Is there a good alternative to "low man on the totem pole"?

Since "low man on the totem pole" is potentially ambiguous (and is possibly offensive to some), are there any good alternative idioms to mean someone of low rank who gets stuck with undesirable things?

"Drawing the short straw" doesn't quite fit since that implies randomness.

As I was writing the question, it occurred to me that "low in the pecking order" (or even less ambiguously, "last in the pecking order") could be a suitable substitute.

The bottom of the heap (idiom):

people who are at the bottom of the heap are poor and unsuccessful and have the lowest position in society.

[Cambridge English Dictionary]

Fans of the Dr. Seuss classic children's story Yertle the Turtle may appreciate the idiomatic use of "the turtle at the bottom" or "the turtle at the bottom of the stack" as an alternative to "low man on the totem pole." In Yertle the Turtle, King Yertle demands that the turtles in his pond stack themselves up to form a throne befitting his high and mighty status. Ultimately, Mack the turtle at the bottom of the stack topples the throne and overthrows Yertle—by burping.

The same idiom also suggests the undesirability of being the bottom-most turtle in the stack suggested by the idiom "turtles all the way down."