As for my own job search, I eventually found my way into some pretty sweet positions, but not before bumming around the Southeast and working a great many jobs, many of which I outright despised. There were some jobs that I had along the way that I really like, though, even though they were tough. Just because a job is hard doesn't make it bad.
I've rated the jobs according to their working environment, fairness of pay, and just how reasonable the amount of work expected out of the worker was. So check it out.
Grocery Store Night Stocker
This job shouldn't be grueling. Working nights in your friendly neighborhood grocery store seems like rather benign employment. But in today's mammoth stores, in can really be one of those jobs that someone has to pay someone else to do. Our stock Crew was undermanned, to start with. We had six guys on a team that was supposed to number ten. We usually had to unload, sort and shelve the contents of two diesel trailers over an eight hour shift; one night, and extra truck showed up, and two guys quit in disgust. After midnight, a fourth truck came in, and the stock crew manager quit. By the time the store manager ordered us to go home (at one o'clock the next afternoon) there was just me and one other guy left.
Working conditions=
Pay= 
Work=
Time in the Trenches= 1 year
Overall=Fair
Truck unloader dude
I left the employment office dreading this one. I'd just gotten into town, needed the dough, and was promptly dispatched by the always helpful Employment Office Gurus to a warehouse out in the middle of the woods. Trucks came in (constantly) and one other poor bastard and myself unloaded them, for 12 hours, with hand trucks. It was truly ballbusting. Ended the day with sore back, sore feet, and frequently squished toes and fingertips, as well as being utterly exhausted. No break room, bathroom indescribably horrid.
Working conditions=
Pay= Work=
Time in the Trenches= 1 month
Overall=Blew
Blast Furnace Sand Shoveller
Despite the alluring title, this is actually a nasty, mercilessly hot, dangerous, backbreaking job. And that's just the benefits. Just imagine: standing ankle-deep in granular black sand all day, shoveling the stuff into cast iron wheelbarrow hickey-things that convey it up to the furnace. One comes into contact with red hot iron driblets, cool iron driblets that cut into skin, and the all-pervasive black sand that somehow gets into your, well, everything, and you can't wash it out for days. Crazed alocohic fellow workers, maddened by years in this dead-end, hell of a life, glare at fresh fish in the break room and mutter. A few more enlightened souls asked, "What in the hell are you doing here?" After a few days, I wasn't.
Working conditions=
Pay= Work=
Time in the Trenches= 2 weeks
Overall=I try not to think about it.
Security Guard As most college grads will discover, security companies will hire jsut about anybody, any time, so this is a very easy job to get.Now, one's mind runs with images from the movies of lazy security guards. They are actually among the most underpaid and overworked people out there. I actually had a sweet job for a security company after collge, so when the economy made me take a crap job again, off I went to a security company and waved my resume. What I ended up with was a mammoth, half-shut down Fruit of the Loom factory (yup, no kidding) and I had to make "clock rounds" (where you go to pre-positioned keys along your watch round and insert them into the big round clock you wear aroudn your neck) The rounds of this facility took 45-50 minutes if you moved at a brisk pace; they had to be performed hourly. Your thick polyester uniform mad moving through the hot factory at a break-neck pace endlessly enjoyable. 12 Hours a day, six days a week. Minimum wage!
Working conditions=
Pay= Work=
Time in the Trenches= 2 weeks
Overall=Listening, art students?
I've worked a lot of crappy jobs, so look for updates as I archive those days of slime.
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