Your worst work story!

[Neon Sparkle]

I don't have one story but many smaller ones. I worked security for years, and when I started out I did a lot of bouncing and event type work. I have been scratched, pissed on, spat on and even had to perform cpr on an od at a concert.

I now work in childcare, so the nasty stuff gets worse lol. On a very regular basis (sometimes daily, but sometimes I may have a day or two incident free) I have been vomited on (yesterday was the last vomit that landed directly on me) urinated on, sometimes I have been pooped on, I also work with quiet a few additional needs children which I absolutely love, but at times they can and will lash out. Its rare a day goes by I am not hit, kicked, scratched or bitten. I had one do all that in the space of a couple of minutes yesterday whilst I tried to change his nappy. Unfortunately most of the girls I work with have no idea how to handle these children, they are either scared of them or can be too confronting for them which can make a bad situation esculate quickly.

I think the worst few moments were being projectile vomited on, and pretty much my front from the neck down, including my arms, was covered in vomit. I vomited myself once trying to clean poo out of a pair of undies. Nobody should have to do that, and if I was a parent I feel the jocks would go straight in the bin. And lastly I had one child rip their nappy off and swing it around their head like a lassoo, I have never been so glad NOT to see poo in a nappy before or after.

At our center we are supposed to throw underwear away if there is so much poop in it that it's considered unsalvageable. I have dealt with many of the same things you describe, lol.

[Dainty]

Kestral don't worry,  I definitely didn't think you were being rude when I read it, I can see how beldarna maybe thought you were trying to one-up people depending on the tone she read it with,
But such is the way with text based conversations, sometimes stuff doesn't come across the way you meant it and you gotta clarify it happens!

I don't have any poop stories lol, I did used to work at goodwill processing donations and one time I found a.. Personal item in with the donations :shock: besides that I just ended up touching lots of dirt and rat poop ;-;

[ponycake]

Jeez, I've had it pretty good in comparison.

My worst day was just when I worked retail and I had this old b!tchy woman come up to buy all these expensive clothing items. I was polite and all and rang up her items while she ignored me and finally I told her the total and she snaps and begins screaming MY COUPON! WHERES MY COUPON!!!? I GAVE YOU MY COUPON!!!!!

She is literally shouting at me that I must have taken her coupon (I didn't but I wasn't going to deny to this crazy woman that I did). I tried to calm her down and say oh I'm not sure what happened to it but don't worry I have the same one here and I can use that, it's just the same! Didn't work. She's still like BUT I HAD MINE WHERE IS IT I GAVE IT TO YOU!!!!!!!!!! and would not calm down.

lmao. UGH. I should have called for a manager right then. I just kept trying to calm her down. We looked for it and didn't find it but I still tried to show her I applied the same coupon (it was a one time use anyway!) and I don't even remember what our last words were, she took her shopping bag and left. Then I found out she walked over and spoke to my manager (a nice one who believed me that there was something WRONG with her) but then the stupid old bag went home and took my survey and blasted me so I was talked to by like every single manager in my store. Ugh. People are really disgusting in retail. I have more but that made me angriest because it was just sooooooo over the top and unreasonable. Shouting and causing a disturbance about her effing coupon while I was nothing but polite and trying to help the crazy woman. I wish I could go to that woman's work and cause an equal scene. Disgusting person.

Thankfully I've never had to clean the bathrooms.

[S.o.a.r.]

While an intern for three years at a local animal clinic, I went through alot of stuff. My boss (whose aunt was the owner) used us interns for private errands such as; taking *their* dogs out for walks during office hours, cleaning the entire clinic while they were on their lunch break, going to the local supermarket to buy grociers and/or picking up postal packages.

But considering the subject title, one particular pet owner comes to mind. She was/is mentally ill and came to the clinic on a regular basis until one day she got some bad news from our veterinarian (the owner) which resulted in a VERY BAD MELTDOWN. Screaming and cussing on her way out, threatning to sue the clinic and reporting us to the local newspaper. This rampage ended with her forcefully slamming the front door, banging on the large display window and giving us the finger a few times before finally storming off. Needles to say, we thankfully never saw her again.

