Character Jobs

I've written before about the tendency to give characters either 'cool' jobs, or an ambiguous job that doesn't interfere with the plot, or some combination of the two. I've also said before that I dislike the the fact that so many characters in Fictionland (and even more so in Fantasyland) look down on both manual labour and on 'cube farm' office jobs. All manual labourers are dumb and have no desire to get out of Dull Rural Fantasy Town #1,250, while all office workers are repressed, boring, and hate what they do. Unfortunately, there seems to be a very small number of jobs in Fantasyland which authors deem acceptably interesting, which contributes to the problem of rehashing the same overused plots.

As someone who is strongly identified with my 9-5 office job*, I'd like to see a bit more diversity. There's plenty of interesting stories that could be hatched by authors willing to think outside the paranormal investigator box. Think about what jobs make your fantasy world run. Are their specialty grocery stores which cater to creatures which go bump in the night? Are there marriage counselors who deal with all the interspecies marriages which inevitably go belly-up? If a werewolf gets hit by a bus, do they need a paramedic who is familiar with their particular anatomy and physiology**? Do community colleges offer associates degrees in communicating with poltergeists? Can you get a PhD in alien languages? Do dragon trainers post fliers at the local vet, offering their services to people whose cart-pulling wyrvens keep eating the neighbourhood sheep? Do teachers need special training to deal with the offspring of the aforementioned human/non-human pairings who show up in their classrooms? Are there lawyers and lobbyists who deal with inter-species rights issues? All of those people could have absurdly interesting jobs in a sci-fi or fantasy universe and provide you with more than enough plot whilst they're stuck at the office.

Alternately, someone could have (*gasp*) an entirely 'normal' job which influences their interactions with the rest of the characters and plot. Perhaps the main plot occurs at their 'off the books' work or in their personal life, but there's no reason that their day job as a bus driver or telemarketer or physics teacher can't influence the plot.

*I'm a data scientist. We are awesomesauce. 
**Like most greyhound owners, I had to shop for a 'greyhound-savvy' vet for Jack, as the breed has  unusual enough blood chemistry and drug sensitivities to cause flusterment in non-specialised vets; surely the physiological differences between a were-creature and a human is greater than that between a greyhound and a bulldog.