When I think of worst jobs in the world, I think of some parts of my personal resume: janitor for entitled millennials, hostess to drunk bros, barista. Some other jobs, which I haven't had but seem awful when I imagine them, also come to mind: deep sea fisher, diamond cutter (seriously, my ceaseless caffeine addiction makes my already-shaking hands even more nervous; no one in the world would want my janky gemstones), graveyard shift anything, etc. One absurdly scary gig I've before never considered but am now officially ruling out: high-rise building window washer. I'm not exactly scared of heights, but this video captures window washers caught in high winds on the 91st floor of a Shanghai building and the terrifying results.
Have you ever considered the very real connection between washing windows and working as a trapeze artist? Me neither, but the clear lines between the two exist if you barely squint: They both involve going very high in the air, and both rely on cords to keep the people doing them safe from death. These brave window washers, 91 floors up on the Shanghai World Financial Center, know what I'm talking about. In the middle of what I imagine was just a routine gig, blustery windows sweep the washers mid-wash and toss them about high in the air. It looks like a murder-y pendulum:
::nervous laughter:: If you have even a minor fear of heights, you may want to avert gaze now:
Fear of heights, aka acrophobia, is actually pretty common. It stems from a problem with estimating vertical distances. And that problem is directly correlated with the intensity of that fear. Meaning, someone who is horribly afraid of heights, is also that horrible at judging vertical distances. Fear of the unknown perpetuated in a specific sense, maybe. Which seems fair. Are you afraid of heights? (I mean, we all probably are after watching this video.) There's way to conquer that. Among the many options is virtual drop, a virtual reality exercise that asks participants to cross a narrow beam suspended over what appears to be a very high height. Check out the video below for an idea:
OK, also? Doing that in even low-heel ankle boots? That alone gives me anxiety. Maybe it's time to address my own myriad of phobias...
Images: Getty Images; LiveLeak