These days I *work* at a preschool and most days enjoy my job, because I get paid for my hard work and gets credit for it constantly from my co-workers and my boss. So it's a much happier and healthier work enviroment, especially for someone as sensitive as me. The only downside is getting constantly sneezed and coughed in the face by the kids... >.<

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Most of the really bad things I am not allowed to legally tell anyone about.  :-p

Hmmm... I think the worst day at my job was when they fired my best friend.  I am walking to work, get there at like 9am, suddenly the HR manager LEAPS out the front door at me, grabs me and starts telling me in a forced whisper, "You cannot go inside!  Don't go upstairs!  Go to the coffeeshop - the other girls are there too!"

It should have occurred to me what was going on but it was really weird how they kept us all at the coffeeshop - everytime one of us would open the front door and try to leave, a staff member would lean out the front door from the office down the street and yell, "NO!  GO BACK INSIDE!"  In total, the whole experience took about 2 hours but I was in panic mode until we were allowed back into our office later that morning.  It was like... the opposite of lockdown but just as creepy!

[ponycake]

Most of the really bad things I am not allowed to legally tell anyone about.  :-p

Hmmm... I think the worst day at my job was when they fired my best friend.  I am walking to work, get there at like 9am, suddenly the HR manager LEAPS out the front door at me, grabs me and starts telling me in a forced whisper, "You cannot go inside!  Don't go upstairs!  Go to the coffeeshop - the other girls are there too!"

It should have occurred to me what was going on but it was really weird how they kept us all at the coffeeshop - everytime one of us would open the front door and try to leave, a staff member would lean out the front door from the office down the street and yell, "NO!  GO BACK INSIDE!"  In total, the whole experience took about 2 hours but I was in panic mode until we were allowed back into our office later that morning.  It was like... the opposite of lockdown but just as creepy!

Wth, but why? o_o

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Wth, but why? o_o

Because apparently she threw quite the temper tantrum, she had to be physically escorted from the building, and it wasn't anything that HR wanted us to see.    We are never allowed to witness "the end" for any of our co-workers.  On days when we are told not to come in until 10 am, we know what's happening.... 

[Nebula Light]

Wow. You guys are strong, dealing with all of that nonsense.

I work at a pet store, so my experiences are kind of similar to that of a vet tech - cleaning up all of the bodily fluids and stuff. Some things I can't talk about, but mysterious animal deaths were always the worst.

Some customers were very rude, one old grouch almost got me fired. A lot of my coworkers can be dramatic and off-putting too, especially upper management.
 
Its sad how some people have such little regard for animals, despite my warnings and attempting to educate (in the most polite manner I can muster) and still continue to be careless.

[northstar3184]

Most of the really bad things I am not allowed to legally tell anyone about.  :-p

Hmmm... I think the worst day at my job was when they fired my best friend.  I am walking to work, get there at like 9am, suddenly the HR manager LEAPS out the front door at me, grabs me and starts telling me in a forced whisper, "You cannot go inside!  Don't go upstairs!  Go to the coffeeshop - the other girls are there too!"

It should have occurred to me what was going on but it was really weird how they kept us all at the coffeeshop - everytime one of us would open the front door and try to leave, a staff member would lean out the front door from the office down the street and yell, "NO!  GO BACK INSIDE!"  In total, the whole experience took about 2 hours but I was in panic mode until we were allowed back into our office later that morning.  It was like... the opposite of lockdown but just as creepy!

When I worked in a call center they used to do the same kind of thing. I remember when my class completed its initial training, they put us under lockdown in the training room so they could fire those trainees that had not performed to company standards. I always felt that was a really ridiculous way to handle things and disrespectful to those workers.

[S.o.a.r.]

Because apparently she threw quite the temper tantrum, she had to be physically escorted from the building, and it wasn't anything that HR wanted us to see.    We are never allowed to witness "the end" for any of our co-workers.  On days when we are told not to come in until 10 am, we know what's happening.... 

That's so sad! Especially knowing that yet another co-worker will be gone once you get to work...

[Galactica]

Wth, but why? o_o

Because apparently she threw quite the temper tantrum, she had to be physically escorted from the building, and it wasn't anything that HR wanted us to see.    We are never allowed to witness "the end" for any of our co-workers.  On days when we are told not to come in until 10 am, we know what's happening....

Wow where do you work? LOl

[sailorstitch]

I really didn't have any work horror stories... until about a week and a half ago.

Spoiler

I work in a book warehouse. This particular day I was working in my favorite location - the Disney books.  My job is to take the books out of plastic totes and put them in a VERY large cardboard box. And you can't just throw the books it. They have to be stacked in there neatly. We have different patterns we use for different books. The Disney location is one of the hardest because the books are all different shapes and sizes. I've been doing this job for ten years so I've developed a system. I am very good at building safe, sturdy pallets that won't fall apart when a forklift moves them.

