WEBVTT - What are the World’s Worst Jobs? 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.759 Guess what, mango, what's that? Will? So I was reading 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:06.640 this article on Saddam Hussein and all of his body doubles, 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:10.000 and supposedly he sent them out to do TV appearances 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:12.639 or speeches, and you know, sometimes he'd even send them 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:16.320 out to meet ambassadors from other countries. So how did 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:18.720 people know he was using body doubles? Well, people in 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.400 a rat could tell because nobody loved his close ups 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:24.520 more than Saddam Hussein, and he'd insists that the press 0:00:24.560 --> 0:00:26.280 with zoom in on his face so that they could 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:29.120 get his full handsomeness in the frame. But when his 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:32.000 body doubles were giving televised speeches, it was always this 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:36.440 super distant, wide angle shot, no close up. So I mean, 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:39.040 it's pretty obvious after a while of that, I'm guessing. 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:42.040 But then you've also got this first person account from 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.400 one of the decoys his sons used. So his sons 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:48.400 were using decoys to yeah, and the job sounded awful. 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:50.680 So not only did the doubles have to hang out 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:53.479 with these idiot psychopaths, but one of them said he 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.960 was shot not once, but twenty six times on the job, 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:01.280 all during these failed assassination attempt But apparently it was 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:03.800 never bad enough that he couldn't be patched up and 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.000 sent right back out again. That's horrible, I know. I mean, 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:09.039 it's got to be the worst job in the world. 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.880 And so he's a human rights lawyer somewhere in Europe 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:14.920 and his life is obviously improved since then. But the 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.000 whole thing made me wonder, what are some of the 0:01:17.080 --> 0:01:20.240 other candidates for the world's worst job, and what are 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:22.560 some other careers you're busy town books never told you 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:24.720 about as a kid. And that's what today's show is 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:46.440 all about. Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:48.160 and as always I'm joined by my good friend Man 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.120 Guesh I Ticketer and the man behind the soundproof glass 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.520 rest like a paper boy from the nineteen twenties is 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:57.000 our good pal Tristan McNeil. He's always committed. Tristan. We 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:00.200 don't need a paper We've got phones. Okay, alright, so 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:01.880 so go I know you and I feel lucky to 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:04.279 have this weird job that we do where we basically 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:06.360 get to read things and then talk to each other 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:08.360 about them. I mean, how weird is it that this 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:10.840 is our job? Now? I know, it's the best and uh, 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:12.760 and then we got to spend this whole week on 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:17.240 the job just researching other people's terrible jobs is pretty great. Actually, 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:19.480 I forgot to mention this to you. I I googled 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.000 worst jobs, and one of the first things that came 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.040 up was a list of Steve Jobs being terrible to 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:28.320 other people, like like him yelling at a Whole Foods 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:32.200 cashier for supposedly overcharging him by a quarter, or how 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:34.920 he used to recruit talented people by telling they hadn't 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:37.160 achieved anything in their life, so you know, maybe they 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.280 should come work for him. Well, maybe we should do 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:43.000 a worse Steve Jobs episode down the road. But uh, 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:45.160 but let's get back to regular job. So I I 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:48.040 was talking to my friend who's this cultural theorist, and 0:02:48.080 --> 0:02:50.280 he was talking about the way Europeans used to think 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.799 about work and the way Americans still think about it, 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.240 and how different those two are. What do you mean 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:57.480 by that? So, I mean this is all getting blurred 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:00.200 now with technology and whatever. But he was reading this 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:03.919 Italian sociologist's book from the nineteen eighties, and the author 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:06.639 was making this argument that in America, you're supposed to 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.560 get enjoyment out of your job, Like there's this tremendous 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.480 emphasis placed on doing what you love, right, I mean, 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:15.280 that's that's the ideal, I guess. And and his point is, 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.480 like your life revolves around your work. Your work friends 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:20.400 are some of your closest friends, and you might hang 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:22.440 out with them at night. You keep your cell phone 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:24.960 by your bed in case there's a work emergency. You 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:27.400 plan your life and your vacations around your work. And 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:30.679 your work, in many ways, is actually your identity. It's 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.160 who you are. Yeah, you know. It's the first thing 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:35.440 people ask whenever you meet somebody. And as much as 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:38.120 I tell myself not to do this, I can't help it. 