40 Secrets About Common and Obscure Jobs HR Doesn’t Want You Sharing

Mommy, when I grow up I want to be a mystery shopper who fakes a terminal illness to rate the service at funeral homes
40 Secrets About Common and Obscure Jobs HR Doesn’t Want You Sharing

Look, not everyone can land their dream job like us. Yep, pumping out pre-list blurbs in a broom closet while a sweaty editor breathes down your neck with his beard tickling your shoulder is all we ever wanted. But hey, it could be worse. We could be a “slimer” at a fishery or be relentlessly prank-called as a suicide hotline operator. You dark, dark little monsters really need to stop doing that. 

Oh nice! Some of the crumbs in this editor’s beard just fell on our desk. Looks like we’re eating today!

Billboard Auditors

... TELL US NOW. BILLBOARD AUDITOR Selfie con iPhoneX Chevele 1 Chuck В. shares, I've traveled around New York state auditing billboards: making sure the correct ad is posted in the location they are paying for, ensuring that the lights are working, that the board is visible and unobstructed, and that it is in good condition. Been doing this as a side gig for almost 25 years. CRACKED.COM

Air Traffic Controllers

Air traffic controllers have to retire by 56. You have to start the job when you're 30 or younger, and everyone must retire young to avoid any age-related mental decline. CRACKED.COM

TSA Agents

TSA agents hate cats. Cats cause the most disruption to security. They scratch and aren't obedient, and when they make a break for it, it's a security breach that could cause a terminal shut-down. CRACKED.COM

Eye Tissue Recoverer

... TELL US NOW. TISSUE RECOVERER Caitlin А. shares, I recovered donor ocular tissue from recently deceased individuals for use in cornea transplants. CRACKED.COM

Grave Stone Refurbishers

... TELL US NOW. GRAVE STONE REFURBISHER Dan В. worked in 1700-1800 historically significant New England grave stone refurbishment. Essentially digging up 300-year-old graves and putting them back together. CRACKED.COM

Flavor Lab Technician

... TELL US NOW. FLAVOR LAB TECHNICIAN Kate G. used to work as a lab technician for a flavor company. My job was to taste and smell every batch of every flavor they made to make sure it was right. Hundreds of flavors a day. CRACKED.COM

Love Letter Ghostwriters

... TELL US NOW. LOVE LETTER GHOSTWRITER Ben J. shares, I used to ghostwrite raunchy love letters as a side gig. As weird as it was funny. Give me some details, a couple bucks via Paypal, and two days time, and I'll get her (or him) swooning and blushing with 95% guarantee. CRACKED.COM

Luggage Recovery Delivery People

... TELL US NOW. LUGGAGE RECOVERY DELIVERY Lizzy L. tells us, I delivered luggage that the airport had lost and then found to its owners and worked for a private company (a.k.a. not hired by the airport or any airlines in specific) adding, It sucked. CRACKED.COM

Cowboys

Ever wish you were a cowboy? They were the knights of the Old West, with their guns and horses and manly hats. The thing is, being a cowboy would be boring as hell. You'd herd cattle for 1,000 miles, or round them up to get castrated, or work as a farm hand - most likely shoveling cow manure. Yee haw. CRACKED.COM http://www.hjstory. com/topics/cowboys

Life Coaches

Everyone needs a Life Coach. Imagine having a person by your side whose job it is to help you make healthy changes to your lifestyle. Before you jump in, you should know that a study found that just 13.4% of people who used life coaches achieved their wellness goals, and just 7.8% would recommend life coaching to others. CRACKED.COM http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dissertations/AA3479465/

Ghost Hunters

Who you gonna call? A ghost hunter, that's who! These paranormal investigators use scientific equipment to investigate paranormal activity. Or you could be your own ghost hunter. All you need is improper and unscientific investigation methods, unproven tools and equipment, ineffective recording devices, a few sampling errors, and a strong desire to believe. https://business.highbeam.com/5799/article-1G1-239813706/ CRACKED.COM ghosthunting-mistakes-science-and-pseudoscience-ghost

