Barbie Doll Dress Desiger. Image by Nancy Rica Schiff
Here are a few jobs that, only if one stops to think about it really (really) hard, might seem logical. I guess that if you buy a ball, someone has to have tested it – at least random spot-checking of production lines; but selling ants? Or making post mortem portraits from cremated ashes? Or sniffing other people’s armpits (which is easier than sniffing your own, granted…)? Go figure. Follow the links to read more about them.
- Ant Vendor: There are about 12,000 different species of ants in the world, so selling ants might actually be more complicated than you think. If you’ve ever had an ant farm, there was an ant vendor at work behind the scenes.
- Armpit Sniffer
- Ash Portrait Artists: Gets creative with the remains of loved ones. Following cremation, some people choose to hire these artists to create a token of remembrance, like a necklace or glass sculpture.
- Barbecue Editor: Eating at restaurants and writing about it for magazines and newspapers. It may sound like a dream job until you stop to consider the fact that they must eat barbecue several times a day, every day…
- Backpacking Instructor
- Bed Tester
- Ball Tester: Assess basketballs, footballs, volleyballs and soccer balls for air-retention, inflation, roundness, weight and reboundability. This job might also be called a “performance analyst” or “performance evaluation tester”. If you think about it, someone’s got to test sports balls, tennis rackets for pros, etc.
- Barbie Dress Designer: Fashion designers at Mattel Toys, the company behind Barbie, create hundreds of new styles for Barbie and her ever-expanding entourage.
- Beefeater
- Beer Tester: Taste — and spit out — beer all day to approve new and existing flavours.
Stephanie Huesler 
Okay, I had to click on Armpit Sniffer. For $19,000 a year . . . no way. For $52,000 a year . . . STILL no way! Thanks for the giggle!
😉 Believe me… there are worse jobs than that… coming soon!
I wonder how many armpits you’d have to sniff to make it to the $52,000 salary…
Can’t wait!
I don’t want to know!
In my younger years I could definitely have been a backpacking instructor. Terrible pay though, but then, living on the trail is cheap. Most of those jobs – No thank you!
I’m with you – most of those jobs wouldn’t be appealing even if there were no other jobs available! At least with backpacking, one is out in nature.
This post was clever and so amusing, Stephanie. I once wrote about all the lovely names car colors come in these days. I work at Advance Auto parts warehouse and the title was, “I Want that Job!” A few people thought I had applied for it, but alas, it was an excuse to say tan was called “safari desert sand.”
I’ll go check it out! Search for “the Psychology of Colour” on this blog, and you’ll find an interesting article I wrote on the topic.