S/o What is the most interesting/unusual job you ever had?

Boca00

Tue, Nov 17 2020, 7:46 pm

There was a lot of cool jobs on the other thread!

What was your most unusual job?

amother

Ivory

Tue, Nov 17 2020, 9:09 pm

I sold driving lessons over the phone. It's a toss up which job I hated more: that one or substitute teaching in preschool. B"H I depended on neither job for parnassah.

the world's best mom

Tue, Nov 17 2020, 10:02 pm

A secretary- I used typewriters instead of a computer.

amother

Goldenrod

Tue, Nov 17 2020, 10:06 pm

I worked as as para for a muslim boy named mohammad for 1 day. Quit the next day

amother

Fuchsia

Tue, Nov 17 2020, 10:57 pm

Side job censoring textbooks for a boys ' school LOL

amother

Denim

Tue, Nov 17 2020, 11:25 pm

I was a travel agent for many years. Its not that unusual but everyone always thought it was very cool.

And the free airline tickets and extremely cheap cruises were nice perks.

amother

Peach

Tue, Nov 17 2020, 11:39 pm

I packaged first aid kits for dogs

Redbird

Tue, Nov 17 2020, 11:49 pm

My first job out of highschool was working for a guy attempting to be a fundraiser

He had me research Jewish obituaries, funeral home archives, cemeteries, to get names of deceased people. Then I had to search for for mailing addresses of relatives (based educated guesses.)

He would mail them charity requests "Please send an exorbitant donation in to the memory of so and so" (not those exact words 😂)

Needless to say the fundraiser was a flop.

cbsp

Tue, Nov 17 2020, 11:50 pm

I worked as a job coach for Women's League when their work program first started. I was either 18 or 19yo at the time.

Basically, in order to ensure that the employers would give the employees a chance to get settled, I would be there to help train and pick up the slack.

Some of my clients worked in schools and were females. They actually had been working at their jobs for a while but now were being given the opportunity of having a coach oversee if anything was needed.

There was one client who was a male and being hired for the first time at Maimonides. He hadn't really been a part of the Women's League family, had even gone to a regular (public) school. His family realized, however, that he'd need help joining the workforce and this job coach program was perfect for their needs. I have no recollection as to why on earth they decided it was a good idea for me to be his coach.

So we both show up for his first day on the job (I think we had to be there by 6:30am daily) for the housekeeping department. Since it's a hospital I had to sit with him through all sorts of OSHA training videos (never pipette blood with your mouth, never store food in the fridge for storing urine samples, etc). I then had to accompany him to the Union orientation (was it the 1099? I don't remember) and we actually sat through the shpiel 2x since it took that long to fill out the paperwork. (I think that shpiel is what set me down the path of being a political conservative, but I digress).

Finally he gets his job assignments, which includes cleaning the men and women's employee locker bathrooms, the elevators, and the gift shop.

Ok, we can do this. So we start with the women's room. Ok, done. Then head over to the men's room - oh boy, Houston, we have a problem. The men there basically refused to leave when we asked them to. I had no choice but to go in while they were still there doing their business. At the urinals. Somehow we made it through and one of the tougher looking guys had rachmanus on me and promised that if he was there the next time we came he'd make sure everyone left. (I think we rearranged the schedule after that, but I was traumatized for weeks) (that trauma was nothing compared to what that bathroom looked and smelled like Mondays at 6:30am, having not been attended to all weekend).

The elevators were great actually, and I learned some nifty mopping skills.

The gift shop is where I ended up spending most of my time because they were renovating and when my "guy" didn't need my full hands on supervision anymore the gift shop did need lots of help.

Since I started my day there so early I ended up eating breakfast and lunch at the cafeteria (gotta love union mandated breaks) where I learned how to make amazing french toast. Oh, and how to drink skim milk because the other milks were always sour.

Last edited by cbsp on Wed, Nov 18 2020, 12:15 am; edited 1 time in total

amother

Bisque

Tue, Nov 17 2020, 11:52 pm

I was an escort for several years.

I've done teshuvah.

amother

Azure

Wed, Nov 18 2020, 12:09 am

I worked in an auto body garage. As a bookkeeper but still, I was front and central with all the action. And there was ACTION!

amother

Honeydew

Wed, Nov 18 2020, 2:59 am

I was doing the announcements in camp's microphone office.
I helped with painting the sceneries for the major plays in camp
I called people for journal ads when my uncle was honored by a dinner, on comission based on donations

Mayflower

Wed, Nov 18 2020, 5:18 am

I had a few blue collar summer jobs as a high school student.

I worked in a pharmaceutical factory for a few weeks (had to put in the folded instruction leaflet into every box - isn't it crazy someone still had to do that by hand??). After a week I got "promoted" to the bottle section - it was fascinating to see how the bottle people looked down on the pill people. Some of them worked in the factory for over 10 years, which was so unfathomable to me - every day seemed endless.

I also had to go through town and count parked cars all day long. I only did this for a few days.

I sold furniture and clothing over the phone to people who couldn't possibly afford it, palming ridiculous high interest rate credit off on them. Not proud of that. (This was before online shopping became a thing)

amother

Pewter

Wed, Nov 18 2020, 7:52 am

I cleaned in the mikvah.

amother

Pink

Wed, Nov 18 2020, 8:02 am

Checked kids for nits

Light housework

Mentored a drug addict

Einikel

Wed, Nov 18 2020, 8:20 am

Mayflower wrote:

I also had to go through town and count parked cars all day long. I only did this for a few days.

What was the purpose of this job?

Mayflower

Wed, Nov 18 2020, 8:50 am

Einikel wrote:

What was the purpose of this job?

I think the city wanted to measure the occupancy of the available free parking spots in the center of town, in view of zoning plans and to gauge the need for additional parking options.

amother

Wine

Wed, Nov 18 2020, 8:55 am

In high school I had a recording studio. I had girls from all different schools and camps come to me to record their songs, I loved the job but it was cracy hours since the girls could only come after school and then I would be busy mixing the music till 2 am. When I got married I gave it up,

Last edited by amother on Wed, Nov 18 2020, 8:58 am; edited 1 time in total

Rappel

Wed, Nov 18 2020, 8:55 am

Working in a combustion lab with a powerful laser. Before they turned on the laser, everyone in the room had to put on special goggles or you would go blind, even if your back was turned to the machine.

amother

Cerulean

Wed, Nov 18 2020, 8:56 am

I worked as a secretary in a glitzy office in midtown. My boss left stoned every night and expected the place to be cleaned up whenever he decided to shine in the following morning. My duties included washing away the wine glasses, putting away the booze and vacuuming the cigarette ashes. Rolling Eyes

I should have lasted 8 hours but I lasted 8 months.