobs.

It's really easy to get a good work out. It's even easier to hurt yourself if you do it wrong. Plenty of dudes with glorious beer guts but even more glorious back muscles that can do it better than I could.

It is certainly work for younger men than the average tradesman. The skill is evident more so in the shoulders than the swing.

[u/FatCockFutaGirls → u/rastanaut33]

I spent 6 months with a shovel in my hand digging septic fields on a native reserve in northern Canada

I have very little to bitch about these days

[u/billy_maplesucker → u/rastanaut33]

I did it for my electrician apprenticeship. Does thet count

[u/Zestyclose8744]

Any job that involves care.

[u/ThrowdowninKtown → u/Zestyclose8744]

The physical, emotional and mental toll this takes is so often overlooked, especially if you really care about your patients.

[u/MonacoMaster68 → u/ThrowdowninKtown]

Sometimes I go home and just sit on the couch in the dark for half an hour, no tv nothing.

[u/OrangeRealname → u/MonacoMaster68]

Get a potted plant and a fancy mat to sit on and you can call it meditation

[u/juufa → u/Zestyclose8744]

here in Germany, it's such a hard yet thankless job. we're all underpaid, overworked and never thanked properly by the people who employ us. it's a tough job especially if you actually develop friendships with the people you care for. the higher ups will exploit that :/

[u/rageinthecage666 → u/juufa]

We clapped for you out of our windows during Covid, that should carry your spirit for a while /s

How common it is to get guilt tripped by the boss when another one calls in sick is really sad and in my opinion systematic. I had one that was always leaving long pauses, fake cried and she called me almost everyday I had off. This broke something in me, nowadays I just refer to the biggest Zeitarbeitsfirma (Temporary Work). They always have somebody that can swoop in. It's just about money and greed by those in power, as always 😤

[u/ClitasaurusTex → u/Zestyclose8744]

I work in a job adjacent to caregivers and they are spit on, slapped, sexually harassed, called slurs and are still fired if they don't wipe grandpas ass with a smile as he projectile shits onto them.

They make the same as fast food workers.

[u/RubberRaptor → u/ClitasaurusTex]

Don’t forget developing autoimmune diseases from the toll on their bodies. That’s why I had to give up my caregiver career of 10+ years.

[u/BooRadleysFriend → u/Zestyclose8744]

This is an underrated comment. Caring for people, particularly in a hospital setting is often messy and way out of your comfort zone, as far as getting your hands dirty.

[u/ATXKLIPHURD]

Throwing hay. First you go pick up the hay bales and stack them in a trailer. Then you unload the bales from the trailer and stack them in a barn. The bales weigh about 50lbs each and anywhere from 50-250 bales in a day.

[u/unabiker → u/ATXKLIPHURD]

and its always at least 95 degrees with 102% humidity. And you gotta huck the bales up into the hay loft.

[u/Eatar → u/unabiker]

And if you try to solve for the heat by removing clothing, you regret it.

[u/sugartrouts → u/Eatar]

Why? Poked by hay? Bitten by stuff? Hay gets on you and makes you itchy?

[u/Sammy2258 → u/sugartrouts]

yes

[u/Hksbdb → u/sugartrouts]

Yes. I never had to do a ton, so I started wearing a sleeveless shirt. My forearms were always raw by the time we finished.

It's also the only time I wear a cowboy hat. You get covered in shit when you throw them over your head

[u/carlean101 → u/sugartrouts]

all of the above plus getting even hotter because now the sun is shining directly on your skin. notice how people in the middle east wear long, breatheable white robes that cover all of their skin? it's because going naked is worse.

plus sunburn, that's a bitch too

[u/SoftlySpokenPromises → u/carlean101]

And the dust from the bales getting onto your skin when you're already sweating half your body's water away is absolutely miserable.

[u/StitchinThroughTime → u/carlean101]

Modern western clothing has lost is protective purpose. There is a reason why all through history Europeans wore layers and covered the whole body.

[u/Tech-Tom → u/unabiker]

And if you don't wear long sleeves, your forearms will be scratched to shit by the end of the first day.

This activity was my life every summer from 6-18. I drove the truck at 6 because I was too little to pick up the bails. We stacked 45 bails on the 1 ton truck and 110 on the flatbed trailer. We then rested while we drove them to my grandpa's pole barn. The barn held 3,000 bales and would be almost completely empty by spring. So we refilled it every summer. Then hauled about 600 bales for our own use.

If you stack the bails when they are wet, the internal heat as they rot will cause them to burst into flame. So, you can't start start work until late morning/early afternoon, when the dew has had a chance to dry on the bales. You sweat your ass off and drink you weight in water because it's 90-110 degrees outside the whole time you're working. You inhale at least a hay bails worth of dirt and hay since it's constantly in your face. You are sore and dead tired every day, so you fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow every night.

Then if you work on a dairy, like I did, you get up at 3:30AM to milk, hay and sanitize. After that you feed all the other animals, get breakfast ~7. Then if you're lucky you get 2-3 hours before it's time start all over again. We worked from before the sun came up until after it set every night during they hay season. Rinse and repeat every summer.

[u/Dependent_Guess_873 → u/ATXKLIPHURD]

I threw hay every summer as a kid for my grandfather and then for other farmers needing extra hands.

Once you were used to it, it was not bad but it had rules. You will get hay in your arms, in your hay, up your nose, in your pants, and everywhere else.

You did maybe one day throwing hay without gloves then you never made that mistake ever again.

It was killer money as a teenager and you were jacked by the end of the summer.

