22 professions you didn't know existed (23 photos)

The world is full of unusual and rare professions that we simply don’t think about, although we regularly encounter the fruits of the labor of these specialists. In this collection you will find stories from netizens about the most unusual work in their lives: from a living mannequin to a “cattle identification and escape prevention specialist.”





1. “I get paid to be a living mannequin. No, not a model who poses for photos with professional makeup for the pages of magazines - I work “behind the scenes”, in a warehouse. Designers of large chain stores show outfits on my figure to the CEO of the company, who then approves or rejects them. Clothes on a mannequin look completely different from those on a real person.”



2. “Have you ever sung karaoke? Few people think that someone adjusts the lyrics to the songs and makes sure that they appear exactly on time. This was my job in my last year of school.”





3. “I once worked for a photography agency that specialized in newborn photography as a “bereavement coordinator.” My job was to sort through hospital photographs of stillborn babies. I selected the photos, edited them, printed them and put together a memorial package, which was then given to the parents through the hospital's bereavement program."



4. “I compose music and create sound effects for slot machines. I live in Las Vegas, but still very few people outside the industry know that my profession exists.”



5. “I’m purchasing props for a popular TV series. Basically, I come to work, the designer tells me what specific props are needed for the shoot, and my job is to go buy or rent it. It's fun because sometimes I get asked to find ridiculous things and it's a challenge."



6. “My mother braids the manes and tails of show horses. It’s quite a lucrative job because anything to do with horses costs a lot of money.”



7. “Large format printing. Have you ever seen extra large vinyl banners hanging at events? Exhibition flags and roll-up banners? Signs made of plastic or foam? I work with a printer three meters wide and two and a half meters deep.”



8. “Department of Weights and Measures. They check that gas stations are operating correctly, i.e., that they actually pump as much gasoline as the pump indicates.”



9. “I design coupons on the back of receipts.”



10. “I'm taking out the advertising in sports bars and replacing it with an endless amount of consumer-customized media. My job as a quality controller is to press a button on the iPad when the sports channel switches from broadcast to commercial. The replacement occurs in all restaurants/bars that use the service.”



11. “Mom made clothes for Barbie when she worked as a textile engineer at Mattel. When she quit, she was given a miniature Barbie that was an exact replica of her. The doll is dressed like my mom and even has a workspace with tiny photos of our family on the table."



12. “I'm a commercial diver and I get called on just about any job where something needs to be done underwater. It's a lot of fun and the pay is great!”



13. “I'm trying to read handwritten addresses on envelopes that the computer can't process.”



14. “I build hiking trails. A lot of people think they form on their own or something like that, but that’s our job.”



15. “You know those fire evacuation plans that are completely useless because no one is going to stop and look at a map while running from a burning building? So, I am developing them.”



16. “You know those big companies with millions of followers on social media? You know how they publish a post and it gets a ton of comments with a lot of spam, obscenity and prohibited content? I had a job where I had to read ALL comments and clean them up according to guidelines set by the client.”



17. “My job is to contact people who place orders on a very, VERY popular site and then try to block the card before they charge it. The thing is, we don't charge you until the order ships, and sometimes it takes a day or two. Some buyers have realized this, and Occasionally we ship the item before we charge the card. Literally thousands of people come to our site, make a purchase, and then try to cancel or block the payment in hopes that the item will be shipped. I call 25-40 people a day trying to convince them to update their payment method. In some cases, it is immediately clear that this happened by accident, for example, the card expired or was lost. But most play dumb and hang up.”



18. “I was once paid for a month of 40-hour work weeks just to sit at the gate and make sure the cows didn’t run away. I was a “cattle identification and escape prevention specialist.” I never saw a single cow. But I read several good books.”



19. “Trucking companies employ people who collect abandoned trucks and cargo. It turns out that sometimes truckers say, “Screw it,” and just abandon their trucks and trailers on the side of the road. They pay pretty well for this and you have to be on call 24/7, but they pay you for flights all over the country so that you can deliver the necessary cargo.”



20. “I worked briefly as a “junior cheese appraiser.” In addition to cheese tasting, there is also business analytics, which much fewer people know about. We must understand what good cheese is, what consumer tastes are, and how we can influence those tastes to make room for products that maximize profits for the producer and retailer. I even prepared for the national certification exam, but then I decided to radically change my profession.”



21. “I used to be a 911 call tester. I literally drove from one cell tower to another and called the emergency number to make sure the call got to the right place. You'd be surprised how often it doesn't work."



22. “I worked as an enucleator. When people who wanted to donate organs died, I removed their eyes and took them to the laboratory, where they were processed for subsequent transplantation.”