Odd rare jobs you've done in your life

Nothing quite like real "WORK' to motivate a person to further their education...
Also gotta have a really BAD job to appreciate those that are not so bad!
 
j-bird said:
Nothing quite like real "WORK' to motivate a person to further their education...
Also gotta have a really BAD job to appreciate those that are not so bad!
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Got a degree and went right back into the family business... Bunch of millenials don't even know how to drive stick, much less clear sewer lines and physically work. The blue collar world is my oyster...

that's what I tell myself every time i wade into a giant lagoon of sheet... :D
 
Merle, that’s nuckin futs!

Not odd or rare but my worst and probably best from life lessons job was working for a general contractor through college. If I wasn’t in class I was on a job site. His son ran a concrete company and we got loaned out as laborers often. Nothing like pulling concrete in August or pouring with calcium chloride in the winter to keep it from freezing to keep you motivated to learn to do something nicer....

I learned a lot of good stuff on that job though, would not trade it now for anything.
 
One of the more interesting jobs I've had was farming salmon on the North Sea while Russia was misbehaving in Ukraine. So in addition to the wind, waves, and weather, there was the awful stink of fish shit and dead rotting carcasses, as well as NATO submarines and warships, offshore oil platforms, cruise ships full of tourists, all kinds of wildlife, limitless fishing opportunities, fresh seafood lunches, occasionally getting swept into the icy dark sea, etc. By far my favorite job ever.

Another was working as a radiation tech, handling plutonium and uranium, doing safety checks around a particle accellerator, inspecting a radioactive waste facility, etc.
 
Building Indian Tepees out of Sweet Gums.......

Na6W3D0h.jpg
 
bigbendmarine said:
Once you've been around 120mm cannons firing takes a while being away from them to get excited shooting smaller arms. Remember the first time I was standing a distance behind one that fired and was awe struck seeing gravel lift up all around me an inch or so before shaking / settling back to the ground.
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The backblast from an RPG-7 does something similar, but presumably to a lesser degree. The war in Syria has inflated prices, so the rockets are hard to get now, but holy smokes blowin stuff up is fun!
 
I was technically a professional stunt car driver once. I got hired on to drive a Dodge Dart in a nationally televised Visa commercial back in the mid 90’s. It was a high budget commercial and took a week of filming. I had to enroll and pay into some actors union, but I got treated great. The party at the end of filming was lots of fun.
 
My very first “job” was picking cherries alongside a crew of migrant laborers. I was just a kid and rode my bike to the orchards. Those guys (and ladies) were hard workers and we all got paid by how many boxes we picked – period, there was no age or gender discrimination in the orchard. There is nothing glamorous about picking fruit, which is why most of the people who are willing do it… don’t live here. But, that is where I first learned to appreciate good people, and hard work.
 
Wouldn't say odd or rare but

Was backpacking across Austrialia a couple years ago and was running short on cash. Needed funds for a flight back because my visa was set to expire. Found myself in North tazi around the circle head area. Meet a chef in a high end resturant. Told him I wasn't a chef but have grilled my fair share of steaks. Ended up with a one night trial that turned into a solid month of work. Best money I have ever made. Was making upwards of $40 an hr on sundays. Few nights there were $115 plates of wagu going out the window. Not bad for a kid from the prairie with no formal training.

Parlayed that into a side job cooking meals for the hundreds of volunteer firefighters fighting the multiple fires going on at the time. Met some neat folks.
 
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Spent a summer dissecting cadavers when I was in school.
I think about it every time I hold a roll of flagging tape between my teeth; they are made with formalin which is what they preserve medical cadavers in.
 
I was a salvage grinder in the Rex Chainbelt foundry in Milwaukee, WI for two summers while I attended college. I worked second shift and the working conditions were terrible. I once saw a piece work employee grind off his thumb on a big grinding wheel. Talk about blood spatter EVERY WHERE! We searched for what was left of his thumb to see if it could be sewn back on. Long term employees in the foundry had black lung disease and coughed constantly.

I was able to save a sum of money from that job that enabled me to buy a general store in the country a couple of years later. I fell in love with the general area and was fortunate to buy my hunting land just down the road from the Blaine General store when I sold the store to my manager years later.
 
Telemark said:
Another was working as a radiation tech, handling plutonium and uranium, doing safety checks around a particle accellerator, inspecting a radioactive waste facility, etc.
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My current job label is Senior Nuclear Station Operator, but I am in school to try and get a Reactor Operator license.
 
scott44 said:
I square bailed a lot of hay growing up and hoed sugar beets in my teens when growing up. I started my working career as a carpenter and then went to a chemical plant and I Just retired this last year after 30 years.
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Congrats on the retirement!
I also am at a chemical plant, a few more years until I retire.
Here is where I spend most of my day if I'm not in the lab;
HGuOTUY.jpg
 
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