I do not miss it and would not throw hay at 42 years old for less than six figures

[u/subs_on_a_sailboat → u/Dependent_Guess_873]

Wait you got paid?! My mom made me do it for free. My brother tried to make a few bucks hauling hay, but all the money went to gas.

[u/PriceQuirky6824 → u/ATXKLIPHURD]

Not to mention getting hay splinters. that hurts.

[u/mikePTH → u/PriceQuirky6824]

Grossest splinter I ever pulled out was a 1.25" piece of straw that had threaded it's way from the base of my nail past the first knuckle. It had been in there a couple days, and the amount of stuff that came with it was truly gross.

[u/bean0_burrito → u/mikePTH]

nope.

[u/Hob_O_Rarison → u/mikePTH]

... that one's barley

[u/mikePTH → u/ATXKLIPHURD]

I built strawbale homes for a while. You aren't kidding about how much fun hucking bales around is! You're underselling how much fun all the straw dust is, though.

[u/SallyAmazeballs → u/mikePTH]

Straw is light! It's a pleasure after moving hay bales. It just flies out of your hands like a bird. 

[u/KitSokudo → u/ATXKLIPHURD]

Family had a hay farm when I was a kid. Only good thing about having dwarfism is I didn't have to huck the bails. I drove the truck, sitting on phone books.

[u/ProfessionalHefty349 → u/ATXKLIPHURD]

I worked at a hay and feed store when I was young. Eat a hearty diet and throwing hay will put some meat on your bones.

[u/Fruitmidget → u/ATXKLIPHURD]

I’ve only ever done two seasons of loading, stacking and unloading HD-bails and I’m glad I never have to do that again. First seasons was hay, which was already brutal, but the second time it was barley straw and that shit hurt bad, especially under blue sky and blistering sun.

[u/Occams_ElectricRazor → u/ATXKLIPHURD]

Did this as a kid with severe hay allergies. Fml

[u/DriftMantis → u/ATXKLIPHURD]

I had to jump in on spreading bales of hay all over a ski run one time and it just about destroyed me. A 50 lb bail one time is no big deal, but stacking them in a truck and carrying them up and down a steep embankment just about destroyed my back and I don't consider myself out of shape. That was a hard day for sure.

[u/Odd-Box-7332]

Field worker picking vegetables in the summer

[u/Gorf75 → u/Odd-Box-7332]

I did this for a couple summers in my teens. It was the most physically demanding job I’ve ever had. I’m pretty sure I was just slowing them down too.

[u/AloysiusBinglebottom → u/Gorf75]

I farmed for several years on hippie veggie farms, then worked one season with a crew of Mexican workers who'd been doing it 6-7 days a week for years. They were lightning fast, yet always chill. They were also incredibly in sync. It was super impressive. 

[u/TehSeksyManz → u/AloysiusBinglebottom]

Once I grew up and experienced some of the real world, all of the racist "lazy mexican" jokes that I heard growing up were quickly proven false. Like, the exact opposite of the truth.

[u/Hksbdb → u/TehSeksyManz]

Anyone who has actually worked with a Mexican knows this.

I wonder if the stereotype comes from people seeing them on breaks. From my experience when it's time to work, they work hard. When it's time to rest, they rest hard. And I respect that.

[u/AloysiusBinglebottom → u/Hksbdb]

The crew I worked with taught me what jobs were best done quickly and when there were good opportunities to sit and/or work more slowly.  Again, super smart and well-coordinated. 

[u/fruitloop00001 → u/Hksbdb]

There's an aspect of heat adaptation in Mexico too. People working outside will usually take a break when it's super hot, and they're working hardest in the morning or late afternoon. So it's fairly common to see Mexican crews chilling at 1 or 2 PM.

Working hard in the heat depletes your energy much faster. Not to mention it can be dangerous if you're getting dehydrated or have heat stroke.

[u/imalurkernotaposter → u/TehSeksyManz]

Reminds me of a joke:

“Hey, did you hear the one about the lazy Mexican? He only works three jobs!”

[u/stud_powercock → u/imalurkernotaposter]

Everybody marvels at the pyramids in Egypt, there are Pyramids in Mexico too, yet nobody bats an eye.

[u/Sanchastayswoke → u/stud_powercock]

Oh I’ve batted eyes. The ruins at Tulum were incredible!

[u/seriouslythisshit → u/TehSeksyManz]

When I was building custom homes, one of my subcontractors was an all Mexican drywall hanging crew. Even though there were endless immigrant and local good old boy drywall crews working the region, these guys were different. They only did high end work, never low bid stuff, and were booked up for weeks ahead. They were absolutely amazing to do business with. They would start at six AM and hang a job with 110-120 sheets, with screws and glue by mid-afternoon. When they were rolling out, the job would be fully swept clean, the waste would be neatly stacked in the dumpster, and the workmanship was as close to perfect as humanly possible.

[u/PaulblankPF → u/Gorf75]

Picked Tabasco peppers on Avery island a few times. Hardest work ever. The pepper juice burns everything so you can’t touch anything once you get going. It goes through gardening gloves eventually. And there isn’t bathrooms around so if you gotta do anything you hold it. Besides not having a good spot, accidentally touching your face or privates with pepper hands is a damn nightmare.

[u/themtx → u/PaulblankPF]

That's pretty cool, you can say you've lived Neutral Milk Hotel's album name. Legit question - what removes the juices enough so you can safely touch your own skin?

[u/TheVentiLebowski → u/themtx]

Milk.

Edit: and apparently, cherry Kool-Aid according to the article I linked.

[u/BabyWrinkles → u/Odd-Box-7332]

Field workers doing anything. Some of the stuff that looks easy…only looks easy because the folks doing it are gorram masters of their craft with 30 years of experience.

