Whats the most wacky or crazy job you have held?

[eytonxav]

I was a night time security guard at the Windmill Club. This was an exclusive community in Armonk, NY that had many IBM Watson family members that came by the club house. Interesting the club house was also infested with dozens of raccoons, and they terrorized the place at night.

[Speculator]

Back in September of 1969, I worked at the Aurora Plastics factory located in West Hempstead on Long Island, NY. The factory manufactured models of Universal Studios' monsters and my job was to sit near the end of an assembly line with a box of thousands of stickers proclaiming "Glow in The Dark!" As each model of Frankenstein or the Mummy passed me, I would attach a sticker to the box. This was the most boring job I have ever held (though I'll never forget it) and I lasted only two days before I left.

[braumeister]

Another "interesting" job I thought of. Some friends who grew up in farm country (Minnesota) told me about a job they did in grade school. In the summer the Green Giant folks hired kids to sort through the beans on their way to processing and pick out any bugs they found. At the end of the day they got a penny for every bug they found.

So... (you see where this is going, right?) when they went to the plant in the morning they would walk through the fields and fill their pockets with bugs. Once they got on the job they had amazing success in collecting them!

[Janet H]

I worked at a radio-pharmacy company in college, packing lead wrapped radioactive drugs into briefcases and delivering them to local hospitals daily. This was an early morning gig as doses had to be onsite usually by 8 am. Delivery cars had to be placarded with scary signs to go through tunnels and over bridges. Interestingly a car covered in radioactive hazard signs can park anywhere...

Biggest hazards on that j*b:
1. staying awake behind the wheel
2. waiting at the 3 minute light just outside the local Krispy kreme factory. They sold seconds and you could actually leave the car running at the light, run in, snag a few warm donuts and make it back to the car before the light changed.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister So... (you see where this is going, right?) when they went to the plant in the morning they would walk through the fields and fill their pockets with bugs. Once they got on the job they had amazing success in collecting them!

Similar thing happened in, (I believe), India - the government paid a bounty for rats, so entrepreneurs started breeding them.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janet H I worked at a radio-pharmacy company in college, packing lead wrapped radioactive drugs into briefcases and delivering them to local hospitals daily.

Ah. That explains it...

[ExFlyBoy5]

I worked as an assistant at a funeral home for a few weeks when in high school. Wasn't terribly exciting, but I sure didn't enjoy doing "removals". Thankfully, a better paying job working at the Winn Dixie warehouse came up and I bailed from the funeral home.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by COcheesehead Golf Caddy Janitor Inventory counter for Harley Davidson Pumped gas Dishwasher Sold door to door All of these before I was 20 years old.

Those don't appear to be wacky type jobs?

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by COcheesehead So you know a lot of golf caddy janitors?

As a matter of fact, I caddied at ages 12 - 14, then on weekends after high school. You listed "Golf Caddy", than "Janitor". Nothing unusual with both of those jobs.

I don't recall ever being a janitor, but I did work on a garbage truck in my teens.

[Boose]

I don't know if this is wacky, but I was an apprentice electrician on the Ted Williams/Third Harbor Tunnel project in Boston. That's when I decided that 12 hour days, winter weather, and eating bag lunches in the near darkness was not for me.
Reading some of the experiences here... are these really the manufacturing jobs that will make America great again? I, too, grew up with grizzled old guys missing digits (and those were the lucky ones!).

[COcheesehead]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Those don't appear to be wacky type jobs?

Post deleted. Happy now?

[ExFlyBoy5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by COcheesehead Post deleted. Happy now?

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boose I don't know if this is wacky, but I was an apprentice electrician on the Ted Williams/Third Harbor Tunnel project in Boston. That's when I decided that 12 hour days, winter weather, and eating bag lunches in the near darkness was not for me. Reading some of the experiences here... are these really the manufacturing jobs that will make America great again? I, too, grew up with grizzled old guys missing digits (and those were the lucky ones!).

Missing parts is kind of a badge of courage. You have extra fingers, toes, eyes..... that's what they're for. Lose them and you have bragging rights forever(my DB had a coworker who would pull his glass eye out and drop it in someones beer). I guess that's some folks idea of great.

Lots of old sawyers were missing the first three fingers on their right hand. There was a guide that kept the saw from going sideways and you could only adjust it with the saw spinning. A wrench slipping at the wrong time was all it took.

[Keim]

As a kid: I found, cleaned and sold used golf balls to fund my hobby purchases.

As an adult I've had a few odd ones:
1. Professional Boy Scout.
2. I currently serve as the founder and director of a Recovery Community Center for people dealing with addictions and mental health issues. Literally EVERY day is slightly crazy or whacky.

[deserat]

My senior year in college, I got a job as an intern working for the Department of Energy. I basically followed an electrical engineer around while he troubleshot electric lines. Two memorable items:

1) When there was a power outage, the helicopter pilot assigned to our department would go fly the lines to pinpoint the issue. Well, that helicopter could be put to use for other things for the boss - we went to a meeting one time and decided it was time for lunch. We landed the copter and walked out to a fairly remote place to eat :-) The people in that restaurant were pretty surprised.

2) We had to troubleshoot an issue with a circuit breaker. Back then the circuit breakers were very large and filled with oil. I had the dubious duty of climbing up a ladder to the top of one, taking a multi meter with very loooooooong cables and calipers and doing a circuit test on the breaker. I had to be careful because the bird guano was quite thick and slippery. Plus it was hilarious to use a small tool on such a large device :-)

Fun times - learned a lot on that job and truly enjoyed the engineers I worked with. Went into the Air Force after that, although, they (DoE) told me I could have stayed and gotten a full-time job.

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Ever lose a wristwatch?

Oh my goodness. That brings to mind a line from a Frank Zappa song, but I will refrain............

[morriss003]

Shaking glass bulbs over a vat of ammonia to make Christmas ornaments. I lasted one day.

[braumeister]

Not a wacky job, but certainly a unique location.
I worked as a counterman (hot dogs, sodas, etc.) for a couple of summers at the last Howard Johnson's that was actually owned by Howard himself. All the rest had been franchised and were run by his son, HJ Jr.

Howard kept this particular location for sentimental reasons and came to visit and "inspect' every year. Nice old gentleman, but all the managers lived in fear of him.

[LOL!]

I worked in a hospital cleaning up dead ex-patients for presentation to the next of kin. I was attacked once by a relative who thought I killed their loved one.

[sunnysideup]

Worked on an assembly line as a summer job while in college, 1976. The small company made after shaves Lectric-shave and Aquavelva.

We spent our time taking bottles out of last years boxes one day, and putting them into this year’s boxes the next day.

And, not talking at all while on the line. So boring.

If I didn’t appreciate college before this job, I certainly did after it.