Strange Job
Thursday, September 21st, 2006 -- J. DoeToday I had a job interview. One of the questions that the interviewer asked me was “What was your strangest job ?”
I thought about it for a few seconds then answered “It was probably when I did a 2 week temporary assignment at XXXX company.”
“Oh, I used to work there”, replied the interviewer.
“Open mouth. Insert foot” I thought. I made a faux pas as they say in France, but as it turned out she worked in a different division in a different state.
It was (is) a multi-national, global company…
I worked in the R&D (Research and Development) section of a branch of the company that made, as one of it’s products, sanitary napkins.
Sanitary napkins are made on an assembly line. A machine cuts all the layers of fabric, another machine puts them together, another machine cuts out the shape and seals them, and another one packages them.
They never are touched by human hands, and thousands are created at a time. I however was working on a project to develop a new type of sanitary napkin, one using peat moss as it’s middle layer. We were to make them by the hundreds, so we were to do everything by hand (or manually operated machines).
The year was 1988, so sanitary napkins were quite thick with several layers.
After cutting many during the day, I was covered in sanitary napkin dust.
No Happy Hours for me. I went straight home after work to shower.
Imagine going to a bar and having to explain just what exactly the white stuff all over my hair and clothes is. Not something I wanted to do.
I remember on my first day when I was shown the employee break room.
There were 2 refrigerators.
One had a sign on it that said “Do Not Use for Food”.
The employee showing me around explained that that refrigerator contained what they called “Dracula’s tea bags” or in laymans terms, used sanitary napkins.
She explained that the first group of temporaries made some of these peat moss sanitary napkins and a group of women used them and wrote about their experiences.
They then returned them in paper bags to be examined and smelled by some scientists. I am happy to say that was not my job.
I also remember a big vat with a faucet on the side. The employee told me that it was called the “period machine”.
It was filled with some kind of chemicals that looked like menstrual blood.
“It’s cheaper than the real stuff” she told me knowingly.
I just nodded my head in agreement, as if I had a “period machine” at home.
One day the period machine had a leak and there were little menstrual blood puddles on the floor.
“Eww” I thought “that’s gross”.
Even though in reality you probably find worse stuff spilled on a McDonalds restaurant floor.
Skipping ahead 3 years, I was in a supermarket walking down the aisle with sanitary napkins, and lo and behold, I saw this company’s sanitary napkins with “absorbent peat moss”. I felt a moment of pride. I was a part of the long project to make them.
That was my strange job. I’m sure there are stranger ones out there, but this is one of mine.
This is a weird job. I have no idea how you get into this line of work but the Dracula’s tea bags grossed me out. Yuck! I think mortician is a pretty horrible job too, I know it has to be done but I don’t think I could do it.
This was a temporary job. I registered at a temp. job agency and they called me saying that this big company requested several temps for a 2 week assignment so I went. I don’t think either me or the job placement person knew exactly what the asignment was about until I actually showed up.
Some people were grossed out by it, others were amused.
No kidding, what an odd job!! But so amusing to read.
i remember when you worked there!
HAhahah !!! That’s a memory maker, for sure.
oh come on, chief smeller would have been a plum job!