By Test Subject
Sure it may suck to be a tester, but is being a human lab rat a better gig? Scientists need millions of people a year to test drugs and treatments. The pay is good — some studies pay as much as $10,000 per trial — but the risks are even greater. For example, eight volunteers for a rheumatoid arthritis and leukemia experiment suffered multiple organ failure and permanent damage to their immune systems. Are you willing to be poked and prodded without knowing the long-term side effects? Volunteer!
Sewage Treatment Workers
Sewage treatment workers spend their days wading in what you flush — with rats and other rodents in the mix. Workers dive down into murky, fecal waste to fix sewer leaks, bottle sewage samples and make sure raw sewage is properly treated. Plus it’s pretty dangerous — workers can die from toxic fumes, contract hepatitis A, or get punctured by needles. Drowning and electrocution are also potential hazards.
Porta Potty Cleaner
When you gotta go, you gotta go. And unfortunately, someone has to clean up after you. Sanitizers armed with a vacuum wand and nose plugs first suck out all the waste into a tank. They then pick up wads of soiled toilet paper, power hose the walls with disinfectant and scrub them down — all in less than three minutes. It may get routine but it’s surely not a cinch. Most workers clean up to 60 modern-day outhouses a day.
They’re dirty jobs, but someone’s got to do them. These careers require not only an iron stomach, but also a huge amount of dedication. The workers courageously test, handle, and clean the things we use everyday. Let’s not take them for granted.
Next time you’re at wit’s end and are about to throw in the towel over an overtime request or a rowdy patient, take a second to reconsider. You’re actually one of the lucky ones.
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