My Strangest Job

I know this is a stretch of a topic for an outfit post, but I was looking at these photos and thinking about how cotton dresses get wrinkly the minute you put them on, which, of course, led me to think about my days as a professional ironing girl.

What is the strangest job you've ever had?

Some jobs seem to make sense for certain people, and others not so much. But it seems that the vast majority of us have to pick up at least one or two jobs that don't quite suit our personalities at some point in our lives because of the simple fact that life costs money. For example, it makes me giggle to think that once upon a time Angel worked at Target.

Probably the most unexpected job I've ever held was that of "ironing girl" for a family wealthy enough to hire separate "ironing girls" and "cleaning girls." And yes, that's what my employer called me, "Ironing Girl."

Now, on the surface of it, it's not that odd of a job for me. I grew up with 6 younger siblings--I am very skilled at just about any household chore, and I am especially skilled at ironing. I'm fast and thorough at ironing, and I liked that the job didn't require a lot of commitment, just 3 hours once a week, and that it paid well over minimum wage.

But the experience of being someone's "ironing girl" was, I must say, rather a strange one. Every week I showed up, and headed to the basement to iron the rack of clothes, tablecloths, pajamas, etc., that would be ready for ironing (Yes, I regularly ironed pajamas and t-shirts). Sometimes my boss would sit in a chair next to the ironing board and talk to me while I ironed--mostly about her children and about how out of all the ironing girls she's ever had, she'd never had anyone that was as skillful as I was at the job. That was a constant theme in her conversation--that I was excellent at ironing. So you can imagine that it came as a shock to me that she fired me, twice.

The first time, she called me up on the day I was supposed to come and iron and told me that she could no longer have me working for her, goodbye. The next day, she called me again and told me that she was so sorry, she must have been crazy, and that of course she still needed me to come and iron for her. So I continued working for her. I knew when I got married that I would no longer be able to be her "ironing girl" because moving in with Angel would mean I would live about an hour away from her house. I told her that I needed to quit, giving her several weeks notice, and at first she responded that she would be very sad to lose me. However, the day before I was supposed to come over for my last ironing session the week before my wedding, she called me and told me that my services were no longer required, making no mention of the fact that I had already planned to quit.

For three semesters of college, I was an "ironing girl," and I did a pretty good job of it. I have to admit, the first time she fired me, I cried. I was 18 and had never been fired before, and I thought it was really strange. But the second time, I didn't. I was happy to put my career in ironing behind me!

So, what strange job have you held?