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".

Years ago I was temping at a large company in financial services. There were a few temps who started on the same day - one was an ornithologist who spent half the year tracking and monitoring puffins. The other half he temped just to pay the bills... no pun intended

I know someone who makes superhero costumes for films.

@catwomando

I know someone who makes superhero costumes for films.

You've just reminded me of not the weirdest but the coolest job of anyone I know. A friend of a friend studied product design at uni and immediately got a graduate position at LEGO in Denmark.

He has been there ever since. He is now a senior designer and has been involved in the creation of some massively popular LEGO sets.

@amusedbush

Years ago I was temping at a large company in financial services. There were a few temps who started on the same day - one was an ornithologist who spent half the year tracking and monitoring puffins. The other half he temped just to pay the bills... no pun intended

Haha, what a super fun and varied life!

I know someone who lights the few remaining gas lights in London.

@TheUser420

Cannabis breeder

Oh those poor little cannibisses, hope they were allowed to stay with their mums until weaned

I used to know a girl that owned a horse. She used to pay a woman to clean the horse's cock

@burnthur5t

I used to know a girl that owned a horse. She used to pay a woman to clean the horse's cock

Entirely normal. See ‘bean cleaning’ references above.

@amusedbush

Years ago I was temping at a large company in financial services. There were a few temps who started on the same day - one was an ornithologist who spent half the year tracking and monitoring puffins. The other half he temped just to pay the bills... no pun intended

I have a cousin who works as a civil engineer for half the year, or will take on a specific one-off project, and spends the rest of his time running a farm-cum-retreat in South America.

I know someone who catalogues live newts by photocopying them.

One of my colleagues used to regulate sex telephone lines. She had to listen to the calls to make sure they were legal.

‘I photocopy newts.

Why are none of these jobs suggested at careers day?

Just occurred to me that I had a relative with an usual job, but growing up with it around me normalised it. It's only other peoples reactions that make me realise that making chest wigs is not a normal job

"I know someone who lights the few remaining gas lights in London."

"My DP is a gaslighter"
"Girl, you better run"
"No, not like that"

Gaslighter! Wow I had no idea, where are the gas lights?

My first ever job title was "Casual Bottom Specialist"

@KPS13

My first ever job title was "Casual Bottom Specialist"

Please elaborate!

@BowerOfBramble

Gaslighter! Wow I had no idea, where are the gas lights?

There are quite a few! Birdcage Walk, Richmond Bridge, Kensington Gardens, quite a few in St James…

@KPS13

My first ever job title was "Casual Bottom Specialist"

Does that means you were a slacks or jogging bottoms designer?

Actually, you’ve just reminded me of someone whose first post-postgrad job was as a ‘naming consultant in yellow fats’ — basically she named new margarines and butters.

@MountainDweller

Re: Plastics and Rubber Weekly.

My brother and I were always amused when this arrived for my dad. Cue lots of "Dad, your sex mag has arrived!"

I would love one of those "Sleeping" jobs. Sadly I do not sleep too well. Up every two hours to the loo. Now if someone wants to test my urine every two hours and pay me for it........

@KittenKong

‘I photocopy newts.

Why are none of these jobs suggested at careers day?

Right? That was partly why I started this thread - as an adult I know (a fraction of) the weird and amazing jobs that exist, I feel like teenagers should read this thread and realise they can become a casual bottom specialist or a newt photocopier or a stuntwoman

My brother in law was in the US airforce, he would just leave home as soon as the phone rang, returning whenever, even my sister didn’t know what he did, just brought home a pay check

[quote Deathraystare]@MountainDweller

Re: Plastics and Rubber Weekly.

My brother and I were always amused when this arrived for my dad. Cue lots of "Dad, your sex mag has arrived!"[/quote]
Remember that magazine very well, when in the plastics industry, we always had a laugh with it as well

@Stookeen @FelicityBeedle

It was my first job in a well known high street retail shop. Rather than say you worked in the "denim" department (like most retailers) this particular company dished out titles like "Casual Bottom Specialist" instead. I would always want the ground to swallow me whole when customers would ask questions about the fit of certain pairs of jeans - at the fitting room - and the Fitting Room Specialist would say: "Oh I'll get our Casual Bottom Specialist to assist." I can still hear the sniggers now! 😀

@Deathraystare

I would love one of those "Sleeping" jobs. Sadly I do not sleep too well. Up every two hours to the loo. Now if someone wants to test my urine every two hours and pay me for it........

A few years back there was a BBC item about a sleeping job. It was somebody who (like me) is an irresistible source of attraction to bloodsucking insects etc. Seriously, I can walk into a house where people don't own a cat (say) but they walk in from time to time. After a brief time there, I seem to awake flea eggs in carpeting from their dormancy and after that they're hatching, live and biting.

Her job was to sleep in a house that had been fumigated for bed-bugs to test whether the fumigation had cleared them out…