On this day I had been at it by myself for a couple hours. Then another worker came over to help me. She's only been here for maybe a month. This was my first time interacting with her. Well, her "help" really wasn't helpful. She was putting the book in all wrong. Everything our supervisor tells us NOT to do, she was doing. I gently tried to instruct her on the correct way to pack the books. She starts screaming and cussing at me! Telling me that she knows what she's doing, that she's doing it right and that I have no business telling her how to do her job! Since she wasn't going to take my advise or follow my lead, I decided to just fix her mistakes as she made them. That didn't last long. She started screaming and cussing at me for touching her books! She said I was doing it just to make her mad. (That's not the words she used. The mods won't let me use the words that she used.) Finally she stormed off to another location and I was able to clean up her mess in peace. But that wasn't the end of it. I got moved to the location she stormed off to. When I got there, she flipped me the finger!!! 

My supervisor wasn't at work that day. But the next morning she got an ear full about what happened. She had a little chat with my coworker about her... less than stellar behavior. Then last week, I saw the same girl getting another talking to. She's not going to last long. I'll be glad when she get fired. She scares me! 

sailorstitch

Quoting myself to give you guys a bit of an update. Ms. Attitude has been fired!    I hadn't seen her for a couple days so I asked my supervisor if she was "no longer with us". My supervisor confirmed that she was gone and I replied with "Thank you!" My supervisor had to laugh because she knew I wasn't saying, "Thank you for answering my question."... but instead "Thank you for getting rid of her." 

sailorstitch

[Pheasant]

Mine is absolute sunshine and rainbows in comparison to what some of you have been through! I haven't had an 'actual' job aside from livestock-sitting and volunteer work, but I'll share anyways.

I cared for my neighbors' livestock when they went to Portugal last fall. Not only did I accidentally break a plastic hummingbird feeder, but one of their Pyrenees died the very day they were coming back. I wasn't even aware until they told me a few days later! The dog was always with the sheep in the far fields, so I assumed that he was where he normally was - especially as the sheep weren't disturbed. While it was an unfortunate coincidence, it still bothers me.

I also used to volunteer at various Girl Scout events, where I was the prime target to pick on, and later steal from. Over the years I've had my lunch smashed, a few accessories stolen, and I once caught two younger girls rifling through my bag. Near the end of my troop membership, a girl I had known for nearly three years stole a pair of jeans from me during a camping trip. I'd have passed it off as a mistake if it weren't for the fact that they had been on my sleeping bag.

She returned the jeans about two weeks later (probably because they were too small for her), but refused to admit that there had been a twenty-dollar bill in one of the pockets. Nowadays, I keep everything I need where I can see it, even if it means hauling stuff from point A to point B.

[Cumberbatch2012]

The whole 6 years at McDonald's.  The head manager was a real piece of work.  She micromanaged like crazy, governing our every breath.  She didn't like computers and didn't use Facebook, but she had the other managers watch our Facebooks constantly and if there was anything they thought even MIGHT be about McDonald's she'd drag us into the office, write us up, and threaten to sue us.  The closers, which I was one, were expected to get out by 11:30 every night, but we were yelled at if we broke things down too early.  We had to do that to make their deadline.  A double-edged sword.  I made a lot of great friends, but I can't believe I stayed there for 6 years. 

[conyzacanadensis]

i work in the garden center for the big blue box that isn't walmart. i was sweeping out underneath some of the tables and was occasionaly finding cat poop which isn't too surprising seeing as we have at least 5 cats living there. anywhooo so i stick my push-broom underneath another table and as i pull it out i'm greeted by at least a gallon of feral cat diarrhea sludge. i'm still trying to convince the store manager to buy some traps so i can catch/spay/release them
rewind a bit to about a month after i was hired on from seasonal to permanent. it's early september (which in socal is definitely still summer) and i'm stacking these pallets of wood stove pellets three high as per manager instruction and store policy. i'm having a heck of a time getting these things to stack because (as i soon discover) they aren't supposed to be stacked like this. so i've got 5 stacks and i'm working on my fifth when in agaonizing slow motion two of my stacks fall over. then, as i'm setting down the pallet that's still on my forklift, a third tower of wood pellets topples over. now each pallet had 65 bags so luck me got to restack 585 40lb bags in the hot summer sun. at least i had help and got 4 extra hours that day