I decided today whilst sitting in my parked car waiting for my son, that to be a traffic warden has got to be a pretty grim job. I was watching one mooching about in and around where I was parked. He looked damn miserable, but can you blame him? I thought.

No one I know is ever pleased to see a traffic warden, I can't imagine anyone using even the faintest of pleasantries towards one, well, unless you're trying to talk them out of giving you a ticket, and that never works anyway, I've tried it.

Surely all the negative feedback he/she most get throughout the day/week must have an adverse effect on them, it must do. I very much doubt that they go home at the end of a day in a happy mood. ( unless there are on commission).


So I reckon that to be a traffic warden is in the top 100 worlds worst jobs, So 1. being the worlds worst job, I'd put a traffic warden roughly at about number 87.



Can anyone think of a job that deserves to be in the 100 worlds worst jobs?



Just a bit of fun.

Septic tank cleaners.

So what number would you rate that at? 1 being the worst.

Come on Caroline do the job properly you have to rate it as well.

It is the first one that came to mind. Others would be sorting through a hoarder's home (being one of the specialty rubbish removers- saw a programme that showed them wading through maggots, dead cats and bags of human excrement as the hoarder couldn't access the toilet.) Then there is the job that poverty stricken people in 2nd/3rd world countries do, which is sulphur mining, or living on landfill and breaking up old refuse bags to find things they can sell. Most are children or young adults, as they have an incredibly short life expectancy.

How on earth would I put them in order?

Yeah, I've seen a programme about removing rubbish from people's homes, it was called something 'Horders' it was pretty grim.

......Well I put the traffic warden job in an order by realising, that yeah, it's not the best job in the world, but there's a hell of a lot worse, some of which you've mentioned like what some children have to do in 3rd world countries.

Perhaps we should just stick with 100 of the worlds worst jobs in the western world? It was supposed to be just a bit of fun. But I think we might all end up feeling a bit depressed.

I reckon ticket inspector is far worse than a traffic warden.... Well in Melbourne it is. Traffic wardens are seldom bullies but often get bullied whereas with ticket inspectors tis the other way around.


I've got a mate that works for Bio Clean.... Sucides, car accidents, discovered bodies in houses, bronzed up police and prison cells and hoarders... He loves the job, I dont like him talking about it though I will say, especially the ancient bodies and their effect on houses Must take a special type I reckon.

Any long term job that requires you to work alone for very long periods of time.

Personally I'd hate to be one of those security guards that stands in the front of shops or buildings.... So I'll put that at 50.... Or in other words I'd rather be a traffic warden than a low level security guard.

Close but not quite.

The worst job I think has to be a grease trap cleaner. When I was a teenager I got a job in a restaurant kitchen and the first thing the mad chef always did was introduce new staff to the grease trap which is basically a big storage pit in the ground for all the bits of food and grease that goes down the sink.

The smell!!!!!!!!! I can only describe it as being a VERY strong smell of vomit, it is basically a tank full of puke. I turned away just in time but is made some people retch and be sick themselves over in the bushes, it really was that bad.

And when the line to this tank gets blocked some poor bastard had to come and clear that tank out and find the blockage.

Grim, very very grim,

Sydney pest inspector.

They climb down through tiny trapdoors into dark, cramped, underfloor spaces which are populated with unspeakable bugs, cockroaches, spiders and the like and have to shuffle around in the dark, often on their hands and knees, looking for termites.

Then if they find them, they have to go back down there and spray lethal chemicals around in enclosed spaces to kill them.

This is a job that encompasses two of my greatest fears in one neat package - being stuck in an enclosed space with millions of crawling bugs. No amount of money in the world would entice me to do that job.

In the U.K I subcontracted to a company that used to deal with evicting drug addicts/alcoholics etc. from landlord owned properties. A contact at the local DHSS would arrange for all of them in the house to have to attend an interview on the same morning regarding stopping their benefits [a sure fire way to get them to attend] We would wait down the street in out trucks & as soon as they were all out of the house we'd force entry via any means & board all of the windows/doors with metal security shutters.
We then had to clear the place of their belongings usually nothing more than a mattress or two. They would often defecate everywhere but the toilet. There were discarded needles all over the place & even with proper gloves there was a danger of a needle stick. I didn't last long doing that job!

One job could actually be close to the best and worst in the world, depending on your attitude.

Prositute.... If your doing it to support a drug habit or desperately need the money then it would be one of the worst. If your doing it to get paid for something you love to do, then it's probably one of the best you could get. So not sure where to put that. I would guess the ratio is about 65 pct negative to 35 pct positive though.

Accountant .......... Yawn

What kind of ticket inspector?

The Bio clean job sounds interesting....

I could handle working away alone if it was in the right place, like a beautiful island or the North Pole.
That's what I call a character building job Jon,

My son works in a kitchen but he doesn't have to do that, he'd walk if he did, the lads a lightweight, he moans if he has to peel a spud!

There's no way on earth I'd do that job either Nicky, I'm with you there! No amount of money could entice me.


Yep! That's a crappy job!

Yep but the money's good! So it sort of makes up for it I think.

A pilot.

Especially long haul. Bit of fun at the take off and landing, what about the middle?

Oh yes.... Only one type in Melbourne, a Myki Ticket inspector..... PTV inspector (Public Transport Victoria) is the offical title I think.