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:40.040 When I meet somebody, the first thing I asked them 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:42.200 is like, so what do you do? And I guess 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:44.839 in reality it's it's often the least interesting thing about 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:48.000 a person exactly. But his point was that in Germany 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:50.680 and Italy and these other places, the culture was very 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:53.520 much like once you leave work, you leave your work 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.800 there and you leave to live your passion. So whether 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.480 that's going out to shows or spending your time woodworking 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.600 or bling in photography or whatever. And your friends aren't 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.360 necessarily your work friends, but your friends from that life. 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:08.560 It's like the separate hidden life, and the people at 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.360 work might not even know these more colorful aspects of 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:14.080 who you are. Yeah, And you know it's interesting because 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.720 if your job is something you're just doing to make 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.599 good money, you know, maybe being I don't know, say, 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.240 like a whales snot collector isn't such a bad thing. 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.680 I mean, it's it's what you do to live comfortably, 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:27.960 but it's not the reason you wake up every single morning, right, 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:29.520 So I mean, I guess you have to like it 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.160 enough to do it every day, but will it's not 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:35.800 collecting that sounds like a job No guidance counselor has 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:37.600 ever tried to sell me on, so I want you 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:39.240 to tell me about it. Well, my mom was a 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.880 guidance counselor and she never mentioned this one to me, 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:44.640 So you're right about that. But it's not the sort 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:47.080 of thing most kids grow up dreaming they want to be. 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:51.000 But it's actually a really important job. So I'm curious 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.600 what you actually do, because I'm guessing it's more intense 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:55.960 than just holding up this like giant Kleenex in the 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.360 ocean and tickling a whale under their nose. No, that's 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.520 pretty much it. It is a little more involved in that. 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.120 And and here's why it's even a job. So it's 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:07.440 really hard to collect blood from a whale. Their skin 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:09.839 is super thick and they're they're not easy to wrangle 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:11.600 or keep still. I don't know if you've ever tried 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:15.200 to wrangle whale before. It's pretty difficult. Sometimes scientists have 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:18.400 used darts for their biopsies, but they can only get 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:20.599 a few samples a day by doing something like that, 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:24.120 and that's after a ton of effort. So I'm wondering, like, 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:26.240 couldn't you just study the blood samples of whales that 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.640 have washed ashore or like those that are in captivity. Yeah, 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:31.120 I mean, I guess so, but it's not a great 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:35.599 way to understand and monitor the wild population. So Karina 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.960 Asaveta white House, she's the scientist with the Zoological Society 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.960 of London, she came up with a much more effective way. 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:44.359 You know, since she couldn't get ahold of any blood sample, 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.479 she realized not was the next best thing. I never 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:50.000 actually thought about whales not before. I don't know if 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:52.320 you had to just I didn't even know they made it. 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:54.599 But anyway, so so this is the crazy part. She 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:58.840 started tying herself to a boat, leaning over whales blowholes 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.440 with a Petri dish and then trying to collect the 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.480 gunk whenever they sneezed it out, which sounds disgusting, but like, 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:08.520 did that actually work? I mean sort of. So so 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.920 when whale surface, they release this mucus and water and 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:14.920 gases about thirty feet into the air from their spout, 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:17.840 and you know, but trying to catch the stuff with 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:20.400 bare hands and a Petri dish while being tied to 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:22.920 a ship it was a little bit dangerous, I guess. 