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Odd Jobs: Portraits of Unusual Occupations
Who blows the bugle at the Kentucky Derby? Who dusts the dinosaur bones at the Smithsonian? Who sniffs dog breath for a living? Who measures the breasts of live models? 'Odd Jobs' introduces you to the real people who perform these and other truly peculiar jobs.
In sixty-five intimate portraits, photo essayist Nancy Rica Schiff captures the personalities and occupations of these oddball professionals, providing a short profile of each. A photograper for twenty years, Schiff has spent a good portion of that time discovering the behind-the-scenes people who do what others can't (or won't) do.
Along the way, she discovered in the land of the free, the brave, and the quirky, some folks will do almost anything to make an honest buck.
In sixty-five intimate portraits, photo essayist Nancy Rica Schiff captures the personalities and occupations of these oddball professionals, providing a short profile of each. A photograper for twenty years, Schiff has spent a good portion of that time discovering the behind-the-scenes people who do what others can't (or won't) do.
Along the way, she discovered in the land of the free, the brave, and the quirky, some folks will do almost anything to make an honest buck.
135 pages, Hardcover
First published October 28, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
February 1, 2018
I never for one minute realised when I purchased this book that two of the odd jobs within its covers were ones that I have carried out; one on a more regular basis and one on a legitimate ad-hoc basis!
Anyway 'Odd Jobs' carries a variety of strange occupations, and some that do not seem so strange, and it is no wonder that Nancy Rica Schiff, a professional photographer, has spent 12 years in photographing (in their relevant locations) and interviewing the participants in this fascinating book. Probably her most daring adventure in getting the necessary information was when she climbed Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and stood atop George Washington to capture a 'crack filler' working on Thomas Jefferson's nose! The crack filler in question was Jeffrey Glanzer who originally used a mixture of granite dust, linseed oil and white lead powder but these days he uses a more simpler silicone sealant.
Frank Braisted must be one of a select few throughout the world for he is a dinosaur duster, working at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington. Five days a week in the early hours of the morning he has the dinosaurs all to himself as he grooms them with a feather duster and a vacuum cleaner - but he never touches the bones!
And James Means' job is probably even rarer than Frank's for he is a duck master. What does that mean, you may well ask? Well, the answer is rather bizarre, for precisely at 11 o'clock every morning, seven days a week, he rolls out the red carpet at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee (bring on Chuck Berry!), and he escorts five ducks from the elevator to the hotel's lobby to the tune of King Cotton's March. The ducks duly spend their day at the fountain in the centre of the lobby before James escorts them back to their rooftop home after a day's work!
One of the more enjoyable jobs must be that of Francie Berger for she just has fun all the time. Why? Because she is a LEGO model maker and spends her days building whatever she likes from an endless supply of blocks and the reason that LEGO gave her the job was that her architectural thesis at Virginia Tech was designing a large working farm using only LEGO blocks in the construction.
There are far less savoury jobs than that of Francie Berger. For instance there is the earthworm farmer, the condom tester, the semen collector (from bulls I should add), the pooper scooper and the colonics therapist plus plenty of others to muse over.
One odd job I feel I must mention is that of headmistress for one wonders how a headmistress can qualify for a book on odd jobs. The reason is simple, Veronica Vera is not an ordinary headmistress, she is the creator, founder and dean of Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls. It is the world's first cross-dressing academy. Veronica informs us that 60 per cent of her student body is married and that the curriculum includes high heel walking, body sculpting with corsets, makeup, voice and flirting fundamentals. And the course culminates with a final examination: dressing up and appearing in public - as a woman of course!
Of the not so strange occupations there is a coffin maker, a wax figure maker, a clockmaster, a sparring partner, a potato chip inspector and a roller coaster operator. I regard the last mentioned as not necessarily an odd job for, coming from a seaside town with plenty of sideshows, there are plenty of such operators and similarly with a Madame Tussauds Waxworks in the town, there are also wax figure makers around.
As for coffin makers, these are perhaps not as odd as one would imagine (indeed, Private Frazer of Dad's Army fame was one such!), similarly clockmasters (although Martin Schneider's remit is quite different from most) and sparring partners, who frequent the gyms. As for a potato chip inspector I have included that for, as a school holiday worker, I worked at a very large local toffee factory, Waller & Hartley (trade name Milady, now gone) and a lady there sat all day and every day above the crowd on a platform with chocolates going past her on a conveyor belt and she had to pick out any misshapes - very much like Cindy Pina at the Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory in Hyannis, Massachusetts does with her chips.
It is a fascinating book with plenty to ruminate over!
