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Would you be a puke cleaner for $70,000 a year, or body bagger for $200,000? [Link via JeffD]

Jeff said he would do both, but I’d only try the puke cleaner job for a year. As a bonus, you also get a free pass for all JR and Shinkansen lines nationwide. As for the body bagger? The images would be too ingrained into my head and not worth the money.

While low status, these jobs on the JR Lines pay upwards of 3,000 yen per hour to start and after only 5 years get up to about 9,000 ( 86$ USD) per hour. Shinjuku Station has 4-6 full time staff whose job it is to clean up after drunks. They don’t have to do anything else. They sit in the drunk cleaning crew lounge and watch tube and play cards until they get the call. The other cleaners ain’t allowed to clean up human excrement according to JR rules and Japan’s strict hygiene laws that require lots of training and exams for even the easiest jobs.

This very untalented crew only work from 6pm-2am and get a plush, free room in the station to crash out in after they missed the last train home. Other stations have 1-2 staff who fan out to service several nearby stations when called. They also get an free pass for all JR and Shinkansen lines nationwide. No other JR staff other than the top management get this perk. The overnight vomit cleaning crew has the lowest turnover in all of JR. There is a 3.5 year waiting list just to take the exam for this job. You are better off getting another job at JR and trying to get promoted from within.