The Zero Boss is holding round two of his popular “Blogging for Books” contest. This round’s topic is ‘Servitude’ and entrants are to write a blog entry about the worst experience they’ve ever had working for someone else. This is your warning that my entry is r-rated.

Most of my adolescence I worked at a movie theater and it was a dream job. Fun, naughtiness and free movies, wahoo! My adult career has been in social work jobs and since the jobs were usually serious, even depressing at times, there were only a few laughable experiences. The one ridiculous point of my career as a social worker was when a female co-worker and I decided to put an end to the constant sexual innuendo that came out of our male supervisor’s mouth. The three of us had travelled to another town and were en route to our hotel when we passed an adult giftshop. It was very clear what type of shop it was by the neon signs in the windows and the solicitation occuring in the parking lot. Our boss immediately started making some crude jokes about the business interaction we were witnessing and without warning my co-worker did a complete u-turn and pulled into the parking lot. She didn’t make eye contact with anyone in the car or she would have seen our jaws hanging open in shock. She just announced “I’ve always wanted to see what they sell in these places” and stomped inside. I hopped out and followed her lead. Inside she gave me a wink and then started picking things up and making comments, LOUDLY. At one point she walked over to the counter and asked the sales clerk to explain how something worked. I played along and when we both became immersed in the magazines our supervisor went outside to smoke a cigarette. I never heard about his sex life after that shopping trip. Still, I think the worst job experience was that of a teenage girl who was in state custody. I was doing interviews for a research project that involved asking teens what kind of jobs they had worked. I had done interviews before at this particular facility and I was pretty used to hearing “hooking” and “selling drugs” listed as though they were legitimate occupations. I gave this girl credit for creativity when she listed “drug whore” as her only previous job. With a wicked grin she asked me what I thought about her job. Without stopping to think, as I should have done, I spouted out “Not very good benefits in that line of work.” At least I didn’t say “The benefits must have sucked.”