# Jobs that attract the crazy people. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 19, 2002, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733 "2002-12-19T03:18:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/21 "2002-12-19T17:55:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Winnie \* > **In my building the 3 floors beneath me house GSA offices. \** What is GSA? ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/22 "2002-12-19T18:24:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dolores Claiborne \* > \*\*What is GSA? \*\* U.S. General Services Administration… it’s government offices. A quick recap from AskJeeves: > [@](#): > > GSA was established by the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act, which was passed by the 81st Congress and signed into law by President Harry Truman on July 1, 1949. The creation of the agency was based on recommendations made by the Hoover Commission (chaired by former President Herbert Hoover), which was tasked with examining ways to improve the administrative services of the federal government. The commission concluded that it would be more effective and economical for the government to consolidate four small agencies into one agency to avoid “senseless duplication, excess cost, and confusion in handling supplies…and providing space.” ---
**Author:** ![JayElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@JayElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayElle)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/23 "2002-12-19T19:22:44Z")
Well, I’ve worked retail at a museum for seven years. Something about that combination of retail and exhibitions attracts the weirdest sales staff (no matter how carefully we interview). There was the guy who wore tons of fake rhinestone jewelry - earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings. He though it to be a very tough, gansta look, but mostly he looked like he raided his grandmother’s jewelry chest. There was the guy who pooped on the shop floor. Just a nice, neat little log in the doorway. He never came back to work after that. Many, many other strange ones - some of them on the selling floor now! ---
**Author:** ![japatlgt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@japatlgt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/japatlgt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/24 "2002-12-19T19:25:34Z")
Telemarketers are soulless hellspawn completely devoid of reason. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/25 "2002-12-19T20:08:04Z")
How about carnival workers? I don’t even make eye contact with them when I walk past them to get to the rides at our state fair. The ride operators aren’t any better, but at least they aren’t out there trying to shill me into playing one of their rigged games. Still, most of them look creepy (missing teeth, eyes out of alignment, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/26 "2002-12-19T21:20:38Z")
Lots of strange people call TV stations wanting whoever picks up the phone to be their friend. I once had someone threaten to hit our traffic person with a hammer because she had the audacity to hold a red umbrella on St. Patrick’s day. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/27 "2002-12-19T22:27:23Z")
In my experience, entomologists and herpetologists can both be pretty damn strange. I recall one of the herpetology grad students when I was in grad school who used to pace up and down the corridor outside his office in the basement playing the bagpipes with his pet 10-foot-long python coiled around his neck. Rumor had it that he was stocking up ammo in the walls of his house so he could defend himself when civilization collapsed (this was in the 1970s). He eventually got his dream job, keeper at the local zoo, but was fired within a few months after accidentally letting the rhino out of its pen. 'Course, there are some whacko ornithologists too. ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/28 "2002-12-19T22:27:54Z")
Wait, I’m actually _eyeing_ a janitorial position as a job. :eek: I need a job, the pay can be alright, you get to wear a uniform (oh yes, so very attractive to someone who hasn’t had any experience with the real world), and it’s honorable. Like in _Good Will Hunting_ ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/29 "2002-12-19T22:31:28Z")
Uh oh, I’ve had three of the jobs listed so far… ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/30 "2002-12-19T22:37:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lauramarlane \* > \*\*…and there are lots of rules right down to how everything should be spaced on the catalog cards (moot now since most have online catalogs.) \*\* Not completely, since MARC rules (MARC = MAchine Readable Cataloging) were originally dictated by the punctuation & layout of the physical catalogue cards, and retain a _lot_ of leftover anal dreck from that. If you really want to get cataloguers riled up, say: “What’s the point of authority control anyway? It’s so useless!” Wind 'em up and watch 'em go! Whee! P.S. I’m a librarian, but not a cataloguer. Cataloguing class drove me nuts! ---
**Author:** ![dragonlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@dragonlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragonlady)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/31 "2002-12-20T01:49:13Z")
Shirley: You must live on an auxiliary route to have 3 different carriers. Either that or your regular carrier is out and you are getting subs to fill in. I’m a rural sub and working a route you don’t know while getting paid the same amount as the regular carrier who has done the route for years is enough to make you grumpy… especially if it’s raining!! Note: Rural mail carriers (the ones not in uniform) get paid “evaluated time”, or the same amount every day, no matter how much mail there is or how well they know the toute!) ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/32 "2002-12-20T02:26:57Z")
Not to admit that I’m…strange, although my sons would be first to slap that label on good ol’ Mom…but some of the paper carriers I know are very, very odd. My favorite odd conversation with an odd carrier: Him: Hey! How are you? Me: I’m doing good, how about you? Him: Good! How about YOU? Me: Ummm, good! Hate this snow though! Him: [Hearty laughter] Well, I am just thinking. Me: Oh. Okay… Him: Well, I just have some things to say, and… …at which point he wanders off and never finishes his sentence. This happens ALL the time with this fellow. Good guy, but strange. I think the job–the solitude, hours, etc–attracts loners and offbeat folks. Which is, of course, how I prefer to think of myself, rather than “that nutso paper lady.” ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/33 "2002-12-20T04:42:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shoshana \* > \*\*Uh oh, I’ve had three of the jobs listed so far… \*\* Me too! All-night cabbie, cataloguer and expat English teacher. Can’t say the assessment is that inaccurate, though. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/34 "2002-12-21T08:17:13Z")
I’d vote for biologists. Not that they are really crazy, but they have a very different view of the world than the rest of humanity. Sort of a Gary Larson/Farside sort of thing. (Did I mention that I’m a biologist?) ---
**Author:** ![Fredge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/258eb7/32.png) [@Fredge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fredge)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/35 "2002-12-21T19:45:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Motorgirl \* > Cataloguing class drove me nuts! \* There is a dedicated path of study to become a librarian? Fascinating! I guess I always assumed librarians just started working in the library while studying whatever and decided to stay librarians or that it was a position that English and History majors would tend to gravitate towards. You’ve fought my ignorance and won today Motorgirl. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/36 "2002-12-21T21:01:25Z")
The Psych profs I had in college were all strange. (Stranger than Math and CS profs. That bad.) I assume such people go into the biz hoping to diagnose/cure their problems. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/37 "2002-12-21T21:18:27Z")
Factory workers can be pretty far out there as well. (warehouse as well) ---
**Author:** ![ThatGuyWithPants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@ThatGuyWithPants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatGuyWithPants)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/38 "2002-12-21T21:26:35Z")
OOH! OOH! I know this! DMV workers!! That and “evolutionary psychologists”…what the crap is with that job?! ---
**Author:** ![soulburnz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@soulburnz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulburnz)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/39 "2002-12-21T21:30:25Z")
How bout anyone that works 3rd shift ? They really do have a world of their own. Working at night - sleeping in the day… might tend to set anyone a little off balance. So… imagine a 3rd shift Postal Worker… that could get scary… ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733/40 "2002-12-21T23:03:28Z")
No one’s said _theater people_?! Those folk are completely nuts. I should know. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-attract-the-crazy-people/143733.md?page=3)