322. The World’s Weirdest Jobs: Penguinologists, Snake Milkers, Ice Cowboys and more! Summer Sessions #1, with Georgia Hodkinson

24:12just how just how much shit would Luke get for not doing the washing up I'll give you a scale on a scale of no shit at all zero to ten run over your cat I'm gonna go where would he be I'm gonna go for a seven oh that's brutal man Luke if you're listening then then you can give me a call if you want we can get you out of there don't worry Right. Let me tell you a little bit more about this and then you can ask the question. So how much do you get paid? Well, a standard apology service typically costs between 10 ,000 and 30 ,000 yen. Happily, actually, if you just divide that by 1 ,000, you get a dollar.

24:46So it's$100 to$300 per apology. Oh, that's not bad. It's not bad money. It's not bad. You've got to calculate in that maybe one in five might be a punch in the face or something. But this is Japan, which they tend to be a little more sort of like circumspect, don't they? True. But also, yeah, it is specifically, in fact, how rare is it? So there's an agency called Shazaya Aiga Pro. I apologize for the awful pronunciation. They're operating openly in Japan. However, it remains a rare cultural curiosity elsewhere. There's no global registry. And there is no, thanks for saying this, there is no qualification for this.

25:26Okay.

25:27Leanne:I'm surprised there isn't a qualification for this. Really? Yeah, because I would imagine, I don't know about you, Georgia, but my little psychology sense of the goal, and I think there'll be very particular people that'll be very, very good at this job. Me too. Because you can't be too much of a people pleaser. No. But you need to be empathetic and genuine, sincere, but also very much of a problem solver, conflict management. I think there's some high level skills involved in this job. Georgia? I agree. I agree. I mean, I wonder if a personality test would be important. Well, I can reveal exclusively on this episode that Wikipedia tells me, in fact, no, this bit was Gemini, actually.

26:09Elite apologizers are masters of what they call apology etiquette, knowing exactly when to deploy strategic crying or present specific traditional gifts like premium fruit. Sorry, I ran over your cat. Here's a pineapple.

26:22Leanne:So it might be a bit Machiavellian as well and a bit manipulative at times. I saw another one. I hope no one's got this, but I saw another one, Professional Mourner. Oh, I have heard of that before. I've seen that one. It'd be a similar kind of thing. You'd have to score high on the Machiavellian, what's it called? Yeah, Machiavellian. The one you mentioned the other day. Machiavellian, yeah, maybe. I guess it's more influencing people though, but yeah, you probably need to be able to switch it on very quickly, wouldn't you? Yeah, so sure. I think you're a little bit psychopathic, you know. Don't understand the immersion, but can display it.

26:52Yeah. Anyway. Anyway. So let's do the questions. Let's do the scales.

26:58Leanne:How weird is it? I'm going to go with a four. Yeah, it's pretty freaking weird. I agree. Mm-hmm. Would I do it? Yeah, I think I would. I think I'd want the gossip. Like, what did you do? What did you do? Oh, don't. Yes. Oh, that's the psychologist in us though, isn't it? I'd want the gossip and then I'd want to be able to kind of like, you'd learn so much about people by how they respond to different apologies. I'd love to do this job five yeah five yeah yeah I'm in there I'm in there you could work on reception and then just take the calls then you get all the stuff but don't have to do the apology that's true actually sales yeah anyway I'll be part of the team sure what's question three what would you score like a dinner party guest if this was their job I think I'd be creeped out by them like I don't think I'd sit next to them because there's like a certain element of emotional intelligence that have they got it yeah you don't know which way Either they're going to be the most empathetic, sincere person in the world, or they're probably going to be a bit of a psychopath.

27:56But the good news is that if they put wine on your dress, then they'd be very, very good at saying, sorry, keep doing that.

28:04Leanne:I'd say a two. I'm not sure I'd be that impressed as like a snake milker. Right. So I'm going to say two. I'm hovering around that region too, I think. I'll go two as well. I'll go two as well. Two as well. Unfair. Boo. Okay. Okay. So what's that grand score then? Am I way behind? No, I think you're actually winning in the minute. Yeah. You scored very highly on how, and whether would we do it. Whereas the snake obviously got a zero. True. So yeah. No, I think that might be in the lead. Lead. Oh no. I swear to God, I didn't believe this was true. So I fell into some pretty, pretty deep Instagram holes and I can confirm it is very much true.

