The Original “Odd Jobs” Master: Nancy Rica Schiff

Odor tester….

Several years ago, I met [tag]Nancy Rica Schiff[/tag], a writer and photographer based in New York City, who had just written a very popular book called [tag]ODD JOBS[/tag]. I wrote her earlier this week.

Dear Nancy…I hope this finds you well. It’s been awhile, and I am wondering how your second book, [tag]ODDER JOBS[/tag], did in comparison to the famous first book ODD JOBS?

I was thinking about you the other day after I wrote an entry into a blogging contest of sorts called [tag]Lessons from Odd Jobs[/tag].

The entries are great fun, but they do lack your photographic vision and eye. Tell me again, how did you come up with the idea for the first ODD JOBS?

best,

GL

———————-

 

condom tester…both pictures from Nancy’s ODD JOBS.

 

Dear G.L.

It was nice to hear from you. Tell me how did your book”How to Advertise for Help Wanted” do in your marketplace? {GL note: “that was a painful question”}

For twenty years now every time I hear the words “odd jobs”, my ears prick up. I’ve been on the hunt
for that much time since I first met the time keeper for the horse races at the [tag]Hollywood Race Track[/tag]. He inspired me to seek out as many “odd jobs” as I could to include in what I hoped to be a well-produced coffee table photography book.

I started out immediately with finding a condom tester at the plant that manufactured [tag]Trojan condoms[/tag].Searching out magazine and newspaper articles, I found a safe cracker, the LEGO model maker, Barbie’s dress designer, and a professional pooper scooper. I stopped the dog walker I saw on the streets of New York walking thirteen dogs at a time. I hung out with the crime scene photographers both in New York and Los Angeles. Pretty soon all my friends knew of my search, and ideas from other people started rolling in. My doctor friend told me about a diener, something I had never heard of.

A diener is the person in the hospital morgue who prepares the cadaver for the autopsy by cutting
it open. I was getting known as the photographer who shot people with odd jobs.

While visiting my brother in Colorado, I visited a horse surgeon and photographed the horse
anesthetist. The horse surgeon told me about an artificial inseminator for cows in Utah, and the
artificial inseminator told me about a semen collector for bulls in Wisconsin. When I finally amassed
65 black and white photographs of people with odd jobs, I found a publisher (not without a lot of
struggle) and in 2002 my first volume of [tag]Odd Jobs, Portraits of Unusual Occupations[/tag] was released.
To my surprise, the book became so much more than a coffee table photography book. It was
selected by the [tag]New York Public Library[/tag] to be on their Teenage List and was used by countless
human resource people in their discussions on finding jobs. The book got world-wide publicity
and has been published in five different languages.

Because I had so much fun doing the first book, I decided to put together [tag]Odder Jobs, More
Portraits of Unusual Occupations[/tag]. Once again I was on the trail of the unusual. I found a dog
food tester in Kansas, a music thanatologist in Utah, a breath odor evaluator in Massachusetts,
a snow researcher and a paleoscatologist in Colorado. Both books have brought me a lot of
pleasure, and I hope they’ve opened up many young people’s minds as to the countless possibilities
out there for work. The biggest compliment I received was from one of the young librarians at
the New York Public Library who told me that the books inspired creativity.

To see more odd jobs, check out Odd Jobs, Portraits of Unusual Occupations and Odder Jobs,
More Portraits of Unusual Occupations published by [tag]Ten Speed Press[/tag].

