Jobs you didn't know existed

[goose1964]

I'll start with cow hoof trimmer😄

haba it's possible. Although I think there is a possibility that a small number of sightings are genuine.

Same as @thosetalesofunexpected - professional smeller. I learnt that on a thread the other day.

Saturation divers. I saw an incredible documentary about the divers who maintain the pipes on oil rigs in the North Sea. They live in what look like under water space stations and when they go out to maintain/repair lines and pipes they’re attached to the station with an ‘umbilicus’ that feeds them oxygen and takes away carbon dioxide. They’re paid ££££££. And deserve every penny as it’s so dangerous.

I used to be a kitten cuddler, volunteering at a cat sanctuary!
Loved it

@teuer I have a friend who was a saturation diver - it's one of those short-term careers though as any little issue with your health and you have to stop.

He now works for a security company in Iraq. Again really good money but I think his wife wishes he was a little more risk adverse!

GlobeUs. Wow. Yes I can believe you’d have to be 100% well, fit and have perfect sight, hearing, smell etc. I felt very sorry for their partners. I’d be so anxious. On the documentary I loved how one bloke brought a suitcase with a bar of chocolate for every day he was down there. I bet your friend has some amazing stories to tell. What he’s doing now sounds even more 😧.

I love reading all the weird jobs in film credits. Last week I saw 'Spider Wrangler'.

@teuer

Saturation divers. I saw an incredible documentary about the divers who maintain the pipes on oil rigs in the North Sea. They live in what look like under water space stations and when they go out to maintain/repair lines and pipes they’re attached to the station with an ‘umbilicus’ that feeds them oxygen and takes away carbon dioxide. They’re paid ££££££. And deserve every penny as it’s so dangerous.

They don’t exist any more

Used to be the highest paying job on the oil industry but is so dangerous they are replaced with robots who are controlled by people above the water now

There is a breeding centre in China that employs panda cuddlers 🤗

Streeker. (As seen on some TV show.)

Person who lays out dead bodies (in former times obviously).

@Onedropbeat they do still exist - it's not only the oil industry that uses them (and they do still in some cases)- they are used in the nuclear industry and military as well.

I love reading all the weird jobs in film credits. Last week I saw 'Spider Wrangler'.

One that always seems a bit strange to me is the comparatively not-very-exciting-sounding 'Fixer'. I gather that it can carry a wide range of ordinary duties - arranging locations and venues, securing permits and complying with regulations; BUT, it can go far beyond this too, especially in cultures where bribery, calling in unofficial 'favours', putting in 'a good word' and maybe even using veiled threats of how 'awkward' or 'deeply embarrassing' things could be for somebody if they refuse to co-operate.

How bizarre to have a job where, one day, you're booking a municipal venue through a standard government website, and then the next, you're calling up the local horse butcher to get a provisional price for a whole head and asking what size pillow it would require

Person who lays out dead bodies (in former times obviously).

The job still exists to this very day in funeral directors up and down the country. People are still dying and being prepared for dignified family goodbyes.

Or were you meaning in a different (maybe more macabre) way?!

I sometimes think at Christmas that, for every cracker we pull and groan and sigh at the twee, disappointing, pointless rubbishness of it all, somebody out there has to put together tens of thousands of them every week - probably all year round. Imagine going to work in June and having to start thinking "Hmm, red paper crown, bad joke about Santa's elf and teeny-weeny screwdriver set in this one or yellow crown, bad joke about how sprouts make you blow off and a cheap plastic slidey puzzle?!"

I did hear that Frank Carson used to have a Winter job in quality control at the festive novelties factory - he had to specifically identify and declare out loud to confirm every time a satisfactory product that could be pulled and make a bang had been successfully completed....

This is a voluntary thing but in the Jewish religion there are people who sit with dead people from the time they die until they are taken for burial as they are not meant to be left on their own as their souls are still hanging about nearby.

Not sure if it's been mentioned already, but I follow the RavenMaster General at the Tower of London on Instagram.

mud skipper wrangler. an ex of mine worked in advertising, and years ago he worked on a Guinness commercial that had mud skippers in it, and they had a wrangler, goodness knows how that worked!

I also remember reading an interview years ago with someone who had been a penguin picker upper in the Falklands during the war - the penguins used to look up at the planes going overhead and sometimes fell on their backs and struggled to get up, so he went up and down the beach helping them to their feet. I would have absolutely loved that job!!

A chicken sexer. Someone who can see the sex of a baby chick to seperate the males from females, who go on to be battery hens.

Long ago when I worked with a FMCG manufacturer they used to have people whose job it was to go to people’s houses and literally root round their kitchen cupboards (with their permission). They’d also analyse the sales data and come out with some mad factoid called an “insight” (ha) that the manufacturer would then be desperate to implement. I still remember their finding that people who use fabric conditioner hardly ever have university degrees.

I don't know if you'd count it as a job, but a colleague's sister's "side hustle" income is a poop donator. She is a personal trainer and nutritionist for her 9-5 but gets paid to donate her faeces for research. For the particular study/group thing she does it for She has to follow quite a strict healthy diet and log everything, regularly have everything about her checked to make sure her samples are suitable. She lived with a microbiology student at uni in the Netherlands and got into it there through her housemate. Apparently the pay only just makes up for the time spent logging everything and getting health checked, but since she logs everything anyway for her own benefit and it fits into her career lifestyle, it's not much of a hassle. No idea how she goes about her donations. Didn't ask.

Those interested in saturation divers..me and dh watched a programme a couple of years ago about divers, it’s called the last breath or final breath, worth a watch!!

@MyDucksArentInARow You poo into a large tupperware box (with a lid!) and it’s then sent off with all the other blood and urine pathology samples. There are other tests including one for urine where you have to collect every drop you’ve done that day. They have to be taken direct to the hospital path lab as GPs hate having them around. Not because they’re revolting but because they take up too much space.

I used to be a prawn peeler when I first moved to the area, went to apply for a mortgage and they laughed and thought I was joking 😂

Hortuslover. It was that documentary where I discovered the world of saturation divers. I had no idea there was such a thing before I came across that. I was sat on the edge of the sofa it was so gripping and tense.

Bit off topic but what about the casting director on midsomer murders ?
What did Joyce Nettles do all day after asking tim west if he wants to play a vicar again .
Or a Science Innovater Facillator etc for the Welcome Trust - all 400 had some lunch on BGM years ago . Yes i know they go to schools and stuff but really a non job - nothing made,nothing sold .