Oh, I almost forgot, the two jobs that I could place on my CV - scoreboard operator and safe cracker. The first is simple to explain, I, sometimes along with my daughter Deborah's help, have regularly operated the manual scoreboard at Blackpool Cricket Club and also the scoreboard at Blackpool Rugby League Club (this one without Deborah's help - she likes cricket but not rugby) while the second one is somewhat tenuous and was only carried out occasionally, and I should add, legally.
It was many years ago while I was working in Whitehall where there were a number of security cabinets with combination locks. These occasionally went wrong and an expert was called in to put them right. It could take a couple of days for the expert to arrive so I decided that I would watch, ask questions and learn every time he came. I did, and on occasion I was able to unlock the cabinets when problems occurred - a much quicker solution, when it was successful, as it turned out.
Anyway 'Odd Jobs' carries a variety of strange occupations, and some that do not seem so strange, and it is no wonder that Nancy Rica Schiff, a professional photographer, has spent 12 years in photographing (in their relevant locations) and interviewing the participants in this fascinating book. Probably her most daring adventure in getting the necessary information was when she climbed Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and stood atop George Washington to capture a 'crack filler' working on Thomas Jefferson's nose! The crack filler in question was Jeffrey Glanzer who originally used a mixture of granite dust, linseed oil and white lead powder but these days he uses a more simpler silicone sealant.
Frank Braisted must be one of a select few throughout the world for he is a dinosaur duster, working at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington. Five days a week in the early hours of the morning he has the dinosaurs all to himself as he grooms them with a feather duster and a vacuum cleaner - but he never touches the bones!
And James Means' job is probably even rarer than Frank's for he is a duck master. What does that mean, you may well ask? Well, the answer is rather bizarre, for precisely at 11 o'clock every morning, seven days a week, he rolls out the red carpet at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee (bring on Chuck Berry!), and he escorts five ducks from the elevator to the hotel's lobby to the tune of King Cotton's March. The ducks duly spend their day at the fountain in the centre of the lobby before James escorts them back to their rooftop home after a day's work!
One of the more enjoyable jobs must be that of Francie Berger for she just has fun all the time. Why? Because she is a LEGO model maker and spends her days building whatever she likes from an endless supply of blocks and the reason that LEGO gave her the job was that her architectural thesis at Virginia Tech was designing a large working farm using only LEGO blocks in the construction.
There are far less savoury jobs than that of Francie Berger. For instance there is the earthworm farmer, the condom tester, the semen collector (from bulls I should add), the pooper scooper and the colonics therapist plus plenty of others to muse over.
One odd job I feel I must mention is that of headmistress for one wonders how a headmistress can qualify for a book on odd jobs. The reason is simple, Veronica Vera is not an ordinary headmistress, she is the creator, founder and dean of Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls. It is the world's first cross-dressing academy. Veronica informs us that 60 per cent of her student body is married and that the curriculum includes high heel walking, body sculpting with corsets, makeup, voice and flirting fundamentals. And the course culminates with a final examination: dressing up and appearing in public - as a woman of course!
Of the not so strange occupations there is a coffin maker, a wax figure maker, a clockmaster, a sparring partner, a potato chip inspector and a roller coaster operator. I regard the last mentioned as not necessarily an odd job for, coming from a seaside town with plenty of sideshows, there are plenty of such operators and similarly with a Madame Tussauds Waxworks in the town, there are also wax figure makers around.
As for coffin makers, these are perhaps not as odd as one would imagine (indeed, Private Frazer of Dad's Army fame was one such!), similarly clockmasters (although Martin Schneider's remit is quite different from most) and sparring partners, who frequent the gyms. As for a potato chip inspector I have included that for, as a school holiday worker, I worked at a very large local toffee factory, Waller & Hartley (trade name Milady, now gone) and a lady there sat all day and every day above the crowd on a platform with chocolates going past her on a conveyor belt and she had to pick out any misshapes - very much like Cindy Pina at the Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory in Hyannis, Massachusetts does with her chips.
It is a fascinating book with plenty to ruminate over!
Oh, I almost forgot, the two jobs that I could place on my CV - scoreboard operator and safe cracker. The first is simple to explain, I, sometimes along with my daughter Deborah's help, have regularly operated the manual scoreboard at Blackpool Cricket Club and also the scoreboard at Blackpool Rugby League Club (this one without Deborah's help - she likes cricket but not rugby) while the second one is somewhat tenuous and was only carried out occasionally, and I should add, legally.
It was many years ago while I was working in Whitehall where there were a number of security cabinets with combination locks. These occasionally went wrong and an expert was called in to put them right. It could take a couple of days for the expert to arrive so I decided that I would watch, ask questions and learn every time he came. I did, and on occasion I was able to unlock the cabinets when problems occurred - a much quicker solution, when it was successful, as it turned out.
