What was the physically hardest job you've ever had?

Shirley Martin said:
I picked worms off tobacco plants, pinched their heads off and tossed them to the ground in hot humid weather. Worked in tobacco during barning season. Chopped crops with a weeding hoe. But I didn't know it was hard work. It was just the way things were back then.
Click to expand...

Yuck, I remember those tobacco horn worms; very creepy things and similar to tomato horn worms. Topping and suckering tobacco was also hard work, but when the plants were tall there was a bit of shade in the field.
 
There was some work involved in walking through snow, including drifts, from one side of a 40-acre plat, where our house was located, to the other, where the river formed the opposite boundary, carrying an axe, when you're practically too young to lift the axe. At one time, we had 21 horses, but they wouldn't break the snow; no, they'd all follow behind as I made my way down to the river to break a large hole in the ice so the horses could drink. At the same time, I don't remember how old I was, but I do remember that I had a hard time swinging the axe; still, there was some pleasure to be had in leading a horde of horses to the river and smashing through the ice with an axe. Going back was easier because the horses would have made a trail. Then they'd keep the path and the hole in the ice clear, going back and forth to drink, but the next time there was a hard freeze at night, someone would have to make the trip with the axe again. Somehow, the horses seemed to know when the ice was going to be too thick for them to break through it because there was seldom a path through the snow.
 
Swinging a industrial mop at closing time. Very heavy, after working all day on your feet.
Climbing on houses being built knocking down things with a hammer.Or washing windows on new homes in the middle of freezing weather...outside:rolleyes:
Yeah I moved on later to the office job:D
 
I had mostly desk jobs, but for two years I worked in my sister's warehouse (un-airconditioned) and office (thankfully airconditioned) and for another two years, I did route sales and merchandising for her.

I'd have to load my big van in the morning (hot! already in Florida) and then head out to the 125 stores I serviced. I'd have to unload, push a load of the product into the stores, and set up displays or fill them. I'd be dripping wet with sweat and then I'd have to stand in a deeply-airconditioned store and put the stuff on the racks, cold and clammy.

Then it would be back out into the heat and on to the same thing at the next store. Five days a week, at least 10 hours a day during the tourist season.

Surprisingly, I was healthier those two years than ever before or after. I think that hot-and-cold routine killed off any germs in my body. I know I had muscles back then from lifting all that heavy product.
 
Mary Robi said:
I had mostly desk jobs, but for two years I worked in my sister's warehouse (un-airconditioned) and office (thankfully airconditioned) and for another two years, I did route sales and merchandising for her.

I'd have to load my big van in the morning (hot! already in Florida) and then head out to the 125 stores I serviced. I'd have to unload, push a load of the product into the stores, and set up displays or fill them. I'd be dripping wet with sweat and then I'd have to stand in a deeply-airconditioned store and put the stuff on the racks, cold and clammy.

Then it would be back out into the heat and on to the same thing at the next store. Five days a week, at least 10 hours a day during the tourist season.

Surprisingly, I was healthier those two years than ever before or after. I think that hot-and-cold routine killed off any germs in my body. I know I had muscles back then from lifting all that heavy product.
Click to expand...
I used to service security systems in DC office buildings. I'd run 8+ service calls per day. I would get the worse colds going from the van's a/c, then the hot & humid outdoors, then inside the building's a/c, then out to the truck to get parts, back inside. Lather/Rinse/Repeat.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top