The Pongo Blog
What Would YOU Do for a Paycheck?
September 10, 2009 (2:00PM) by Brianna Raymond, CPRW
Funeral Services: It's a business nobody wants to talk about, but according to this article, it's one that's attracting job seekers, thanks to the poor job market conditions.
Funeral services run in my family, and it's well-known that you have to have a stomach made of steel and a heart of gold to do the kinds of things they do. You have to be strong enough to be around death all the time, but sympathetic enough to handle the waves of mourners and their tears.
The article mentioned Alan Willoughby, a job seeker who turned from auto sales to funeral services because he wanted to make more money in an industry that's pretty much as recession-proof as industries get. And yes, there is certainly money to be made in this business, but do you think you'd be able to make such a drastic change for job security and a steady paycheck?
This got me to thinking about similar jobs, like Dirty Jobs, and I wondered what kind of uncomfortable or seemingly morbid jobs desperate job seekers would accept in order to get a good paycheck. Kind of like these, courtesy of this Career Builder article:
- Breath odor evaluator - Odor judges smell nasty morning breath or breath “insulted” with strong scents, like garlic or coffee. They rate the breath on a scale from one to nine, one being the worst. To test odor-reducing products like gum or mouthwash, they smell the breath again and assign it a new rating.
- Tampon tester - Check all sizes of tampons for absorbency and cord strength in accordance with Food and Drug Administration standards. Most testers check up to 125 pieces per day.
- Diener - Prepare cadavers for the pathologist before autopsies are performed in hospitals.
So tell us, would you apply makeup to cadavers or clean algae globs out of giant fish tanks if it meant big bucks in your bank account? How odd would you go?
i would take anything at this point !! i like many don't have a choice!! bring it on i'll do just about anything with in reason .
Posted by: kim dalton | September 12, 2009 at 10:50 AM | Quote This Comment
My hat is off to anyone who invests the time to climb the ladder to becoming a Funeral Director or actual owner of their own Funeral Home / Mortuary. I dated a young lady who had a vision of owning a string of Mortuaries, and as a young Police Officer myself, watched as her career took off from being an embalmer to the Asst. Director of the home she had established with for 4 years. She always told me that if you went into the job as a mechanic would repairing a vehicle, you remove yourself emotionally from the somewhat repulsive side and deal with what 'nature' has presented you to work with. As she learned the buisiness, she moved toward Funeral Directing where the prestige and income grows. Also, our relationship grew apart as she pursued her career. I do hope she was successul in her quest, ... as I hope for anyone contemplating the Funeral industry as a second ... or even first career; however, a certain amount of intellectual and emotional maturity is needed to handle the challenges, so one must really take stock in their skill sets and personality to be ready for this kind of career. G.L.
Posted by: Greg Lawritson | September 12, 2009 at 2:56 PM | Quote This Comment
absolutely...everyone wants to look good. Even in death.
Posted by: dana | September 12, 2009 at 9:29 PM | Quote This Comment
I do not see anything weird about death. It is part of life. I would not mind being trained in this field. The only problem I might have is I might get sick, but hopefully I would get over that. So to answer your question I would go for it.
Posted by: Terri Fisher | September 13, 2009 at 1:55 AM | Quote This Comment
I was disappointed that this article had no job postings listed with it. Bring it on!
Posted by: terry | September 13, 2009 at 1:36 PM | Quote This Comment
A friend recently reminded me that when I was in my teens, I saw a job for a waste management company painting dumpsters. She said I was really excited about it (probably because they offered to pay what I thought was good money). I never took the job, however.
I spoke with a long time friend just this past weekend, and later shared with my wife about all of the unique jobs that my friend and I had been involved with over the years. Here are a few of them and hopefully it will give someone an idea if they are looking for something out of the ordinary:
- Party Casino Dealer
- Catering
- "The guy that cleans out the beer taps & lines at restaurants." I don't even know what it was called but my friend did it for quite a while. In fact, until he did, I never know they needed to be cleaned so regularly.
Posted by: Anthony | September 14, 2009 at 11:40 AM | Quote This Comment
Nice writeup. Tampon Tester sounds worse than it is, and almost any job that has to do with odors gets nauseating after a while (even perfume-related).
Posted by: Jacob Share | September 17, 2009 at 3:34 AM | Quote This Comment
I don't think I could stomach the job. I would feel depressed seeing so many families suffering.
Posted by: 411 WebConnect Canada | September 28, 2009 at 4:05 PM | Quote This Comment