Television personality Mike Rowe, probably most recognizable in his trademark rugged baseball cap, has traveled the US trying his hand at the least enjoyable blue-collar occupations.
In eight seasons of “Dirty Jobs” on the Discovery Channel and now in his new CNN show “Somebody’s Gotta Do It,” Rowe has spent time as an owl vomit collector, a coal miner, and a cloth diaper cleaner. But there’s one job that he is certain took the most out of him.
Rowe revealed in a new Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) that of all these jobs, the hardest was being a concrete chipper. He explains:
In general, any day that begins with a man handing you a sledgehammer and concludes with the same man taking the sledgehammer away 12 hours later is going to be a difficult day.
Toward that end, I could tell you stories about railroad workers, gandy-dancers, marble miners, or a variety of specialized construction jobs.
However, the absolute worst in terms of physical discomfort combined with soul-deadening ennui involves the cleaning of the drum on a cement mixer.
No one really thinks about it, but these trucks are in constant use.
And every time the drum spins, a thin layer of cement hardens in the interior. So by the end of the day, the inside of the drum on a cement mixer is essentially solid.
So the job in question requires a man to wedge himself inside with a pneumatic jackhammer.
Yeah.
The sound is indescribable. And the claustrophobia is off the charts.