In Colombia, as a foreigner, you could find some job quite particularly. Some of them are actually not official jobs but a lot of people live thanks to them. Let's see two of them…
An informal job where the people with this duty have many responsibilities around the journey for both, the passengers and the driver. The most important responsibility of these workers consists in recollecting money from the passengers and helping them to get on the bus. In addition, these people have to ensure passengers comply with the journey rules, such as giving the seat to pregnant women or the people who have discapacities. As a result of this, the pay that the “bus assistant” receives at the end of the day depends on how many people use the bus as a way of transport. This job is not well paid, which means that these people have to work many hours, around ten or twelve hours to receive more money. All These aspects mentioned before make this job look weird for foreigners when they visit Colombia.
Another unusual job foreigners would find weird would be public cars watchmen. In this informal work a person takes some responsibility with the external security of your car in order to receive a “voluntary” tip before you leave the place. The tasks of these workers depend all on the amount of interest they have with the activity. Some of them will not just only take care of the parts of your car, they could cover it from the sun, and if you give a generous tip, they could even wash it. In this order of ideas, some foreigners may get surprised because the owners of the cars just park in any place as long as there is a “Watchman” there. Even more, some owners leave the car in prohibited places trusting the fact that the watchman will look for their car. Apparently, you could find one of these people in any crowded street.