28:48Leanne:a chicken sexer so this was my number one so i'm not going to answer no you should you've done the research tell us what else do you know did you find it weird when you were looking at it i found it weird but also incredible and that was down to the decision making that goes on and the speed of which the decision making that goes on yeah it's it's it's really quite it's quite impressive what it is so a chicken sexer also known as a poultry sexer a chick sexer which i don't think works well or a vent sexer so they basically does what it says on the tin within hours of hatching every chick needs to be identified as male or female so a trained chicken sexer examines tiny anatomical or feather differences that are almost invisible to everyone else and sort chicks before they're sent to different parts of the poultry industry um there's about 100 to 150 qualified specialists in the uk which is quite niche niche but then also when would you like it's not like you suddenly get a delivery of chicks and you go oh christ leanne get on get the chicken section on the phone we need someone around here this afternoon it's not that sort of thing is it it's more like a breeder.

30:03Leanne:Well, you say that, but apparently the poultry industry has reported a long-standing shortage of trained chick sexes, making it one of Britain's rarest agricultural professions and shortage has even affected the UK's ability to export chicks. And do you know what? It's pretty well paid as well. Go on. Trainees start at 25 grand, experienced chicken sexes typically earned 30 to 45, and if you're really freaking good at what you do, 50 grand plus. almost entirely trained through an apprenticeship takes at least three years to reach industry standard wow i know i know it's it's a it's an incredible thing as i said if i did find some very interesting instagram reels and apparently the some of the best chicken sexes are japanese to the point where in america the majority of chicken sexes in america the majority of chicken sexes are of Japanese American heritage and a really really good one can can identify the gender of chicks at the rate of 1200 an hour wait a second Georgia you give your reaction while I divide 1200 by 60 well I can do that for you it is 20 per minute which is a three second decision accuracy rate at 98 which is the highly skilled people amazing I just think that is just incredible i mean imagine the decision fatigue obviously that shouts to me but that is just incredible i i mean imagine the skill rates people that travel for this role can get up to 100 000 pounds would i go back if i could and become a chicken sexer maybe and i'll tell you for why ai proof isn't it that's true is it though well at that rate that rate how quick is a machine gonna be able to unless they can just like scan it well there might be or i suppose you do suppose you're the first thing to turn them upside down wouldn't you well that's what i mean unless they can like take a whole scan of them somehow like body scan type thing but i don't still don't think that'll be quicker okay um so yeah how weird is this three i think it's weird i'm gonna go for a five oh really three i agree i think it's weirder i think you've underscored that alba anyway would you do it i don't think i'd make many friends through it fair i would do it what would you give it out five four georgia i don't think i'd do it i'm gonna go two i apologize and how impressed would you be at a dinner party if you sat like somebody who was a chick sexer a three three for me can i go it depends because i think if they were like at the skill rate where they could do two um you know three second decisions 98 that is a skill So I want to go five if you are the elite.

32:52Do you have a backup? I do. I do. And I'm glad, to be honest, because this one is really cool. Like, really freaking cool. I am obsessed with this and I would do this myself. International Ice Patrol. Lee, thoughts?

33:10Leanne:Well, I guess the dark guess would be what we've kind of seen with America with ice, isn't it? but the fact that Georgia wants to do it makes me suspect it's not that and it's actually literal ice and it's something to do with ice monitoring purposes in cold places. Yeah and I'm going to guess it's to do with glaciers or icebergs in the in the Arctic Circle. So you're both not far off it's around offshore oil platforms in places like Canada and teams consistently monitor enormous icebergs drifting towards the rigs that could obviously cost them billions of dollars if they are crashing. And in order to diverge the course of kind of conflict, they give it a little nudge because they rely on the current majority.

34:00But they kind of lasso it to give it a nudge in the different direction and the current does the rest. I love that. Like cowboys in the old wild west. yes ice cowboys ice cowboys that's a better name for ice cowboys ice cowboys see you need to get a marker involved yes amazing how does one become an ice cowboy so it's exceptionally rare um only a handful of specialists in the world um a couple of hundred globally um specifically canada north Atlantic and there's specialised courses to go on. It's not really a university course. It's more of a background in marine biology and engineering, offshore operations.

