Can we talk for a minute about my latest obsession?

Ok, I probably shouldn’t go as far as to call it an obsession, but I am very curious about it.

Sign twirling.

Like this guy. And this guy.

I know I have a few readers from places other than Tucson, so I am dying to know… do you have sign twirlers there?

I am distractible. It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but it’s true.

While stopped at a red light, I can get stuck waiting for them to drop their sign staring at one of these guys until the guy in back of me is nice enough to beep and remind me to stop gawking.

Sorry if that was you behind me.

Seriously, it’s an art. I noticed SO many of them during the summer that I was sure they had to get paid mucho-bucks in order to stand out there in 110 degree heat twirling away.

Turns out they don’t. From what I can gather (you know, in my extensive research on the subject) they make between $10-15 an hour.

Want to know more?

They usually work in shifts of 5-8 hours.

Many get tendonitis of the wrist after a few months on the job.

They are sometimes called “human directionals.”

They love their “anti-jobs.”

There is a hierarchy of sign twirlers in each city.

If you own a company and want to hire a twirler, you can request one that you have seen “in action.”

Wow. Seriously?

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 4:59 pm and is filed under Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.