Warmest regards,

Nancy Rica Schiff, author and photographer, www.nancyricaschiff.com

FROM THE Lessons from Odd Jobs contest—

1. What I Learned from Really Tired Feet by Robert Hruzek in Houston, the guy who helped out a TON on this little project and spins a good ol’ yarn (a true one, mind you) about foot spray and Texas heat.
2. Lessons from Odd Jobs by Dan King, proud former employee of Yo-Yo Loco.
3. An Odd Lesson by Shalene, a former magician’s assistant.
4. Once Upon a Time I Was a Guinea Pig by me, Mark Goodyear, who once had a job where I got paid to stand around.
5. Into the Ordinary by L. L. Barkat (buy her book!) whose regular jobs help her realize “maybe there is hope for the ordinary person.”
6. I Was a Fast-Food BBQ Busboy by Brandon Satrom, who cleaned bathrooms and handled raw chicken and still learned some touching lessons about work.
7. Not a Fry Cook on Venus by Dave Zimmerman, who reviewed legal documents out of the dumpster and learned that “oddness and competence are unrelated.”
8. My Life at Labor Temp by Dan Roloff, the Editor-in-Chief of TheHighCalling.org [read Mark Goodyear’s supervisor and friend]. Dan worked some temp jobs and factory jobs where “the world looked bleak, and work looked even bleaker.” It’s a tough essay, but powerfully honest.
9. Merrie’s Big Adventure by Merrie DeStefano, who includes a truly frightening picture of gas masks.
10. A Real Saturday Post – The Odd Job by Rebecca Luella Miller, who sorted phone cords. Truly odd.
11. I’ve Been Memed! Lessons from Odd Jobs by Marlo B. Manitoba, who had some interesting jobs before she became a joyful Christian wife. Thanks for your honesty and courage, Marlo. (She even uses my ugly logo!)
12. My “Not So Odd” Jobs by Jim Garland, who went from soda jerk to carpet cleaning telemarketer without any Glengarry leads. (Mamet is one of my favorites, Jim. He’s a master of dialogue.)
13. Lessons from Odd Jobs: You’re Fired by Karl Edwards who one day “had to tell 10% of the firm that they were being laid off… effective immediately.” Yikes.
14. Snapshots from a Variety of Odd Jobs by Jim Martin who writes a very touching post about selling the same bread for different prices, mailing lady bugs, and discovering that the bosses errands include getting his wife to sign divorce papers.
15. On Meme’s and Special Things by Carl Holmes, whose job is so weird I’m a little flabbergasted. To use polite language, Carl was an agrarian flatulence technician.
16. What I Learned from Steam Cleaning Carpets by Brad Shorr, who shouldn’t move grand pianos without extra pay or agree to clean large black oil stains without getting paid up front.
17. My First Job by Gordon Atkinson who was suckered by his dad into starting a lawn care business one summer that ended up teaching him some incredible lessons about work and faith. For those of you who don’t know Gordon, he is an incredible blogger who bares his soul at RealLivePreacher.com. Check him out. Also, you can read many articles by Gordon at TheHighCalling.org.
18. Dr. Strangelove and Me: What I Learned from Riding Missiles by G. L. Hoffman, the CEO and Chairman of JobDig, who was–get this!–an an “Air Force officer in charge of a nuclear missile, in Kansas.” Not sure what awards we’ll hand out, if any. But so far, you win, GL. That is insane.
19. Lessons from Odd Jobs by Mark D. Roberts, another heavy hitter in the blogosphere who was gracious enough to participate. Mark tells a moving story of helping his employer trim the grass around her husband’s grave. Powerful stuff. Also, Mark has been writing our Daily Reflections at TheHighCalling.org for a several months now.
20. What I Learned from an Odd Job by Karen Hanrahan, who learned to love people while working at a dude ranch where the cowboys “would spit if they liked your behind.”
21. Things I Learned Being a Popsicle Man by Otto Haugland, a new blogger who makes me laugh with insights like “driving by an outdoor boy scout jamboree is Popsicle Man heaven.” HILARIOUS!
22. In the Dailies: Odd Jobs by Tanya Dennis whose job includes teaching her daughter not to sing the ‘erection song’ at Easter, and teaching her son not to hang things from… well, you’ll just have to read that one for yourself.
23. How Kids Start Off on the Entrepreneurial Trail by Yvonne Russel of b5media’s Home Biz Notes, who earned her first pay check for fetching a batch of icy paddlepops for some tired carpenters.
24. What I Learned from Being a Pregnant Usherette by Amy Palko, who learned that popcorn and morning sickness don’t mix.
25. A Lifetime of Odd Jobs by our own High Calling Blogger Chris Cree, who has had so many odd jobs he decided to list them all with a short annotation like this: “I got kicked in the teeth by a horse once. No, it wasn’t fun.” Also, you can read articles by Chris at TheHighCalling.org. It’s fun to edit his stuff.
26. What I Learned from Door to Door Sales by Lillie Ammann who was questioned by the police for trying to sell Highlights magazine to a 43 year old man.
27. What I Learned from Sweeping Up Hair by Drew McLellan who learned the value of an authentic complement and the horror of being ignored. By the way, I met Drew last year at SOBcon07. He has a good little book about marketing called 99.3 Random Acts of Marketing.
28. What I Learned From Picking Zucchini by Lisa Gates at the 360 Alliance who got fired for picking vegetables that were not long enough. (I’m tempted to put up another clip from Spinal Tap, but I won’t do it.)
29. Lessons Learned from Odd Moments on the Job by Jacob Share at JobMob who nearly knocked Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos down the stairs while trying to get some extra calisthenics into his day.
30. What I Learned from Working in a Sweet Shop by Joanna Young at Confident Writing who was left in charge of the store on her first day. She was thirteen years old, but that didn’t stop her from rising to the task!
31. What I Learned from Having a Job for a Day by Trevor Hampel who once worked at a voting station in the Australian outback where he collected 16 votes in 12 hours. Hey man, every vote counts.
32. What I Learned from … Odd Jobs by Sarah Stewart who confesses to plotting how she might convince an old lady and a monk to give her a thousand pounds or so.
33. The Strangest Job I Ever Had and Lessons Learned by High Calling Blogger Tim “Jethro” Miller at Spy Journal 3.0 who fed people’s stomachs and egos with his locally famous “bourbon burgers.”
34. What I Learned from Pumping Gas by Chris Brown who remembers when gas was only$0.35 per gallon!
35. What I Learned from Sorting Apples by Robyn McMaster who learned that First Class apples don’t really have to be perfect.
36. What I Learned from Theater Lighting by Sam Brougher who not only has some interesting lessons from working lights for The Wizard of Oz, but lists his job history and pay scale for each. The psychology of rumors pays better than landscaping.
37. What I Learned from My Two Weeks as a Tomato by Thursday Bram who wins the award for coolest name. She learned that “other people won’t find your tomato suit — or other gimmicks — nearly as embarrassing as you will.”
38. What I Learned from Being a Listening Post by Jean Browman who was a volunteer ear. Reading this story, I think Jean must be the most patient person in the world.
39. What I Learned from Odd Jobs by Patrizia Broghammer who wins the award for strangest combination of jobs. She sold tadpoles and sang communist propaganda.
40. My Non-Entry to MZMs ‘What I Learned from Odd Jobs’ by Karen H. who has a great blog that I used to visit all the time. But one thing led to another, and we lost touch. Time to fix that.
41. What I Learned from Odd Jobs by Jackie Cameron who wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself when the bank asked her to do something that was dangerous.