Article Surfing Archive

I know about weird jobs, having been a "skip-tracer" (one who tracks people down - in this case to serve subpoenas), a repo man, and a newspaper ad-inserter. I have even had a few unusual business endeavors, including selling stuffed animals in jars ("Canned Critters" - they never did catch on), and earrings made form fish scales (those did better). Here are some weird ways to make money that I haven't tried - and hopefully never will.

Elephant Tender

This job involves taking care of the elephants for a circus or zoo. Mostly that means a whole lot of shoveling of large piles of - well, you get the point. Apart from being a dirty job, it can be dangerous too.

Political Writing Business

Did you think politicians write their own pamphlets and other campaign materials? Come on - they hardly think their own thoughts. One writer says she charged $25 to $35 per hour for writing for politicians.

Hot Walker

A hot walker is the person that walks the racehorses around after a race. This is important, because if a horse doesn't cool down before returning to the stall, the overheating can cause kidney damage.

Weird Restoration Business

Old merry-go-rounds need to be restored if they are not thrown away. Someone has to do it, and undoubtedly gets paid fairly for this specialized field.

Translator Of Technical Manuals

What do you do when you want to translate that technical manual or users guide for the VCR from Japanese to English? Call someone who does this work. Tedious, but the pay is okay.

Bird Poop Jewelry

No, I'm not making this up. There really was (is?) a man who had a business selling bird-poop jewelry. He encased the various types in acrylic, and made them into pendants and earrings.

An Awful And Weird Job

I recently read about a woman who worked as an assembler of hypodermic needles. Her job was to attach the needles to the syringes. She was paid by the piece, and made less than $6 one shift, due to all the time spent tending to her wounds.

Maybe you don't want to ever be a sumo-wrestler's assistant, or for that matter a proctologist, or have any of the weird jobs listed here. But they are fun to read about.