Every job is unique. Not only do they help us earn bread and butter, some work to make a the world a better place, some strive to decorate your plate with the best. But some jobs are truly unique and people have a hard time grasping about their work. Here we present 10 jobs that are bound to make your head scratch.
1. Manual Scavenging- India
Scavenging is the practice of manual cleaning of human excreta from service/ dry latrines. The scavengers crawl into the dry latrines and collect the human excreta with their bare hands, carry it as head-load in a container to dispose of it.Hundreds of thousands of impoverished “low caste” Indians are being forced to clean human excreta from dry toilets and open drains, despite a ban on the discriminatory and undignified practice, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
2. Honey Hunters- Nepal
Image Source – Overgrowthesystem
Honey Hunting, the collection of Honey from the nests of wild Bees built on steep cliffs, is an age-old tradition. Local honey hunters show their exceptional skills by hanging themselves from cliffs as high as 300 meters using Bamboo ladders and hemp ropes while harvesting the honeycombs. Everyone is thrilled to watch honey hunters at work.
3. Professional car plate number blockers- Tehran
Some people get paid to walk behind your car, so the traffic cameras can not capture your plate number when you enter the restricted traffic areas!Cars with number plates ending with odd numbers were restricted one day and the next day cars with number plates ending with even numbers were restricted.Since they have started using traffic cameras to check the car plate numbers, a new strange job has formed.They get money from you before you approach the traffic camera and just walk behind your car while you drive slowly.
4. Minister Mentor- Singapore
It is a position in the Cabinet of Singapore. It was created in 2004 as part of a transition in political leadership. Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew is the only person who has held this post, from 12 August 2004 to 21 May 2011.
5. The Dabbawalas (lunch box carriers) India.
Dabbawalas collect the lunch boxes with freshly cooked food from the houses of office workers and students, deliver it to their individual workplaces and schools. Later on, they return the empty lunch boxes to their residence. Dabbawalas are not employees but each one of them is a self-employed entrepreneur. They are equal shareholders in the Dabbawalas Trust.Approximately 5000 dabbawalas cover around 70 Sq. Km in and around Mumbai and carry out 400,000 transactions everyday.Not a single piece of paper is used during this whole process. All dabbas have different numbers, colors or other symbols (color coding system) so the dabbawalas can remember where to deliver a specific dabba.
6. Baboon Monitors – South Africa
Baboons have been posing a huge threat to many residents in certain suburbs in the Western Cape. Baboons raid garbage bins, gardens, and homes in search of food, and show aggressive behavior towards people and pets.Since 1999, the BMT and SANParks have employed baboon monitors to prevent baboons from entering residential areas as well as to move baboons out of human-frequented areas before conflict occurs.
The monitors achieve their goal either by blocking the movement of the baboons or by driving them away from the urban areas by shouting, clapping, waving sticks and occasionally throwing stones. Often, the baboons respond with only minimal coaxing and begin moving in the dictated direction.
7. The Anti-Mafia Prosecutor
Being an organized crime prosecutor is one thing; being an anti-mafia prosecutor in Italy is quite another. They may gain the admiration of the masses, but they face great risks in doing so and often live their lives under permanent police protection. Their enemies are some of the world’s most powerful criminals and many have been killed for simply doing their job.
Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone, famous Anti-Mafia prosecutors who were killed in the ’90 by the Sicilian Mafia.
8. The Brazilian churrasqueiro, or Brazilian steakhouse chef
Barbecuing meat is taken so seriously in Brazil that Brazilian steakhouses in the US have recently managed to get the US Court to treat Brazilian churrasqueiros as specialized knowledge workers. This way, steakhouses are now able to get past immigration issues and import churrasqueiros directly from Brazil.
9. Gold Coast / Surfers Paradise meter maids – Queensland, Australia
Of course, many cities have meter maids, but how many have this uniform? This is actually what they wear day-to-day (though does not show the enormous gold heels they wear). They are salaried employees of the city council. All the parking meters are electronic now, so no coinage.
They (kinda) give directions and pose for pictures with tourists. They have their own site, Meter Maids Surfers Paradise. Pretty sure men cannot apply for this role.
10. Water–sellers “Moroccan Guerrab”
A Guerrab water seller wears the traditional berber dress for this profession. Sketched with Copic markers. Most of the Guerrab are based on Djamma el Fna square (Marrakesh).Traditionally costumed water sellers are seen throughout Morocco. For a dirham or two water is poured from camel leather bags into brass or tin cups. Few tourists can resist photographing the colorfully clad men decked out in elaborate tasseled hats. You can hear the musical clinking of the brass and bells they wear.Today water sellers make more money from vacationers who pay to photograph them than from peddling water.