grismal

the intersection of grim and dismal, like, for example, most jobs (with "e.g. working for walmart" being the best example for people who don't work to imagine what working might be like). other examples would be english cuisine, waterboarding (for the waterboardee), all of the circles of hell, also purgatory etc., a tea party with actual tea party members, going ice fishing with the cable guy, etc. etc. most people lead lives that are both dismal and grim, so this shouldn't be a hard idea for most of you to imagine.

"so, you clean the inside of sewage tanks for a living, what's that like?"
"generally i'm a postive person and i don't like to sound self pitying or negative, but, in a word, pretty grismal"