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:24.800 So she came up with a different idea and and 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:28.440 so now she flies remote controlled toy helicopters, you know, 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.839 through these disgusting sneeze clouds, and then just takes the 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.960 whale snot to a laugh, for bacterial and virus analysis, 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.800 which actually sounds way cooler once you explain it. I mean, 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.720 it's still gross, but also kind of awesome, and especially 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.720 they're using toy helicopters for good part. Exactly, it does 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:45.880 sound pretty cool when you really start to think about it. 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:49.520 And the toy helicopters quickly morphed into using drones, and 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:51.400 now there are a lot of whale scientists who have 0:06:51.520 --> 0:06:54.559 these snot bots to help them collect fluids, and instead 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:56.800 of just being able to collect three or four samples, 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.560 they get close to fifty on a good day, and 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:02.240 it's really helped to paint a better understanding of whale 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.560 health than the wild. Amazing. So I I really like 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:07.400 that job, but I think we should try to make 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.120 up some ground rules here. I know we told that 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:13.320 Saddam Hussein decoy story at the top, but we've kind 0:07:13.360 --> 0:07:16.280 of agreed not to cover anything that feels too exploitative 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:20.119 or depressing because there are obviously some truly heartbreaking jobs 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:22.240 out there, and and this is really more about learning 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.200 about curious jobs that people actually want to do. Yeah, 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:27.480 and you know, I know the whales not thing was 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:29.560 pretty gross, but I think we should probably agree not 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:33.200 to cover anything too disgusting. Likes not collecting from giant 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:36.080 mammal splits more funny than gross to me, exactly. But 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:38.600 I I don't want to do anything on like portable 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:42.240 toilet cleaners or sewer divers or or even you know 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:44.120 about the the guy who has to empty out the 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:47.320 walk in freezer every week where Boston stashes all of 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.600 their cities roadkill. All their road kill gets stored in 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:54.120 a giant freezer. Yeah, it's a walk in freezer. I mean, 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:56.760 the most interesting thing about the job is that someone 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:00.560 has a business card that reads, quote, uh Final Journeys, 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:04.520 Animal Aftercare. So they actually have this contract where they 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:07.800 escort roadkill on their final final journey. But I think 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:09.560 we should focus our efforts on some things that are 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:12.120 more surprising and cork here. So but what else do 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:14.280 you have for me in this funny gross category? I 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:16.360 like how we agreed we weren't going to talk about 0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:18.360 the guy that stashes all the cities roadkill and then 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:21.240 you totally talked about it breaking the rules already here. 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:22.880 But um, let me see, I want look at my 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:26.360 list here. I was reading about a pet food taste 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:27.880 and I don't know, I kind of feel like my 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:30.000 twelve year old self would be impressed with his job. 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:33.000 So some people actually taste the pet food before it 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.559 goes out, all right. So there's this great profile from 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:37.640 the Daily Mail back in two thousand and eight about 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.800 this guy named Simon Allison and he's the senior food 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.800 technologist for Marx and Spencer and this is in England, 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:45.959 and you know, no one has asked him to try 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:48.719 the gourmet pet food. He just tries every variety they 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.360 produced to make sure it's up to snuff. He was 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:53.640 quoted as saying, no one asked me to taste it, 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:55.800 but it is what I do. It's just the same 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.280 as if I was working in the ready meals department. 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:00.800 I love my job, and eating the product is a 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.920 fundamental part. So that's a real commitment. But what kind 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:07.400 of thing is he? Eating? All the cat and dog 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:09.520 food that they produce, and so that they make things 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.640 like camp fire jerky bars and Thanksgiving cat food with 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:16.199 cranberries and turkey, And he claims that cat food has 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:19.079 to have more of an odor because cats are more particular, 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:21.079 and that a lot of the stuff he does is 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.040 mostly for humans, so adding chunky vegetables and making the 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:28.440 food look moist, and the more humans think it looks 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:30.679 like human food, the more they'll actually pay for it. 