59 People With Unusual Careers Explain What They Do For A Living

I'm a music therapist. I work mainly with young people who are incarcerated, have mental health issues, or have developmental differences. My job is to encourage them to make or participate in music in many different ways, in order to work on NON-musical goals, like social skills, trauma recovery/self-regulation, alleviating depression, spirituality, physical goals, the list is endless...

There are also plenty of music therapists who work with other types of people eg. seniors in long term care, adults, premature babies in NICU etc...

not weird but people always find this cool. I’m a
Virtual Assistant. Basically, I have my own business and I handle the administrative aspects for small companies... I work from home or wherever I want. I specialize in events. So my clients are wedding planners, photographers, florists. I handle inbox management, venue research, scheduling, software management, etc.

I work at a rock climbing gym. I was their Youth Program Director for 6 years, and just recently transitioned to Event and Outreach Director.

The job itself is not so weird, but many people find that a full time (mainly office) job at a rock climbing gym off the beaten path.

I set gas prices for gas stations (and I feel so so sorry sometimes). I guess that's weird - especially since I want an electric car. It wasn't my dream job - I was laid off from my old job in the company - but I love my team and the work is actually fascinating.

It's not weird to me but I always get asked if it's weird. I remove unwanted pubic hair with sugar wax . I own a spa and we specialize in sugar waxing. I do a lot of the Brazilians and train newer estheticians. I never thought I would get into Brazilian sugaring but once I opened up my spa and had had a couple of sketch experiences at other waxing studios I realized I wanted to provide an awesome safe experience for ladies that want remove hair. So I did a bunch of training and am now known as one of the best sugarists in my area.

Underground Explosives Operator (Charge-Up) - I work in an underground mine and prepare areas for detonation by charging them with explosives setting a timing sequence and setting it all up to go BOOM! Pretty hard manual job actually.

I'm a mining engineer and this is just a stepping stone for my career to gain experience of what the miners actually do, but I'm really enjoying this job.

Is reselling used designer clothes weird? I used to thrift to resell. When I was younger, there was a minor stigma with thrift shopping but nowadays even teens in school are doing it for extra cash.....

I don't think it's all that weird, but every time people ask what I do they say something like: "oh I never thought of that being a job someone could do, but it makes sense I see why it's necessary"

Anyway, I do quality control for a baking mix company. We do bulk for large companies, so think about your Pillsbury cake mix, but in 50 pound bags for some of your favorite companies.

I pick up samples of dry mix, bake them according to instructions, do some science to all of it, then send it on its way if it's good or reject it if it's not.

As for how I got into it? I started my career as a regular baker, ended up fired from a couple of those jobs (thanks, ADHD). Then I found this on Indeed, and it's been more my speed (plus with medication now).

As a kid I worked as a “taste tester.” It was called innovation research for ConAgra foods (they make kids cuisines, slim Jim’s, peanut butter, etc). It was this big white marble room, super modern, with white tall chairs. There were dividers between each chair, a computer, and directly in front of you was a slide up window. All white. The chef would put your food in the window when it was prepared. They don’t talk to you just put it in front of you, shut the window, and the room is completely silent. You would take a survey on the computer rate the food, and they paid in visa gift cards. Occasionally there were group test studies in a different room. I remember one time they were trying to sell pizza for kids that didn’t need to be heated up. It was croutons, pizza sauce and Parmesan cheese. Surprisingly good lol but that one didn’t work.

I work in a brain bank. My graduate program led me to do a thesis there and they offered me a part time job on top of my research. Everyone there is super normal it's actually the least dysfunctional workplace I have ever been apart of. By night I work as a cocktail waitress/bottle girl and host for a lounge/night club so a pretty eclectic point in my life.

This summer I worked for a startup that managed properties and apartments and put them on Air BnB for the owners. There were some really fancy properties, like some XVI century houses. I basically went there, made sure everything was ok and waited for the guests.

My family used to own a bait and tackle store and I loved it. It made me feel like a kid again "playing" with worms, crickets, & minnows all day long.

You ever get a piece of mail that has a car key taped to it? That’s what I do. I do piece work at a junk mail factory. That includes folding, collating, taping.. other stuff too. I started working there because they hired me after an embarrassingly long gap of unemployment. (Got sick, almost died, got inspired to go to school, failed out of school, went into a really *really* bad depression, had an unexpected surprise baby, and now am trying to get myself together. For her.) It’s not a great job, but it buys diapers, and it’s a line on my resumé.

I used to be a field engineer at an oilfield services company! Don’t spend as much time in the field anymore but people love asking me what it’s like on rigs.

I’m a manufacturer’s rep for a global plumbing company. I speak to wholesalers, plumbers and homeowners. I trouble shoot product, parts and repairs. I upsell and maintain company standards for my territory. Started this career after 20 years in banking. Love the uniqueness and challenge every day brings.

I repair tools. Large factories have a lot of handheld tools(mostly nut runners in this case). I tear these down and repair them. I also deal with calibration, but I feel like that's a less weird part of the job.

I’m an avian field technician. I go out into nature and catch songbirds for a lab. I just think they’re neat.

My current job is super normal but in high school I was the merch girl for Extreme Midget Wrestling.

I'm an aesthetician and I focus on lash extensions. I only call it weird because my husband just can't get over that I put individual lashes on each lash. Super time consuming but it's like a puzzle I have a set amount of time to finish and I am a very detail oriented person.