Surgeons

Need an operation? The operating room is sure to be staffed with highly- qualified surgeons and their assistants. About that: surgical technologists, otherwise known as scrub techs, need no education beyond high school. And some states don't require certification. The techs undergo a quick course, then learn the rest on the job. CRACKED.COM http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1998-how- to-help-perform-surgery-with-no-education-7-realitieshtmi

Bounty Hunters

Want to be a badass? Try being a bounty hunter. Seriously, go for it. Legally, you don't need a diploma or any sort of training. That's thanks to Taylor v. Taintor, the Supreme Court case from 1872 that decided that pretty much anyone can be a bounty hunter. CRACKED.COM http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Bounty-Hunter

Tattoo Artists

Tattoo artists make mistakes all the time. Hey, they're human after all. However, a good tattoo artist knows how to cover it up in a way you won't notice. CRACKED.COM

Target Forensic Lab Tech

Target has two forensic labs. O TARGET 1000 Based in Las Vegas and Minneapolis, there are two locations specifically to analyze security footage and find evidence of crimes. Employees are expected to not interfere in case of shoplifters, only contact asset protection teams. CRACKED.COM

Astronauts

Astronauts say space shuttles smelled bad. - - - VOLATILE REMOVA ASSEMBLY FLIGHT EXPERIMENT (VRAF PONTS It's a tiny ship stuffed with people with a toilet in the middle. However, the International Space Station has a better ventilation system so it doesn't have a smell. CRACKED.COM

911 Dispatchers

911 dispatchers have regulars. Dispatchers have people whose number they recognize and develop a relationship with. A seasoned professional can also multi-task on a call, browsing the internet or knitting, while saving a life. CRACKED.COM

Mushroom Miners

... TELL US NOW. MUSHROOM MINER Kristi T. shares, I worked in the packing department of a mushroom mine. Workers would bring up freshly picked mushrooms from the mine and we would wash, sort, and package the mushrooms for sale. Most people have never thought about where their store-bought mushrooms come from! CRACKED.COM

Paint Dry Watcher

... TELL US NOW. PAINT DRY WATCHER Zebadiah А. bemoans, I literally had to watch paint dry, to check for finish and color. About as exciting as it sounds. CRACKED.COM

Parachute Packer

... TELL US NOW. PARACHUTE PACKER Jenafer H. says, I packed parachutes for skydivers for about 6 months. Only the reserve 'chute has to be packed by a certified rigger; the main parachute can be packed by anyone with very little training. CRACKED.COM

Zoos Registrar

... TELL US NOW. ZOO REGISTRAR Faith В. shares, I manage animal husbandry records, animal permits, and animal transactions. I know which animals are pregnant and when animals are coming to the zoo or leaving to go to another zoo. CRACKED.COM

Safe-Deposit Guards

... TELL US NOW. SAFE DEPOSIT GUARD Spencer D. shares, Sat in the safe deposit vault in the bank to let people in. There where times where I could go days without seeing anyone. Then I saw people with some really odd stuff and doing some really odd things as well. CRACKED.COM

Fishery Slimers

... TELL US NOW. FISHERY SLIMER Greg S. says, I was a 'slimer' in Alaskan fisheries and canneries. You're issued a spoon and as headless and mostly gutless salmon reach you on the conveyor belt, you carefully scoop out any remaining entrails and blood clots the gutting machine missed. 12-hour shifts are grueling, and your mind goes some pretty crazy places. CRACKED.COM

Sports Daycare Workers

... TELL US NOW. SPORTS DAYCARE WORKER Brooke M. enlightens us, I was a nanny for the Texas Rangers. They had an underground daycare center where the players would bring their children during the game. CRACKED.COM

Rock Music Transcriber

... TELL US NOW. ROCK MUSIC TRANSCRIBER David S. shares, For fifteen years, I listened to commercially successful rock music and wrote out all the guitar parts so they could be published in songbooks and magazines for people to learn to play them. CRACKED.COM

Martial Arts Instructors

Want your kid to learn self-defense? Sign the little bugger up for a martial arts class. They'll learn discipline, get some exercise, and make new friends. You might want to look into that sensei, first. Martial arts instructors aren't required to have a black belt or any sort of trainers' license. CRACKED.COM