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.040 But you know, his primary concern is making sure the 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:36.400 animals will actually like the stuff, So I can't imagine 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.720 eating pet food voluntarily, which just sounds terrible to me. 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.280 But does he have any tricks to his trade? Well, 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:44.480 he says that he looks for texture, like he likes 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:46.520 a little bit of grit, but that he always wants 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:49.120 something that you can spread on a crusty bread. I 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:54.000 don't understand that part, but that's you know, that's what 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:56.319 my how my dog eats so But but he always 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.960 keeps a tall glass of water handy. He says. He 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.600 never swallow is the food. And it's not that he 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:03.800 seems against it. It's more that he doesn't want to 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:06.360 put on weight from all this taste testing, which would 0:10:06.400 --> 0:10:07.960 really be a shame if you like, put on a 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.400 ton of weight for eating dog and cat food. But 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.040 he always keeps gum around because there's nothing worse, in 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.760 his opinion than, as he says, dog breath. Well, I mean, 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.440 you've got to applaud that sort of dedication. And I'm 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:21.960 curious whether he holds the same standards for his employees, 0:10:22.040 --> 0:10:23.959 Like if they don't want to snack on puppy chow, 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:27.439 does he think they're phoning it in? But I think 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:30.760 that's a good amount of gross um. But how about 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:32.440 you hit us up with one more gross one and 0:10:32.440 --> 0:10:34.079 then we'll shift gears a little. I like, how you 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:35.839 knew I was gonna come with the gross ones that 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:37.760 I can do that, all right, let me choose one 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.640 more here. So, um, I mean this might border on 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.680 two grows, but there was a pop size story on this. 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:45.840 They did a list of the worst jobs in science 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:49.000 and one of their top choices was flattest judge, or 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:51.440 a job where two brave souls, as they put it, 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.880 were paid by a gas ranentrologist to analyze the odor 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:58.440 as people broke wind, which sounds straight out of like 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:00.520 a mel Brooks movie or something. I mean, but the 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:03.760 funny thing is the way that Minneapolis gas entrologist his 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:07.000 name is Michael Levitt. So he collected samples and he 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:10.160 did this by getting volunteers to eat copious quantities of 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:13.120 pento beams. Again, I know, we said we were going 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:15.000 to talk about gross things, but the twelve year old 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.800 he just couldn't resist this. But then he used plastic 0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:22.480 tube contraptions to collect the quote, episodes of flatulence before 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:26.160 analyzing the chemicals and subjecting the people to smells. But 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:28.640 you know, as he defended that, there's a real purpose 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:32.080 for this grossness. So think about mouth washed companies, so 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:36.120 unlike those where sensitive sniffers and odor judges are really 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:38.520 getting a sense of whether a mouthwash is effectively going 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:42.520 to cover up bad breath here. Instead, the flattest sniffers 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:45.920 are analyzing this scent for health reasons. And and Levitt 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:48.040 believes you might actually be able to detect things like 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:51.600 all sort of coldis, you know, all from these aroma notes. 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.760 And as the article puts it, quote, he's dedicated his 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:57.880 career to the study of the myriad fragrances produced by 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:01.559 the human gut and imprudently ignore by the medical establishment. 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:04.800 I like that phrase, myrriad fragrances, But flattest judge is 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:07.040 definitely not a job I want. And I do think 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:09.079 that's enough grossness. So why don't we break for a 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.120 little quiz, And then I want to talk about a 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:13.360 post that's been called the hardest job in the world, 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:28.199 the Somalian Minister of Tourism. So back in a minute, Tomanka. 