Well, this isn't a job I did, but my mother did.. She was a cosmetologist (high-end hairdresser). Someone had asked her to fix the hair for a friend of hers that passed away. She did it for free because it was her friend. She had never done one for someone who had passed, but figured it shouldn't be that bad. Well, she gets to the funeral parlor and proceeds to start preparing her for the funeral the next day. As she's brushing her hair, the body started moving because the person who had passed could not be embalmed due to religious reasons. Now she was getting very uncomfortable but back then, they tied the toes together and since this woman was an amputee, when her leg fell off the table, my mom freaked out and ran out screaming.... After that, she never did another funeral....

Well those were strange days indeed. It was the age of sex, drugs and rock & roll. I remember waking up in places and not knowing how I got there, though it wasn't drugs for me. It was the beer on the bands bar tab. I remember once we worked a place where drinks were not gratis; we drank so much it was like a scene from the blues brothers; we had to scram after the show because we owed more than we were going to be paid and no one had and we didn't have enough cash! There were always girls trying to bribe us in the most salacious ways if we would only get them backstage. Temptation! It was fun, but I am so much better off living a more sedate life. I still have friends in the business that learned to slow down. the ones that didn't... well their stories aren't so attractive. Once we were very lucky because we almost had a Great White story with out of control pyrotechnics.. Wild times!

I'm shocked that we have such a similar experience in common! I'm sorry for stealing your glory. Wow, I have to say yours sounds scarier with the prison escapee, and doing nighttime patrols alone! And I'm so sorry for all of the victims.

Actually, my ex was a rep for a similar company. On a vacation she had me go to their convention.. Oh, the stories I heard....

Did he sing "You sweet inflatable ewe"?

A gut-snatcher is exactly what it sounds like, I gutted hogs for a living. I took everything from bunghole to throat out in just three cuts. I could fit a hog in less than 3 seconds.

I cannot imagine.

I was waiting for your roadie story OA. give us one particular "incident" or is it like Vegas?

that is weird and cool. how did you land such a job?

AH! you beat me to my weirdest job kitty! dang it! oh, and also, very tragic incident.
the summer of 77 I was a counselor in training at a girl scout camp in iowa. I was 15. All girl scout camps within a certain geographic location were informed that a horrible multiple rape/murder of young scouts happened in OK. at the time, they sought a recent prison escapee for the crime. They set all the counselors up to do all night watch and patrol. They gave me a flashlight and two way radio. I sat in the dark and then patrolled my camp unit, checking on each tent of girls for weeks. 15, middle of the night, alone. scariest thing I have EVER done. but not as scary as what you faced. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_gi...

I used to own a company, Muscles for Hire: Luxury Handyman Service and Odd Job Professionals. We ran crews of college students managed by retired contractors to work in the homes and businesses of affluent Houstonians. We every sort of odds n ends jobs that were either too small or too unusual for typical services contracting companies.

Consequently, there are all kinda great stories to tell. But the craziest was when we were hired by a realtor to go into the penthouse of one of Houston's poshest high rises in the aftermath of a domestic murder-suicide and empty it of everything wall-to-wall, including blood-soaked bed and carpet and other tell-tale signs of the mayhem.

Hello khalling,
I worked as a roadie for a rock band back in 1979-1981. Some of the things I saw people do... I didn't fall off of a turnip truck, but I was still surprised at what some girls would do to get introduced to members of the band. Oh the mammaries... er, um memories... Sorry. Did I write that out loud? :) I wouldn't say it was weird, but some of those groupies sure were crazy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92sEgZSm...
O.A.

Not in our section for horseback riding.

I guess this put my memory in gear. We are standing knee deep in water on a sinking cabin cruiser with nothing in sight as far as I could see. Just over the horizon a trail of black smoke. I thought that maybe I wasn't going to die after all. The boat stunk of fish, the hold must have been pretty full. To this day, the smell of fresh fish is actually a pleasant one to me.

OK by me. Here are a few additional details. I was there during the Hay Fever season. I stayed at a hotel that I'm sure is no longer there called The President Madison. The restaurant which no longer exists had the cutsie name of Picken Chicken. After questioning my friends later, no one seemed to know this guy so the mystery remains as to how he knew me or my friends. By the way, salt water is not good for clothes or wallets.

At 18, my brain was often short circuited from the rest of me. He told me rifles. At the time, all I could think about was that it must be illegal which was why he'd rather drown than call the Coast Guard. There were no vests that I recall on the boat, and I don't know what caused the leak but it must have been pretty big because it filled up the cabin in about 10 minutes.

Free (possibly black) market at work, eh, Herb.
Too bad the businessman was so ignorant about watercraft. Did he ever say what the destination was? That might give some clue about the cargo. Two hours one way travel would limit the destinations, but might also include a rendevous at sea.
Any thoughts about the weight to size of the boxes and what was in demand in 1952?
I am glad the boat came along to pick you up and you are here to tell the tale.

In the mid-eighties for a couple of years I kept the nose above water by telling rich doctors and lawyers to not invest in rampant gold scams. Yavapai County, Arizona is a hotbed of these phony scams - everything from the standard line that "my ore doesn't fire assay" to special recovery techniques that only the scamster is privy to, to "my ore is rich with 14 heretofore unidentified elements".

Remember Mark Twain's definition of a gold miner: "A liar standing next to a hole in the ground".

I would meet the scamster, go to his property in the field, take my own samples, get them fire assayed at a reputable lab, and report to the rich doctor/lawyer that you will not get rich on this promoted mining property. They were always wide eyed grateful and then would refer me to yet another doctor/lawyer falling for yet another scam. In the course of all this I met some really wacked out crazies out there in the deserts. I am probably lucky I was not thrown down an old shaft followed by bags of lime. Some of these characters were dangerous, one shot a guy sitting in his car ahead of him in the drive thru banking lane, another openly threatened the life of the Arizona Governor back then. The only one that had it worse was the State Mine Inspectors that had to go out and inspect these "operations".

I could write a book on these stories. Hmmmm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfQBKB4s...

As a software developer, security clearances were worth a good bit. Especially, the ones requiring polygraphs.

double WOW. that would make an excellent short story, herb. I'm stealing it for Hank ;)

damn!

how cool! What interesting people get up to!

I had a security clearance - more liability but not any extra pay.

Wow