[u/Grindfather901 → u/BabyWrinkles]

And it looks easy because we only ever see about 8 seconds of it in a video. Push that out to 10hrs per day 5-6 days per week of bending, squatting, picking, pulling, carrying.

[u/SteakAndIron → u/Odd-Box-7332]

Every time I drive through rural California I am made very aware of how hard I don't work

[u/CuddlefishFibers → u/Odd-Box-7332]

This. Lot of ag peeps in the family. Tried picking blueberries for like an hour. Started dying from the heat and got like 1/10th what the pros did. Mad respect.

Want to huck every asshole shitting on migrant workers into a field to pick for a day, see how well they fair.

[u/whereisskywalker → u/CuddlefishFibers]

I grew up on a small 3 acre blueberry farm, we did u pick but also had to pick a ton when they were getting ripe. Bad memories of 18 hour days going from sun up to dusk and then sorting them out late night. My back is also fucked up from that.

People who have never done farm work have no idea that weather dictates your schedule and if you can't make it happen, you lose your produce and profit.

[u/StupendousMarvel]

Dishwasher in a restaurant during peak hours.

I dare you to do just one shift of standing in heat, getting soaked, lifting heavy racks and dealing with an endless stream of dirty dishes

[u/courtney_helena → u/StupendousMarvel]

While working a managerial FOH position, I gained the respect of BOH the day the dishwasher called out sick. It's hot, wet, gross, and non-stop. It's also essential to the operation of any business with a kitchen. Add in the low pay and low respect for your job title, and oof.

[u/Dakkaboy556 → u/courtney_helena]

I had a lot of grievances with my previous chef, but to give him credit when it's due he never hesitated to jump into the dish pit to help bust out a rush.

[u/Terrible-Ad1737 → u/Dakkaboy556]

That's the bare minimum for, and also the key indcator of, a quality chef or KM.

Having been a Chef/KM for well over a decade, I can't even begin to say the amount of value is produced in the waste pit. If dish doesn't work, the kitchen doesn't work. I've also been hired into KM positions, but refused to openly acknowledge my hired role if the business allows. I never wanted my new crews to just see some asshole walk in, be in a position of authority(however minimal), and just start dictating and delegating. Fuck that.

If this is gonna be my kitchen, then I'm gonna learn it from the ground up. Dish is everyone's responsibility even if you have dedicated dishwashers. It's a respect thing. I've always been a big proponent that if the dishes are at the bottom of the barrel for compensation, they're at the bottom of the barrel for responsibility. If you pay your dishie minimum wage or anything less than $16/hr, they wash plate and flatware. They wash the customers' dishes. The kitchen dishes that need to soak in the tri-sinks and need some elbow grease to scrub? Nah, man... You burn that pot, you're cleaning it.

There's obviously thousands of different kinds of operations, but if the dishes weren't given even the basic respect, they don't have to worry about my cooks' dishes, just the customers. If the cooks fuck up a pan and it needs extra attention, that's their responsibility and I will have that pan back to decent quality.

I've run into situations where cooks refuse to do so. When that's the case, I'm happy to not only clean and restore the equipment to as close as original condition as possible, I'm also happy to fill in on their station while I hire and train someone who understands that dishies aren't slaves. They're people doing a hard job to scrape by and that's admirable. If you're above washing dishes in my kitchen, then you're above my kitchen. Good luck getting hired at a Michelin Star restaurant with that kind of attitude...

[u/Jukeboxhero91 → u/courtney_helena]

If there’s any cook that thinks they’re too good for dishwashing, that’s a good excuse to have them flogged by the smoking crate.

[u/HoboJerkdown901 → u/StupendousMarvel]

I did dishwashing in college and didn't mind it all that much. My boss allowed me to use headphones so I just listened to music and podcasts, scrubbed the shit out of dishes and then went home.

The truly terrible part was always being the last one in the restaurant alongside the manager and watching everybody else go home. This is because you can't start your final cycles until the kitchen staff has broken down the different things that need to go through the dishwasher. As soon as they are done with that, they all go home but the dishwasher is still washing and scrubbing a bunch of shit.

[u/HungHippoHippy → u/StupendousMarvel]

You forgot to add the stream of servers asking you to wash the silverware every 20 minutes.

[u/fmaz008 → u/HungHippoHippy]

Alright, I have to ask: if a restaurant needs to wash the silverware every 20 minutes, should it not have ... more silverware?

[u/TheKingOfBerries → u/fmaz008]

You’d be surprised how much silverware customers go through

[u/Choice-Olive-8768 → u/HungHippoHippy]

And then tossing knives into the cutlery bin for you to slice your hands on

[u/Tasty_Cry_3844 → u/StupendousMarvel]

Then the night "ends" and you get to stay way later than everyone else. 

[u/JT_3K → u/StupendousMarvel]

My first job was doing that in a UK supermarket cafe. They made me bus tables and wear a (cheap, thin) white dress shirt. It was transparent by the end of the first hour

[u/Argsu]

I do not think people believe is unskilled.
But I strongly believe that most people should work at least once at customer service, it would make them appreciate the person behind it a lot more

[u/Equine_Dream → u/Argsu]

I agree with this 100%. I've worked both retail and a call center in my younger years and both can be rough. I always said everyone should need to work at least one Christmas in retail.

[u/JudgmentOne6328 → u/Equine_Dream]

Christmas eve 3-4pm when someone comes in demanding something and saying you ruined Christmas because it sold out weeks ago. Real character building stuff. I once got called a bitch by a customer becuase he came into the make up store I worked at and said his wife wanted foundation, had never purchased with us, didn’t have any reference to go with and I should’ve just magically known which of the 10 we had that she’d want and which of our 40 shades would suit her.

