I delivered phone books as a side job. It only lasted one day because some one pointed a shot gun at me... I decided it wasn't a job worth dying
for.... I returned the undelivered phone books and was promised a check.

When that check arrived I realized I made essentially 13 cents a book.  ::)

It wasn't the job itself that was the oddest but the duties I had for the day. As a teen I worked a summer job program
as a janitors assistant in a public school. One day, while pulling weeds from the cracks in the sidewalk, the janitor noticed
a caterpillar walking across the courtyard. My job -- watch the caterpillar and see where it went. I spent 4 hours watching
a Caterpillar

It wasn't the job itself that was the oddest but the duties I had for the day. As a teen I worked a summer job program
as a janitors assistant in a public school. One day, while pulling weeds from the cracks in the sidewalk, the janitor noticed
a caterpillar walking across the courtyard. My job -- watch the caterpillar and see where it went. I spent 4 hours watching
a Caterpillar


;D

sure it wasn't a practical joke?  I've played a few on employees in my day
1) I told some one we need a shelf count and sent them to count every shelf in Barnes and Noble. I intended to save them but I got busy and forgot... I caught them after they counted a third of the store  ::)

2) when I worked in the grocery store I told some one that the salad dressing needed to be shaken regularly- the bottles looked better when there wasn't sediment on the bottom...  ;D It was funny watching her shake them... then I'd point at one and say..oops that one settled again... I only kept her on the hook for a couple minutes...

It's a toss up between....Working for Parks & Recreation Dept........{in High School} mowing parks.Equipment {mowers, trimmers.weed wackers}would break down OFTEN.I'd call in & was told to hang out till the truck picked Me up around 5pm...
The other job was at an Oriental Rug cleaning Co.........Went to NYC 2-3 times a week delivering & picking up rugs. Sometimes just 1 rug.I thought it was a huge waste travelling 2 hrs down,2 hrs. back to drop off 1 rug.

once i had to retype an entire phone book. that was horrible. i didn't have a shotgun leveled at me.

for a few years i did field repairs of money order machines. that was pretty wild, going through dicey neighborhoods and having little kids jump and down pointing at me and yelling "look at the cracker! look at the cracker!" once i had a wall plug in a liquor store with faulty wiring explode in my face. miraculously i wasn't hurt though.

once i had to retype an entire phone book. that was horrible. i didn't have a shotgun leveled at me.

for a few years i did field repairs of money order machines. that was pretty wild, going through dicey neighborhoods and having little kids jump and down pointing at me and yelling "look at the cracker! look at the cracker!" once i had a wall plug in a liquor store with faulty wiring explode in my face. miraculously i wasn't hurt though.


sounds interesting... retyping a phone book would thoroughly suck tho

sounds interesting... retyping a phone book would thoroughly suck tho
it was all right, they put me in a room full of really fun people so i would sit there and type in addresses and joke around with em all day long.

it was all right, they put me in a room full of really fun people so i would sit there and type in addresses and joke around with em all day long.


that's not too bad.

;D

sure it wasn't a practical joke?  I've played a few on employees in my day
1) I told some one we need a shelf count and sent them to count every shelf in Barnes and Noble. I intended to save them but I got busy and forgot... I caught them after they counted a third of the store  ::)

2) when I worked in the grocery store I told some one that the salad dressing needed to be shaken regularly- the bottles looked better when there wasn't sediment on the bottom...  ;D It was funny watching her shake them... then I'd point at one and say..oops that one settled again... I only kept her on the hook for a couple minutes...





I don't think so, the janitor was old and not very sharp. Practical joke or not I was paid for the day.

that's not too bad.


I sorted mail at the post office one christmas... it sucked. they didn't let you listen to a walkman so it was completely mind numbing.


