My season working as a stripper

In the early ’70s after my first marriage breakup I was keen to get back into the workforce. Having two small children to support, I was desperate for work. I lived in a sugar cane growing area and a neighbour suggested to me to join the gang of cane strippers.

This was a group of women who arrived in a cane paddock at 7 am and formed a circle around a huge mound of burnt sugar cane. They spent the day stripping the thrash from the stalks with gloved sweaty hands and piling them into a huge heap for the purpose of planting for the next harvest. There was smoko and lunch and knock off at 4 pm. It was hard manual labour. 

I embarked on this adventure with great enthusiasm and lasted a whole season. The circle was an amazing source of local gossip where during the day stories were told and embellished. Language exchanged and opinions argued. I learned so much random information about the goings on in our town I could have written a best selling novel called “50 Shades of Thrash”!

At the end of the day we were all covered in black soot from the burnt cane. One afternoon I stopped at the local supermarket still covered in black soot to pick up a few items. A feller who was watching me curiously advanced and asked, “What is your occupation?”

“Oh I said innocently. I’m a stripper.”

He blinked, slowly backed away, loaded his bananas into his 4WD and drove off. 

What’s the strangest job you’ve ever had?