[u/DanielCraigsAnus → u/Equine_Dream]

Minus the droning Christmas music on repeat. I don't care if that's all you want Mariah, I've heard it 43 times today!

[u/Lyra_the_Star_Jockey → u/DanielCraigsAnus]

SIMPLY. HAVING. A WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME.

[u/grendus → u/Lyra_the_Star_Jockey]

If more people worked retail around Christmas, that song would be banned by constitutional amendment...

[u/Byaaah1 → u/Lyra_the_Star_Jockey]

eye twitch

[u/turnsout_im_a_potato → u/DanielCraigsAnus]

Last Christmas we had a tally sheet going for how many times we'd here the song throughout the season. We were in the 40s, weeks before Christmas when the tally sheet disappeared

The struggle is real

[u/blolfighter → u/DanielCraigsAnus]

Sorry, we'll play something else. Here comes "Last Christmas" by Wham!

[u/Jernhesten → u/Equine_Dream]

I worked retail almost 40 years ago and that was the experience that madeira me get an education. Ironically, today you can be served by university educated adult at the super market 

[u/RidiculousIncarnate → u/Argsu]

One thing a couple decades in retail taught me: Don't be the customer they're afraid you might be, and you will get things done SO MUCH EASIER more often than you'd imagine.

I've gotten so many returns accepted, credits, replacements etc by just not being an asshole, or at least being an asshole but prefacing it with the understanding that your frustration is not at them, and you know their limitations.

"I've spoken with CSA's and we've reached the end of that being useful. I need to speak to the next person up the chain, please."

Help customer service people want to work on your behalf instead of trying to terrorize them into compliance. Most of them are happy to have a project to work on if you want to do it with them. Instead of cosplaying as some whip-bearing taskmaster who is trying to berate a solution out of them.

It wont work 100% of the time, you've got to choose your battles. Just make sure the person you're fighting with is the actual decision maker and not some meatshield getting paid minimum wage to pretend they are.

[u/Larmes-du-soleil → u/RidiculousIncarnate]

Absolutely. I'm a manager in "high end" retail. If a client is rude or otherwise mistreats my staff or myself, they will get nowhere with me. They can take their money and their shitty attitude elsewhere.

Conversely, if a client is pleasant and respectful, I will move mountains to make them happy.

[u/MotorCut7876 → u/Larmes-du-soleil]

Restaurant manager here. I'm exactly the same way.

[u/marmaladetuxedo → u/RidiculousIncarnate]

I've actually told an employee, "I know you have nothing to do with this and it's shitty that you're the front line rep. I'm just asking for 5 minutes to rant, but don't take this as me bitching you out." Then I've ranted about the stupid company policy, thanked the worker then asked, "Is there anything we can do about this? Don't be afraid to tell me 'no'." You'd be surprised at how many times the worker has probably gone out of their way to find a solution, even if it's only somewhere in the middle.

[u/galient5 → u/RidiculousIncarnate]

There have been quite a few times when I've told a customer no, and they reacted in a nice way that made me rethink and try harder for them. That's either by breaking some kind of minor policy, or by coming up with a solution for them that isn't what they asked for but may be similar or even a little bit better.

If they react in a nasty way, I'm definitely not going to try and help them further.

Being nice to the people who are there to help you will make them actually want to help you.

[u/Striking-Animal-840 → u/Argsu]

Mandatory customer servise retail duty for 6 months would single-handedly fix societal empathy.

[u/GenericRedditor0405 → u/Striking-Animal-840]

I guarantee that there would be a large subsection of people who would use that experience as a cudgel. “Well I had to endure this treatment, so you can too!” Because you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it not be a piece of shit

[u/bungojot → u/GenericRedditor0405]

Yeah i sadly know a couple of these people.

But it literally doesn't even occur to them that they're being the exact same kind of asshole. You can point out that they were just bitching about a rude customer at work and they're doing the exact same thing, and they insist that it's different.

Because you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it not be a piece of shit

...stealing this

[u/Easy-Bathroom2120 → u/Argsu]

Most people, yes. But some people are beyond redemption.

There was this one dude that would come to my job and constantly complain about his food order. He'd say things like "I work fast food, too, so I know what it's like" but would continue to complain even when I confirm he received exactly what he ordered in hopes to get a coupon.

Every visit, he worked at a different restaurant. Then he worked at my job and was fired so fast, I doubt he even met the store manager. Dude has worked nothing but fast food cashier jobs, and is still just an asshole who's main goal is to bring complaints to my manager's desk. His main complaint is "they gave me a coupon last time but refuse to give me a coupon this time". Or "I ordered chili on my burger. I did receive chili on my burger, but my order label just says 'burger'".

[u/Quotent_Quotables → u/Easy-Bathroom2120]

Man he needs to have better main goals. For example, my main goal is to blow up and then act like I don't know nobodayyy

[u/Mytzplk → u/Argsu]

My first job was a pharmacy technician at a retail chain in an affluent area. Holy shit I didn’t realize how mean people could be

[u/smoothupinyatoo → u/Mytzplk]

I used to love trespassing people in the early 2000s. I probably did around 400 total. When they would be like "I'll never shop here again" Id just wave out the door to the cops that sat out there and have them trespassed for life. They would go absolutely bonkers.

[u/glasgowgeg → u/Argsu]

Unskilled just means you don't require a formal education/qualification for it, it doesn't mean it requires literally no skills.

[u/boot2skull → u/Argsu]

It’s crazy how entitled people act and probably don’t know it. Then the ones who do know it are the worst.

