In this topic, we will discuss if you had a harsh working environment or of your in one now.

I worked at a McDonald's 2 years ago and it was the worst working environment ever. The people were grumpy, snotty, and cruel. The owner was a terror. He would come in and scream at everyone to work faster. I trained with three different people that were a nightmare. One of the girls I trained with screamed at me saying she was tired of doing my work. All along, I WAS doing my work and I was still in my training phase. Then they stuck me doing all the grill stations during the lunch hour rush. One of the managers was laughing at me (I think). I would suggest to anyone NEVER to work at a McDonald's. I lasted there only 3 weeks and then I quit.

I also used to volunteer at a Salvation Army church and I was there a few years and then I finally had to quit because of my nerves. One of the volunteers there was an old lady and she was grumpy frequently. The case worker and the preacher were snooty. Some of the clients that would come in for food were quite rude also.

I also used to volunteer at a couple of bingo games and most of the members there were crabby and fought amongst each other most of the time.

I worked in retail for the longest and it's not cup of tea.

Customers would be rude, plus my manager was kind of a bitch.

Sounds like terrible places to work! I've had my share of harsh working environments...
The restaraunt I worked at once; the owners who ran the place were like 80 years old very grumpy--and always forgetting when it was my scheduled day off--then yelling at me for being a "no-call, no-show" for that day.

The nursing home I worked at in North Carolina (for only 3 days!)--I encountered some big-time "reverse racism" there (I'm white--I was about the only white person who worked there, too). I have absolutely nothing against ANY people of different races, but that place was SO hostile towards me; and they made it clear why! Boy, I had a little glimpse of what people of other races have to go through sometimes & it's sad!

The storm door factory I worked at back in the early 80's--it was HOT in the summer, FREEZING in the winter; hard physical labor..the bosses were always yelling at us to go faster. That's the place I got my hand almost crushed in a 2-ton press machine. (The machine was majorly messed up and missing the safety guard, and we had to stick our hand inside the "danger zone" and reset it each time we needed to use it, but we were made to use it anyway) It crushed my wedding ring on my finger (it didn't break any bones; just bent my wedding ring down where it had to be cut off in the emergency room). They were nice enough to pay the ER bill, but NOT for my ruined wedding ring!


If you work at any places like these, please look for another job! It's not worth it!

Oh yes!

I worked for an independent mechanic once who berated me when I quit. He was okay most of the time; it was his psycho wife I had most problems with. They loved to nitpick about what I did. Right before I walked out, I was looking over the user manual for the computer program they used, learning how to manage the customer database. There were people who were in there multiple times and the wife had asked me close to when I started there to see if I could consolidate them. I had time this one day and was messing around with it. I'm no computer dummy...I'm not going to go and erase an entire database. She went all psycho on me, asking me what I was doing and why, acting like I was hacking into the program and stealing private info. I remember coming home bawling for a few weeks before that (I can't remember why exactly, but it was a very stressful place to work because according to them, I never did anything and when I did, I screwed it up). When I came back with my resignation, the boss proceded to yell at me for not doing any cleaning (he complained that I didn't sweep the entry like he asked...I was there that day for 8 hours...like I had to do it right away when all that would happen was that people would bring in more dirt and bugs because the building was a ****ing sty anyway), for watching TV (which the mother****er sat and watched with me!), etc. #1, I multitask well. I was working with the TV on because it was there. No one ever told me not to touch it or watch it. #2, like I just said, no one told me not to, nor did anyone ever address these concerns to me before I decided to quit.

Long story short, they berated me and ruined my psyche, which was already damaged enough thanks to depression/anxiety. I cried so hard and so long when I left there that I couldn't breathe. It still makes me angry that they turned on me for no apparent reason, except for the fact that the wife had some sort of mental disorder (not diagnosed, you could just tell she was nuts) and she and her husband couldn't stand anyone who was smarter than them...and I was by leaps and bounds. I'm not tooting my own horn or anything, but I had more intelligence coming out of college with no business degree than these two could have bought for a billion dollars and that apparently bothered them.

Thankfully, no place since has been that bad, although my current job is no piece of cake. I work with a lot of backstabbing bitches who are out to tattle on you for any reason they can. This place has ruined my self-esteem terribly, but I like the work.

I worked in construction and half the crews were alchoholics or recovering alchoholics. Needless to say, the job sucked big time.

I'm glad to say the current place I work is, for the most part, staffed with the nicest people! It took me a long time to find a place I'm happy at. Yeah, there's always a few back-stabbers, whiners, and time-clock-riders, but they always get weeded out sooner or later. The bosses are very understanding, and they get out there and bust a$$ right along with the rest of us!

For me it varies. I am a freelancer. I go from tv show to tv show and work on a lot of reality. I will deal with some egos and snotty people but also have the privelige of dealing with some down to earth people.

