Ideal for: strong, able-bodied men with a thing for leather
Job Specifications: While “tanning” deceptively conjures images of basking
under a golden sun, the only similarity this job has with Mediterranean
vacations are…well, what do you know. There are no similarities. You will be
spending most of your day in a hot, enclosed barn, thick with the stench of
rotting cow flesh. Your job is to take the cow carcass, scrape off the meat
and the hair from the hide, and then place your handiwork into a pool of dog
and chicken faeces. No, I am not making that up. Apparently, the chemical
reaction between decomposing cow skin and fermenting barnyard poop helps
make the leather…cleaner (a mysterious process called de-liming). You do
this everyday, even in the peak of summer, where the sun turns the barn into
an oven and bakes the smells to even greater intensity.
Drawbacks: Be ready for a long commute. No town will agree to have a
tannery within smelling distance (approximately several miles). Plus, the
stench has a way of clinging to your clothes, so expect similar treatment
when you walk into a pub after work.
Perks: If you’re really nice to your boss, he may consider shifting you to
the sheep shearing department.
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