March 12, 2012
First, take a look a the cover. Yes, that woman gets paid for smelling people's body odours... Her job title is "odour judge", where she has to tell the efficacy of deodorants.
Each odd job is shown with a picture accompanying it. They can range from the envy of millions such as Videogame Tester, Dog walker, Beer taster, or bra designer to the less pleasant ones such as Bull semen collector, Knife thrower's assistant (who works with the famed Larry Cisewski as a live target for knife stage shows) or Colonics therapist (who cleans people's arses from excrements).
One job I find peculiar is as the Headmistress of Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls, the world's first cross-dressing academy. And in that school, 60% of the student body is married.
Hmmm.
Each odd job is shown with a picture accompanying it. They can range from the envy of millions such as Videogame Tester, Dog walker, Beer taster, or bra designer to the less pleasant ones such as Bull semen collector, Knife thrower's assistant (who works with the famed Larry Cisewski as a live target for knife stage shows) or Colonics therapist (who cleans people's arses from excrements).
One job I find peculiar is as the Headmistress of Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls, the world's first cross-dressing academy. And in that school, 60% of the student body is married.
Hmmm.
December 2, 2007
very strange. very funny. a little disturbing.
June 10, 2010
Odd Jobs is a very funny book about weird jobs that people have. These jobs are from from the regular cubical jobs most people have. These jobs are disgusting, dangerous, but use full and funny. Jobs from tasting foods for a living, smelling different products on people for a living and a whole bunch of jobs that you don't really hear about.
I can connect this to Ripleys Believe it or not because a lot of these books I really couldn't believe at all. Some of these jobs you couldn't even imagine in your wildest dreams. Some of the jobs sounded actually fun and cool.
I would recommend this book to anybody ages 10 to 100 because this book can be read and enjoyed by anyone. I liked the book because it was fascinating and funny to read. I learned a lot and would read other books by this author. I gave it a 4 star rating because i really liked the style of writing.
I can connect this to Ripleys Believe it or not because a lot of these books I really couldn't believe at all. Some of these jobs you couldn't even imagine in your wildest dreams. Some of the jobs sounded actually fun and cool.
I would recommend this book to anybody ages 10 to 100 because this book can be read and enjoyed by anyone. I liked the book because it was fascinating and funny to read. I learned a lot and would read other books by this author. I gave it a 4 star rating because i really liked the style of writing.
September 9, 2007
I got Odd Jobs: Portraits of Unusual Occupations as a quirky Christmas gift from my mom. It contains profiles of about 75 people with "unusual occupations. I was somewhat familiar with about a third of the jobs, and was really only surprised by about a dozen. I did learn a couple of new job titles: diener & solfeggist. The index at the back makes for easy reference.
Each 2-page spread contains a picture and a few paragraphs about the person & the job. Not a lot of reading, but a good browsing book.
Recommended to those with a quirky sense of humour and job seekers looking to try something different.
Each 2-page spread contains a picture and a few paragraphs about the person & the job. Not a lot of reading, but a good browsing book.
Recommended to those with a quirky sense of humour and job seekers looking to try something different.
August 26, 2009
Surprisingly small for a photo-book. Each spread shows a black and white photo of an odd job, with a title, location and description on the opposite page. Gross (Colonics Therapist) to obscure (Duckmaster), it's fun to watch the parade. Some of them don't seem like they could possibily support someone, and some of the descriptions seem to hint that some are only partial occupations. Which was a little disappointing, as I thought this would be a good source of "look all the bizarre stuff you can do full-time" for teens, but if they're only part of a job or a part-time job, it loses some of the impact for me. Fascinating, entertaining, and a good quick read none-the-less.
June 26, 2016
Odd Jobs: Portraits of Unusual Occupations by Nancy Rica Schiff (Ten Speed Press 2002)(779.2) is a quirky little book. It simply shows a photo of someone demonstrating each occupation along with the name of the job-holder and a simple paragraph describing the job. Examples include a "symphony page turner(musician's assistant", a "dinosaur duster", a "mohel" (don't ask if you're not Jewish), and a scoreboard operator at Fenway Park in Boston. There are roughly seventy such occupations shown. This was quite interesting. My rating: 6.5/10, finished 11/1/11.
June 12, 2013
Great B&W photos and wonderful descriptions--this book is a gem!
Full of jobs best described as "who knew?", this is a peak into occupations that one seldom thinks about. "Condom checker" (a woman), "tampon tester" (a man), "coffin builder", to name a few. The photos are perfect--highly recommended.
