What's the weirdest job you ever had?

[intheflow]

For me, I'd probably have to say pyrotechnician, but I've a had few other weird jobs.

There was one glorious spring when I worked for Michaels Arts & Crafts. My job was to make displays of the crafts to be done at the summer "Kid's Camp" and painted ceramic Christmas tree ornaments for store display. I'm serious that it was a glorious spring--it paid squat but it was really, really fun.

Other weird jobs I've had include pet photographer, mansion-sitter (like house-sitter but much more upscale), lead singer in a C&W band (even tho I hate CW music), storyteller in the Boston Public Schools, and camera operator for a PBS station.

So I've always been attracted to those weird jobs. What about you all? What's the weirdest job you've had?

[HEyHEY]

1. I was paid to ply NHL 2002 for two weeks straight

And to film it, then edit together the footage to send to EA sports. To show them what hits would seriously injure a person, so they could attempt to eliminate them so little kids would stop giving each other concussions.

Edit 2002 not 2004

[intheflow]

11. This was a cool job.

What is EA?

I was a figure-skater myself, but had a lot of friends who played hockey. This was during the Bobby Orr glory days of the Bruins, and I lived in Massachusetts. I did know one kid who got injured pretty severely during a game. But I'll tell you who the really violent people were in youth hockey: the fathers egging their kids on.

[stepnw1f]

15. EA=Electronic Arts

A game design company. I believe the biggest.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Lawyer.

Trust me; it's a weird job.

[Straight Shooter]

6. Court reporter.

Trust me; it's much weirder than being a lawyer :D

[HEyHEY]

7. Amen

[Amaya]

30. Very weird job

I'm not a lawyer but know a few.

:)

[mike_c]

3. undertaker's apprentice....

Long time ago.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

10. Hey my friend did that too.

Just as "6 Feet Under" was coming out. As a gay mortician's apprentice, he became obsessed with that show.

[Modem Butterfly]

4. Phone Sex Operator

I'm not kidding.

[intheflow]

13. Cool!

Did it pay well?

[Modem Butterfly]

21. It was pretty good for a college kid

I was paid $10 an hour with bonuses for how long I could keep them on the ine and for repeat customers. I had many repeat customers.

[NewJeffCT]

37. In the same field - worked an adult video store

They just sold videos & magazines, nothing outrageous. They had some other stores that had video booths where you could watch the movies there... but, luckily, not the one I worked. (no cleanup duty, if you know what I mean)

It was an extremely easy job - rarely busy, and sometimes I'd even doze off for a bit on Saturday afternoons.

[kohodog]

5. Giving change for pay toilets

At Playland in Rye NY.

(Kept the free one clean, never cleaned the pay ones).

Seriously. I think I was paid $1.25/hr.

[salin]

8. wow... that brings back memories...

was just a wee kid when public restrooms had pay toilets (regular toilets) and toilets without seats (as a wee lass those scared me). Then with a blink of a little kid's eye - the phenom of pay toilets disappeared.

[intheflow]

16. I think the SCOTUS ruled them unconstitutional.

Because women were unfairly discriminated against. Men could just pee using the open urinals but women always had to pay to get into the stall.

[salin]

35. Seriously?

The arguement makes sense.... but I have never read reference to this. Then again I was pretty young when the change happened. Would love to read/learn more...

[intheflow]

40. This is the only web site I could find that makes a reference to it:

http://banzhaf.net/pottyparity.html

This dude, Professsor John F. Banzhaf III, is a GW University law prof. The article does not state that pay toilets were ruled illegal by SCOTUS (my bad), but that the argument led to many places passed statues making them illegal.

The page references a specific case, however: See NIK-O-LOK Co. v. Carey, 378 N.Y.S.2d 936 (1976) ("It is a discriminatory tax, in that women often have no choice but to use these pay facilities, while men frequently have access to free toilet facilities

Most of the website is about women being discriminated against in public places because of how long they have to wait in lines. For example, at a concert, women have long rest room lines b/c each woman goes into a stall and partically undresses to urinate while men can waltz up to a urinal, unzip, piss, and be gone. So even if both sexes have the same number of stalls per rest room, the result is inherently inequal access to facilities. VERY interesting!

[salin]

41. Interesting indeed... a note

I believe the change per pay toilets changed a good number of years before the cite referenced on the page (1976) at least the change came to the mall in a small college-town in the midwest (usually not the first place for changes to take place.) I am suddenly curious about the change and what conditions lead to the change to be widespead. Guess its the old history major in me...

[kohodog]

64. There was one toilet I kept spotless

The Free one. If someone needed change I told them not to bother, just use the free one, it's clean.

All facilities had to maintain at least one free stall. They never figured out how to charge for urinals. Probably the focus groups said that the park would stink and the shrubs would die.

[salin]

67. bwahahahaha

... but the "free" stall, at least in the mall when I was rat her wee, had no toilet seat. Scared the heck out of me... I was very little and afraid that I would fall in. The "squat" was a hard art to master when one is barely more than a toddler.

[intheflow]

17. If there were still pay toilets

you'd have been replaced by a change machine by now. Best to get out of the racket when you did. :)

[kohodog]

25. Actually my job was outsourced. Just the start of a trend.

Shut down public toilets totally. Got to sneak into Starbucks and pretend you want a Latte Grandissimo.

[eyepaddle]

79. As a former

fast food restaurant worker (actually a dozen retaurants, running the gamut from taco bell to fine dining) you don't have to sneak in to use the toilet--hell, we were always glad to not actually have to do anything.

They might look at you at Aquavit or some similar place--but Starbucks workers won't mind!

(For MY wierd job see post below)

[jandrok]

9. I used to asst. manage the reshelving department....

...at the M. D. Anderson Library on the University of Houston campus. Hey, SOMEBODY has to put all of those books back.

I also used to be the guy that was nominated to chase all of the perverts out of the library. We had regulars. The couple who would get it on down the aisles. The guy who would come in and do the upskirt peeks by laying down on one side of an aisle and pushing books out of the way to look. The nicely dressed guy who would come in, find an Oriental woman sitting alone, sit at the table, pull out a newspaper, then pull out his.....well anyway. It always seemed like I got charged with chasing these kinds of folks out. I'd find the oddest things in the stairwells at night. Used prophylactics, "toys", clothing.....

Libraries are strange places full of nooks and crannies. People often go there to do unusual things. Remember that next time you visit one.

[intheflow]

20. This post makes me happy I decided against

going for the MLA. LOL! And yet--eeeewwwwwwwww!

[ret5hd]

12. drug dealer...

after an armed robbery (committed on me, not by me), a bust, and a subsequent dropping of the charges because the narc was awol from the army and skipped town...well, i fugured i had used my luck allotment all up.

[intheflow]

19. Oh yeah, I did that, too, many, many years ago.

Just weed, but even THAT was a VERY weird job. I didn't do it long b/c I was a single parent and more paranoid about losing my custody rights than about being robbed. I tried to keep my customers to a loyal few people that I knew, but was amazed at how fast the word got out and strangers showed up at my door 24/7. Never sold to them, but it was still eerie how they knew where to come. I thought I could trust the people I dealt to, but apparently not.

[ret5hd]

22. many many years ago for me also...

very early 80's. young and dumb. and lucky.

[intheflow]

24. We must have had our epiphanies about the same time.

Mine stint was also the early '80's. Who said big hair = stupid? We wised up!

[Nikia]

14. 2 weird jobs

1. I had a summer temp job as a candy grinder. I unwrapped candy bars and put them in a chipper type machine and filled boxes of this stuff. It was sold to ice cream establishments for flurries and blizzards.
2. I had a temp job as a research lab assistant at a consumer products company. Unfortunately, I can't tell you about it because I signed a contract and could be sued if I did. The research project that I worked on was really weird though and something that you would never think that a company would do.

[lutefisk]

18. Motorcycle messenger in D.C.

Made deliveries and pick-ups to and from some interesting locations. A messenger was kind of invisible and taken for granted back around 1980- to traffic as well as people. Surreal and worthwhile.

[autorank]

23. Selling women's shoes, Central California, the '60's summer job.

Oh my farking God!!! I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I'd rather have been digging trenches in the 110 degree summer heat.

[intheflow]

27. I had a friend who did that in high school.

Said there were guys who would come in and fondle women's shoes, who would lurk around watcing women try on shoes, and one guy who posed as a shoe salesman so he could touch women's feet.

Combine that with toe jam and foot odor, and I can see that being one freaking weird job.

[autorank]

43. haha...That guy would be the store manager!!!

[Lisa]

26. feeding and watering at an endangered species breeding facility

Zoos would lend their stock (rare birds, in this case) for breeding purposes. We were encouraged to entertain the creatures by supplying treats, or letting them chase us or sneak up on us, because it allowed them to display territoriality or "impress" their mates.

So I got used to going around with live mealworms in my pockets (for the African crowned cranes), or deliberately turning my back so the Ocellated Turkey could creep up and surprise me in front of a flock of admiring hens. (He'd slap me with his wings, which was sometimes painful.)

[intheflow]

28. My best friend worked in animal husbandry at UMass.

Her job was to hook up rams to a machine that jacked them off to collect their sperm. The stories she tells about the ram they called The Screamer still crack me up 20 years later!

[MisterP]

82. oh, do tell!

[Karenca]

29. Famous psychic......

really.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

33. Miss Cleo?

[Karenca]

46. no, not miss cleo. .....nt

[intheflow]

34. Are you really psychic?

or was it just a bullshit job for money?

This is a serious question. I have a friend who I do believe is psychic, but she doesn't want to do it for a living because she fears not being taken seriously in other areas of life.

[Karenca]

49. it was weird.

I really needed the $$ at the time, so I applied for a job w/one of those phoney networks.
As it turned out, I became #1 out of over 3600 "psychics" in a matter of a few weeks.
I was in shock over it. I really didnt know I had it in me.
The company wanted to fly me all over the US, and speak, and do all this public stuff, but I was very shy. They started to pay me a very large sum of money for 15 minute spots. But soon, I had to leave the company, becase I knew in my heart they were basically an evil empire, and exploiting poor souls and I never slept well.
After I left them, I worked for myself for a while. I did very well...and I still didnt know where the hell the "powers" came from. But I really felt so overwhelmed, so I stopped, and instead I freelanced for no money to diagnose illnesses amd help find missing children, etc.
I worked for the Police Dept. and I did some work for the FBI in kidnapping cases also.

[intheflow]

52. Well, that story has a kind of happy ending.

Meaning that you chose to use your powers for good, not profit. My friend is the same way, very humble about whatever it is she does, doesn't know where it comes from. I hope what you do for a living now is satisfying and unstressful. Peace to you! :hi:

[CrownPrinceBandar]

31. Park Ranger at a clothing-optional beach.............................

Hippie Hollow, Austin, TX. No shit.

[intheflow]

36. I'll be you saw some damn ugly people.

Just seeing some of the men and women who think it's ok for them to wear Speedos and bikinis on beaches makes me think you got more of an eyeful than you wanted of most beach-goers there.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

39. LOL.

[maveric]

32. Nurse at a 5150 psych facility.

A turnkey position for the patients that the cops find wandering downtown with a featherduster stuck up their butt and claiming to be jesus or satan.

I spent most of my workday breaking up fights over cigarettes.
Makes you appreciate the "ill"n the term mentally ill.

I met some very sad cases, very tragic lives.

[Amaya]

38. I work at the Wienerschnitzel

The World's Largest Hot Dog Fast Food Chain( in California)

[intheflow]

42. I have 2 of them in walking distance here in Denver.

I though they were a weird Denver anomaly, a hot dog chain taking over old IHOP buildings.

