Unusual Jobs Department: Gum Scrapers of 1916

JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post

In the long term, there are no unusual jobs-- it is only the labeling of the action that makes it "unusual", especially when it comes to something like a paid occupation, and that the "payment" part is supporting someone's life.  (Some jobs are harder than others, and then there are jobs harder than almost all others, and then there are the jobs that may be the hardest--and that is a completely different story from being "odd". See this old post "The Worst Job of the 19th Century? Tongue-Pullers, Nipple-Pinchers & Anal Tobacco Blowers Try to Revive the Dead", here.)

I remember  thinking this precise thought about oddness when walking through the airport in Helsinki somewhere in the past and seeing an old woman on her hands and knees scrubbing away at the tile of the large concourse with a small brush.  It was "odd" for a moment, and then not so. She was diligently working at her job, and her job just happened to be on her hands and knees. (And in my opinion that is really the only way to clean a floor--the walking around with a mop or fancy hardwood cleaning machine just won't do.)

Which brings me to this article on Minneapolis' George White, who was a professional bubble gum scaper. "White chases the trodden sticky pellets ["quids'] from morning to night" says the writer of Illustrated World's "Little Oddities of Life" columnist in their August 1916 issue. 

Mr. White took his job seriously, devising his own solutions to loosen the gum, and his own brush. 

And of course he wore a cap. 

Just because someone is a scraper doesn't make them a scrapper--not that there's anything wrong with that, either.

Comments

[Jeff Donlan]

At some point in my early youth, I was fascinated with the job of cleaning up trash in the park using a stick with a spike on the end. Now, it is becoming ever more appealing to me again.