The Jobs We Don’t Hear About
The world around us tends to function smoothly, for the most part. But what we don’t really think about is the fact that there are people behind almost everything to make sure things run the way they should. Sure, we know about bus drivers and shop assistants, nurses and farmers, but have you ever wondered who puts up the road signs that we see every day, or who cleans the windows on the skyscraper in the distance? Be prepared to have your eyes opened to jobs that you didn’t know exist, and without which, things wouldn’t be the same.
That familiar sound of slot machines that can be heard in casinos everywhere, someone somewhere designs the music and sound effects specifically for these machines. There’s also a person whose job it is, to make sure that gas stations pump the gas accurately i.e. that exactly one gallon is dispensed when the screen displays one gallon. Even though the majority of processed food undergoes machine production, often a human is required to inspect the food before it gets packaged. What a great job it must be to inspect chips before they get whisked away.
Do you know those little slips of wisdom inside fortune cookies? The manufacturers often hire freelance writers, and apparently, the pay isn’t so bad either. When resorts and theme parks open new water slides, people get paid to test that they’re both safe and fun, what a great way to make money! But not all the hidden jobs are fun and games. When a company brings out a new deodorant, it’s someone’s job to test if it’s actually worked. This person is known as an ‘odor judge’, and their job is to smell and sniff the subjects to ensure the product has worked properly.
When you’re rewatching your favorite Netflix show, and the little box pops up ‘Skip Intro’, it’s someone’s job to decide the timestamps for when the button should appear. Pretty much every design has a person behind it who makes the decisions. From giant banners hanging up at events to the fire evacuation maps in buildings, and coupons and the back of receipts. So even if you think you’ve heard it all, it’s always worth asking new people what they do for a living.