I had a job on a Car Carrier in the Indian Ocean. The Japanese don’t waste a dime on engine room ventilation. It was 60 degrees C in the fidley (top of the engine room for all the tug boaters). My boots would fill with sweat it was so hot on there. I had to maintain the generator engines and it was only 53 C around them.
Dock attendant at a marina. Mostly it was ok except for holding tank pump out duties. Nothing says get me to the showers like unscrewing the deck plate only to have a geyser of fermented poo water erupt and douse you with sweetness.
How about working on a Old N.Y. City Sewage Disposal Tanker. They also carried chemical waste to sea and dumped it. This old rust bucket was built in the late 20’s or early 30’s and should have been scrapped in the 60’s, I worked on her in the 80’s. We were loaded and headed for the Poison Dump that was about 120 miles out of N.Y. Harbor, the weather was pretty shitty and when I was called for watch I thought I smelled something. Not sure what made me look down at the deck before putting my feet down but I did. There must have been about two inches of the crap that we were carrying on the deck of my room.
I have many stories of working for that company, including a gun fight right outside of my room.
[QUOTE=Tugs;103971]How about working on a Old N.Y. City Sewage Disposal Tanker. They also carried chemical waste to sea and dumped it. This old rust bucket was built in the late 20’s or early 30’s and should have been scrapped in the 60’s, I worked on her in the 80’s. We were loaded and headed for the Poison Dump that was about 120 miles out of N.Y. Harbor, the weather was pretty shitty and when I was called for watch I thought I smelled something. Not sure what made me look down at the deck before putting my feet down but I did. There must have been about two inches of the crap that we were carrying on the deck of my room.
I have many stories of working for that company, including a gun fight right outside of my room.[/QUOTE]
I was gonna gripe about commercial fishing (crab dredging) working conditions, but I’m pretty sure you’ve got me on this one!
I think Tugs killed the thread! Can’t top that one.
TURDWATER! Case closed! I win!
Usher for a movie theater. I am just now staring to be able to enjoy popcorn again. That’s all I got…
It was fun though, like the hours. Never started before 11am and the latest you got out was 2am. Great for a summer time job when you’re 18. Also saw every movie that came out that summer.
[QUOTE=Tugs;103971]How about working on a Old N.Y. City Sewage Disposal Tanker. They also carried chemical waste to sea and dumped it. This old rust bucket was built in the late 20’s or early 30’s and should have been scrapped in the 60’s, I worked on her in the 80’s. We were loaded and headed for the Poison Dump that was about 120 miles out of N.Y. Harbor, the weather was pretty shitty and when I was called for watch I thought I smelled something. Not sure what made me look down at the deck before putting my feet down but I did. There must have been about two inches of the crap that we were carrying on the deck of my room.
I have many stories of working for that company, including a gun fight right outside of my room.[/QUOTE]
I was about to post “There’s no such thing as a lousy job as long as you accepted the job and received the pay promised” - THEN - I read your post, Tugs.
Silly me :eek:
I want to hear about the fun fight story 
My first “real” job was at a Woolco department store. I was a cashier in Cosmetics and I also worked the front when needed.
Man…the scams and schemes people would pull just to steal cheap lipsticks and trinkets were amazing, and even paying customers were really abusive, too. It seems that people think folks in the service sector are just a bunch of dummies deserving of all kinds of nasty
That was back when they expected us to chase shoplifters and I was soundly berated for not chasing two young men out the door with an armload of bluejeans…what was I supposed to do, just bolt from my open cash register/middle of transaction?? And then what, tackle them? Thank goodness they have professional LP now.
So to this day I am polite to cashiers and waitstaff even if they respond with grumpy because if you had to put up with bullshit all day for minimum wage, you’d be grumpy too.
[QUOTE=rshrew;103987]I want to hear about the fun fight story :)[/QUOTE]
Yeah, me too!
I was working under the table for a small time mob affiliated contractor. He had a contract to put electrical heat tape on the water pipes of mobile homes in a park. Crawling under those trailers with the spiders and snakes was a ton of fun.
is there a limit to how many I can list?
the worst by far was grocery store courtesy clerk…being a plantation slave has to have been a better job! One thing that job did teach me tho was to hate fucking ordinary people and swear never to work with the public ever again and I haven’t. Can you imagine the horror of working in a WalMart?
us American mariners with our big paychecks have no idea how the rest of American workers suffer the indignities of disrespect and abysmal pay. An OS on an OSV or roustabout on a rig makes more than a manager at a WallyWord!
Hot tar roofing. I also want to hear about the gun fight.
Can’t really complain too much, never having to deal with crap. But, just got out of the Navy and went home to Houston. Job cleaning carpets with the whole truck mount system. Summer, 100*, 110% humidity working on top of a hose wand pumping out some serious steam in an enclosed house, usually with the a/c off. Opposite end is a concrete pump truck driver/operator, in the winter, in Colorado. Day before a huge storm hit (2-3’ of snow), was about 3 minutes between concrete trucks unloading into me. Wind was blowing hard and the concrete froze in the pipe. Had to call in another truck to finish the foundation.
Was this work with the dragon lady?
100 days on the Transpacific… Still better than a submarine.
The Rebecca K?
[QUOTE=Tugs;103971]How about working on a Old N.Y. City Sewage Disposal Tanker. They also carried chemical waste to sea and dumped it. This old rust bucket was built in the late 20’s or early 30’s and should have been scrapped in the 60’s, I worked on her in the 80’s. We were loaded and headed for the Poison Dump that was about 120 miles out of N.Y. Harbor, the weather was pretty shitty and when I was called for watch I thought I smelled something. Not sure what made me look down at the deck before putting my feet down but I did. There must have been about two inches of the crap that we were carrying on the deck of my room.
I have many stories of working for that company, including a gun fight right outside of my room.[/QUOTE]
The Rebecca K no doubt.
Yup, gunfight wins everytime…[QUOTE=catherder;103977]I think Tugs killed the thread! Can’t top that one.[/QUOTE]