This is a little bit of a contest, with no prize beyond the warm glow our winner will undoubtedly feel. That winner will be the first SDMB member who can legitimately say he or she belongs to one of the following professions:
Circus acrobat
Professional athlete
City dogcatcher
Stonemason
Tobacconist
Astronaut
Gravedigger
Ethnomusicologist
Manicurist
White-collar criminal
Supreme Court justice
Ethicist
Hobo
Bassoonist
Voodoo priest/priestess
Harbormaster
Matchmaker
Crowned head of state
Urchin diver
I do pathology and sometimes surgery on mice for research. Rolling them in salt may help the smell but ruin the tissues. Its a standing rule that I don’t discuss work with my friends. (I met a USDA beef inspector at a party once. There was a people-free bubble around us as we compared notes!)
My co-worker was married to a circus acrobat - he works with Ringling Brothers etc etc etc. They used to live in a trailer behind the bear cages and everything! During the summer, when the circus is on the west coast, their daughter goes off to visit him, and live the circus life.