Full of jobs best described as "who knew?", this is a peak into occupations that one seldom thinks about. "Condom checker" (a woman), "tampon tester" (a man), "coffin builder", to name a few. The photos are perfect--highly recommended.
October 5, 2012
Wonderfully zany.
Among my favorite professionals are:
Duckmaster for the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee
LEGO Model Maker, Francie Berger, who created a 54 inch diameter model of the Aztec sun calendar
Dinosaur Duster
Great photographic portraits
Among my favorite professionals are:
Duckmaster for the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee
LEGO Model Maker, Francie Berger, who created a 54 inch diameter model of the Aztec sun calendar
Dinosaur Duster
Great photographic portraits
October 9, 2010
Quirky, silly, maybe a little frivolous, but it was fun to read and see the odd jobs there are out there. I also enjoyed examining the photographs that accompanied each "odd job".
August 29, 2018
Fascinating Photo Essays
It is very true that a picture is worth a thousand words. Each photo in "Odd Jobs: Portraits of Unusual Occupations by Nancy Rica Schiff is accompanied by a brief, informative description about the job depicted. But the photography is incredible, capturing the essence of the job and highlighting the irony. For example, the very matronly looking Condom Tester or the brightly smiling Porta-Potty Servicemen are a bit of a surprise. And in another photograph, it is difficult, if not impossible to discern which is a wax figure and which is a Wax Figure Maker. By the way, this person is the third generation of Wax Figure Makers.
Did you know there are a special suit and an arms-length glove used to artificially inseminate cows? See page 24 for details. I'm not sure how much a unit of semen consists of, but the Semen Collector and her colleagues collect six million units a year and there is an action figure to show how. Readers are also introduced to the tools of a Colonics Therapist and learn a bit about the job descriptions of occupations such as Ocularist, Diener, and Duckmaster.
This book is fun, educational, and delightful.
It is very true that a picture is worth a thousand words. Each photo in "Odd Jobs: Portraits of Unusual Occupations by Nancy Rica Schiff is accompanied by a brief, informative description about the job depicted. But the photography is incredible, capturing the essence of the job and highlighting the irony. For example, the very matronly looking Condom Tester or the brightly smiling Porta-Potty Servicemen are a bit of a surprise. And in another photograph, it is difficult, if not impossible to discern which is a wax figure and which is a Wax Figure Maker. By the way, this person is the third generation of Wax Figure Makers.
Did you know there are a special suit and an arms-length glove used to artificially inseminate cows? See page 24 for details. I'm not sure how much a unit of semen consists of, but the Semen Collector and her colleagues collect six million units a year and there is an action figure to show how. Readers are also introduced to the tools of a Colonics Therapist and learn a bit about the job descriptions of occupations such as Ocularist, Diener, and Duckmaster.
This book is fun, educational, and delightful.
February 6, 2018
I thought it was an interesting little book of unusual jobs. The photography really helped the description come to life.
September 14, 2021
There were several of these I already knew, but some I had also not heard of. Pretty interesting and somewhat funny book.
January 30, 2022
funny? A couple of those I would have tried. I loved the photographs. I can't imagine others mot enjoying any.lesz or More than anyway else. This movie will always be remembered
March 29, 2020
Cute, quick read
July 19, 2015
Odd Jobs is a book that showcases a variety of weird jobs that people have. One page shows a picture of the job and the other gives a description of the job and states the location of the job. These jobs are definitely odd. I wouldn't have thought that some of them were actual professions. It is an interesting read, but I would have liked to have more content in the book.
March 10, 2008
This is a good book to flip through when you're unhappy with your job. You'll either be inspired to break out of the corporate mold or be delighted to discover that there is something worse than your job.
December 21, 2008
A collection of photographs and short description of odd jobs, those we might know they should existed but we have never had a chance to meet with the incumbent directly, have we?
The book is really an interesting eye-opener. Good job!
The book is really an interesting eye-opener. Good job!
March 7, 2008
This was entertaining but not as good as I thought it would be. Mayber ODDER JOBS will be better?
March 10, 2008
Funny, sad. Funny-sad.
May 15, 2008
Short, fast read. Nothing surprising.
March 16, 2016
A blurb and a photo of those who do very peculiar work in this world. My friends...this one has your name on it.
November 2, 2010
Interesting with nice, clear format; left page has picture & right page has short description.
March 23, 2011
A little gem of a book!
January 11, 2014
Interesting
July 5, 2015
Interesting stuff.
July 13, 2015
Interesting book on jobs that you don't think about the people behind the scenes doing. It is a very quit read because each job has only a very brief history or description.
April 19, 2011
This is a fun one for story prompts
November 16, 2012
Quick fun quirky read.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews