10 Really Odd Jobs

by Maria Hanson, LiveCareer

There are odd jobs, like beer taster, and then there are really odd jobs, like human bed warmer!

As odd as odd jobs can be, there's a certain beauty to them. "Knowing about very odd jobs inspires creativity," says photographer Nancy Rica Schiff, who has spent more than a decade documenting some of the nation's oddest jobs for her books "Odd Jobs" and "Odder Jobs."

"If you can think of a service you can do that doesn't exist, that's fantastic, especially in this economy," says Schiff. If you have an original idea, an entrepreneur test can help you find out if you have what it takes to transform it into a hugely successful business.

Be inspired by this list of odd--and odder--jobs:

Bed Warmer
A London Holiday Inn recently added an unusual service: a staffer outfitted in a white fleecy getup from head to toe will roll around in your bed for five minutes (alone), leaving you with toasty sheets.

Breath-Odor Evaluator
Take deep sniffs of morning breath, and breath "insulted" with coffee and other known bad-breath inducers, to test how mints and mouthwashes work--or don't work.

Dog Breath Sniffer
This is like being a breath-odor evaluator, but instead of testing the effectiveness of minty products on human breath, you test how a dog's diet affects its breath. We're not sure which job is more appealing.

Pollen Collector
Stand on very tall ladders to harvest pollen from the blossoms of dozens of types of trees. The pollen is made into extracts that help allergy sufferers.

Leech Purveyor
Raise and distribute medicinal leeches, which need very specific, chilly water temperatures to survive. Then the little suckers get shipped to medical facilities, where they do the job of removing excess blood from post-surgical wounds.

Mermaid
Swim, lip-sync, and flipper around a giant "aquarium" in 72-degree spring water to entertain audiences with underwater versions of Disney musicals and other light fare. Mermaids require a year of on-the-job training and must be able to hold their breath for two and a half minutes while changing costumes.

Duck Master
Lead a parade of ducks into and out of hotel-lobby ponds and look out for their health and well being.

Maker of Flatulence-Smell-Reduction Underwear
Create special underwear (designed for people with gastrointestinal problems) that guards against the smell of human gas.

Gum Buster
Scrape off old gum that's stuck under restaurant tables and counters, beneath theater seats, and on sidewalks.

Knife Thrower's Assistant
Smile while a seemingly sane person throws hatchets and knives at you--Schiff says that this is not a parlor trick. "Those hatchets and knives are absolutely real and flying through the air at the assistant."

Take a free career test to discover jobs--odd or not!--that are a good match for your unique career profile.

And when you're ready to move towards a new career, take an education decision test to find out if going back to school should be your first step.

Job Info , Jobs Sources , Career