Bad Jobs: My Last Shift at Albert Wong's Pagoda and Other Ugly Tales of the Workplace

by Carellin Brooks (Editor)

"Bad Jobs" is an anthology of tales?both humorous and tragic?about the worst jobs people have ever held. This collection of stories, comics, and photographs depict, in gory true-life detail, examples of bad jobs. We all shudder at the thought of our own worst jobs-waiter, cashier, parking lot attendant-but these take the cake, demonstrating just how bad bad jobs can be. "Bad Jobs" is full of wry, subversive tales, comics, and assorted miscellany from the trenches of the working world. You think your job is bad? Meet: The flyer delivery guy who sees poetry in broken glass?from a beer bottle some kids threw at him. The phone sex operator who can bring a man to orgasm while reading Ms. Magazine. A customer service rep who only hates two things about her job: the customers and everything else. A one-time stripper who performs her first- and last-mainstage routine to Aretha Franklin's R-E-S-P-E-C-T. The sex-shop clerk who, when confronted by a deaf-mute demanding a dollar, makes sure he can read her lips mouthing, "Fuck you. Get a job!" The factory grunt who knows firsthand what really goes into "Crushed Party Ice." The fabric wholesaler whose coworker insists he never raped a woman who didn't love it. The applicant whose interviewers end up breathing real hard through their noses, until she points out that half of their interview questions are illegal. An environmental canvasser who turns up in the local paper's "Crimewatch" column-and considers turning himself in for the reward money. By turns beautiful, surreal, hilarious, and awful, "Bad Jobs" will get under your skin with stories about how really awful a truly bad job can be.

Genres: Anthologies

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1998

Reviews

[Linda W · Rating 4 out of 5]

A random book that I stumbled across, for sure. But I loved it - there were several short stories in this collection that I thought about long after I finished them.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The PhD serving coffee, the creative slacking off at a string of crap jobs, the unsupervised teens preparing unhygenic foodstuffs, the ubiquitous sexual harassment, the entitled customers, the rude drunks. This collection of mostly forgettable tales of mediocre jobs was collected in 1998, but could just as easily be from 1960, or 2010.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of writings (and a couple of cartoons) about bad jobs. Some of it made me laugh and some of it made me cringe in sympathy (as would anyone who's ever had a really crappy job). An enjoyable collection in general.

[Tuck · Rating 2 out of 5]

i'm reading all the arsenal pulp books i can get ahold of easily. which turns out to be 4 :( so far i've loved prain's 2 award winning ones Hoopla: The Art of Unexpected Embroidery ) and fixing to read the 4th, just as soon as i finish this! San Francisco: The Unknown City
this here bad jobs is a bit of a bad job. mostly 100% canadian, which is not damning in itself, but hey, lets say, bland. some funny ones though about the phd dude who only works at mindless jobs so he can daydream in peace, the pole dancer who only lasted 1 day, the myriad food service jobs of low pay, high camaraderie, and brutal conditions,
i myself have had lots and lots of bad jobs (sod farming? possibly the worst in some ways) school teaching, yes by far the most psychologically damaging, but lots of holidays! anyway this book is crafted, laid out and constructed beautifully (as all arsenal seem to be), i wish i had more arsenal pulp press books from vancouver bc.

[Joel Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

fun concept. i found a few of the short stories amusing, a couple shocking... but the rest was just meh.