Some of them were beyond bizarre
Today, many people are lucky to have jobs that can be considered meaningful, fulfilling and safe. In the past, there were jobs that were so repulsive and awkward that no one wanted anything to do with them. The people who did these jobs were either forced to do it or did it because they had to survive.
Although many of these jobs are no longer popular, some brave men and women found themselves stuck with these gross, odd jobs that no one else offered to do. From sniffing armpits to collecting vomit, here are some of the most unusual jobs that people have had to do.
The practice of armpit plucking was common during the early Roman empire. Back then, many of the romans were quite vain and always wanted to look good whenever they took their clothes off in public. A lot of them visited public baths where a hairy, smelly armpit was considered embarrassing.
The bath houses usually employed armpit hair pluckers who helped reduce the hair and odour in the armpits of some customers. No training was required for this kind of job; it simply involved using bronze tweezers to pluck the hairs. Luckily, it was a quick job and the attendants didn’t have to stay for too long with each customer.
Armpit pluckers are nowhere close to modern-day beauticians that pluck eyebrows, because they were employed to deal with hairy armpits.
A popular job description for a vestal virgin was:
“Teen female virgin wanted for thirty-year service. Must be Roman, have all limbs, and not the child of a slave.”
Whoever was employed to do this type of job would have to spend 30 years of her life rendering services to Vesta, goddess of the hearth and family. Being a vestal virgin meant that the young girl had to keep the sacred flame in the temple of vesta burning. The vestal virgin also had to keep her virginity.
Being a vestal virgin seemed like a life of privilege, but it came with severe restrictions and high stakes. If the virgin allowed the flame go out or broke her chastity wow, it meant that she had automatically put herself at risk and would face extreme consequences.
People found humor in farts and for others, it was a constant source of entertainment. A professional farter was also known as a flatulist and his routine primarily consisted of passing gas. In Medieval Ireland, this person was also called a braigetoir.
Throughout the world, professional flatulence has had a long and rich history. In a book, De civitate Dei, Saint Augustine once described professional farters and performers as people who “possessed such command of their bowels and can break wind continuously at will, so as to produce the effect of singing.”
A popular farter known as Roland, gained popularity through farting and once performed in front of King Henry II. His farting performance earned him an entire manor and 30 acres of land which he received as a gift from the king.
The vomit collectors were not strange to the early Roman society. They were paid to gather people’s vomit. They were tasked with cleaning what people had spewed. While working, they simply collected vomit in different jars and disposed them.
In ancient times, the Roman banquets usually lasted for a reasonably long period and the people believed that the best way to stay healthy was by vomiting because it helped them purge toxins.
As the fascinating history website reports, many romans didn’t consider it necessary to leave the dining room in order to vomit. They usually had bowls lying around so that they could simply bend over and puke. In extreme cases, they threw up all over the floor.
Sometimes, the vomit collectors were accidentally hit with vomit and had to start hiding under the tables to prevent any reoccurrence of such act.
From the 15th to 19th centuries, leeches were in high demand in Europe. They were used to treat a number of ailments such as hysteria and headaches. However, for the leeches to be caught, the leech collectors had to set themselves as human traps.
The poor women within the communities were the ones who stationed themselves within filthy ponds so that they could attract the leeches. Moving inside the pond was a quick way to attract several leeches at once and with little effort.
To catch leeches, the collectors had to let the leeches suck on them for twenty minutes or longer before pulling them off. It was easier to remove the leeches when they were fat and had sucked enough blood. By doing this, the leech collectors put themselves in danger because they were prone to having infectious diseases and experiencing excessive blood loss.
During ancient times, there were rowers that rowed the greek boats. It was a very demanding job and most times, the rowers would experience severe burning aches in their arms and shoulders.
A lot of rowers were mostly slaves and poorly rewarded with just a meal a day. When rowing, they weren’t allowed to stop or take breaks, otherwise, their masters would flog them.
Unlike now that we have our phones and other digital devices to take notes and save information that we don’t want to forget, things were quite different back in time. The ancient people had slaves that they took to parties and whenever they met new people, the latter were taxed with the duty of remembering the names of people that their masters met.
In ancient Europe, a nomenclator was like a walking, talking phonebook. The pay for this type of job was very low and he was to follow his master everywhere, especially to parties. If the master got drunk, the nomenclator would have to remember important details on behalf of his master.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, many princes were spoilt brats who couldn’t be punished because of their status. They were untouchable. If the prince or any high-ranking noble child behaved badly, the whipping boy would receive punishment instead. He was punished for every of the prince’s transgressions.
The whipping boy was usually someone who had grown with the prince and had formed some sort of close relationship with him. The reason behind beating the whipping boy in the prince’s stead was so that the prince would feel horrible and learn to be considerate of others.
The general notion was that after seeing that his friend had suffered on his behalf, it would demotivate the prince from any further misbehaviour. Sometimes this worked and other times, it didn’t.
Although being a whipping boy wasn’t a professional recognized job, some whipping boys got heavily rewarded whenever the princes eventually became kings.
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