Pain in the ass

Strangely enough, the days I spent at this pain-in-the-ass job were some of my most memorable and valuable.

His one obligation is that, every day, he must gather $10,000 worth of items from the store – stuff he doesn’t need: electronics, nappies, pet food and so forth – and exchange them for the cash. This is both an acute pain in the ass, and the one thing that prevents him from going insane with boredom. )