Obscure jobs you'd never thought about ...

[ColinJ]

I was chatting to my nephew last night. He has just finished a stint of 6 x 10 hour night shifts a week. I asked what the job was and he replied that it was processing exam answer papers. Not marking them, just dealing with the huge mounds of paperwork.

It isn't just a case of recycling the paper. Copies of the answers have to be kept in case candidates appeal against marks given. So, the millions of exam papers submitted every year at schools and colleges need to be sorted, scanned and then the paper dealt with. They had 300 people working on the night shift and presumably a similar number during the day.

It seems that it is cheaper to pay a lot of people to get the work done quickly in exam season rather than have a smaller team taking all year to do it but having to pay for secure storage for papers yet to be processed.

I had never given any thought to what happened to old exam answer papers. Quite a revelation!



Any similar stories? I'm sure that the likes of @Drago ( )will be tempted to come up with fake news of 'midget-fettling' etc. but I'd be interested to hear about genuinely odd or unusual jobs.

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

Semen collection from animals for the purpose of artificial insemination.

 

[ColinJ]

Semen collection from animals for the purpose of artificial insemination.

That aspect of animal husbandry is certainly an obscure job and one that I don't give a lot of thought to, but I had heard of it ...

 

[Levo-Lon]

My manager asked me when i had my first appraisal " i know an appraisal "???
Was this a planned progression from being self employed to working in care?

No, id planned to retire and do my own thing when i ceased being a business owner ,it never occurred to me that id be doing a low paid job and working 40 hrs a week.

He then asked me what my plans were in the organisation?
Well as there's only me and no chance of promotion i guess ill stay as i am.

I promised him his job was safe though

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Semen collection from animals for the purpose of artificial insemination.

Working a month in hand, no doubt...

 

[Levo-Lon]

Back on topic ,most civil servant jobs fall into this category, especially the white collar jobs

 

[User6179]

Fluffers

 

[DCLane]

I was chatting to my nephew last night. He has just finished a stint of 6 x 10 hour night shifts a week. I asked what the job was and he replied that it was processing exam answer papers. Not marking them, just dealing with the huge mounds of paperwork

These days they're scanned and uploaded for electronic marking. I'm about to mark a few.

After university I had the summer job of a traffic surveyor; paid to count cars in the sun.
During university I worked in a dairy for a week checking that the milk bottles weren't too full/too empty.

 

[stephec]

Pheasant plucker.

 

[classic33]

S**t Stirrer, stirring the tanks as they were emptied into the spreader. Keeping blockages to a minimum.

 

[ColinJ]

Fluffers

I had to look that one up!

 

[classic33]

These days they're scanned and uploaded for electronic marking. I'm about to mark a few.

After university I had the summer job of a traffic surveyor; paid to count cars in the sun.
During university I worked in a dairy for a week checking that the milk bottles weren't too full/too empty.

Replaced by two thin tubes and a small box.

 

[ColinJ]

These days they're scanned and uploaded for electronic marking. I'm about to mark a few.

Ah, now I can see why there was such a rush to get the job done!

It was drilled into everyone that losing exam paperwork would be BIG problem, so DON'T!

 

[Elysian_Roads]

Replaced by two thin tubes and a small box.

Not entirely. There were traffic surveyors sitting by roundabouts in High Wycombe this week. Seems like a nice job when you have retired.

 

[stephec]

Not entirely. There were traffic surveyors sitting by roundabouts in High Wycombe this week. Seems like a nice job when you have retired.

A job when you've retired?