Dirty Jobs High School Graduation Requirements

July 15, 2008

Mike, which dirty job do you recommend we all try?

Hi Mike,

I was wondering if you had to pick one dirty job for everyone to experience and understand which one would it be.  Can you pick only one?  I have seen where it has been asked what is your favotrite and least favorite jobs were but not which one you would suggest we try.  BTW - I love the show it is by far my favorite show on TV.  Keep up the good work! -- Katie (WhiteAnemone)

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Hi Katie,

Great question.  Off the top of my head, I'd say waiter/waitress.

If everyone had to spend a few months serving food to paying customers, the species would take a dramatic turn for the better in short order.  Things like manners and expectations would improve across the board.  Empathy would skyrocket and service would improve.

Equally beneficial - garbage collector or sewerage worker.  A big part of our collective entitlement lies in the belief that we can throw or flush something "away".  We are more insulated than ever from the endless crap we leave in our wake, and walking examples of the out-of-sight out-of-mind phenomenon.  It creates an incredible lack of accountability, and that's bad in every way.  Trust me, a few months in a dump or waste water treatment plant will change the way you look at the world.  Should be mandatory for all high school graduates in my opinion.

Mike

Comments

[Jonathan Bailey Sgt]

don't know if this is the right place to suggest a dirty job, but I couldn't find where to do it anywhere on the website.
Anyways, I have a job for you. Sgt. Jonathan Bailey is currently stationed at Fort Carson , Colorado Spring, Co.
He had done 2 tours in Iraq and 1 in Korea with the 596th Infantry on the DMZ. He currently is with the 2-12 ID Infantry
Has he seen combat yes, has he been injured Yes. has a purple heart. does he train his men hard, yes he does in order to keep them safe when they return to the war zone, next year.
He's a weapons specialist. So he gets to play with really big guns !
check him out, I think he'd give you a run for your Dirty job!

[Jonathan Bailey Sgt]

don't know if this is the right place to suggest a dirty job, but I couldn't find where to do it anywhere on the website.
Anyways, I have a job for you. Sgt. Jonathan Bailey is currently stationed at Fort Carson , Colorado Spring, Co.
He had done 2 tours in Iraq and 1 in Korea with the 596th Infantry on the DMZ. He currently is with the 2-12 ID Infantry
Has he seen combat yes, has he been injured Yes. has a purple heart. does he train his men hard, yes he does in order to keep them safe when they return to the war zone, next year.
He's a weapons specialist. So he gets to play with really big guns !
check him out, I think he'd give you a run for your Dirty job!

[Jonathan Bailey Sgt]

don't know if this is the right place to suggest a dirty job, but I couldn't find where to do it anywhere on the website.
Anyways, I have a job for you. Sgt. Jonathan Bailey is currently stationed at Fort Carson , Colorado Spring, Co.
He had done 2 tours in Iraq and 1 in Korea with the 596th Infantry on the DMZ. He currently is with the 2-12 ID Infantry
Has he seen combat yes, has he been injured Yes. has a purple heart. does he train his men hard, yes he does in order to keep them safe when they return to the war zone, next year.
He's a weapons specialist. So he gets to play with really big guns !
check him out, I think he'd give you a run for your Dirty job!

[Vivianne Foppa]

I loooooooooooooooved the post!!!!

I couldn't agree more. A few months ago I worked in a cruise ship (insane! I don't reccomend it!) and some people I served was so "OH MY GOD"... (better than use others terms!)... anyway, all I know is that the experience serving paying costumers changed me forever... My idea of respect, of good services, of how to handle with stupid people, changed completely !!!! Some guests had some attitudes that makes you think about your attitude as a costumer. I didn't recognize how hard it is being away from family, friends, work almost 24/7 (in my case was 17/7!) until I became one of them. Today I have a huge respect and admiration for everybody who works serving people... I had it before, of course, after all they're humam beings too... but today I have much more... Oohh... I almost forgot... There are two words that makes a difference for people when they're serving you: Please and Thank You. It changes everything !!!!

Love and peace to all, Viv.

[Lisa]

Hello Mike. I have to say and maybe with some regret, that you are the sexiest man alive. Smart, funny, artistic, manly. You've got it all going on there. Have you ever done a dirty job in Massachusetts? I would love to know if you are coming out east. The Berkshires are stunning, Western Mass. Anyhoo, keep smiling for me and I think you should convince Barsky to ask you to take your shirt off more often. Wink, wink...Love the show!!!!

[Jeff]

Dirty Job Suggestion:
Light Bulb maintenance on the 1,000+ ft KCTV TV Tower in Kansas City, Missouri. There's no elevator for scaling this giant.....

http://www.kcpt.org/about/towertrivia.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCTV

[Charity]

Really good idea, Mike (great question, Katie!). But do you think the people most in need of a shot of empathy would actually retain the benefits? Or just go back to their "me first" ways? Love the show, etc., etc.!

[Hilary]

Mike, I want to commend you, for bringing to light the jobs that are not necessarily listed in your regular high school guidance counselor's handbook for up and coming success stories.

I do a dirty job, (sometimes) but...it's one of the more rewarding, and ...sometimes most overlooked jobs in my field: I'm a certified nursing assistant.

I help ppl everyday with things they cannot do themselves, that everyone takes for granted. Like, you REALLY take for granted. I'm not a nurse (yet) but I do the dirty work.

It's not really a job you'd want on the show :P (personal privacy issues and all that) but I wish somehow you could. :)

(try cleaning projectile vomit up off of a wall, then realize that while you were doing that, more fun came out the other end!) >.<

Keep it up, the glamorous jobs are not always the most rewarding, and definitely not always the most interesting. :)

[Luis Perdomo]

Hey, I have a job suggestion (sorry if this is not the right place to do so...)Anyway I was just watching Verminators and I have a question: what happens to all the wooden snap traps after they use them? do they throw them away? if not, who takes the rats off the traps? even better, who separates the wooden traps from the plastic traps once they are used?
Hope you can use this...
by the way I really enjoy your show...

[Brett]

Dirty Job Suggestion
I was watching the Greenland Shark Quest show and after you said "it wouldnt be a dirty job without some poo". I thought of a job entirely devoted to poo.

[jose macias]

hello mike i wondered how many years you have doing dirty jobs i been watching the show since i came to united states 3 years ago i think is awesome

[ReVeLaTeD]

Just a comment...

You talked about doing those things being mandatory? I think THE SHOW should be mandatory for all 6th graders. Not only is it good information, it's enlightening. Some of these kids these days have visions of wearing suits and working in some high rise - and lose sight of the lesser known jobs that effectively sustain our world.