Strangest job you worked to pay for your flying?

[Cardinal]

What was the strangest job you worked to pay for your flying?

Once a week I put on a cheesy all polyester logo T-shirt, loaded this guys POS pickup full of repaired sewing machines, and drove way the hell into darkest New Hampshire to drop 'em off and pick up more broke sewing machines. Lessons learned: NH State Troopers don't dick around, and could defend I-95 from Soviet attack with their presence on that little stretch. Rear-Wheel drive is exciting in blizzards. Don't lose your bosses cash. $40 bucks for an afternoons toil.

How about you?

 

[SCT]

3rd shift clean up crew at a chicken proccessing plant.......

It really gave me the motivation to get my behind back to college!

 

[mar]

Equine and canine urinalysis

Did you know race horses and greyhound dogs are drug tested?

Neither did I until I answered an ad looking for some help in the warehouse of a laboratory.

So I get the job cleaning all the glassware used in the lab and they start looking for a new lab tech. They like me and I like them and they say they'll train me to "up-grade" to lab tech if I want to learn.

My first question: "Do I get a raise?"

Answer: "Yes, $8/hour."

Sign me up.

So I tested horse and dog blood and urine for drugs for two years while I worked on my CFI.

My advice: Always get a split sample.

 

[typhoonpilot]

Hey Mar, missed you last night over the Bay. We must have gone off after you did. Fricken bumpy at FL 320. How's Chennai ?

Just McDonald's for me, one and a half years and I rose all the way to head fry cook . Actually, I used to be able to cook 36 hamburgers at one time without making meatloaf out of them on the turn :smash: . It was the quick draw special sauce shootouts that made the job fun :erm: .


TP

 

[HAL]

Another lab-tech here, although the 'products' were a little better.

I had a biology degree coming out of college and got a job at a milk & ice cream production plant doing quality control. It included bacteriological, chemical, and (ahem) taste testing each batch that came out.

The good part was the ice cream, bars, etc. Especially when they were making Nestle crunch ice cream bars, and I could double dip the finished bar into the chocolate for a double thick coating.

The bad part was the 'stress test' on the milk. We put a stack of samples from each day's production into a room at 45 degrees and kept it there for two weeks. Then I had to taste test it. Most of the time it was OK but... I got to know way too many types of bacterial contamination by taste & texture.

Also, making a dash into the ice cream storage warehouse (-30 degrees F) in short sleeves was somewhat painful at times if I couldn't find my sample right away.

But it was a union job, and paid more than I made in flying until year 3 at Hawaiian.

HAL

 

[mar]

Lab rats of the world, unite!

Wow. A collectively bargained lab rat. Impressive.

We got doughnuts every Tuesday. I was happy.

Hey Ty! I listened for ya. No joy. Chennai is lovely. Smooth at 300 but we deviated 60 to the S for CBs!!

 

[r1830]

Made food for the airlines for 1 summer.
I was trying to find a summer job that had something to do with airplanes. I went down the frontage road at the airport and applied at everyplace that would give me an application. I got hired by one place, Caterair International.
Never stepped foot in an airplane. Just slapped cold omelets, sausage and hashbrowns into a dish 5,000+ times a day for the summer. Never went back, but I did figure out what I didn't want to do as a job for the rest of my life.

 

[HAL]

Wow. A collectively bargained lab rat. Impressive.

And a Teamster, no less. Only four of us in the lab, but we fell in with the rest of the people in the plant since management didn't want us with them - we actually worked at our job. And yes, we were the best paid lab rats in Seattle. But I just couldn't stand the job, which is why I was only there for eternity - I mean 9 years. Ugh.

HAL

 

[smellthejeta]

but I did figure out what I didn't want to do as a job for the rest of my life.

What's that, be a pilot or frequent flyer because then you'd have to actually eat the stuff?

 

[r1830]

originally posted by smellthejeta
What's that, be a pilot or frequent flyer because then you'd have to actually eat the stuff?

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

The best job I had that helped me pay for my ratings was a dockhand at Ketchum Air Service. On days off I would get to go fly in fishing for free if there was space on the airplane.