Weird wonderful jobs

Have you ever wondered where waste goes when you flush the toilet? What happens to the water spiralling down the drain when you shower? Why, given all the construction and heat around town, are there no bugs in sight in public outlets? Why is an ice rink so smooth, although thousands of people scratch it up daily with their skates? If you answer yes, then wonder no more.

If you answer no, then read on, you might learn a thing or two. In a slowing economy with job cuts happening left, right and centre, it is time to get creative. There are plenty of quirky jobs out there and somebody has to do them. Could that someone be you?

Pets buster

Nobody likes pests. Unfortunately, and rather unnervingly for us humans, these little menaces exist as necessary parts of the food chain. The hustle and bustle of any city provides a vibrant breeding ground for all these creatures we love to hate. Cockroaches, other bugs and rodents thrive on city expansion, human waste and lack of hygiene. So as the UAE develops and the population grows, so too does its vermin.

This reality may sound like bad news to you, but it is not for others. For pest controllers this means more business which equals profit. It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it. Notes spoke to John P. Baby, manager of Riviera Pest Control Services, who provided some insight into what it means to be a pest buster. "Pest control is about public health& . Pest control is different from pest eradication& we use chemical, biological and physical methods to control the problem& we don't eradicate it," said Baby. The company signs annual maintenance contracts with clients that include hotels, residential buildings and other public outlets, as part of their hygiene upkeep.

For the routine maintenance of an average 30-storey building, one litre of pesticide is used. "We do both night and day treatments& at night we do it [pest control] in the late hours after restaurants are closed and kitchen activities are stopped& because pest control means the usage of pesticide which is poison," he said. "We train them [technicians] by introducing them to the subject and preparing them for what they have to deal with" he said. The pesticide sprays and gels used in the UAE are imported.

The most pressing pest issues in the UAE are cockroaches, rats, bed bugs and termites. Cockroaches are mainly attracted by a lack of hygiene or are transported into homes by anything brought from outside i.e. shopping. All it takes is two roaches to start breeding and there you have it, a whole family. There are three typical types of roaches in the UAE: American (the biggest kind), German and Oriental (more prone to human contact).

"If you look at the history of cockroaches, there is a story that when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, everything living was destroyed except the cockroaches& which shows you roaches are used to living under extreme conditions," Baby said. Rats are poisoned or trapped with locked bait stations, mechanical traps or highly sticky glue pads which are strategically placed to lure the rodents. "I've been to premises where there was a high level of [rat] infestation.

Once you walk into a room it will tell you the story," he said. Baby has been in the pest control business for more than 15 years. "I was not initially into this but it's a very interesting subject, you get to learn a lot& everybody needs pest control, it's a very attractive business& you are providing a service where your investments are good but returns are high," said Baby. "When I came here in 1995 and started this job, the challenges were not so great. Over the years the number of pest control companies has increased. Dubai Municipality is doing a lot to control the situation& but as per my personal experience I believe the problems have increased a lot over the years," he said.

So if you are ever in a financial jam just pick up a can of pesticide. For all you animal lovers, zoo keeping beats the regular 9-5 office job. There are zoos in Sharjah, Dubai and Al Ain, housing a wide range of wild and exotic creatures. "The animals are like my friends," said a zookeeper Notes spoke to, who wishes to remain anonymous for personal reasons. Zookeeping is a job for early birds. Rising at the crack of dawn (5.30am) his shift begins at 7am with the morning rounds, and ends at 6pm. His first order of business is to inspect each animal.

"I make a round early, every morning checking the animals." What does he check for? "Broken cages, sickness, disease, injury, deliveries and emergency cases," he said. Then comes a house clean. The animals are tempted with food into a temporary holding cage inside their residence. Keepers scrub down their dwellings and restock bedding and water, after which breakfast is served. "The chimps eat fruit and enjoy milk, sandwiches and tea for breakfast," said the zookeeper. Not so different from us humans. They get unwell and feel pain like us, too. In case an animal is sick, the zookeeper first takes a look. If he is unable to handle the illness and distress persists, a veterinarian is called in to treat the critter.

"It's too dangerous to go inside the cages normally, but if it is sick I go in to comfort it& they know me," he said. The carnivores are fed once a day in the evening. The lions, tigers and bears are treated to any form of meat or poultry. The more elegant vegetarians, like the giraffes, are visited inside their cages and delivered a fresh stack of greens to wrap their long tongues around.

The zookeeper began working with animals as a young boy. "Back home in my country I raised birds, parrots, chickens and other animals." And now over three decades later he is still at it. Not only does he care for the animals, but has developed a new passion for building cages as well. It is a job far from mundane and surely not for the faint-hearted. No formal qualifications are required, although motivation, a love for animals and an easygoing attitude towards getting your hands dirty are a definite plus.

A degree in zoology, biology, veterinary science or animal welfare may also come in handy. But if you do not want to wait four years to get close to the animals, volunteering at a zoo is your starting point. When asked if he would rather be doing something else the zookeeper replied: "I love my job; why else do you think I've been here so long?"


For those of you gifted with balance, able to whiz around an ice rink, doing all your twists and turns; or for those of you less experienced, stumbling onto the ice in too-tight skates, intimidated by the resonance of blades slicing the icy surface as show-offs shoot past you - have you ever stopped to wonder exactly how that big block of ice is kept intact in a country with such a warm climate?

Richard Rowlands is an ice technician and operations manager at the ice rink in the Dubai Mall. He is the man in charge when it comes to the smooth running of the ice rink. He spoke to Notes about what it takes to build and maintain a peaceful gliding experience for all you ice skaters.

