Let's share the worst things we've had to endure as employees. I'll go first:
Teenage, food service, pizza. The AC breaks in the middle of a California summer, easily 110°f outside, 115°f inside the store (verified), with 500°f open-ended ovens running nonstop. Then the makeline which holds ingredients breaks. The cheese melts into clumps. We stay open, business as usual. Also, no breaks, ever. Pay: $8.50/hr.
Adult, teaching, high school. No in-class heat for four years. School provides one basic 11" fan heater used to warm small bedrooms. My class ceilings are at least 12ft with tons of windows. I developed a routine of showing up an hour early, turning on the collection of heaters I'd acquired (including several from home), and get the room up to a sweltering 62°f by first period. I also figured out which electrical items can be plugged into which outlets and how to reset the fuse panel on a moments notice. I have photos of my students huddled around an oil-radiator with their hands out, eager for even a semblance of heat.
Your turn:
Some years ago I was working a job doing deliveries. Minimum wage shit. They gave me a large Dodge Promaster, similar to what you see Amazon and FedEx drivers driving. One day I need to make one final delivery for the day after rush hour. I'm just driving, everything is good, until we get some unexpected snow, and I quickly realized that the tires had all lost tread when I tried to switch lanes and the car swerved a little.
I drove in one lane for a little, and then I needed to switch lanes. Chose my spot when traffic was slow and sparse in the other lane, and my van basically swerved 90 degrees. Straightened it out, found a parking spot, and hit my manager up. Told him I was stuck, and there was more snow in the forecast throughout the night. Manager here tells me that I need to get the delivery done by tonight to the location, and to also drop the keys and van off at the same location before it closes. At this point I didn't even bother arguing.
I don't have much time, I'm tired as fuck, and I'm not thinking properly. I decided to risk driving again. Did a few miles, and was only a mile and a half to the destination when I ended up in a very crowded avenue. I had to make a left turn, so I get into the turn lane, and the left turn light comes on. As I'm making the turn, the car swerves a full 360 degrees. While it's turning and I'm completely out of control, the car behind me is also in the process of turning, and I see it come inches to hitting me as my van continues to turn. At this point I'm just mentally blacked out, so my only instinct is to find a spot where I can just park for a few minutes. Thankfully the traffic is understanding both ways, and people don't move until I'm well clear.
I find a spot, hit my manager up again, tell him I'm not about do keep going. He tells me that everything will be fine and I only have a short distance left. At this point in my life I'm going through some legal troubles, so the thought of justifiably being able to take legal action against the company seems like a hassle to me. I just get back in the van and thankfully get to the location in time, without any real damage. Told boss man next day that I'm going to dip, and he offers me a raise, along with a new van. I happily take up the offer because I don't have shit else going on with life.
The part that sucks is that I still keep in touch with him even after having left. He always treated me well before the incident and after it. Never hung me out to dry, and bailed me out a bunch of times when I was being a hard ass or got into situations where I wasn't at fault, but it would be my ass on the line regardless. He's the only boss I've had that I've been able to tolerate throughout the whole time I was at a job. With other bosses I almost always run into trouble. I remind him all the time now that he was wrong and I could've sued the company's ass off, and he always tells me that I had every right to do so. Honestly it's fucking weird. I could've probably died that night but I still got love for the dude.