I just thought I'd do a poll to find out the longest time everyone has ever held down a job.  It doesn't matter if the job is part-time or full-time.

So far, the longest I've had a job for is 2 and a half years - that was when I was working on a casual, part-time contract at the local sorting office, whilst I was studying at university.  This job came to an end because back in January they decided to get rid of all their Saturday morning casual staff on the early shift.  I wasn't too upset, because my final year exams were getting near, and so I had more time to prepare for them and do my coursework.

My current (full time permanent) job has lasted me 6 months so far, although I was an agency temp for the first 5 months of it.

I've had a job exactly 6 months before being fired.

Wonder which one to vote under.  3 to 6 months or 6 to 12 months.

Oh dear, I didn't think of that  :!: Just put it under 6 to 12 months.  :wink:

I've always been fired, sometimes after just a few hours, sometimes after weeks or months.

Stella

I got my first job at 16 and, except for some periods when I was a full-time student, have been working since then. I can't recall ever being fired.  I've quit some jobs due to moving, or because the job no longer made any sense. I never made much above minimum wage in anything until I was 36, but since then it's been a lot better.  Aside from needing to support myself, working is important to me, so I hope I can continue to do it.

My longest "regular" job was for 2 years and 5 months, but I've had a part-time job I got as a supplement to my social security, working for 3 hours a day doing office work at an art gallery and sorting documents for a local historian.

Sixteen years in the one job before I quit to spend primary school years with my daughter.  Although perhaps it can't be viewed as a single job, exactly, as I worked for several different departments of the one entity (National Library of Australia) over the sixteen years.  
Alison

I have never been able to maintain employment without being fired. I've been fired from two different jobs for not smiling enough, in another case it was due to my inability to teach fitness in time with a musical beat, in another case it was due to the errors I made during clerical tasks, and in another case I really really struggled hard to keep up with the job but could not survive the bullying that a co-worker inflicted on me. I lasted the longest in the job where I was bullied - a little over 12 months - and that was only because I allowed this bully to get her entertainment out of treating me very badly. Eventually I won a human rights case against that employer and the co-worker.

I've always been fired, Nanda - sometimes after a few weeks, sometimes after a few hours, once or twice within minutes

What happened in minutes Stella?

At one end of a huge warehouse was a small room complete with electric kettle, and an armchair in which loafed one Mr Perkins.

Mr Perkins told me to 'sort out' a colossal pile of boxes of jelly, and went back to reading The Sun in his armchair. So I just slotted them into the warehouse shelves wherever I could find a space amongst the other boxes.

This wasn't what Mr Perkins had wanted, and when he came out of his hidy hole after about half and hour he said "you've got a new foreman starting Monday."
"What d'you mean," I said.
"You've got the tin tack," he said.
"What tin tack?" I said.
"The sack. The sack Get it? You're no good to us here."
"Why?" I said.
"Clear off you daft cow," he said.

So that was getting the sack!  :cry:

The only job I had,was when I was 16,my sister offered me it as they needed some help due to other staff leaving,I knew all of them well,so thought I would try it but couldn't handle it,the boss told my sister I was 'slow' and stupid,so I was there for the grand total of one day.

Stella, what a horrible man. There is a surreal aspect to the cruelty we experience in the workplace sometimes, isn't there? It is where the most direct discrimination gets inflicted. However, I am so glad that you didn't have to spend a long part of your life sorting jelly boxes. You are far too wonderfully talented to fit into an environment like that!

I once worked for social services in reception. At one office I had these two bosses Brenda and Nancy. Both women had matching wash and wear perms. Brenda and Nancy also wore matching clothes to work each day. They both wore polyester slacks with shapeless t-shirts. Brenda and Nancy seemed to be related to each other, through their husbands. In my memory I think of them as twins. This was a welfare office that served the poorest part of our city and provided income assistance. Each day I had various heartrendering events in the reception area such as sick people throwing up, children crying from hunger and abuse, people in the last throes of life attempting to get a last cheque, deranged men sobbing on the reception desk and sometimes gun and bomb threats were made. I felt a great and overwhelming sympathy to these people. However, I had no ability to help them, my job was only to process the first part of their  application forms. And the twins Brenda and Nancy punished any humane impulses in the office staff and rewarded cruelty as they worked to uphold the rules of governmental administration. As part of my service to the clients there were a hundred different forms I was supposed to sort out. Due to my then unrecognized disabilities I could not prevent myself from making errors each day. In my first six months the twins told me everyday that they would have to tell the district supervisor to fire me because I made "too many mistakes". Every workday for months I was told time was almost up before I was to be let go. I wanted desperately to maintain some form of employment and the job meant alot to me. By the time six months had passed I had become an alcoholic and developed an anxiety disorder!  

It was not the place that I was meant to be and I should have quit long before I was finally let go but in those days I did not know I was disabled, and as a person deemed employable I would not have been eligible for income assistance!

Brenda and Nancy sound neat, smart and glacial like the female guards in Belsen.

One job I had, the boss would time people with a stopwatch when they went on their break, literally.
My organisation and timekeeping are not perfect by any means, so I was late a few times, once he actually scolded me for being 30 seconds late, yes seconds!
I got the sack for bad timekeeping shortly after. The job has lasted about 3 weeks. It was paying £1.20 an hour.