Here is a quick way to FI: Do a job nobody else wants to do
Interestingly, there is a lot of talk on this blog about pee and poop, and this one's no exception: Did you know that San Francisco has set aside more than $830,000 for a "poop patrol"? Did you know those poop workers get paid more than $184k a year?
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the city's poop patrolers "earn $71,760 a year, which swells to $184,678 with mandated benefits" such as health care and retirement accounts.
"The sight of human waste, discarded hypodermic needles, trash and general grime is nothing new to anyone walking in downtown, in the Mission District or in any of a number of other San Francisco neighborhoods these days," wrote the paper.
As part of San Francisco's $72 million dollar budget for street cleaning, nearly $3 million has been earmarked for so-called "Hot Spot" crews to wash down homeless camps and remove biohazards and an additional $830,000 has been earmarked to pay a small team to walk around the streets and use steam cleaners to clean up feces.
As Mike Rowe's long-time television show Dirty Jobs showed us over all those years, there are a lot of downright disgusting jobs out there being done by people - regular people, like you and me. And, some of those jobs pay quite well because the need far exceeds the typical person's willingness to actually do those jobs.
Other high-paying jobs that most people don't want to do
San Francisco's poop patrol isn't the only job that pays well in exchange for work that most people think is "beneath them".
For example:
Garbage workers collecting bank
These high-school drop-out garbage truck drivers earn more than many people with a college degree. The two-man team works the 7pm to 3am graveyard shift in New York City and, together, pull in more than $200k a year.
"Molina made $112,000 last year as a garbage truck driver and Sankar made $100,000 as a helper, riding on the back of the truck."
CNN also reported that trash wages are growing faster than most others: "Nationwide, wages for trash workers have grown 18%, which is a lot faster than the 14% average for all workers since the recession ended in June 2009."
Iiiiiiiinteresting.
Alaskan fishermen rollin' with the fishes...and cash
It might sound "fishy", but crab fishermen can pull in a couple hundred thousand dollars a year fishing the icy waters of Alaska.
"Crewmen can earn up to $15,000 per month, or between $20,000 and $50,000, -- or more -- over the course of a three-month season, according to the Alaska Fishing Employment Center. Most also work the spring snow crab fishery as well and many crabbers clear six figures for the year."
Diving for balls is...interesting!
Thought you were never cut out for a career in sports? How about becoming a golf ball diver, a position that can pull in a $100,000 a year according to ESPN.
At one particular course, the 17th hole is notorious for eating golf balls. It's an island green, and more than 120,000 golf balls are swallowed up by the otherwise calm 4-foot-deep waters that surround the green.
"The golf ball recovery business can be tremendously profitable. At least 200 million golf balls are lost each year in the United States, with the majority of them being found by divers who have reported annual income in the $50,000 to $100,000 range," ESPN reported.
Once recovered, the balls are fixed up and resold at a discounted rate.
Some port-o-potties are super clean
Ever wonder who cleans up those port-o-potties? In some cases, they are cleaned by folks pulling down $50,000 a year. And, the rental business of those things tends to do pretty well year-around, but especially in the summer months when people and organizations hold parties and special events that need some basic sanitation options.
How's that Alpo taste?
Oh, and did you know that you could earn around $40,000 a year eating dog food? Yup, "pet food tasters" is apparently a thing...
How about some other jobs, according to Wise Bread:
- Crime Scene Cleaner: $35,000–$80,000
- Gastroenterologist: $100,000–$750,000
- Sewer Inspector: $40,000–$55,000
- Podiatrist: $115,000–$292,000
- Oil Rig Worker: $35,000–$236,000
- Coal Miner: $50,000–$100,000
- Embalmer: $26,000–$62,000
- Landfill Gas Operator: $53,000–$148,000
What is the most disgusting job ever?
Curious minds want to know, and I took this question to Google. I stumbled on a page from CareerAddict.com and, once again, we're talkin' pee and poop...and, umm, some related substances as well.
At numbers 9 and 10, we've got manure inspector and pee collector, which might seem a little more unpleasant than they actually are.
Then, we get to #8, and I'm racking my brain trying to figure out why this job isn't bringing home the #1 spot (or at least the top-5): Barnyard masturbator.
What do barnyard masturbators do? Well, pretty much exactly what it sounds like. "To put it not-so-eloquently: you’ll spend your day giving farm animals hand jobs all in the name of artificial insemination," the site wrote.
But, there are still seven jobs that are, according to CareerAddict, that are actually more disgusting than that.
We're talking jobs like vomit collector, odor judges and clinical waste disposal jobs. Then, we have hazmat drivers (that doesn't seem so bad), forensic entomologists and crime scene cleaners.
Bringing home the #1 spot? Sewer cleaner. "Sewer cleaners are employed to climb into sewers, often chest-deep, filled with human excrement and occasionally dead dogs and rats, and use metal scrapers, brooms and even their bare hands to clear drainage and sanitation lines"
Wooooow.
What is one job that you couldn't pay me enough to do?
I've thought about this question a lot, and it always comes back to one job: A dentist. Though they get paid quite well, making a living inside other people's mouths seems truly disgusting.
Being a dentist is not for me...which is good! Because, well, even if I wanted to be a dentist now, it probably wouldn't happen anyway. :)
What is one job that couldn't pay you enough to actually do?