I'm glad to say the current place I work is, for the most part, staffed with the nicest people! It took me a long time to find a place I'm happy at. Yeah, there's always a few back-stabbers, whiners, and time-clock-riders, but they always get weeded out sooner or later. The bosses are very understanding, and they get out there and bust a$$ right along with the rest of us!
yeah, all of my jobs so far have been pretty easy. i'd say it's normal to deal with things like rude customers, but even when i was a snow cone vendor and had a lot of customers every day, i never had that problem.

i did have a hard time at my last job because of the way my co-workers and other people around would often remark and even joke about how quiet i was right in front of me. it made me feel like a ****ing zoo animal, being watched and critiqued by everyone without being able to react. it drove me crazy that they couldn't figure out that i was VERY disturbed by their presence and didn't want to talk with anyone unless it was necessary. at times i hated the job because it bothered me so much. but luckily it was only a summer thing, and overall i'm sure it was a relatively good job.

i worked as a security guard atsaint francis hospital. my duties included bringing bodies to the morgue and restraining patients in the psych ward: often patients who were 5 times bigger than you, drunk or on drugs, i was lucky never to be hurt by any although i can't say the same for my fellow co-workers. one was smacked in the face with a phone receiver, another was kicked in the face, i however was spit on by a street hooker and had to go on special antibiotics for 6 months to prevent hiv.

i lasted a year which is saying a lot since most people quit after the first 2 days, i can't tell you how many people i trained and then never saw again. although i have to say it was the most exciting job i ever had. there was never a dull moment. however, there was a high turnover rate and because of this they required everyone to sign an agreement to work an extra 2 shifts per week which got old fast because they were always short and on top of it you never got any break periods. you could work the whole 16 hours and never have one break.

it was physically exhausting on top of it. the hospitals campus was comprised of 9 buildings and if they called you on your radio to respond to an emergency (which was every 10 minutes) you had to run all the way over from say building 8 to where the situation was in building 1 (probably a football field and a half away including going up or down stairs.) and the whole time your trying to get there they'd be squaking over the radio to you "why aren't you there yet?" uh, hello, i'm 7 buildings away. and when you'd finally get there thesituation would either be over already a false alarm or a "test"

there was not one pleasant aspect about it. the nurses and doctors treated us like doormats and used us as the scapegoats for everything that went wrong, they were more concerned about getting their parking validated than the welfare of their patients. the patients and visitors were frequently grumpy (although giving the circumstances that was acceptable). and our immediate supervisors treated us like slaves, like we had no life outside of there, they'd be always telling us to come in on our free time for training sessions almost every other week on top of working the 2 extra shifts i mentioned that were required. by the end of my time there working there became too chaotic. the hospital was undergoing construction and yet another building was being added to the campus. so i left.

In my current job, different position. I used to be a dish washer. I was one of the only ones who spoke English and that got frustrating at times. But it didn't start out so bad. It was good honest work and for the most part, I liked it. Then about 6 months into my employment they hired this new guy who immediately thought he was the boss. He was lazy. More than that, he would constantly yelling at me to go faster when, while admittedly I'm not the fasted person on the planet, I always got the job done on time. He would shout at me when I talked to my friends in the kitchen. He would almost constantly bring me down. Had a temper on him and shifty little eyes. He spoke enough English to make my job hellish.

He was a large reason why I pressed to get out of the dish pit. There were nights when I was on the verge of tears. I would ride my bike home extra fast to burn off my rage and frustration.

There was a moment when I almost flipped him off. There has never been a time when I had to restrain myself like that.

I was promoted and he was fired for simply not showing up.

I worked at a supermarket for several years. If I wasn't having a problem with a customer, I was having a problem with my idiot manager or obnoxious high school co-"workers". I'm glad I left that place behind.


Thankfully, no place since has been that bad, although my current job is no piece of cake. I work with a lot of backstabbing bitches who are out to tattle on you for any reason they can. This place has ruined my self-esteem terribly, but I like the work.

Cathy, I work at a school too and sometimes I feel like I'm back in high school with all the backstabbing, gossip, mood swings, and cliques. :rolleyes: I love the kids though.

The problem with the places I used to volunteer at were that most of the club members thought they owned the place. There was soooooo much backstabbing among the members it was horrid. There is this one woman who used to come in to play bingo and she would get there about 3pm (bingo didnt start until 7pm) just to make shure she got her weekly seat and saved about 10 other tables for her friends. She was not the nicest person in the world.

Cathy, I work at a school too and sometimes I feel like I'm back in high school with all the backstabbing, gossip, mood swings, and cliques. :rolleyes: I love the kids though.

I know! It's like these 40 year olds never left school as students. I don't see how some of them expect perfect behavior out of their students when they can't even model it. Plus, some of them think you're below them if you're not a teacher. :rolleyes: I have a college education too you know. Heck, spell simple, basic words 10x better than some of the teachers there.

I love the kids too; it's what keeps me there. I know I'll be sad when some of them go on to middle school.