Do you know or friends have (or HAD) an unusual/cool job?

[RPD]

In college I worked at a data entry place for legal documents, we'd basically digitize all their paper work so they could search for dates, names, types of documents.

While mindlessly boring, it was cool to occasionally get an interesting case, like a stripper that was killed in Vegas and see what sort of paper work would entail for it.

 

[skyking]

I was a banner tow pilot for a few years; it was unusual and I thought it was cool.
It was as close to barnstorming as you could get, snagging signs off the ground with a 6 pound steel treble hook at 60 MPH, flying as slow as possible in specially modified aircraft, and bringing the signs back with a flight path looking like a lawn dart on re-entry.

 

[skyking]

I'm an Opera Singer.

Can't tell you what it's like singing at the top of your register, without a microphone, over a 45-60 piece orchestra.

much respect. I can hold a note or two, now and then. In between it is not pretty

 

[Via]

When I was 18 I lucked into a great Summer job managing a batting cage/driving range/minigolf course.

I went into the interview not expecting anything and the guy really took to me. As it turned out he had already checked out (I think he was close to retirement) and didn't really care anymore. After about a week he basically put me in charge of everything. The only thing he did was come in to hire people (He was smart enough not to trust me with that lol).

I would open it up at 10 am and there was usually nobody there until mid-afternoon. So I would hit golfballs (I taught myself to swing a golfclub that Summer) and baseballs for hours. His only instruction was "clean up what you hit".

What a great Summer that was.

 

[RPD]

When I was 18 I lucked into a great Summer job managing a batting cage/driving range/minigolf course.

I went into the interview not expecting anything and the guy really took to me. As it turned out he had already checked out (I think he was close to retirement) and didn't really care anymore. After about a week he basically put me in charge of everything. The only thing he did was come in to hire people (He was smart enough not to trust me with that lol).

I would open it up at 10 am and there was usually nobody there until mid-afternoon. So I would hit golfballs (I taught myself to swing a golfclub that Summer) and baseballs for hours. His only instruction was "clean up what you hit".

What a great Summer that was.

That sounds like an awesome summer job, I want to do that now!

 

[manimal]

I'm an Opera Singer.

Can't tell you what it's like singing at the top of your register, without a microphone, over a 45-60 piece orchestra.

Ah Rakes progress reference !


I sang professionally with Cami representation for 15 years till about 4 years ago because of complications from surgery. I had transitioned from the young artist stuff to real roles when a salivary gland got infected and blew up.I was intubated three times over a week after the gland became infected and almost killed me. The emergency surgery cut trough the muscles in my upper neck as well. I was a lyric Spinto Tenor. I miss it terribly these days but never regret being home for my triplets.. I started vocalizing again after the doctor gave me the go ahead and I was destroyed. I still sing and vocalize but I lost alot of the elasticity and ease of the upper registers.

I direct in my spare time now and teach a few students where I live. I have been invited to be Adjunct faculty at a few places but I am afraid I will miss it more.


I am happy now and run two small businesses in Indiana.




I will never forget the time I went on as an understudy in Boheme for the first time.

 

[sigurros81]

My first job out of college was for an advertising agency as an art director. I handled a pretty big client and got to do a few big budget commercial shoots in Hollywood and the commercials ran in North America. Also did several photoshoots for print advertisements as well. While not as glamorous as how Mad Men the TV show make it out to be, working in advertising is pretty awesome sans the long hours and high stress.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Well, this thread got me to finally transfer my pictures from my old PIII laptop. (Tab tab tab tab enter tab space tab space tab tab tab enter tab space -- oh the joys of installing drivers for a USB mouse when your trackpad is broken.)


Inside of the "stick" on the USS Barry, looking up. (Arleigh Burke class destroyer)

You come out on the IFF platform. Still some climbing to get to TACAN!
s'up Spur-dog

unrep:

Video of unrep


Sister ship cruising with us on the high seas:

Dolphins!

 

[skyking]

Nice Pics!

 

[Paratus]

Here's my office when I'm on console:

I work for NASA on the International Space Station program.

 

[Fern]

I had a cool short-term job one Summer on Spring break. It was down in FL. The Playboy company hired me as a bouncer to sit on a stool outside of the facility they were using for promotions. I was suppose to check ID's and keep underage kids out (back then the drinking age in FL was 18 yrs old). Not only did I get paid pretty well for sitting on a stool at the beach, but I got free beers all day long and they were delivered to me by Playboy bunnies.

Fern

 

[sactoking]

2 cool jobs I've had:

1) Fish killer. I worked on a Fish & Game project monitoring what types of water diversion flows and debris screens could be used on irrigation feeds in the San Joaquin delta. My job entailed showing up at 2 in the morning, donning a set of night vision goggles, observing and counting the number of impingements for various types of baby fishes using various flow patterns on a water treadmill, then catching the fish, flicking them to stun them, cutting off their tails, and bleeding them to measure blood stress levels from the treadmill run.

