Yahoo Finance 7 weird jobs that’ll make you want to move to London
Goodbye America, it’s time to move to the UK. Turns out England is home to some of the quirkiest jobs you’ve ever heard of, according to a recent survey by employee benefits company Unum. Here are a few bizarre -- and oddly appealing -- jobs that might convince you to quit your day job and jet set to Londontown.
1. The bedwarmer
Annual salary: £16,000 ($24,307)
Some hotels offer the coveted position so that beds are warm and cozy for guests upon their arrival. You’re wrapped up in a hygienic body suit and expected to roll around in the bed. How could you ever turn down (that) service?
2. The sewer flusher
Annual salary: £45,000 ($68,364)
Sounds vile, but someone’s gotta do it, apparently. And it pays a lot more than you’d make warming beds. In this job you have to get rid of blockages from sewers, many of which are caused by cooking fats and oils. In London, these flushers clear around 80,000 blockages a year.
3. The ravenmaster
Annual salary: £21,000 ($31,900)
You’re responsible for looking after the seven resident ravens (the required six plus one spare) at the Tower of London, the historic castle and tourist spot on the Thames River. According to legend, if the ravens leave the site, its White Tower will crumble and the Kingdom of England will fall. These ravens only report to the Ravenmaster, so be prepared to be the object of their affection. Before you apply, you may want to heed the words of Edgar Allen Poe from his iconic poem “The Raven”: “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.”
4. The professional tea taster
Annual salary: £25,000 ($37,980)
Prepare for caffeine overload. And you better have a large bladder. You may be required to drink up to 300 cups of tea a day and often travel the world sampling different types. Apparently it takes about five years to train the palette in order to identify the flavors of each blend. Think of it as a sommelier but with a little less buzz. And if you’re really good at nailing flavor combinations, you could get as big as this guy -- whose taste buds were insured for $1.6 million by Tetley, the second-largest tea manufacturer in the world.
5. The Queen’s piper
Annual salary: £48,000 ($72,922)
You and I have alarm clocks. The Queen, on the other hand, has some bagpipe tunes as her royal wakeup call. The Queen’s Piper plays bagpipes every weekday at 9 a.m. for 15 minutes under her window when she’s in residence at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, the Palace of Holyroodhouse or Balmoral Castle. It’s one of the highest honors available to a piper serving in the Armed Forces.
6. The professional queuer
Annual salary: £12,000 ($18,230)
Do you like the mundane, monotonous, mindless act of standing in line? Well, then you’re in luck! Time is money, after all. Agencies actually allow individuals to hire others for 20 euros an hour to stand in queues for them.
7. The lock keeper
Voluntary
There’s no pay for this job, but there is prestige. You’re responsible for manning and maintaining the locks of Britain’s waterways, assisting boaters, and welcoming visitors. The role has existed for over 250 years and there’s never a shortage of those wishing to take their place on Britain’s canals. Last year, there were 480 volunteer lock keepers at 70 different sites. If you’re the outdoorsy type, this might be a great part-time gig.
See more of the wacky jobs you’ve never heard of here.
