What is the shortest job you have ever had?

[RogueX]

2 days cleaning rooms at a hotel off a highway where I lived at the time. This was when I was 18 and desperately needed a job...but not that badly. One room was trashed and there was a note that told me my tip was in the toilet...gross. The final straw was when I walked in and saw blood all over the bed.

 

[dclpluto]

Both about 4 years 8th grade thru end of high school. Worked for a seed company. They tested seeds. Watermelon,squash, corn etc.

4 years in USMC

 

[starvenger]

If I counted jobs I had while in school you're probably looking at a couple of 1-2 day positions. But I don't count those as part of my "real world" experience.

Up until this year, my shortest tenure was 2 weeks, where I went to work for a friend whose small company had been contracted out to work for an international Canadian bank. I'd actually left a decent paying job to work with him, since he was supposed to place me in a client-facing (in this case, the bank) position with little-to-no programming. I'd just started learning Java, but at that point it was more to increase my knowledge than for any reasonable practical usage.

In any case, I got thrown into a near-full on programming position where I was not given any training and given things to look at that I'd no idea what was going on (again, bear in mind I'd effectively zero experience with Java). A week in, they told me that "they were not impressed with my performance". I told them that at this point they'd not given me the tools or help I needed to succeed. A week after that, they fired me. And I am no longer on speaking terms with my former friend. And yes, I'm still bitter about the experience.

Anyway, that was the shortest job I'd had until this year. I got hired for a work-from-home position, and I started work in mid-March. Unlike the story above, my onboard experience was smooth, I got to have virtual interactions with the entire team, and started to take on work by the end of the week.

And then Ontario got shut down thanks to the Pandemic. The company's clients were mostly retail outlets, and with those shut down, they needed to streamline. And any way you slice it, it's a pretty easy call to cut the guy with 1 week of experience.

Unlike the story above, there's no bitterness here. I am saddened that I didn't get to continue there, but it is what it is.

And now I'm onto my third company in 2020. Hopefully I can stay on with this one.

 

[Deb & Bill]

I was supposed to go to work for the Univ of Texas Health System in Houston. I had been hired and was arriving to work on Monday. They called me Friday afternoon to tell me that the state had frozen all hiring so I shouldn't show up on Monday. Luckily I was already living in the area and was looking for a new job when this happened.

 

[LadyBeBop]

A one day gig for NBC News.

Yup I knew it going on. I was a Junior at Marquette University. One of my professors got me the gig. I was an exit poller for the Wisconsin Presidential Primaries in 1980. Exact date (and this is important): April 1, 1980.

April 1, 1980 was also the date of the Census.

So, when I filled out my census, and they asked the question about employment on that day, I truthfully answered, yes. For NBC News.

 

[Erica_Haley]

2 weeks as a kids summer camp instructor. I only had about 18 kids that were kindergartners and first graders. But they were the worst behaved kids I've ever seen. I didn't know how to handle them. I was also working another job, an internship, and a student full time so I just didn't have time.

 

[disneyseniors]

while a teenager and not old enough to work at a real job, I babysat, I found out that I hated babysitting and quit in one week. there had to be a better way to make money!

 

[kymom99]

I worked one night at an outdoor concert venue for a Jason Andean concert. They needed a couple people to dump drinks into open cups for the people who had “pit” tickets. It was in his contract because people sometimes throw bottles of water, etc onto the stage and the musicians get hurt. We literally stood at either end of the stage and stopped people as they entered that section. I saw several MLB baseball players which was really cool. I also saw more drunk people in one place than I have ever seen in my life. And my feel hurt at the end of the night really bad.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

1 shift at McDonald's when I was 16. It was a training shift, and I obviously didn't "get it," so at the end of the shift I was McFired. I was so happy.

 

[mnrose]

I worked as a cocktail waitress in the late 70's for one evening (maybe 4-5 hours). It was god-awful. Grabby men. Rude (and drunk) people. Cigarette smoke everywhere. A customer stole my tip from one table I'd worked all night (just took it as he walked by...nice). Suffice to say, I never went back. Not even to get my paycheck.

 

[Caseheidi]

I worked for a temp agency, and they sent me to work as a receptionist in an insurance firm. They gave me nothing to do but welcome guests and answer the phone that was not ringing, and then complained to several people with the door open that they were paying for me to do nothing. Was suppose to be there a week, but they told me at the end of the day that they would not need me. Not my funnest day!

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I worked for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles for a couple months. I literally started applying elsewhere after the first day of that place. It took me probably 2 months and some change to find something. I did give a 2 weeks notice and all, so I probably had about 3 months total invested in that place.

If you think going to the (what most other states seem to call the DMV) BMV is a miserable experience, believe me it is far worse on the other side of the counter.

Seriously though, I did meet some really cool people. Most of my co-workers were super nice. It is just the way the supervisor acted and the state barking orders and setting unreasonable expectations. It could have been my branch was particularly bad, the supervisor had a reputation of being terrible. Her "motivational" speeches in the morning usually included she was going to clean house, or if she gets fired she was "taking all of us with her". Too much stress for too little pay.

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

I worked for MCI for 2 days.
I was waiting for approval for another job and had no decided which I was going to take.
So when I got the other offer I thoght it over. I was going to be buying satelite ussage and MCI was talkiing about starting to use their own satelites. So I bailed on MCI. A year or two later they went belly up..
Even though the reason was not the same I was like phew, made right choice there.
Years later I got mailed documents for the class action lawsuit by the employees.
I was like "Should I fill this out and get my 2 days worth?"

 

[marthachick]

1 whole day - nursing home in HS - yeah no!

I made it 3 days in a nursing home. Big nope! The only reason I stayed that long was because my MIL helped me get the job.

 

[goofyernmost]

I left a secure job because I answered a help wanted ad, was interviewed and hired. I showed up the first day and starting setting up the location with equipment that had been ordered and shipped there and waited for more direction as to what they wanted to happen next. Two more days staring at the wall. I will always remember it because that was the week that the Challenger exploded. After what seemed like a million phone calls to the main office all of a sudden the person that hired me, showed up unannounced to tell me that the company changed their minds and decided they didn't want a remote office anymore. End of that 6 long, uncertain days. I immediately called the place I left and told them the situation and explained that it, at the time, felt like a better chance for advancement and more importantly was in the career field that I had the most experience in. I basically asked if they would take me back since they hadn't filled the position yet. They agreed and I went back to the job that I hated from one the apparently didn't exist. It did turn out OK, in spite of a whole lot of anxiety, in the end.

 

[NMBCFangirl]

2 days. Fast food place wanted me to climb into the dumpster to clean it after the trash truck emptied it. No, thanks.

 

[Lehuaann]

Retail at a mall (this was back in 80’s). Never did retail again

 

[tasha99]

2 days. I dressed up like a Dutch girl (dress, wooden clogs, white hat, blonde wig, etc) and handed out tulips at a chocolate and gourmet store/mall in Nagasaki saying "Irasshaimase!"