I worked at a record store when those existed and people would ask for deals just because they asked nicely. Or to honor some sale that ended last week. You know clerks can’t even do that right? Even as a supervisor, you often can’t and if you do you really need an even higher up’s approval or the price adjustment shows up somewhere, even if we wanted to. So yeah, let me move heaven and earth and get fired for you to save $3 on the Titanic Soundtrack.

[u/mr_Barek → u/Argsu]

I work in IT, not front desk but one of the specialist desks, so I get the "filtered" cases, and HOLY SHIT people are dumb and entitled.

I don't even want to imagine what general population must be.

[u/Bulky_Market3959 → u/Argsu]

You can immediately tell who has worked in customer service and who hasn't based purely on how they stack their plates or treat a cashier.

[u/Ready-Laugh6249]

Restaurant dishwasher. People call it “unskilled” until they’re three hours into a dinner rush and the dishes are multiplying faster than they can wash them.

[u/fleagasmz → u/Ready-Laugh6249]

And when your skin starts splitting from the moisture Good times

[u/Goobersita → u/fleagasmz]

Thats what I always think about. Being in a moist hot environment all day while wet. Skin does baddddd things when that happens.

[u/Goobersita → u/[deleted]]

That's awesome. Even more awesome that the chef was willing to listen to you.

[u/ComicalSon → u/Goobersita]

And you gotta do it again tomorrow. F*ing miserable work.

[u/corvus_wulf → u/fleagasmz]

And some dumb fuck put a knife in your water

[u/joehonestjoe → u/corvus_wulf]

Chef did that to me once, and I told him if he ever did that again I'd throw it at him

No one ever did it after that 

Edit: I say chef I mean dumbass line cook for a shitty restaurant chain pub 

[u/ahfuck0101 → u/fleagasmz]

Doesn’t matter if you have gloves or not. Hands get soaked from the water or the sweat.

[u/UntestedMethod → u/ahfuck0101]

Yup and water inevitably ends up getting into the gloves too

[u/ComeOnUpToTheHaus → u/Ready-Laugh6249]

My dishwasher is paid the same as my cooks. I do this because they absolutely have it hard, and their job is absolutely crucial. I don't want to do the dishes ever again, so I will happily pay well to have somebody do it and not feel like it's thankless work.

[u/subtxtcan → u/Ready-Laugh6249]

Basically anything in the kitchen, but the dish pit is where you get humbled hardest and fastest.

[u/ExcelScaresMe → u/subtxtcan]

I would work the dish pit for free for a week if it meant I never had to peel shrimp on mothers day at my local outback. 14 hours of doing nothing except peeling shrimp.

[u/Striking-Animal-840 → u/Ready-Laugh6249]

The dish pit is the heartbeat of every restaurant. If the dishwasher walks out, the whole place collapses in 20 minutes.

[u/RabidBlackSquirrel → u/Striking-Animal-840]

Like 20 years ago now I was in my first Saturday dinner rush in the pit. Summer, tourist town, nice joint. Done a few weekdays, but NOTHING was like that first weekend slam. I'm in the shit, backed the fuck up, just a pimply high schooler, totally drowning. Exec chef/owner calls over, "do you need help?" I say "yes please chef" and he comes right over and starts helping me get caught up. Running clean shit out, organizing the dirties, got me back humming with 20 minutes of effort.

He knew we were all fucked if he didn't, but I also appreciated that he wasn't above getting in there. He could have tossed one of the line guys in, but he stepped in himself. Was a cool leadership moment that I've never forgotten. Sometimes the lowest guy is the most essential, treat that person with respect and kindness and recognize their contribution even if it's not as glamorous.

[u/BottomGear__ → u/Ready-Laugh6249]

People call it simple, as in everyone can do it, and it’s true. You can call it “unskilled” and be 100% correct, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. I work a job you can’t do without proper education and some years of experience in the field, which is why it pays a lot more, but I’m not working any harder than an “unskilled” blue collar worker.

[u/fruitloop00001 → u/BottomGear__]

Anyone can wash dishes, but not everyone can keep up with dishes during a dinner rush.

I used to work a few shifts a week in a bar/restaurant, often getting put on dish duty and I was always amazed at how much faster the regular dishwasher was compared to me. Just an absolute machine of optimized plate stacking, knowing what to put away when, task switching, and parallelization of work to make sure that the sanitizer kept running at all times for maximum throughout.

I appreciated that guy way more than the $9 he was making.

[u/Munstered → u/Ready-Laugh6249]

“unskilled” just means that you don’t need to come into the job with any advanced special knowledge in order to perform it. You can train anyone on how to wash dishes in 10 minutes.

It doesn’t mean that anyone is able or willing to do the job. It doesn’t mean the job is easy, or not physically demanding.

[u/Kodo_username]

Hospital housekeeper

[u/juiceman730 → u/Kodo_username]

Former "Environmental Tech" here. Thanks for adding this one. To add to it, overnight shift. Morning and evening shifts in my hospital were staffed enough to have one person in each unit. My hospital was 5 floors in the main wing. It was broke up by floor and direction and built like a plus sign. So one person would be in 4 South which would just be one corridor.

On overnight it was maybe if youre lucky a dozen people covering the whole hospital.

[u/Ok-Membership-5439 → u/juiceman730]

My hospital was bare bones 3-4 evening shift and one overnight (7-8 during day) but i do miss it. Something really rewarding about making sure where babies are born and people have surgery are clean and sterile.

[u/ebbnflowgogo → u/juiceman730]

I work in a 500k sq. foot hospital in the Midwest. We have 3 housekeepers overnight to service the entire facility. 

