Hidden Professions: 35 Surprising Jobs You Never Knew Existed

There was once a profession called being a "donkey puncher" whereby a man would operate a steam-driven winch in logging or mining operations, called a steam donkey.

27. It was the job of a Town Crier in Germany to remind the local populace not to defecate in the river every time its water was drawn for brewing beer.

28. The job of a “Chicken Sexer” is to check a chick’s anus to determine its sex.

29. There is a service in Japan where you can rent middle-aged men for ¥1000 (9$USD) an hour. The men, who have previous or current experience in a range of professions from engineers to marketing managers, meet up with their charges in person to offer everything from life advice to music lessons.

30. Some Japanese noblewomen of the Edo period had servants who were employed to take the blame for their farts if they passed gas in front of others. This was done by the servant 'confessing'/verbally proclaiming it was her at the moment.

There is a profession where you can become a professional cuddler, where customers will pay to have someone to cuddle with in a platonic manner.

32. American coal breakers up to the 1920s relied on breaker boys aged from 8 to 12 who separated impurities from coal.

33. Ancients measured long distances by hiring "bematists." They were trained to count steps while walking between locations and could measure hundreds of miles with more than 95% accuracy. Eratosthenes used one to accurately calculate the circumference of the Earth within 15% in 240 B.C.E.

34. America recruited 29 Navajo-speaking men during World War 2, who later came to be called Navajo code talkers. They had created a brand new set of code words in the Navajo language, which even if intercepted could not be translated by the enemy forces.

35. Some of the first dwarfs to have their histories recorded were employed as court dwarfs. They were owned and traded amongst people of the court, and delivered as gifts to fellow kings and Queens. With dwarves, Royals appeared much larger and they visually enhanced their powerful position.