31-DAY CHALLENGE

Day Three: The Worst Job I’ve Ever Had

It wasn’t all cuddles and roses

Karen Schwartz
3 min readJan 3, 2023

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Yama Zsuzsanna Márkus on Pixabay

When answering this topic, it’s important to define the word “worst.” Sure, I could say that it was the one where my boss took all the credit for my sales without lifting her finger or the one where my supervisor had no compassion for my chronic mental illness. But I’ve decided the worst job I’ve ever had was the one that angers me to this day. It’s the one where my boss treated me unfairly.

In my younger days, I worked for a store that sold puppies. These adorable, cuddly animals wanted nothing more than to lick your face and play. It was the only merchandise the store sold. With this as the sole focus, I figured it would be easy.

And it should have been because selling puppies wasn’t hard. But unfortunately, it was the people I worked with that caused the disruption.

When I first arrived, the sales staff seemed nice enough. They took me under their wing and showed me the ropes. They introduced me to the routine — sterilizing the crates, feeding and bathing the puppies, and greeting the customers. What could be wrong with this picture?

It was the fact they were lazy. And for this reason, we sat around — a lot. Since we were on commission, we took turns with each customer…

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Karen Schwartz

Children's picture book author, fiction writer, personal essayist, kindness specialist, and lover of chocolate.