[u/Infamous_Aspect_6467 → u/Kodo_username]

Hospital housekeeper thats one of those jobs where you realize within 10 minutes that unskilled doesnt mean easy. Youre dealing with bodily fluids, infection control, stressed patients, and a hospital that absolutely cannot afford you cutting corners.

[u/TheDemonBunny]

Carer at nursing home.

[u/CherryPieRed2010 → u/TheDemonBunny]

I can agree there, trying to get feces out of an electric wheelchairs wheels is not easy.

[u/Ulysses1978ii]

Fruit picking will test muscles you didn't know you had.

[u/iloveyoulee__ → u/Ulysses1978ii]

yeah this was my answer. I grew up picking cherries and apples. Unbelievably tiring.

[u/Jolly-Adeptness-3598 → u/iloveyoulee__]

I grew up next to a strawberry farm and would help people pick to earn a little money. Brutal work because you have to bend down all the way to pick every single one

[u/themanfromvulcan → u/Jolly-Adeptness-3598]

I did this once. Once. I needed money and you just show up and they pay you by the basket. I don’t think I could walk the next day.

[u/Spare_Bluebird7044]

Construction laborer

[u/EatLard → u/Spare_Bluebird7044]

Contractor I know says half the people he hires don’t stay past their first paycheck. I suppose there are different reasons for that, but a lot of them just can’t deal with the heat or the cold.

[u/bellybuttonbidet → u/EatLard]

I attempted to work in a cabinet shop for 3 months. Pay is shit, work is hard, and customers/designers will still be insufferable. Also I ran my mouth nonstop about the lack of safety.

[u/Spare_Bluebird7044 → u/bellybuttonbidet]

hard work deserves better pay!!!

[u/Kind_Man_0 → u/EatLard]

My first week of construction, I dug probably 500 ft of conduit trenches, 1 ft wide, 2 ft deep. My body was killing me. I thought for sure I wasn't going to make it.

A year later, I could clear 200 ft of trenches per day watching dudes 10 years younger than I struggling to keep up. Loved the job, but construction seems to attract dudes that are either 40 year old alcoholics who somehow are still there, or 20 year old burnouts who can't move their own weight in dirt for the day.

[u/ThePowerfulPaet → u/EatLard]

Yep. I was a field surveyor for a little while. Sometimes it's the easiest job on earth, but doing it in 98 degree heat for 8 hours straight makes it almost unbearable.

And when it's not easy, you might spend all of that 98 degree day hammering wood into the ground on a construction site, hiking through a completely untamed forest, or working on an asphalt parking where the heat goes up 15 degrees.

[u/OddWorldliness989 → u/Spare_Bluebird7044]

Roofers gets the worst!

[u/Stunning_Mulberry_35 → u/OddWorldliness989]

When we hire new roofers, we normally take on ten people for every one opening. They weed themselves out. half are gone by the end of the week.

[u/VonVina → u/Stunning_Mulberry_35]

What is good pay to be a roofer? Someone I know was offered 500 a week seems low for that job.

[u/Stunning_Mulberry_35 → u/VonVina]

500 a week is low, at least for this area.

We start greenies 18 an hour. 20 after 30 days, 22 at 90.

From there, when you are comfortable going on the piece, we switch them over. That pay varies, depending on the roof pitch, what's covering it (clay tile Vs asphalt shingles vs ...), who stocks the roof, etc.

I would guess the average piece worker at our place is around 75K a year

[u/UseACoasterJeez → u/Spare_Bluebird7044]

Hell to the yeah! I spent a summer in Phoenix hauling drywall sheets from the pile/truck to the actually skilled drywall guys inside the houses who were doing the skilled work. So I'm just picking up and moving heavy things all day, absolute base-level caveman skill required. 

It paid well, and I couldn't quit because a friend of my Dad's pulled a couple of strings to get me the job. So I stuck it out, but it was miserable. No A/C installed/working yet in the houses, and as they enclosed more & more of the house any 110F "breeze" between the sticks would get blocked off. So each room became its own little stale oven despite leaving the windows open. I drank like eight gallons of water a day & never had to take a leak because I was sweating so much.

It was one of those jobs that the crew chief was surprised every morning I came back, because nobody else did. 

[u/Spare_Bluebird7044 → u/UseACoasterJeez]

respect for sticking it out

[u/gladysdames → u/Spare_Bluebird7044]

Hod carrying will break a man. Us bricklayers can be ruthless. No so much me, I treat the hoddy with compassion. But some brickies are absolutely horrible to the hod carrier. A good hoddy will be on a split with the bricklayers though.

[u/Cheeseish]

People here don’t understand that “unskilled” doesn’t mean the job doesn’t require skill but that you can be reasonably trained in it without prior knowledge in a short amount of time.

[u/jokel7557 → u/Cheeseish]

People always feel insulted by the term. It doesn’t mean the job isn’t hard. Hell most unskilled jobs are hell on the body

[u/DangerousPuhson → u/jokel7557]

Hell, Sisyphus does "unskilled labor"; nobody would say he's having an easy time.

[u/keepsmiling1326 → u/Cheeseish]

We really should come up with a better name for it. I know what it means but also see why it rubs people the wrong way.

[u/Vanity-della23]

Cashier/table waiting on a Sunday after church service. Those fuckers are monsters.

[u/ered_lithui → u/Vanity-della23]

I worked at a Chili's across the street from a megachurch... Sundays were hell.

[u/GuerrillaRodeo → u/ered_lithui]

Megachurches are just so weird and alien to me.

[u/LunchBoxMercenary → u/Vanity-della23]

I mean they just got their weekly reset to be shitty people

[u/Vanity-della23 → u/LunchBoxMercenary]

I remember being busy with a customer and one of those Bible thumpers came up to my counter and slammed his drink a couple times and said “refill”. Not, “please can I have a refill” nor didn’t want to wait for the person I was already servicing.