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:30.160 Who do we have on the line today? So we've 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.560 got my pal Lucas Adams. I watched Lucas intern all 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:35.920 over the place in New York City, and today he 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.000 has one of the best jobs. He's an amazing cartoonist 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:40.800 and he's also the founding editor of the New York 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.000 Review of Comics, which is the super prestigious in front 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:46.640 of the New York Review of Books. It's awesome. But 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.680 before that he was juggling tons of terrible jobs in 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:51.680 New York City and that's what I brought him on 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:57.319 to talk about. So Lucas, welcome to the show. So 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.520 one of the funniest things I remember from when you 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.080 worked on an ice cream truck was how sticky the 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:05.800 experience was. And being sticky is the worst. Can can 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:08.000 you talk to me about the different kinds of sticky 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:12.560 you get on various jobs? Oh? Oh yeah, definitely. Uh, 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:15.880 this is something I still think about. Um. And I 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:17.839 would be scooping my arm, hair would get caked in 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:21.199 ice cream. Uh, and like different flavors or worst chocolate 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:24.680 was the absolute worst. Um. But yeah, you would just 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:26.839 sort of have to like hide different customers like through 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.440 the day. Uh, get kind of everything we get stuck on. 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.600 It was it was really ideal. Uh. And then I 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:35.400 a couple of other trucks that worked, and I worked 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.360 on the lobster truck that was run by a TV 0:13:38.600 --> 0:13:41.520 show host daughter. Uh, and that was always like you 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:46.280 just came out selling like a seafood restaurant like every time. Um. 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:48.559 And then uh, and my first truck job that was 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:50.360 on a dumpling truck, and that was like sort of 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.040 the worst smell you have this like Doughey, sort of 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:56.040 like dumpling smell. You've burned your hands when you worked 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:58.320 the dumpling steamer. You kind of lose the feelings and 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:02.079 the finger tips of your fingers. But because you're basically 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.120 getting a steam bath all day from the dumpling steamer, 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:07.280 it was a clear skin I've ever had in my life. 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.400 Compliment like how glowing I look through the day. It 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.120 was really ideal. And you've lost all your arm hair 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:17.600 and the ice cream, so you're just really shiny arms exactly, 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:20.520 and a real beauty routine buried in there. Yeah. Yeah, 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:22.920 And I hear sometimes you you didn't have a work 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:26.720 permit to be working these trucks. Is this is this true? Oh? Yeah, 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:28.600 that was. That was my first job because I moved 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:32.040 to New York in and you you're supposed to get 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:35.240 a permit, and it was good faith with trucks. You're 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.120 gonna like do two steps and go through it. But 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:39.480 I put it off for a really long time, and 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:41.520 there was always the threat that the Health inspector might 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:43.720 come and like scare you or whatever. And then it 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:45.640 actually happened to me where I was like, Hi, can 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:47.360 I take your order? And a guy just like flashes 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:49.880 a badge and I have to go. I gotta like 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:52.400 go immediately to see my mom and just like put 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:54.360 on my jacket and just run off the truck and 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.040 had to hide out like five or six blocks away 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:01.040 for the rest of my shop. So that was very professional. 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:03.960 So I know, I watched you work your tail off, 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.480 and I heard these horrible stories that people talking down 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:09.000 to you and treating you miserably, But there were some 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.560 positive experiences you had, right, Can you talk about some 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:16.640 of those? Yeah, definitely. You need uh a lot of 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.200 good customers to everything. But I met a ton of 0:15:19.240 --> 0:15:23.040 really great people. When Hurricane Sandy hit and when I 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:27.040 was in the ice cream truck. New York City, UH 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:29.880 commission a bunch of food trucks, like gave money, UH 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:31.600 two different food trucks, and we were one of them 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:34.640 to go out to the Rockaways at the Breezy Point, 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:36.440 all these places that had been really hard hit because 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:39.880 the city didn't really have any mobile food kitchens. UM, 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:44.080 so we would be parts like next to like uh 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:46.040 some neighborhoods that were with that power, and we'd be 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:49.680 serving coffee and cookies, no ice cream, just cossies and cookies. 