At least you didn't hack hot dogs here: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tips/getAttraction.php3?tip_AttractionNo==1532

[PittPoliSci]

55. do you guys sell veal?

just curious.

[NNadir]

44. I once had a job wiping grease off of chain saws.

[intheflow]

45. At least it wasn't blood in Texas or Fargo! n/t

[NNadir]

71. I never thought about it that way, but good point.

I actually more or less forgot that I even had the job until this thread came up. It was decades and decades ago, so long ago that it dates to a time when Americans made things.

Being a good American I wouldn't think of making something today. I'm patriotic. I shuffle papers and read emails.

[PartyPooper]

47. I once dug ditches whilst in college.

The job lasted only one day...I was so awful. Because I was so poor at the the time, I was malnourished and not suited to manual labor. I could barely last out the day.

:D

:hi:

[intheflow]

48. That job would suck even if you were the Brawny Paper Towel guy.

Glad to see you didn't starve to death. We need your weak brainy personage to do the hard work of taking down this immoral adminstration!

[PartyPooper]

51. Yes, the job did suck. But, it paid well.

As I recall it paid probably $5-$7 dollars an hour back in 1967. I worked other jobs that were paying $1 an hour. Once when working as a busboy in a restaurant for $1 an hour, my boss even gave me a 10¢ raise! :-)

Can you imagine that?

But, I survived. And, to this day, I have an awful lot of respect for manual laborers and farm workers.

:D

:hi:

[bettyellen]

50. shareholder proxy solicitation......

[intheflow]

53. What does that mean to a non-investor like me?

You pimped stocks for people too rich to pimp for themselves? :silly:

[bettyellen]

60. no worse, i called people who owned stocks and was pretty good at

convincing them to vote however the company wanted them to vote. It paid really well and I loved the other people who worked there. but it was pretty manipulative.

[antigone382]

54. I once worked at a Percheron stud farm in exchange for riding lessons.

I mucked the stalls, fed and groomed the horses, and yes, assisted them in their efforts at procreation.

I was also a singer in this really trashy bar for about a week...which is funny, since I can't really sing very well, and I'm not really a "bar" kind of girl.

[intheflow]

57. That sounds like a fair barter.

Riding lessons for being able to hang with the horses? Grade-A cool job. Not really sure how you'd assist the procreation, but then again, not really sure I want to know.

As for the singing gig--don't be so hard on yourself! Look at Janis Joplin. Everything she sang sounded like cats mating, and yet she was so damn good! But then, she was a bar kind of girl, so maybe that's the difference. :hi:

[antigone382]

59. LOL...cats mating...

Yeah, I didn't really mind working at the barn, and since I plan to breed horses myself one day, it was a good learning experience.*

The bar thing, on the other hand...never again. That'll teach me to work for a Republican.

*On edit. Yeah, you're right, you don't want to know :).

[PittPoliSci]

56. lifeguard.

i now permanently hate children.

[intheflow]

58. That's funny. My son had that job

and now he permanently hates hotel & resort managers! LOL!

[greendog]

61. Chainsaw sculptor...

...at a parade float company. I sculpted white bead styrofoam with an electric chainsaw.

[intheflow]

73. That sounds creative.

But sneeze-inducing. I once had to sculpt a large penis (I kid you not!) out of styrofoam for a play I worked tech for in college. I remember the little beads getting everywhere, and feeling like I was inhaling them for days afterwards. Also picked them out of my carpt at home for a while, too. Worse part was that I have no sculpting talent, so it really looked more like a giant mushroom than anything truly phallic. :)

[B Calm]

62. USS Albany ship's drycleaner stationed in warm sunny Florida

[amazona]

63. blackjack player

Also the best job I ever had, unfortunately after a few years I became too well known.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Kat45]

65. I sold "adult toys" and lingerie at home parties.

That was a fun job. I also worked one summer in a factory that made Playboy jigsaw puzzles.