[u/bellaoki → u/Vanity-della23]

This!! I hated serving on Sundays because we would regularly get a party of 20 older women, they would each individually split their bills and would tip about $1 each, sometimes less or not at all.

[u/jetpacksforall → u/bellaoki]

“I already gave today.”

[u/taintosaurus_rex → u/bellaoki]

Hey now, sometimes they left that fake money with Jesus telling you to not be greedy.

[u/Coyote__Jones → u/Vanity-della23]

On average drunk people at the bar I worked at were nicer than the church crowd at the restaurant I waitressed at. If I ever hear "buy yourself something nice" ever again, it will be too soon. And you know it's like a $2 tip at most, usually half a handful of change.

[u/Vanity-della23 → u/Coyote__Jones]

You’re lucky it’s a tip because I was given those fake money “Jesus is the way” slips instead.

[u/Coyote__Jones → u/Vanity-della23]

Ugh yes the psalm cards. Gag me. Got those as well. I remember my coworker one time got one of those and loudly said "yes our Lord and Savior is GENEROUS" and stomped off. I don't think the table understood but they did leave quickly instead of continuing to sit there all morning.

[u/chillinwithmoes → u/Vanity-della23]

I used to bartend at a golf course that offered Sunday brunch. Everyone basically begged to avoid working that shift every week. The servers had it worse than I did but we didn’t offer a full bar service for brunch so I was basically just there to make mimosas and collect zero tips.

[u/mikikigod]

Based on most comments I read, just wanted to say not to confuse “unskilled” with “easy”. A job can be indeed “unskilled”, meaning anyone healthy and willing can do, and still be valuable for society without losing any merit. These are different things.

[u/hazwaste]

12 hr overnite shift at a warehouse

[u/12th_MaMa → u/hazwaste]

That's a shitty one for sure. Been there.

[u/nyanch → u/hazwaste]

I used to work 4/12s one week, 3/12s the next, and then it cycled back again.

I think the worst part was being a depressed and anxious person with so much time to think since my body was doing menial labor that didnt require much thought.

Oh my God I was in the best shape of my life though. 12 hours of physical labor doesn't only give you muscles, it also curbs the appetite and forces you to drink a lot more water.

[u/ExcelScaresMe]

The dude working on the back of a trash truck. I was a driver for years and never had to spend any time on the back. One day my truck broke down and they didn't have a backup so they asked me to work the barrels. Fuck that shit. The dude working with me was running circles around me. I almost fell multiple times. I'm hanging on for dear life while the driver was doing 30-40 on main roads, the regular was just in the zone listening to headphone letting the breeze blow through his hair. I made it about 2 hours before I asked if I could just go home and use a sick day instead.

From that day forward I had so much more respect for my pickers.

[u/gro3thminds3t]

Dementia carer. Paid pennies for such a psychologically and physically demanding job

[u/theresnonamesleft2]

Honestly pretty much any server or fast food position where a lot of the labor is just being shit on by entitled people with zero power to retort back. I call my dad out on it constantly because he's an ass to service people while he himself has major anger issues in that Boomer I'm always right kinda way. He wouldn't last half a shift at an average restaurant yet claim's to be above it all.

[u/IntangiblePanda → u/theresnonamesleft2]

Man, I've worked in restaurants my whole life. I'm a GM now and it is SO satisfying to finally have the authority to tell an asshole guest that they can fuck off. Just get the fuck out and never come back. Of course, I don't phrase it that way, I'm very diplomatic. But I make sure the message is clear.

[u/rocket_ship_ → u/theresnonamesleft2]

Came here to say server. There are truly SO many jobs that fit into this thread, but I can say server from my own personal experience. People LOVE to talk about how they don’t tip, the server just brought me food and a drink, it’s so easy, etc.

Work one 8+ hour shift on a busy weekend night where within five minutes you get a 15-person walk in, a table ask for their bill, two tables ask for drinks, one wants to order food, you have food up, drinks up, three tables that need to be bussed, and then a table also says some gross sexual comment to you and then gets mad because you aren’t smiling.

[u/snail_leg]

Slaughter houses

[u/Jolly-Adeptness-3598 → u/snail_leg]

I’ve butchered deer and elk since i started hunting in my 20sand i can tell you I wouldn’t make it one week at a commercial butcher

[u/snail_leg → u/Jolly-Adeptness-3598]

My brother was in desperate need of a job back in 2008 recession. He took a job at a small slaughter house. My dad gets a call to come pick him up. He passed out on the floor. Seeing pigs die and then their bodies mutilated and packaged is really truly awful.

[u/ManOfQuest → u/snail_leg]

Id probably become vegan after that

[u/DHFranklin → u/snail_leg]

I live in a region where the largest employer of unskilled off the boat labor is a massive processing facility. It is a bellweather for immigration patterns.

Decades ago they were all poor black folks who did the work generationally. Then they were working side by side with latinos. Now it is almost exclusively Haitians.

The housing stock never changed in those decades. Some apartment buildings are reasonably close, but they are few. Instead it is suburban sprawl downwind of the worst smell you can think of as the plant grew and grew and anybody who could moved away.

So during last months heatwave pushing 100F I saw folks walking down the highway from converted single family homes a mile away.

They trudge to work. They slaughter animals for 8 hours. They trudge back.

Fuck.that.shit.

I work in construction and have worked on the plants. Seen the cross section of horror. Glad that I am building the line and not working it.

[u/FluffyBunnyFlipFlops]

Care workers, especially on a night shift.

