What is the hardest job you've ever done?

[Neuro NC]

I feel kind of guilty joining the convo two years late, but I'm going to join the parenthood group. I would not say this is always the case, but for me a number of factors contributed to making it my most difficult ongoing "job." As much as I love my son, I have never had maternal cravings. Being a stay-at-home-wife/mother would probably make me suicidal within a month. My son is also autistic and while things are much easier now, raising him (alone) has required an extraordinary amount of patience and hard work.

I am currently working as a CNA as well. It's pretty tough. I'm 5'5" and slim. I am having issues with my shoulders, back and now sciatic nerve pain. Awesome. A couple of weeks ago I had a dementia patient punching me while I was physically holding him up from falling. Did I mention the amount of poop I clean up daily or how often my shoes get peed on? I have learned that 1. I can function for long periods of time with very little sleep and 2. I DO NOT WANT TO BE IN GERIATRICS.

EdLongshanks, you crack me up.

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[CajunMedic]

Playing poker. I thought it would be fun. I could sit around, bs with people, and win money. It became a terrible grind. When I started to think about losing a pot as a lost rent payment, I decided to quit. In order to be good, I needed a total disregard for money, which apparently I no longer had.

I always thought thats how I would pay for med school. But, everytime think about how much I would need to spend to get really good, all I see is the bills I could pay with the money.

 

[ShoTyme]

I always thought thats how I would pay for med school. But, everytime think about how much I would need to spend to get really good, all I see is the bills I could pay with the money.

Don't do it. That's the best advice I can give. It was okay. I made some money. Surely not enough to pay for medical school. I've made some nice paydays, but with those also come some gut wrenching losses. For the sake of your sanity, I'd recommend strictly being a recreational player. If you happen to make two pence, then great. If not, you don't lose your rent.

 

[FutureDrB]

Ha. Funny so many of us have gone this route. I started playing about 10 years ago and played for a couple of years full-time as my "salary". Big wins were nice, but big losses stung too much. The ups and downs were too much for me and I finally had to give it up. It's hard to explain to someone how physically and emotionally demanding it is to play poker as a career. I too thought in the beginning that this was the only way I would ever pay off my school loans. But I must admit, I still play every chance I get.

 

[jl lin]

I feel kind of guilty joining the convo two years late, but I'm going to join the parenthood group. I would not say this is always the case, but for me a number of factors contributed to making it my most difficult ongoing "job." As much as I love my son, I have never had maternal cravings. Being a stay-at-home-wife/mother would probably make me suicidal within a month. My son is also autistic and while things are much easier now, raising him (alone) has required an extraordinary amount of patience and hard work.

I am currently working as a CNA as well. It's pretty tough. I'm 5'5" and slim. I am having issues with my shoulders, back and now sciatic nerve pain. Awesome. A couple of weeks ago I had a dementia patient punching me while I was physically holding him up from falling. Did I mention the amount of poop I clean up daily or how often my shoes get peed on? I have learned that 1. I can function for long periods of time with very little sleep and 2. I DO NOT WANT TO BE IN GERIATRICS.

EdLongshanks, you crack me up.

Sarcasm alert: Ooooooooooooouuuuuuuuh. You stated parenthood. Shame on you! Don't you know that it isn't a real job--24 hours per day * > 18 years!

Yep. I still say this. . . and I am pretty maternal. And I have worked in some of the most war-zone-like ICUs as a CCRN. It's a different kind of hard. . .and it depends on the individual kids. They aren't all predictable, no matter what you believe and what you do. Course, I homeschooled mine as well, which was pretty easy when they were very young. . . it's that middle school, teen and up thing that can really get to you. I also will add that I had multiple stressors--like a father with leukemia and a mother with major surgery and so forth. So all the the stressors added made the full effect of the job overwhelming at times. I'd do it again, but it was far from easy.

And no it's not like watching your buddies get blown away in Bagdad or the like. But the question was, what's the toughest job "you've done." But also putting it into perspective, working all those nursing shifts with some really critical pts that required a lot of butt busting, well that wasn't a picnic either.

 

[scarshapedstar]

At one point, I was lifeguarding from 5-9 AM and in the afternoon I was either busing tables or going door-to-door fundraising for the Democratic Party of Georgia.

Out of the three I'd have to say fundraising was the hardest. Introvert + frequently hostile reception + cold weather = miserable.

 

[mjgriffin]

The hardest job I've ever had? Selling credit card processing. I live in VA and my territory was OR. Shoot me. The sales were easy, but most business owners think they are the next Walmart. They thought that because they process $50k yearly in cards that they have the right to tell me how to do my job. They never listen thinking that I was trying to sell them a higher rate than the quote someone else gave them. We are their bank, you think they would listen/process through the same people that HOLD THEIR MONEY. But nope, they know it all because they can "run" a business. And THAT's why most businesses fail in the first two years, people don't listen. Also the politics at work were ridiculous. Couldn’t do that and school, so I walked. Now I work for Wells Fargo. Went from $5k monthly commission checks to $700 bi-weekly. Luckily my woman still works there and always made more than me. Money is still tight though because we try to pay for as much out of pocket that we can for school to minimize the debt in the end.

Also, I was a bartender/ server and traded penny stock before. Those two jobs were the most fun I have had… working that is.


-Matt

 

[dmf2682]

At one point, I was lifeguarding from 5-9 AM and in the afternoon I was either busing tables or going door-to-door fundraising for the Democratic Party of Georgia.

Out of the three I'd have to say fundraising was the hardest. Introvert + frequently hostile reception + cold weather = miserable.

Lol how many people in the Georgia democratic party? You and your two friends?

 

[RNtoMD87]

HMMWV Machine gunner in Iraq. Still wake up in the middle of the night covered in sweat and with my heart pounding.

 

[trev5150]

...And I have worked in some of the most war-zone-like ICUs as a CCRN. ...

I love when people say something is "like a war zone". The only thing like a war zone is an actual ****ing war zone.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I love when people say something is "like a war zone". The only thing like a war zone is an actual ****ing war zone.

My wife gets so annoyed when people try to compare things to the military life. When I was on deployment or even just underway for a few weeks, people would complain to her that their husband was on a business trip somewhere in the US—where they could talk on the phone and FaceTime every night and not dealing with fires, missile strikes, enemy vessels, etc lol. They’d try to compare the two and equate them.

My wife would always just be like uh, huh.

 

[RNtoMD87]

Yep. The only non military instances I respect to be somewhat equal are Haiti, Katrina, and things of that level. From what I've heard of working in the Katrina hospitals in New Orleans.. it sounds like a war zone

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Yep. The only non military instances I respect to be somewhat equal are Haiti, Katrina, and things of that level. From what I've heard of working in the Katrina hospitals in New Orleans.. it sounds like a war zone

Some inner city hospitals lol. In Camden, we even had IEDs.