What was the hardest job (physical labor) you ever performed?

[wuapinmon]

Calling me a fat bastard is hardly the horns.

[pellegrino]

I worked residential construction and on one job I was responsible for getting all of the decking up to the second and third levels of a 6000 sq foot home we were building. We had built this jig on an outside wall where we'd stack the sheets vertically on it (it was about 10" off the ground) and then I had to stand in the middle of the sheets and do a type of clean and jerk to hand it to a guy on the next level. I started out doing one sheet at a time, as they were heavy and frankly, I'm a skinny little guy. My boss saw me and cussed me out for not doing three or four at a time, so that's what I had to start putting up every time. I did that for the entire day, started out with 3/4 decking and then moved on to the exterior sheathing and the roof decking. Plus, it was about 90 outside with 75-80% humidity. I've never been so gassed and so sore. I literally fell asleep during my lunch hour and that night I didn't make it past 8:30. I was exhausted. Thank God most days weren't like that.

[Katy Lied]

What can you expect from a bunch of guys that only scored high enough on their ASVAB to get into the infantry?

The ability to spell isn't high on the list of abilities/ priorities when people are shooting machine guns at ya, or swinging a rifle butt at your head.

It's all relative.

I aced the spatial perception portion of my ASVAB. I wonder what I would have qualified for.

[happyone]

I aced the spatial perception portion of my ASVAB. I wonder what I would have qualified for.

signal corps

[wuapinmon]

signal corps

My flag girl's gonna set your flag on fire. Talkin'bout, hey now, hey now, iko iko on dey. KatyLied fino on on day, KatyLied fin on dey.

[Marvin Hardtospell]

Sanitation in a potato processing plant from 11 PM to 7 AM. Essentially consisted of crawling under all the rollers and hosing/pushing/scraping out the mash that would fall through the cracks. This was followed by shovelling the mash into a wheelbarrow and hauling it across the plant floor to where the bobcat was parked outside. Once the bucket was full on the bobcat I would get a welcomed 5 minute respite while I dumped the load in the disposal area.

I can't remember the exact temperature inside the plant now. I just remember that it was very hot and extremely humid. I was soaked from head to toe within 5 minutes of walking into the plant. I also don't remember how many rollers there were but I do remember that as soon as I cleaned out the last roller it was time to start again on the first. Truly a summer from hell.

[TripletDaddy]

I had to clean our pool until I graduated HS and left for college.

[Lost Student]

Sanitation in a potato processing plant from 11 PM to 7 AM. Essentially consisted of crawling under all the rollers and hosing/pushing/scraping out the mash that would fall through the cracks. This was followed by shovelling the mash into a wheelbarrow and hauling it across the plant floor to where the bobcat was parked outside. Once the bucket was full on the bobcat I would get a welcomed 5 minute respite while I dumped the load in the disposal area.

I can't remember the exact temperature inside the plant now. I just remember that it was very hot and extremely humid. I was soaked from head to toe within 5 minutes of walking into the plant. I also don't remember how many rollers there were but I do remember that as soon as I cleaned out the last roller it was time to start again on the first. Truly a summer from hell.

This post reminds me of my first assignment when I started working for a potato processor in IF when I was about 14 or 15. I was to clean various parts of a huge warehouse.

There was a pile of about 50 'taters on some rollers that had been somehow left there for a long, long time--such that the ones at the bottom had liquefied. Nasty, nasty smell.

You know how your sense of smell makes strong connections with certain memories? The insides of my nostrils are tingling right now.

[wally]

I had to clean our pool until I graduated HS and left for college.

Did handling the pole leave you with callouses on your hands?

All of the scooping was probably a good shoulder workout.

Did you also get stuck with handling the chlorination?

I would like to find out more about your overall experience.

[CJF]

Yesterday as I lifted the seat to the toliet my wedding ring slid off my finger and went right into the bowl. After serious consideration of just allowing it to be flushed, the second hardest job I've ever done physically was fishing it out. Luckily it stayed in the shallow end and I could get to it with a Q-Tip without having to touch anything or be touched by anything. I dropped into a plastic cup, filled that cup up with as many different cleaning chemicals I could find and let it sit over night. Putting it on this morning was the hardest thing I've ever physcially done.

[kccougar]

This post reminds me of my first assignment when I started working for a potato processor in IF when I was about 14 or 15. I was to clean various parts of a huge warehouse.

There was a pile of about 50 'taters on some rollers that had been somehow left there for a long, long time--such that the ones at the bottom had liquefied. Nasty, nasty smell.

You know how your sense of smell makes strong connections with certain memories? The insides of my nostrils are tingling right now.

I once pulled a cooler out of the basement for a party and found a bag of potatoes had been left inside for several months.

I threw the cooler away.

[LA Ute]

My first job was cleaning pans for Dunford's Bakery at the plant on 900 East, just off 2100 South in Salt Lake. It was really hard, grimy back-breaking work -- we had to scrape the baked-on junk from the 16" x 30" pans (hard work) then load them in large groups into this humongous dishwasher, the take then out and scare them again if any residue was left. This was during the summer from 2:00 to 10:00 p.m., in a steamy, hot, dirty room at the back of the plant. I got $1.65 an hour. I was 16 and finally had money of my own. I loved it.

[landpoke]

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Were you a drill instructor? I've always wondered if they work off a script of sorts. It would seem like you'd almost have to as the training would be less than effective if you were constantly tripping over your words.

[Mrs. Funk]

I worked for seven months as a FedEx package handler my last year of college. The shift began at 3:30 AM (from time to time, we had the extreme luxury of beginning work at 4:30 AM). I hauled boxes and loaded trucks with shelves taller than me. I once helped move a motorcycle engine block that some moron decided to ship in the mail. Lots of bumps, scrapes, bruises, and sore muscles.

[TripletDaddy]

Did handling the pole leave you with callouses on your hands?

All of the scooping was probably a good shoulder workout.

Did you also get stuck with handling the chlorination?

I would like to find out more about your overall experience.

we had one of those pool vacuum things that went around the bottom like a roomba. so I didnt brush the pool.

I was responsible for overseeing the de-leafing processes as well as the occasional de-frogging in the filter. In the rarest of emergencies, there would be a de-squirreling. While it did not lead to any chronic or recurrent pain, it definitely required upper body strength and coordination, labor in the hot sun, and the constant occupational hazard of death by drowning.

I also engineered the chlorination and acidic levels of the pool using complex ph monitoring equipment. The chlorine was kept in light colored plastic containers and the acid was kept in dark green plastic containers. This required me to walk the perimeter of the entire swimming pool and spa. The risk of developing blisters on my feet was quite real, but I knew that going into the job.

The worst part of the job was the general pool toy maintenance...deflating rafts, stacking patio furniture, etc.