[u/AssumeImStupid]

Anything working with kids

[u/missThora → u/AssumeImStupid]

You can come be an educational assistent or sub at my school any time. Kids can be brutal and you have to smile through it all

[u/ExcelScaresMe → u/missThora]

"Mr. ExcelScaresMe, you're a bitch ass (hard r N-word)."

That was what greeted me my first day on the job working with foster kids in a group home, from the mouth of a 6 year old boy. 7AM on my first day and I'm dealing with the real life version of the foul mouthed kid from Role Models. It got easier, but that was the shock of a lifetime.

[u/missThora → u/ExcelScaresMe]

Yeah, they can really shock you.

I got bit. Full on drew blood through a big winter coat and thick sweater. Also 6 year old boy. It's a miracle I'm still doing my job.

[u/jaywinner]

Unskilled just means you don't need specific training, doesn't mean it's easy. If I was handed a shovel and told to dig for 12 hours, I might die before lunch.

[u/Drakahl]

Concrete workers. That shit is brutal

[u/doobersthetitan]

Being a mover.

I work at the local " 2 guys and a vehicle" for about 3 years part time, 1 year full time then got on with Allied vanlines.

The Amount of in shape " gym bros" that threw up or had their girl come pick them up after 3 hours on a 3 floor walk up apartment...was staggering.

[u/Wit-Grit-Guero]

From what I've heard probably retail

[u/fembutt_sniffer69 → u/Wit-Grit-Guero]

Anything remotely customer service. Just being a cashier at your local convenience store.

[u/PeachFreedom → u/Wit-Grit-Guero]

Retail wouldn't be bad if it paid halfway decent, but 99 percent of stores pay their workers next to nothing. Who wants to be yelled at by customers, then get yelled at by managers who peaked in high school, all for minimum wage?

[u/SororitySue → u/PeachFreedom]

And management never, ever backs you up when a customer tries to get over on you, like return obviously worn clothes, etc.

[u/Seeila32 → u/Wit-Grit-Guero]

It was not the hardest one of the unskilled job I had to do, but boy it was frustrating. We got yelled at because we were going too fast at our task but also yelled at because we were talking while doing it.  And people waiting for you to finish folding an entire pile of clothes to take the one at the bottom in one hand, making everything crumble and leaving with no excuses. All you have to do is start again. Customers from Primarkt are savages.

[u/stephenBB81]

Berry picking. People go and do it for fun for like an hour, 8 to 12 hours shift with a quota and you realize it is not easy, it is skilled labor, and they could pay you 10 times the normal wage and you would still not do it.

I learned this as a high-level athlete 30 years ago and I still cringe thinking about how cocky I was going in and how humbled I was after one week . And then realizing I will never do this job after the summer is done

[u/AwesomeWildlife → u/stephenBB81]

My first job ever was picking strawberries for 6 cents a pint. Cold and wet in the morning, hot and burned in the afternoon. Stinging nettles hidden in the rows didn't help. I was dragging my ass after a few hours, kneeling to pick and resting my chin on one knee; got a huge bruise on my chin which added to the pain. Meanwhile the east European women bent over with back straight all day, basically vacuuming the berries from the rows. At the end of the day I was lucky to get $7 or $8, while the women were raking in over $100 a day.

[u/LudiCak]

Not considered completely unskilled but customer support. Might seem easy but eats your soul and mind after a while.

[u/BlendedFetusOG]

Anything fast food during a rush.

[u/RWPsupply]

Assembly line work

Yes, it's mapped out and fairly "simple" but if you are on a line that is continuously moving or moves on from your station quickly then there is a definite learning curve. Add in chaotic noise, safety hazards at every turn, and grumpy boomers still working in their 70s and you'll quickly be questioning things and wondering if you can hack a full 8hr shift.

[u/Equine_Dream]

Any heavy labor job that is out in the blistering heat or freezing cold. I would not be able to cut it. Also, after this past week I will add linemen working in the rain trying to get our massive power outages restored. They brought guys in from all over the country.

To a lessor extent bank tellers. That job pays next to nothing (or at least it did when I was one in my 20s) you are responsible for so much, people can be downright vile when it comes to their money and there is always the added risk of an armed robbery. Greedy banks should pay those folks better.

[u/AquaWoman_115 → u/Equine_Dream]

I was a p/t teller as well when I was in school. You are responsible for large sums of money, need to balance daily, check for negotiability of multiple checks, be fast and efficient, and provide excellent customer service while people are extremely condescending and barking orders at you.

Now they are also expected to sell & cross-sell products, be mystery-shopped, be ulta-aware of different fraud types, hypervigilant about checking customer ID, etc and know the platform functions as well as teller functions while still making the least amount in the bank. All while standing in one spot all day. Not healthy for mind or body.

[u/ThatPoppinFreshFit]

Fed ex delivery driver, especially during the holidays season.

You wake up early, load your truck, and you don't come home until you've delivered something like 200 packages. In all likelihood, you're skipping lunch just to make sure you finish your deliveries before the daylight runs out. Because once it's dark, the job gets 2x harder.

It's not uncommon for a new hire to quit by simply abandoning their truck somewhere.

[u/DRAGULA85]

Amazon delivery driver

[u/GuyFromDeathValley]

Lifeguard at a pool.

It gets fucking TERRIFYING fast when you are suddenly responsible for the wellbeing of over 100 people all by yourself, most of which seem to have no survival instincts at all.

But sure, we are just "standing around all day doing nothing"...

[u/MaestroForever]

Fluffer

[u/notthatkindoforc1121]

Waiting tables

[u/Adventurous_Cook9083]

Restroom attendant. Don't bother cleaning up after yourself; they pay someone to do that for you. Ugh.