The 29-year-old began skating at the age of eight and went on to win the Junior World Skating Championships for Britain five times. Before coming to the UAE he built and operated four of his own portable ice rinks in the UK. "A concrete pad is the base of the ice; it makes water freeze through pipes laid through it, running an anti-freeze liquid called glycole," Rowlands said.

The liquid runs through the pipes, allowing the system to be chilled up to minus 14 degrees Celsius. Hot water is thenpoured onto the concrete, creating the ice we enjoy so much. Rowlands also taught his team of ice marshals and stewards how to skate and be effective 'lifeguards' of the rink, as well as to drive the zamboni. What's that, you might ask. The zamboni may sound like a Roman ice cream flavour, but it is actually a world leading ice resurfacer.

A truck-like vehicle used to smooth the surface of an ice rink, it was originally invented and developed in 1949 in Paramount, California, US, by Frank J. Zamboni. "As a skater or a person at the ice rink, seeing the zamboni going round makes you want to drive it. There is even a band that sang: 'I want to drive the zamboni'& it's the thrill of driving a four-and-a-half tonne machine on ice without sliding and crashing& it takes a lot of practice" he said.

"After two hours of skating the ice can get cut up, bumpy, snowy, leaving grooves," said Rowlands. The zamboni leaves the ice "perfectly smooth". It takes 15 minutes to resurface the Olympic-sized rink and it is done every two hours. "I've trained all the staff and zamboni drivers and have been using it myself for 12 years," he said. A big term in ice world lingo, the zamboni is an electrically powered four-wheel-drive with studs on its wheels. At the rear of the machine, 70 inch blades have been fitted that trawl the ice's surface, laying down a fresh load of hot water that freezes in five minutes.

"The blades are lowered onto the ice, according to how much you want to take off the top layer." The surface is scraped off and replaced. The useless snowflakes are then dumped into the snow tank and left to melt and drain to use over again. "The water is recycled, which is environmentally friendly& the zamboni runs on industrial-sized batteries and has no emissions," said Rowlands. The former skating champion skates till this day and would rather not be doing anything else. If you ever wondered what happens to the matter you flush down the toilet then relax and take this watery journey.

The world we live in faces a water shortage and it is businesses like UAE-based Orient Irrigation Services (OIS) that are capitalising and successfully tackling the issue. OIS is a private water treatment company. Notes spoke to Nozad Jamil, chief engineer of water treatment at OIS. "The yearly rainfall/snowfall is more or less quantity wise the same, but our demands [as humans] are increasing. So year after year there will be [a lack of] good quality water.

There is different quality drinking quality and water used for industrial purposes and agriculture. If we put these [water sources] all together, as usable water, not sea water, this quantity is not enough," he said. Desalination, a process of removing excess salt and minerals from water for conversion into fresh water suitable for human consumption and irrigation, is one source, but very expensive. "The cheapest and best way is to recycle as much as you can." One method to recycle water is by "treating your own sewage, which we [in the industry] call domestic sewage," said Jamil.

Many hotels around the country are not connected to the city's central sewage lines operated by the municipality. To maintain their luscious green gardens, OIS collects and recycles their domestic waste to be reused for irrigation. "The sewage gets collected in sewage lines [pipes]& then needs to be treated. The majority of solid items in liquid sewage can be degraded by oxidisation. [Meaning] the bacteria can do the job," he said. There are two kinds of major bacterial groups, ones which thrive on oxygen (aerobic organisms) and ones that require no oxygen for growth (anaerobic organisms), the smelly kind.

The domestic waste or 'incoming raw sewage' is dumped into 'the washing machine' which looks like a giant blender. In there, it is mixed around and 'aired' by pumping oxygen inside, liquefying the solid bits. The mixture is now moved to another tank for 'mechanical settling', where it settles. The sludge or 'activated sludge' sinks to the bottom of the tank and the clear water or 'secondary effluence', rises to the top.

The 'secondary effluence' is then sent for a third purifying process or 'tertiary treatment' before use. The "activated sludge at the bottom of the settling tank, goes partially back to the first tank, required for our biological process, and partially to the sludge holding tank&This mixed sludge has a concentration of one per cent solids, which means it has a lot of water in it," Jamil said.

In some cases the sludge is pressed to remove all the water producing 'cake', or human soil. And guess what? It is, in some cases, used to fertilise the grass we frolic and picnic on. So the next time you flush, remember there is money to be made going down that drain.


Top 10 worst jobs

for men:
1. Flatulence Analyst
2. Mosquito Researcher
3. Carcass Cleaner
4. Exorcist
5. Roofer
6. Lab Technician
7. Recycling plant worker
8. Crime Scene Investigator
9. Plumber
10. Boxer

for women:

1. Hospital Clean up Crew
2. Maid
3. Crime Scene Cleaner
4. Bikini Waxer
5. Sewing Machine Operator
6. Commercial Laundry Worker
7. Home Shopping Network Customer Testimonial
8. Veterinarian
9. Day Care Centre Teacher
10. High School Guidance Counsellors

Source: http://www.worst-jobs.com "Those guys on the Brainiacs show on Discovery Channel. They do weird experiments." what's the weirdest job you've come across juzar ishaq, marketing, AUS
Photo:Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Gulf News

Richard Rowlands, operation manager of the ice rink in the Dubai Mall, drives a zamboni on the rink. The zamboni smooths and polishes the ice to make it easier to skate on.

Sewage treatment plant operators of Orient Irrigation Services at the Dutco treatment facility in Jebel Ali.

PHOTOS:HADRIAN HERNANDEZ/Gulf News

PHOTO: VAZHISOJAN/Gulf News

Pest control workers spraying apartments and the swimming pool area at Jumeirah Towers in Dubai

Animals at Dubai Zoo struggle to keep cool in the searing temperatures.

PHOTOS: GN archive