34:47Yeah. And then there's like specialist training in that direction on how to kind of understand the course of icebergs. Now, the reason I want to do it is because imagine the travel involved. Imagine the sights that you would sea yeah and i'd imagine something like that is fairly well paid is it because oil usually oil rig workers are well paid aren't they so um canadian dollars 80 to 150 um which it converts to about 45 000 pounds to 85 000 pounds dependent on your expertise see now that's still not enough for me start mucking about with ice on the north sea i've seen those videos yeah i've seen those videos of the boats going across the North Sea where like the waves are literally like 60 feet high yeah would I do it I absolutely would not do this no thank you really like a hard no zero

35:37Leanne:hard no zero minus five oh I'm not sure I'd end that again yeah I would pay not to do it I don't know I'm with Georgia I think the the sights would intrigue me it's also a really good work-life balance because they have a couple of weeks on and a couple of weeks off okay so you're talking potentially earning 60, 75 grand for part-time work. Exactly. I mean, that's not bad. And also, let's be honest, if you were only doing two weeks on, two weeks off, you could probably, in your two weeks off, become a penguinologist. True that. You're already there. There we go. Get in your bag, as the kids say.

36:13Great idea. So I don't know Georgia.

36:20I don't know that one specifically. Cool. So where are we scoring it so far?

36:25Leanne:um i like that um i i'm i would think like a three for me actually doing it i agree the danger element is a bit of concern but i would very much like to travel to those parts of the world you gave it a hard zero how weird is it it's quite strange you wouldn't it's not something you go oh of course somebody needs to go and do that would you no but at the same time i think someone you give me that title of was it ice global ice patrol or something yes international International Ice Patrol. International Ice Patrol. It does sound pretty cool, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. I think if someone said it, it would sound cool.

36:59And then when they explained what they did, I'd be a bit like, oh, nice. More wine?

37:03Leanne:Yeah, you'd imagine they're just going to start talking about, would it be thermodynamics? Is that what that would fit into that world? I don't know. Some kind of physics I don't understand. Fluid theory, yeah. Yeah. I think it's kind of weird. I would give it a three on the weird scale. Al? Yeah, I'd say the same three. I've been quite down the middle of these. And in terms of a guest, I mean, I'm not as excited as if they were a snake milker or a penguinologist. But I think I'd be more excited than if they were an apology expert. So I'm going to go three. Right. Okay. Can I give you a fun fact?

37:41Leanne:Yeah. Well, it's fun. I think the travel element is fun. the fun fact is the largest iceberg ever successfully redirected weighed four million tons yet they still moved it carefully using operational rather than brute force oh what's four million tons in a way i'd understand because that seems very very big can we put it in in terms of flakes. I'm Googling, I'm Googling. A blue whale, it would be 26 ,000 blue whales. Oh, that's a lot of blue whales. That's made that job slightly more impressive at that point, hasn't it? Yeah. Well done, Ice Cowboys. Good work. And Wells and Georgia for pulling that back when we dismissed it.

38:30Leanne:Yeah, I'm going to increase my guess score. Yeah, increase mine by two, please. Yeah, by two, full point. Full point. Yeah, I'm the same. So that's put, oh, game change that one well done georgia right don't disclose the scores yet because this is like the the final round your last one georgia i've got two here i've got number two and number three which one of those should you should i go for which choose one oh roll the dice i'm gonna go three three okay i think you probably have seen this because i know i've seen it before but still it is quite an odd odd job uh again japanese um oshia oshia oshia um and it is called the the job title is a train pusher got to go to the midlands and ask her georgia do you know what a train pusher is i think you do don't you i've heard of it um but predominantly in japan i've seen it on tiktok where they are pushing people into trains uh efficiency overload uh potentially Yeah, that's exactly it.

39:31Lee, have you come across those before?

