Strange But Possibly Noteworthy

As I’ve mentioned before, I get all sorts of press releases in my e-mail. And, although most of them are not really of interest to me, they at least are in a genre I cover — food, travel or science. Except for one I got a few days ago. This one was about wacky jobs. Why would I get this? I have not a clue. But, they are amusing, so I thought I’d take a moment to share them with you.

According to the release, Tribe.net, a company whose backed by such notable companies as Knight Ridder and the Washington Post Co., announced the top 10 “Outrageous Jobs” for the week ending Jan 28, 2005. Here they are in all their strange but true glory:

1. Custom spells from a witch to get money, win love or curse enemies — $25
2. Posse looking for leader
3. I will clean your chimney dressed as a gargoyle — $110
4. Wanted for hire: pretender
5. Dial-A-Bedtime-Story
6. Will [bother] your neighbors for $20 hr + expenses
7. Need psychic to perform dog séance — $50
8. SF: Hiring Ms./Mr. Moneypenny
9. Get paid to smell men’s armpits
10. Fire-breathing, Fire-eating ordained minister for your wedding

Now, I just have to add my two bits.

1. Why would you want a person dressed as a gargoyle to clean your chimney? Wouldn’t a normal person do? And, where’d he get this costume? How does he keep it clean between cleanings? It is a puzzlement.
2. What would you hire a pretender to do? Pretend to work?
3. Does SF stand for San Francisco, Science Fiction or Special Fantasy? And what would this Moneypenny do? Flirt with staff but never actually let it get farther? It makes you go hmmmm.
4. I have an idea why someone would want to hire someone to smell men’s armpits — it could be useful in, say, deodorant research — but who would be desperate enough to take the job? And, would you want to hang out, not to mention have a relationship with, such a person?
5. OK — why would you want a fire-breathing, fire-eating minister to marry you and your beloved? And, why would a minister do that in the first place?
6. And finally, two words: dog séance?