I also unloaded trucks at UPS. I lasted at that job exactly 30 days... nothing against people who do that job but it sucked. Worst job I ever had...  It was in Stockton CA in July- I worked the pm shift.... so the trucks would drive around in the 100+ degree weather then at 530/6pm trapping all that heat in the back... I would unload whatever was left in the back of the truck onto a conveyor belt... it was hot in the warehouse and hotter than hell in the back of the trucks I would unload a truck and take a drink from the water bottle before starting the next truck. I was written up several times for drinking too much water...drinking between trucks was like taking an authorized break... never mind I was totally dehydrated.  I used to vomit every night at the end of my shift...  >:( 

Working at Au Bon Pain in February 2006 was pretty odd.


what did you do?

what did you do?


swept up,taking out the smelly trash,cleaning up the tables.

maybe I should have asked what was odd about your job

maybe I should have asked what was odd about your job



I don't know.  ???

um... okay

um... okay



Guess he didn't quite get it.

um... okay


Yep, it boggles the mind... ;D :D ;)

um... okay



I forgot what was odd about it?  ???

I worked a temp job for a construction company for a day.  My job:  Set up a metal perimeter fence around the construction site.  Typical construction type job right?  Not once it started to rain and the foreman told us to keep going.  I told him to give me another job to do, and I even had to explain why.  The look on his face before he agreed said it all.  After the day was over, he asked me if I wanted to come back the next day to work again.  No hesitation needed, I told him to basically go screw himself LOL

I worked a temp job for a construction company for a day.  My job:  Set up a metal perimeter fence around the construction site.  Typical construction type job right?  Not once it started to rain and the foreman told us to keep going.  I told him to give me another job to do, and I even had to explain why.  The look on his face before he agreed said it all.  After the day was over, he asked me if I wanted to come back the next day to work again.  No hesitation needed, I told him to basically go screw himself LOL



Don't blame ya... that sounds pretty frigging dangerous to me...

Not really odd to me, it is what I went to school originally for - but odd to a lot of people as I used to get the most unusual looks.

Walking around cities taking a public tree inventory, most cities had us GPS map them as well.  I would walk up and down streets, no matter the neighborhood, looking at trees on public property and tell what kind they are, the health, size and any safety issues that the tree had.  I had a hand held computer, and a GPS beacon back pack (that happened to be bright yellow), and a GPS shooting gun, and a 3 1/2 foot biltmore stick (which could be used as a weapons against violant dogs/people if swung like a baseball bat).  I had people asking me if I was setting a speed trap, if I was checking for Radon(or various other hazardous chemicals).....  Lots and lots of questions and comments, lots of interesting neighborhoods ???

I worked in wastewater treatment for almost six years, but as far as truly "odd":

Makeshift animal control at the hotel where I did maintenance. Once for a family of opossum, which wasn't too bad, once for two stray cats that got into the building. One left on its own, the other got into our humane trap. I have never been so scared of an animal as that little cat.

I also played "ham carver" one night during a function where they were short with kitchen staff. They gave me what must have been the dullest freakin' knife in the world. It was odd becauswe underneath the cook's coat I was wearing my maintenance uniform, lol.

Jack

I once had to help wrangle sheep for a shoot  :P

No odd jobs really, delivering the newspaper...watering lawns from a few buildings...counting tiny parts for automobiles...no sheep shooting here

I once had to help wrangle sheep for a shoot  :P



Really,How'd that work out for you?  ???

Not so much as odd but odd for me. I helped the manager of my old apartment building put a new roof on. I really don't do manual labor and for me to do that was quite interesting. I even ran a power saw-something that is not quite in my resume.  :o :o :o


I also worked at a jewelry store one day a year (did that two years in a row) helping with their inventory. One of my best friends worked there and she was told to drag bring a friend.



Cat

I once had to help wrangle sheep for a shoot  :P



No odd jobs really, delivering the newspaper...watering lawns from a few buildings...counting tiny parts for automobiles...no sheep shooting here




Really,How'd that work out for you?  ???



Disclaimer: No sheep were harmed in any way, shape or form during said 'shoot'  ;)

Disclaimer: No sheep were harmed in any way, shape or form during said 'shoot'  ;)






;D

I would say it's the position I had at the law firm for a month and a half, since I had to do a lot of things that I wasn't exactly familiar with, and I was confused in many cases...

But recently, I was supposedly offered a paid position at the place where I interned last year, and this one involved using a software program that I wasn't the least bit familiar with, and I couldn't get help with it... and more importantly, the "terms of employment" had not been discussed with me... so I backed out of it on the second day that I was there. I was never officially hired for any work there.