[China_cat]

66. Electric girl and spidora

but then there was the knife thrower I stood for. Or it might have been the snake pit.

So many weird ones, so hard to choose.

[intheflow]

75. "Spidora" sounds potentially worse than the snake pit.

The knife thrower sounds like my ex. :wow:

[Xithras]

68. Changed lightbulbs in an old multiplex theater

It was one of the early multiplexes and had incandescent bulbs EVERYWHERE, something like 8000 bulbs when you counted in the floor lights, the marquee lights, the lights in the eight chandaliers, and the hundreds of trim lights. We typically lost dozens of bulbs every day, and changing them meant lowering the chandaliers to the floor, climbing 20+ feet up a ladder, or in the big old theater, crawling out on a 12" wide catwalk without safety equipment or handrails 40 feet above the concrete theatre floor. It wasn't a job for people afraid of heights :)

It was a fun job for the year I had it (I actually met my wife there), but the old theater was in financial trouble and finally closed down...it just couldn't compete with the massive new multiplexes that were being built. It was eventually knocked down and there's a shopping center on the site now.

[DemoTex]

69. Night guard in a funeral home (in high school).

I lasted one night.

[LiberallyInclined]

70. zamboni driver, costume character, marionetteer, repo-man...

are probably some of the least ordinary jobs i've held.

[intheflow]

74. I have wanted to drive a Zamboni since I was 10

and took ice skating lesson at the local rink. Even now, over 30 years later, when I go to hockey games, I can't take my eyes off the Zamboni when it goes around the rink.

I also interviewed for a costumed character job once at an amusement park, but withdrew my application when I fully understood it meant working long hours in a heavy costume with few breaks on sweltering summer days. Costumed character workers need a union!

[ashling]

72. Shoveled sawdust

I was in shipping and recieving at a sawmill. When orders started getting slim, they transferred me to another area. My job was to keep the slab under the saw deck clean. I used a tractor clear some of it, but the tractor couldn't fit under most of it, so I had to shovel it out using a large feed scoop. Some areas recquired me to do this from a crouching position.

[Sequoia]

76. I donned a Daffy Duck costume

and pranced around the Beverly Wilshire Hotel Thanksgiving Weekend one year. Lots of really cute Japanese children hugged me and their parents took pics. It was so fun but hot, we stayed in costume for 20 mintues and took breaks off and on. There was a gala celebration going on and we cartoon characters hung out in one of the rooms. One guy took a bath and walked around in those thich white robes the hotel provides. That night we were on stage and I couldn't see so well as Daffy Duck to get down the stairs so Peter Fonda helped me down.

[intheflow]

78. Ooh! How glamorous!

Your brush with fame!

I wrote this elsewhere in this thread, but I think costumed workers need a union. Like the hot costume isn't bad enough, you could have been seriously injured if Peter hadn't helped you! Must be like wearing those blinders they put on horses.

[Behind the Aegis]

77. had a few typical jobs, but the worst...

...selling burial plots by phone! That sucked!

[eyepaddle]

80. Paint bulker

When people get rid of paint they aren't going to use it has to be dumped out of it's containerinto 55 gallon drums. Yes, this involved opening the cans, and often reaching inside them with my gloved hands and scooping out the contents--all the while thnking "I went to college....for THIS?!?"

Oh, and if anyboy's wondering the paint then goes for recycling, Latex paint becomes a cement additive amd oil based paint becomes industrial fuel.

Hey you natural resources majors--that was a glimpse into your future! ;)

[corksean]

81. Worked as a mortuary attendant in a hospital in London

Preparing bodies for autopsy / post mortem.
I'd just arrived in London from Ireland, had no money and reckoned I had the stomach for the job.
Lasted about a month, until I had to prepare the victims of a very messy car accident which included two kids, both under 5 years old. After that it was straight to the building sites for me!

[Bok_Tukalo]

83. Catching chickens

The initial cog in the poultry processing machine.