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:52.640 But it was this really wild environment where everybody was 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:55.800 just so excited to be there. Um I had like 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:59.360 doctors offering to give us like free flu shots our 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:01.640 battery day. At one point in this powered trucks from 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.520 Wisconsin returned shirt battery and we like tried to give 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:06.040 them cookies and they were like, no, save that for 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:09.240 everybody who needs them. And everybody was just so grateful, 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:11.480 and it was like it's still probably the best work 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:14.240 I've ever done, just because it felt so immediate and 0:16:14.280 --> 0:16:16.760 it felt so good to be there to help, and 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.680 it's really like direct the media way. Yeah, that's that's 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.360 really really cool. All right, Well, we wanted to throw 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.520 a little quiz at you, Lucas, So, so Mango, what 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:27.200 quiz are we playing today? It's called odd Jobs and 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.760 it's actually a multiple choice. All right, that's right, So 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:32.400 we're gonna describe an odd job from your and then 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:37.840 ask Lucas what's the job title? So you're ready to play, Lucas, absolutely, alright? 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:40.520 Question number one in British towns where there was a 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.440 mill or a mine. These people were responsible for going 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:46.280 house the house to wake workers up in the mornings. 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:50.520 What were they called? Were they a COCKA doodlers or 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:58.920 be knocker ups? I'm gonna go with B. Yeah, that's right. 0:16:59.040 --> 0:17:01.240 So the title came from the sound they made on windows. 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:03.520 Usually they carried a long pole so that they could 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:05.960 tap from the street level. I kind of wish I 0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:09.040 had a knock at I guess they're called kids, So 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.560 all right, question number two. This street profession consisted of 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:15.719 shuffling a p among three thimbles and taking bets on 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.040 which thimble the p was under. What were these early 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:25.240 hustlers called a thimble riggers or B P podsters. I'm 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:26.919 gonna go with A, but I wish it was be. 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.960 You're right, So thimble riggers were popular in the late 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:34.719 seventeen hundreds, and shell games date back to ancient Greece. 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:39.600 All right, Lucas two, So far he's halfway there. Number three. 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.520 This used to be the common name for a wandering 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:47.359 egg merchant. Is that an a eggler or B an 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:53.160 eggmund ohn B sounds more formal. Let's try that. Oh, 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:56.000 we finally stumped him didn't we mango. So it's an 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:59.080 eggler and you can guess how these folks got their names. 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:01.600 Sometimes an egg it could also be a higgler or 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:04.399 a door to door salesman, although to be clear, not 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.920 all hitlers were egglers. If there's one thing we want 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.200 people to take away from this episode, it's that not 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:15.280 all higglers were egglers. Right, Okay, last question, still a 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:17.840 chance for the big prize. Here we go, question number four. 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:21.359 These oddly named textile mill workers had the job of 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.840 wandering through the mill and changing any bobbins where they 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:28.639 yarn or thread was spinning imperfectly. What were they called? 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:39.119 Were they a mc fluffins or be slubbard offers? Um, 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:43.760 let's try be Yeah, that's right, so any imperfections in 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:47.439 the yarn were called slubs, so the doffer was responsible 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.639 for fixing them. Gosh, we got higglers and nigglers and 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:53.960 dufflers and thimble riggers. This is this is pretty great? 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.000 All right? Well, I think Lucas did pretty well. How 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.440 do you do, Mango? Yeah, Lucas went an amazing three 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:00.600 for four, So we're gonna send him a copy of 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:06.480 this important book called Poets. Ranked by Beardwight. Uh. Congrats, Lucas. 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:09.000 For those of you listening at home, be sure to 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:11.800 check out the New York Review of Comics. It's truly wonderful. 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:14.840 Thanks so much for joining us, Lucas, thanks for having me. 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.440 Welcome back to part time genius Domego. We're talking about 0:19:30.520 --> 0:19:33.760 terrible jobs today, but before we dive back into those, 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:36.520 why do we cover some of the best job titles 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:38.840 we've seen. When we were at Mental Flaws, I remember 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:41.119 your job title was something like it wasn't like VP 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.800 of Important Things. Yeah, so my initial title was actually 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:47.480 product development, just because that was the job that Tom 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:50.040 Hanks had in the movie Big, But then I changed 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:52.520 it to sound even less like a job. All right, Well, 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.320 I've jotted down a list here of some other enviable 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:59.560 job titles. One of my favorites was bacon critic, and 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.159 that's actually a real job at Time Magazines Extra Crispy site. 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:07.080