2) Cook in a sushi restaurant. Not a sushi chef, but a kitchen cook. You know how in most restaurants the wait staff is all white and the kitchen staff is all Central/South American? Well, in sushi restaurants the wait staff is all Japanese and the kitchen staff is a bunch of white guys. It was fun learning about all the various prep needed for Japanese food. The "wasabi" we used was the green horseradish powder that came in 2 pound bags. We used to dump the bag into a bowl so that a big wasabi cloud would form and then see who could breathe it in the longest before the kitchen was evacuated.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Here's my office when I'm on console:

I work for NASA on the International Space Station program.

Which facility? Spent time at Goddard

 

[EagleKeeper]

First job out of college was chasing F4 Phantoms around the target range.

 

[Platypus]

I've had cool/unusual jobs. One I can't talk about. The other I worked for a video game company building UNIX/SAN infrastructure.

 

[amish]

I'm an Opera Singer.

Can't tell you what it's like singing at the top of your register, without a microphone, over a 45-60 piece orchestra.

long shot, but would you happen to know a woman with the last name of Searles?

 

[Paratus]

Which facility? Spent time at Goddard

Mission Control at Johnson Space Center.

What did they have you doing out at Goddard?

 

[Krynj]

When I was in college I worked at a call center and did tech support for Kingston, Westinghouse (worst fucking TVs ever), and Rock Band. It wasn't a bad job, but the call center management was so clueless. It was easily the worst company I've ever worked for. They'd fire you for nearly any reason, or just make shit up. Under no circumstances were we to contact the client (Kingston, EA, and Westinghouse in my case) directly.

Eventually we got sick of the call center violating several terms put in place by the clients themselves. So several of the tenured reps went directly to the client, told them exactly what was going on, and one of them pulled their contract from the call center and left. It was a very satisfying turn of events.

 

[manimal]

long shot, but would you happen to know a woman with the last name of Searles?

Jenny or her mom the professor

 

[amish]

Jenny or her mom the professor

ha! i was going for Jenny since Rakewell was in NY. i used to go to school with her. she was fun to be around. i haven't talked to her in ages.

 

[manimal]

ha! i was going for Jenny since Rakewell was in NY. i used to go to school with her. she was fun to be around. i haven't talked to her in ages.

She is a sweetheart. Her mom is a fantastic voice teacher as well.

 

[Glitchny]

I worked at a Water Park as a lifeguard/ride operator in between jr-sr years of college. Was a great time. I had done landscaping for the park before it opened so I knew almost all the people who owned/ran the place. The night security guard was one of my good friends and we would come in late at night, turn on all the rides and party in the dark. Water slides in the dark is pretty damn cool.

Also with working the rides instead of the wave pool I rarely had to deal with someone who was in danger. The most annoying thing was young kids in the play area who thought it was fun to practice the "dead mans float." I can't count the amount of times I was about to freak out and run in to help a kid only to have them lift their damn head out of the water at the last second.

Was a fun time, now I make games, and that's cool as well.

 

[JEDI]

You have to love the job. I did at first, then I came to hate it. I sometimes see people on a project, and I shudder thinking of doing it again. The pay is very low compared to responsibility. My particular specialty was construction layout. I fixed the engineers fuckups, and did a lot of re-engineering in the field. Mine were the last set of eyes that made sure something was right, and hundreds of thousands of dollars were riding on me being correct. You get the blame when things go wrong, and little of the glory when things go right. I was a god on the jobsite, but that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee.

On the other end, you could be out in the country looking at 2,000' of greenbriars you have to cut through with machetes and brush hooks. You're looking for property markers that haven't been seen in 100 years, and dealing with irate neighbors.

On the plus side, you get to see a lot of nature, and finding an old glass dump in the woods was always a thrill. You get to explore old abandoned houses, and your time is very flexible. It's also a unique blend of thinking and manual labor that you won't find in many professions. You get to dress like you're homeless, and if you don't feel like shaving, you don't.

I'd have a hard time recommending the job, but if you have the right disposition, and don't love money, it can be a great career.

ahh.. your the poor sob that gets raked over the coals when a new building is built that's suppose to have a 10th story bridge connect to the current building.

building is 75% done, but it's 5degrees offs. bridge now goes into load bearing column of current building. opps....

 

[happybelly]

Used to be friends with a guy who played MLB.

 

[Molondo]

You have to love the job. I did at first, then I came to hate it. I sometimes see people on a project, and I shudder thinking of doing it again. The pay is very low compared to responsibility. My particular specialty was construction layout. I fixed the engineers fuckups, and did a lot of re-engineering in the field. Mine were the last set of eyes that made sure something was right, and hundreds of thousands of dollars were riding on me being correct. You get the blame when things go wrong, and little of the glory when things go right. I was a god on the jobsite, but that and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee.

.

How can you be blamed for someone else's stamp? I thought engineers had the last say and their stamp is a legal binding for responsibility.