A lot of people complain about doing something everybody else is doing and wish for a job description that is more unique and bizarre. Luckily enough, there are strange jobs out there that would have probably taken a madman or a genius to think of. Maybe both, but most probably the former.
Here are 15 jobs you probably never thought of.
15. Foley Artist
Probably one of the more common jobs on this list, a
foley artist gets paid to make weird noises. More specifically, they create sound effects from things usually unrelated to what they’re supposed to be. From cut coconuts resembling galloping horses to large boulders as the giant stomps of a dinosaur, these odd and ingenious sound effects show that it takes a lot of creativity and resourcefulness to be a foley artist.
14. Candy Puller
You might have seen this strange job recently with candy stores more open to showing you their process.
Candy pullers are those people that pull large lumps of candy into thin rods while they’re still malleable. They are also usually assigned to create the designs and cut the rods. In factories and other private setups, they can also take care of the color and consistency of these delectable treats.
13. Human Scarecrow
Would you like a job that entails sitting in the middle of a cornfield with nothing but a book to read and a few snacks while waiting for partridges to scare you off? Then human scarecrow is the job for you. If you need some helpful tips for this strange job, ask
Jamie Fox (not the actor). He personally uses an orange raincoat, an accordion, and a cowbell.
12. Lipstick Reader
From crystal balls to tarot cards, there are many ways for fortune tellers to see into your future. But have you ever had your fortune told through your own
lipstick stain? These lipstick readers have you stain a “love card” with your lips and conjecture from your cosmetics.
11. Cup Keeper
Every year, numerous hockey players from Canada and the US compete for the much coveted Stanley Cup. However, this trophy is one of a kind, so someone must be tasked to ensure it is kept shiny and clean wherever it goes, sort of like a traveling mix of a museum curator and a nanny. This is the job of the
Keeper of the Cup.
10. Paper Towel Sniffer
Part of the strange job genre of
odor judge comes the
paper towel sniffer. You’re wrong if you think there is more to the job than sniffing paper towels. Paper towel companies want their products to be odorless. Otherwise, the paper towels might not seem so clean. These companies hire those with acute senses of smell to differentiate the stinky from the stinkless. And before you start chasing this highly coveted job, know that there are extremely few job openings, and you might as well want to be a Hollywood actor.
9. Gross Stunt Tester
Did you ever watch
Fear Factor and think to yourself, “That can’t be dangerous to eat?” Well, whatever gross food you think of is relatively safe. The job of the gross stunt tester is to eat whatever is supposed to be given to the contestants beforehand, just so the crew knows filming won’t be interrupted by a trip to the hospital.
8. Urine Farmer
It’s common knowledge that many animals use scent to track others down. Whether it’s friends, predators, or prey. A lot of times, however, this scent is not as pleasing as most people would think, sometimes even from urine. Due to this, there is a huge demand within the hunting community for pure whitetail buck pee. At $93k to $303k per year per deer, the job of the
urine farmer is more complicated than it sounds. If your harvest isn’t of a certain quality, well, then that stinks.
7. Body Advertiser
Marketing has always been about being unique and standing out within the crowd. This usually means an out-of-the-box commercial or a crisp website. However, some companies have decided to go a totally crazy route and pay for advertisement space on people’s bodies using
temporary tattoos. One website boasts on its home page that you can make $5000 just by “leasing” your forehead.
6. Mystery Shopper
I find this one the most exciting of everything on this list. The middle-point between a shopper and a secret agent,
these people pose as actual shoppers to rate the quality of experience at the end of the day. Sometimes, they act like a normal customer, purchasing and asking the usual questions. Other times, they will pose irate just to see how management handles it. It’s theatre, espionage, and shopping at the same time.
5. Live Mannequin
Another odd job found in retail,
live mannequins are precisely just that. You get paid up to $100 an hour just to wear the store’s clothes and pose all day. Stores pay for these people for two reasons: to show that their clothes look good on actual people and for customers to see the products in various poses.
4. Dice Inspector
When luck is respected as an art form, any blemish on a dice is looked down upon and must be dealt with immediately.
Dice inspectors are tasked with discovering differences in weight, proportion, and angles to ensure the player has no winning or losing edge. Any dice that fails to pass the quality test get sold or destroyed. But before you start hunting for these winning dice, note that they are marked with a seal, so you won’t be able to use them for games.
3. Professional Snuggler
These days, everything is a commodity, including hugs. In LA, Japan, and the UK, people are hired to lie down with you in bed and snuggle you. No sex is involved. Sometimes, Japanese services will even let you have the snuggler clean your ears for a more bizarre twist. At Madison, WI, you could avail of this odd service for as low as $60.
2. Golf Ball Diver
Beside gross stunt tester, the golf ball diver is another dangerous, strange job on this list. These brave souls traverse the murky waters of the 18-hole golf course through a multitude of dangerous creatures, such as snapping turtles and the occasional crocodile, to retrieve lost golf balls. If you thirst for adventure and lemonade from the club diner, this job is definitely for you.
1. Focus Group Participant
Most entrepreneurs know that they must prove their product or service has demand by running it through a focus group. This group of critics usually comes from friends, family, and people they just happened to bring along. However there are actual agencies that provide these groups and people that have this job as their main source of income.
Do you want to tell us about a strange job you found? Do you have one now? Comment on the box below.
photo credits: powerbooktrance via photopin cc; muehlinghaus via photopin cc; boskizzi via photopin cc; jurvetson via photopin cc; schwa242 via photopin cc; Michael Tapp via photopin cc