1. Student Custodian - It is by far the easiest job to get when you are in college and looking for a part time job that is truly flexible for your schedule, but it is also one of the most disgusting and exhausting jobs I have ever had.  We’d start out our day by loading up into the university’s Housing Department truck and heading to each of the dorms, once at the dorms we would empty out all the trash, pick up any trash in the hallways, clean out any massive spills in the bathrooms, and mop up any vomit that a drunk 19 year old had left in the hallway on his way to his or her room at 4:00 in the morning.  Nothing says “good times” like cleaning out a bathroom sink full of Macaroni and Cheese from some student’s hot pot - as if those bathroom sinks might also double as a kitchen sink in a pinch.

2. Fish Monger - A part time job in a seafood department while I went to school for my Bachelor’s degree.  I read a top ten list once of signs that your job was truly terrible - number one on that list read: “Your job involves dead fish.”  That just about sums it up, my job involved dead fish, raw octopus, killing lobsters, and occasionally dealing with large amounts of live crawfish - it sucked when they got loose.  It is not a job that anyone should ever have unless they truly love fish, and I hate seafood.

3. Community Organizer - It is a great term for someone that goes door to door asking for people to give you money in order to join your politically motivated group that is going to change the world for the better - so long as they fork over 36-60 dollars at the door.  Nothing wears you down quite like having doors slammed in your face, having people yell at you because they hate your cause, and dealing with all the apathetic people that you run into working as a canvaser.

4. Sales - As a general rule, most sales jobs suck, but my sales job was selling baby pictures to people who had signed up for a single free portrait.  It was a crazy operation, going to their homes to show them a wide range of pictures that had been taken by our “professional” photographer.  The families could choose their one free portrait and, for a price ranging from 60 dollars on up to 360, could then purchase additional pictures or even get the digital copies.  The job was purely based on sales, that lasted all of about two weeks.

5. Tech Support - After having worked in tech support now for a mere 3 weeks, I have already come to the conclusion that perhaps the whole computer revolution has gone too far, and that too many people have computers now - people that have no idea how to use them and call tech support at the slightest sign of something strange or different.  The constant stream of calls from people who have issues ranging from a frozen program to a full on system meltdown can really wear a person down.  98 percent of the problems I see could have been solved with a tiny bit of troubleshooting, 1 percent have actual problems, and the other 1 percent are just dicks calling to complain that their new computer they just plopped down 3 grand for is behaving like an actual piece of technology and isn’t at all like the wonderful and pain free magic box the salesperson said it would be.  Dealing with the public on a daily basis in tech support can destroy your faith in humanity.

Those are the top five jobs you should avoid at all cost, unfortunately I’ve had them all.