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I read an article about former NFL football players, and how they are being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease at a rate that’s 19 times higher than the general population of men aged 30 to 49. Holy smoke! I’m glad that I was too small (at the time) to play high school football. My brain is screwed up enough; I don’t need any help.
This got me thinking about risk and reward for performing dangerous activities. I remember the cautionary tale about Mike Webster, the great Pittsburgh Steelers center who died at an early age after enduring mental damage from butting heads each week. He made good money during his career, but died basically homeless. A sad story. But surely there must be jobs that carry as high a risk as football, so using data that I gathered from CareerBuilder.com, PayScale and Business Week, I compiled a list with annual salaries for dangerous jobs:
Electric Power Line Worker - $45,000
Wow, only $45K with the risk of getting zapped by high voltage. I’m glad that I went to college.
Structural Steel Worker - $39,000
While I’m not afraid to climb a ladder onto my roof, these guys are in a class by themselves. I could never walk out on a steel I-beam hundreds of feet up in the air.
Alligator Trainer - $26,000
The only way I’d get that close to a gator is if it had one of my kids in its mouth. No thanks.
Underwater Welder - $20,000 - $100,000
I love the ocean, but I’m sure this entails working in freezing water near an oil rig. Look out for sharks, and the bends.
Coal Miner - $42, 000
Mine collapses. Black Lung Disease, what a way to go. Call it an early-retirement gift. My wife wouldn’t let me in the house if I was that filthy.
Crab Fisherman - $29,000
A chance to get swept overboard in the frigid Bering Sea, and stinking of fish all the time. I love fishing, but not under those conditions.
Oil Driller (Roughneck) - $47,000
I remember John Travolta in Urban Cowboy was a roughneck. I think he had it easier when he was riding that mechanical bull. Looks like you bust your ass for that $47K.
Do you know of any other dangerous jobs that pay well? I left out the military, because they don’t pay those people enough. I wonder what they get for being on the bomb squad?
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