39:32Leanne:No. So just on a busy platform as people just like shoving people into the train? Well, yeah, their job is. And do they have like boards? Or have I just made that up? They've got boards or sticks like brooms and they're pushing people in. Have you seen that? I've not. I've not seen that. I've only seen hands be used, but it could be true. These people are employed by rail networks in hyper-congested urban hubs. During the morning-evening rush, these workers' standard platforms provide the final shove when a carriage is technically full, but the doors can't quite meet. They use their body weight to compress commuters into the carriage, ensuring the schedule remains millisecond perfect without mechanical obstructions.

40:07No, not mechanical obstructions. That's just going to be arms sticking out of the door. Yeah, so any idea what sort of hourly rate?

40:15Leanne:I can't imagine it's that well paid. I'm going to say not too much because I don't necessarily think there's going to be a university qualification in this. but then again the safety element you may get danger money oh I'm gonna go 40 to 50k oh interesting Lee I think it's a bit less I think it's a bit less I'm gonna go like 20 to 30 I have to do some math because I've just got it per hour oh not much it's seven to ten dollars per hour on a 40 hour week working 48 weeks a year you're only on$19 ,000 oh that's not a lot is it I went down the kind of danger money processing where you could kind of you know lose a leg or lose an arm or maybe even lose somebody else's leg or arm yeah fall down the gap I'm I don't enjoy this I don't enjoy this in terms of the person having to do it I think they're underpaid as Georgia said it sounds like there could be a fair bit of danger there I wouldn't like to be pushed on to a train myself I understand keeping on time but it seems a little bit aggressive in that approach I don't know, is it just Japan that does this?

41:30Leanne:and are their trains significantly more timely? Yes, Japan is very, very it's iconic in the Tokyo subway system it says it remains a specific cultural fixture of Japanese commute they have been experimenting with other megacities like Mumbai or Beijing but no it's very much Japanese because of the trains running on time. Now I will just say to you you just mentioned there danger money not sure you like it if you've watched the videos people don't seem to be fussed about being pushed onto the train George you've probably seen that as well. No I agree they don't seem to be too fussed but I'm just putting myself in this position where I'm in the middle of the train people are being pushed into me claustrophobia to the max.

42:16Leanne:I don't care for it no I don't care for it and to be fair there's a larger proportion than normal of people who don't use deodorant on public transport no I just made that up but they just tend to be anecdotally oh jinx so just I'll read you this then we'll do the we'll do the scoring despite the aggressive nature of the act they must maintain a professional and apologetic demeanor their success is measured in seconds if they can't squeeze that last person in within the dwell time technical term sorry to get all technical on you there the train leaves often with the pusher bowing to those left on the platform so there you go so it's not quite it's not as aggressive as you'd think anyway very Japanese so Lee do you want to ask the questions yeah how weird is this job I think this is pretty weird yeah I give it a four on the weird scale what what are you giving it Georgia I'm going to go three because it's clearly in keeping with their culture so it may not be as weird to them as it is us very good point would you do it no no i mean if i i'd if i had to do it then i'd do it over over a snake milker so i'd maybe give it a one true i prefer to do it over a snake milker but then i'd prefer to do a penguin ologist so would you give it a one yeah two i'm gonna go one i'll go one one and how How impressive would this be as a dinner guest?

43:39Not very. I'm not very impressed. I'll sit next to you. I'm not scared of you, but I'm not impressed as such. What do you think, Al? I agree with you both. Well, Lee, are you impressed with it? What's your number?

