The things we do for money
Like I said a few blogs ago, I've done some shit jobs in my time. But this latest one is about as shitty as it gets.
No, I'm not talking about the data entry - that's still ongoing and as riveting as ever. This morning however I had a small diversion in the form of two hours training for a short-term job I'll be doing tomorrow and next Tuesday (and then hopefully never, ever again) as a fill-in for another member of staff who's off with a bad back.
The technical term is faecal grab sampling, and that just about sums it up. The poor subjects are sheep and the process involves shoving a latex-gloved finger up their arses and extracting something in excess of three grams of shit. Ten sheep, ten samples at each farm. Three farms tomorrow, two next Tuesday. It's not exactly taxing, but neither is it pleasant.
Now, I know there are some Aberdonians who'd pay good money for this work, but I left the granite city ten years ago, and I was really only ever a visitor. And before someone asks how much training you need to shove a finger up a sheep's arse, it was more to do with the marking and organisation of the sample jars, OK. Pity the poor postman who has to deliver the slightly suspect-looking packages.
No, I'm not talking about the data entry - that's still ongoing and as riveting as ever. This morning however I had a small diversion in the form of two hours training for a short-term job I'll be doing tomorrow and next Tuesday (and then hopefully never, ever again) as a fill-in for another member of staff who's off with a bad back.
The technical term is faecal grab sampling, and that just about sums it up. The poor subjects are sheep and the process involves shoving a latex-gloved finger up their arses and extracting something in excess of three grams of shit. Ten sheep, ten samples at each farm. Three farms tomorrow, two next Tuesday. It's not exactly taxing, but neither is it pleasant.
Now, I know there are some Aberdonians who'd pay good money for this work, but I left the granite city ten years ago, and I was really only ever a visitor. And before someone asks how much training you need to shove a finger up a sheep's arse, it was more to do with the marking and organisation of the sample jars, OK. Pity the poor postman who has to deliver the slightly suspect-looking packages.
Comments
hhm..
uumm...
interesting?
In case anyone's wondering why I'm going to spend tomorrow sticking my finger in sheep's nether regions - we need the shit samples to count the number of parasite eggs therein. We need to count the eggs to determine the parasite burden the animals are carrying. We need to determine the parasite burden to see how resistant to the various parasite treatments those nasty little critters are becoming.
See, it all makes perfect sense.