Private Investigators

Private investigators are SO smart. Whether it's a jaded ex-cop or a fussy Belgian genius, the private detective steps in when the police are stumped. (S)he's a combination of superhero and super-genius, and always solves the case. But in many states, anyone can become a private eye just by taking an online course. And in Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, South Dakota and Mississippi, you don't even need to do that. There are no requirements whatsoever. CRACKED.COM http://www.pimagazine.com/pi-directory/

Social Media Gurus

BRAND Social Media Gurus BRAND are everywhere. A recent count found 181,000 of them on Twitter, alone. MARKETING @ SALES @ Unless a person has a thorough understanding of public relations, marketing, and customer service, a self-proclaimed guru will not help your business at all. No matter how much they tweet. CRACKED.COM http://www.businessinsider.com/why-i-will-never-ever-hire-a-social-medis-expert-2011-5

Stockbrokers

Want to invest some money? You'll probably want to pay a stockbroker to make smart DFL investment NOTI decisions for you. KB 10:00 11: Except that 70% to 85% of fund managers earn their investors less than the average performance of the stock market as a whole. CRACKED.COM

Weather Forecasters

Aren't WED S weather forecasts helpful? A quick glance at the news, and our local meteorologist will tell us what'll fall from the sky in the coming week. 83 85 But a Kansas man tracked the predictions of four local stations over 220 days, and once he factored in the actual possibilty of rainfall, he found that they were 50-60% accurate. And that number went down, for 3-day forecasts. CRACKED.COM http://freakonomics.com/2008/04/21/how-valid-are-tv-weather-forecasts/

Wine Tasters

Wine Tasters have amazing palettes. Their well-trained tastebuds magically detect nuances in wine. Except when they don't. One study had tasters compare two wines with differing labels. They raved about the one with the fancier pedigree. It was the same wine, both times. CRACKED.COM http://www.newyorker.com/manazine/2007/09/03/the-jefferson-bottle's

Art Critics

You might not know much about art. But art critics do. They spend their lives studying that stuff. Except that they're easy to fool. For example, they thought the work of an artist they'd panned was an undiscovered Vermeer. And went bonkers over the work of Pierre Brassau - who turned out to be a monkey. http://www.telegraph. CO uk/culture/art/3654259/The-forger-who-fooled-the-world.html CRACKED.COM http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/pierre_brassau_monkey_artist/

Sportswriters

Want to know if your team is going to win? Tune in to your local sportscast, or follow your favorite sportswriter. Of course, they're wrong about game outcomes more than half the time. Seriously. There was a study in the '70s that found that sports journalists were able to predict the winners of games just 47.6% of the time. CRACKED.COM http://www.jstor.org/stable/22842127seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Mystery Shoppers

Mystery shoppers even work at funeral homes. All kinds of businesses use mystery shoppers, including funeral homes. Which may result in a shopper pretending to have a terminal illness. CRACKED.COM

School Photographers

School photographers try to shoot photos before lunch. The earlier in the day, the more avoidable stains are. That means less photo-editing work for the photographer. CRACKED.COM

Suicide Hotline Volunteers

Suicide hotlines receive frequent prank calls. ND 90101 Suicide hotline volunteers receive terrible, graphic prank calls reguarly, sometimes in batches as initiated by trolls on websites. Sometimes people will even call and try to make it sexual. CRACKED.COM

Trash Collectors

Trash collectors find the weirdest things. From WWII helmets to working violins, people will throw away anything. Your garbage man may bring it home or give it away. It's hardly a fair exchange, considering how dangerous and physically taxing the job is. CRACKED.COM

Obituary Writers

Obituary writers get invited to funerals. A strange perk of the job may include invitations to high-profile funerals, either as a gesture of the family's gratitude or as an assignment. The job can be surprisingly uplifting, as a celebration of accomplished lives. CRACKED.COM

Sketch Artists

Courtroom sketch artists sell their work to attorneys. Some lawyers like to use a sketch as a sort of trophy if they win a case. The Library of Congress has 96 courtroom drawings of famous cases. CRACKED.COM

Audiobook Narrators

Audiobook narrators may only have one night to review. That means you may only be able to scan the book once before your performance. It's important that voice actors research words that describe vocal attributions, are hard to pronounce, or indicate accents before they record. CRACKED.COM

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