43:54Leanne:I think with Georgia, I think like a one. I think I'd be like, oh. Oh, yeah, yeah. No, I agree. Well, there's not much to talk about. I push people on trains. Cool. the other one i was the one the one you didn't choose uh was an editorial insights content analyst for netflix and basically the netflix tagger this is george i chose that that's much better isn't it this person this person sits and watches netflix all day and that's when they come up with these oddly specific tags like award-winning visually striking or tear cinema and there's a person that does that it's not ai to be fair this is in 2014 netflix vp todd yellen told tech radar we have about 40 or so tags at the moment and looking for one or two more um i think in 2026 there is probably zero but we can ask bill yost because bill yost works for netflix and bill yost is on in a few weeks time so we'll definitely ask about that do they get paid much yeah 92 000 a year shut up no 92 to watch dollars a year to watch telly yep yep but modern postings want for roughly four years plus in film or tv often a film studies background and one even had a master's in critical film studies yeah i definitely do it but if you watch of telly you know whether it's like suspenseful or funny true true i god i wish i'd picked that one i wish i'd overridden you and picked that one i would have gone no no oh yes funnily enough number three is that well i think as well because we don't know it's a job that exists today yes it might have disqualified itself it might have done yeah talking of disqualification and sorry the guess we neither was impressed we did that would you give a one or a two for the um train pusher Georgia is that the weirdness or is that the oh impressed on the guest the guest front yeah how many go two I'll do two because I feel like I'd want to I'd want to ask questions I'd want to say you know how many arms have you kind of chopped off well actually I will put mine up a point I was only giving it a one but actually there could be some good stories in there yeah I bet there is yeah okay so that is we've got a draw go on we've got a draw the best weirdest job is tied between the chick sexer yeah and the polyologist and the what the person that apologizes what they call it oh i like that a polyologist i've been saying that all day amazing amazing well to be fair you probably only have to you'd have to go to japan to do one of those jobs so true true well there you go if you're in japan then you've you've got a clear clear answer and if you're anywhere else become a chick sexer beautiful Lee shall we I feel like we should wrap this up because I think we might have overstayed our welcome a little bit Georgia before before we go do you have a favourite like forget weirdest just one that you like I like it I enjoy it I'm glad I now know about that previously I'd have told you the iceberg technician international iceberg mover but now that you've called it a polyologist I'm going to choose that one fantastic you win this week and just to be clear the ice people we also renamed ice cowboys ice cowboys ice cowboys there is I think mine's a snake milk that's going to stay with me because it's the one that I'm going to say to someone did you know that there's people do you know what I mean but if you are an apollyologist get in touch tell us what's your job like is it as good as we think it think it sounds yeah all brilliant stuff so yeah the world of work is a bit stranger than perhaps we realised and beyond the jobs that we see every day there are thousands of weirdly highly specialist careers that most of us never even knew existed so if you are just starting out on your career open your mind to the world of weird jobs you could become the world's greatest chick sexer and if nothing else you should now have a few stories to share when you're floating in the pool or down the pub on Friday yeah well that's it for episode one of our summer sessions.

48:08If you've enjoyed this little bit strange, different carnage, I suppose, media carnage, podcast carnage, do let us know by commenting on Spotify or leaving us a review. In fact, don't leave us a review if you hate it. Tell us if you didn't like this episode and then leave us a review if you love it. And genuinely, like you would have found out a couple of weeks ago, we do read every single comment and we do actually make changes based on what people suggest.

48:29Leanne:We do. And if you have an unusual job or you've come across one that deserves a place on a future list, send it our way. We'll share it. Share it next week. We'll maybe do a part two. Georgia, thank you so much for joining us. I mean, I'm sure our regular listeners will know about you. I'm sure I'll connect with you already on LinkedIn. But for anybody who isn't familiar, where can they go to learn more about your work, more about you? My LinkedIn is the best place. My website is also up and running. But yes, do message me on LinkedIn. I'm always open to new connections. Because then we'll leave a link for that in the show notes.

49:00Fabulous. We're back on Thursday with our interview featuring Chris Lover. Chris Lover, best hair in the business. funny guy genuinely lovely guy and also went fuck it and just threw his toys out the prime and disappeared around the world about five years ago and written two books on it he's an absolutely fantastic guy next Tuesday another summer session Danny Wareham the Danny Wareham yeah everyone knows who Danny Wareham is if you don't know who Danny Wareham is then just you know you've written a book you'll definitely know that you can't be on LinkedIn I think if you don't

49:27Leanne:I just tinked my glass so he's going to join us for Corporate Family Fortunes this is where Leanne and Danny go head to head to try and guess the most common answers to about work. I'm going to be the Steve Harley Harvey of the thing. Vernon Kay. Vernon Kay. Yes, probably. Yes. Who did it back in the day? Who is that dude? Des Lennis. No. Des Lennis.

49:52Leanne:I swear I've only had half a glass of wine. Right. Okay. Until then, say goodbye, Georgia. Bye, Georgia. Say goodbye, Leanne. Bye, Leanne. Bye. Bye.