Sewage!
Student job, not made up.

I worked for Unigate Dairies during the summer of '76. Due to their large use of water, they had their own unit at the Severn Trent sewage farm, in which I was put to work.

"Work" involved sitting for a 12 hour shift watching a dial which measured the ph of the liquid passing through. When the factory released their alkaline effluent, the dial on the monitor hit the red end, and I had to go and release acid into the water trough and swish it round, thus neutralising the alkaline effect, making the liquid fit to be fed into the rest of the sewage works process. Two of us worked 12 hours on, 12 hours off. We never knew what time the effluent was released, it could be any time of the day or night.

It was so boring that I designed a wooden baffle to slot into the trough so that I didn't have to do the swishing (it hurt my arm after all!) The whole work process lasted for a maximum of 20 minutes. The rest of the time we spent sunbathing, reading, learning how to play backgammon and generally living the proverbial Life of Riley!

What's more, my weekly wage was equivalent to my first month as a teacher. down to earth with a bump!
( The Lone Groover has mal des nuts., Thu 9 Sep 2010, 20:55, Reply)