苦差 (kǔ chāi) — hard and unprofitable job; thankless task

Definition

Examples

• 很多人觉得做翻译是苦差，其实不然。
  Hěn duō rén jué de zuò fān yì shì kǔ chāi, qí shí bù rán.
  Many people think being a translator is a thankless job, but it's not.
• 这份苦差没人愿意接，最后只好我自己来。
  Zhè fèn kǔ chāi méi rén yuàn yì jiē, zuì hòu zhǐ hǎo wǒ zì jǐ lái.
  No one was willing to take on this hard and unprofitable job, so in the end I had to do it myself.
• 他每天加班到深夜，干的都是苦差。
  Tā měi tiān jiā bān dào shēn yè, gān de dōu shì kǔ chāi.
  He works overtime until late every night, doing nothing but thankless tasks.

Origin