What's the weirdest job someone you know does?

[BowerOfBramble]

I mean the ones that you'd never heard of until someone you met/a friend of a friend said "oh yes I run a bat sanctuary/teach maths to prisoners/paint portraits of dead hamsters".

[quote Youngstreet]@sweetbellyhigh. absolutely. She lived in a very rural area with few local jobs.

Just remembered dd’s school friend is a trapeze artist in a circus.[/quote]
My sister was a trapeze artist. Now retired!

I knew someone who wrote horoscopes for a well known newspaper, they are a load of rubbish, she said she had a big book of and would choose a horoscope to write from the book.

[quote Youngstreet]@riverpebbles
Dh’s aunt literally turned pillowcases the right way round after they had been made and had to pop the corners out with her thumbs before folding them.
She did this all day.[/quote]
Blimey, that is NOT what I thought you meant. Hopefully she had fun colleagues to help pass the time.

I’m a recruitment officer for jobs with Bats.

@Carpetdrought

I’m a recruitment officer for jobs with Bats.

Can I have a job with bats please?? I love bats!

Same! I’m bat crazy (in both senses there )

Not sure of job title but my friend worked for a place that did testing on dogs to see how they died. She had to cut off their heads ready. We called it the dead dog job.

Zamboni driver. (Drives the machine that creates a smooth surface on ice-rinks.)

My dad is semi retired and now works as a pallbearer

And to add to the trapeze artists in the circus, one of my best friends is one!

Sorry I should have been clearer, I place bats into jobs. Discovered a gap in the market after finding a lot of people weren’t willing to work nights.

@Grandville

DEFRA often has interesting jobs advertised. I once saw an ad for Head of Bees which was quite well paid.

I guess it was Queen Bee but they didn’t want to fall foul of sex discrimination

@Monkeybutt1

My dad is semi retired and now works as a pallbearer

That’s interesting. Don’t most families/friends carry the coffin themselves, though? I don’t think I’ve ever attended a funeral where there were ‘pro’ pallbearers.

Knew an embalmer once.

I once met a saggar-maker's bottom-knocker.

Actually she was her own bottom-knocker because she was the only saggar-maker employed by the museum, and she had to knock her own bottoms as they did not employ a bottom-knocker. She said she was hoping to recruit an apprentice to train up as her bottom-knocker.

He also accompanies the hearse to the funeral. Sadly not everyone has enough family members to carry the coffin or who want to. If the coffin is carried on the shoulders everyone needs to be a similar height which can rule mourners out.

@Monkeybutt1

He also accompanies the hearse to the funeral. Sadly not everyone has enough family members to carry the coffin or who want to. If the coffin is carried on the shoulders everyone needs to be a similar height which can rule mourners out.

I suppose that’s a difference between Irish funerals and (I’m assuming?) English ones. Funerals have far larger attendances on average here, and neighbours or neighbours’ adult children or whoever would go under the coffin if there weren’t enough family or close friends. Not just men, either — I’ve carried coffins.

@Dilbertian

I once met a saggar-maker's bottom-knocker.

Actually she was her own bottom-knocker because she was the only saggar-maker employed by the museum, and she had to knock her own bottoms as they did not employ a bottom-knocker. She said she was hoping to recruit an apprentice to train up as her bottom-knocker.

What is that??

A friend of mine mine can use both BSL and Hebrew SL, so he often translates for people at the Israeli Embassy.

Mostly for the hearing impaired, obviously, but it's always nice to have a translator knocking about.

That's so niche!

It's not really weird today, but was considered strange when one of my best friend started working as a sex therapist. We did the same Uni course, but she did different post grad and later specialization.

She's got a great online bio! Obviously she never speaks about her job, or exactly what it involves. After a difficult few years at the start, she worked very hard, and it seems a very successful business today thankfully.

Saggar-maker's bottom-knocker

It's perfectly safe to Google this one, sweetbellyhigh

@Dilbertian

Saggar-maker's bottom-knocker

It's perfectly safe to Google this one, sweetbellyhigh

That’s very interesting — thank you, @Dilbertian.

Thank you @EmbarrassingHadrosaurus

Thank you @sweetbellyhigh

@Dilbertian

I once met a saggar-maker's bottom-knocker.

Actually she was her own bottom-knocker because she was the only saggar-maker employed by the museum, and she had to knock her own bottoms as they did not employ a bottom-knocker. She said she was hoping to recruit an apprentice to train up as her bottom-knocker.

Is this what they have in the potteries? I'm sure I came across this when growing up in Stoke...