75 lifeguards have been hired and trained to keep a watchful eye on swimmers at the Rio Olympics.
Trust Twitter to shift focus.
First, it had a mini-meltdown when it noticed bored lifeguards keeping watch over the likes of Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky as they swam for gold in the Olympic pool. Soon, social media exploded with other such odd jobs at Rio.
Here’s a look at some of those, as found by Twitter.
1. Lifeguard at the Olympics: It was this picture really that got the ball rolling and everyone commenting on the ‘odd’ job. According to BBC, as many as 75 lifeguards have been hired and trained to keep a watchful eye on swimmers. It seems a bit useless – can they possibly out-swim Michael Phelps and his 21 medal haul, for instance? – but it’s a job that needs to be done, should someone need help. “It’s a one-in-a-million type of event, but we’re prepared,” Anderson Fertes, one of the lifeguards in Rio, told The New York Times.
If you ever feel useless, just remember that there’s a lifeguard at the Olympicspic.twitter.com/xx9HR0k3lN
— Medhat Mousa (@MMousa98) August 11, 2016
2. Condom distributors: By now you’ve probably heard reports that 450,000 condoms, 42 per athlete according to The Guardian, have been provided in the Olympic Village. What you may not know is that there are some people whose job is to deliver said condoms. Knock, knock, here’s your condom for the day. Strange job, maybe. Useless job, not so much.
Arguably the most important man at the Rio Olympics – Eduardo Fonseca, the “condom guy” with his free offerings. pic.twitter.com/DocWVviCGf
— Tom Goldman (@TomGoldmanNPR) August 1, 2016
3. Scuba diver: Like The Stig on Top Gear, a nameless faceless scuba diver hangs around the Olympic pool to provide expert and very specific assistance when required. What does the scuba diver dive for, you ask? Swimmer Kathleen Baker, who won a silver in the 100-meter backstroke the other day, lost a pearl earring in the water. Guess who retrieved it.
BOOM! pic.twitter.com/sUXeX99OTj
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) August 9, 2016
4. Arrow people: If you think your work situation is bad, think of these people whose job can literally be done by a piece of cardboard on a pole. Twitter had a field day over folks dressed in arrow-printed ponchos. Their only job was to make sure athletes went in the right direction at the ceremony. And in this case, several tweeple actually wished they were one of these arrow people.
Gonna go as one of these human traffic arrows for Halloween.#OpeningCeremony#olympicspic.twitter.com/lP5SBGgMlr
— agrandel (@agrandel) August 6, 2016
My goal in life is to be the arrows in the olympics during open ceremonypic.twitter.com/AZhlvACnWn
— Ashley Hoffman (@ash_hoffman) August 6, 2016
5. Commentators who have to pronounce tough names: We told you Twitter went into overdrive looking for these difficult jobs.
Several people tweeted about the pitiful plight of commentators having to master unfamiliar and tongue-twisting names.
Easiest job at Olympics: lifeguard
Most difficult job: commentators learning how to pronounce the athletes’ namespic.twitter.com/UPoY2RdYIJ— (((Max Meyer))) (@meyermax1) August 8, 2016
olympics highlight: listening to American commentators say Chinese gymnasts’ names. “oh a j? AND an i? dunno guys this could be tough.”
— beckers (@thebeccaning) August 10, 2016
Which of these odd jobs do you think is the oddest of all? Tell us in the comments.
