What is the dumbest occupational license you've seen?

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

So I'm talking with the motorcycle salesman from Wisconsin. He tells me that you need a license to sell these things. Not just a dealer license, but an individual sales license.

Guess I should not be surprised, but I'm always shocked at this stuff. I know it's government getting their take, but I attribute the development to something more major: the lazy American. I really get tired of consumers who think it's society's job to check out every merchant for them because the consumer is too lazy watching TV. playing with his phone, or playing with himself.

Okay, I know there must be something dumber than the license for the Wisconsin salesman. What have you encountered?

[oyarde]

My dumbest licenses have been OSHA ,and forklift, clamp truck , $#@! like that....

[Lucille]

This one.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/02...-a-thread.html

But the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) is cracking down on threaders, smacking them with $2,000 fines unless they obtain a cosmetologist license.

Unlike cosmetologists, these entrepreneurs do not use any chemicals, dyes, or even sharp objects in their trade.

As a result of the regulatory policy, threaders are forced to take 750 hours of classes at a beauty school, learning skills they have no intention of using in their careers.

Even worse, none of those required hours actually teach how to thread eyebrows.

All that cosmetology coursework can be expensive too: Some schools cost upwards of $20,000.

As additional perspective, an emergency medical technician only needs a month of training to be licensed.

"During the 1950s, only five percent of American workers needed a permission slip from the government to work. Today, that figure is almost 40 percent."

[mad cow]

Fingernail painting,maybe followed closely by hair-braiding.

[Danke]

Anal bleaching by a licensed Dermatologists.

[mad cow]

This one.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/02...-a-thread.html




"During the 1950s, only five percent of American workers needed a permission slip from the government to work. Today, that figure is almost 40 percent."

For my first 16+ years as a captain of a fishing boat,i didn't need a license.Then in 1995 they became mandatory.
All you need is a passport photo and you can get one too.Your Grandmother in Kansas can also get one if she wants,there is no test,Just go here,print out the form and send it in with the photo.

http://www.nero.noaa.gov/permits/forms/vopapp.pdf

However,your Grandma might not mind losing this license but it would preclude me from ever being even the lowest paid deckhand on a boat or even a lumper unloading fish at the dock if I ever lost mine.That was it's entire purpose.Control.

Here is the relevant portion from section two.

I understand that violations of Federal fisheries laws and regulations may subject me to criminal and civil penalties including fine and/or revocation of license. Further, as a condition of this operator's permit, I agree that if this permit is suspended or revoked pursuant to 15 CFR part 904, I will not be on board a Federally permitted fishing vessel in any capacity while the vessel is at sea or engaged in offloading.

And should this happen after a lifetime on the water,I couldn't even fall back on my second love,fingernail painting.

[Origanalist]

For my first 16+ years as a captain of a fishing boat,i didn't need a license.Then in 1995 they became mandatory.
All you need is a passport photo and you can get one too.Your Grandmother in Kansas can also get one if she wants,there is no test,Just go here,print out the form and send it in with the photo.

http://www.nero.noaa.gov/permits/forms/vopapp.pdf

However,your Grandma might not mind losing this license but it would preclude me from ever being even the lowest paid deckhand on a boat or even a lumper unloading fish at the dock if I ever lost mine.That was it's entire purpose.Control.

Here is the relevant portion from section two.


And should this happen after a lifetime on the water,I couldn't even fall back on my second love,fingernail painting.

There's always anal bleaching.

[mad cow]

There's always anal bleaching.

And that's about all that gives me hope,these days.

[satchelmcqueen]

hair cutting is close to the top for me. a massage license is dumb to i think. if the massage is crappy just dont go back.

[fisharmor]

My vote goes for when Stossel exposed a case in Louisiana where a florist was getting shut down for not having a state license.
To sell flowers.

"During the 1950s, only five percent of American workers needed a permission slip from the government to work. Today, that figure is almost 40 percent."

Isn't the ENTIRE POINT of being pissed off at "illegal immigrants" ultimately the fact that they're working without permission slips?
Seems to me like the percentage of permitted workers in the US is probably closer to 95%.

[pcosmar]

Vendor.

Though ASE Certifications run a close second.

[Lucille]

When I was looking into buying a food truck, I read that you had to get a food handler's license now (which have to be renewed every three years). I couldn't believe it. I started cooking in restaurants when I was 15 years old. Now you can't even be a cook in a restaurant without permission from the bloody state?

Stealing Dreams, Creating Nightmares
http://szandorblestman.blogspot.com/...ightmares.html

Many a story I have heard about the authoritarians destroying the dreams of the less fortunate as they try to make a better life for themselves. There’s the story of homeless man in California who dreamed of getting an apartment by shining shoes. After he obtained a shoe shining kit he decided to provide a service to others rather than beg in order to make a living. He was just about to make his dream come true, he had nearly saved enough to remove himself from the homeless lists, when the government stepped in and turned his dream into a nightmare. They had found out about his industriousness and they wanted their share in the form of a $400 small business registration fee, or license, or some such thing.

Then there’s a story out of South Carolina about a business which provided a service where girls who were particularly proficient at a practice known as “African hair styling” were paid to braid customers’ hair at the request of the customer. These girls were harming no one, had no complaints from clients, and were providing a valuable service, yet the government deigned it necessary to crush their dreams when it decided they had to be licensed to braid hair. They even went as far as creating a nightmare by fighting the business in their (stacked against the public) court where it was decided these girls either had to pay up and become licensed or quit braiding hair and earning money.

From shutting down bars for allowing smoking to harassing delivery men for bringing biscuits to your home, there is no shortage of stories of over reaching government changing the dreams of hard working folk into nightmarish scenarios. Most of these licensing and regulation stories have nothing to do with keeping the public safe and everything to do with legalized extortion. Mostly they prove that the laws and regulations put in place are not there so much to protect the people as they are to keep the poor from improving their lot in life and prevent competition from challenging the already wealthy and established businesses in the community. It’s a protection scheme designed to keep the rich and powerful safe and the poor dependent on them for work.

[RJB]

I worked as a CNA in a nursing home for a short while. Basically it's changing diapers for disabled, moving them from bed to wheelchair, changing bed sheets, count a pulse, read a blood pressure and thermometer gauge, etc.

Now they need a license, two semesters of college, and they pay to do free labor as an intern just to change a freaking diaper . When a week or two of on-the-job training did it.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

When I was looking into buying a food truck, I read that you had to get a food handler's license now (which have to be renewed every three years). I couldn't believe it. I started cooking in restaurants when I was 15 years old. Now you can't even be a cook in a restaurant without permission from the bloody state?

Stealing Dreams, Creating Nightmares
http://szandorblestman.blogspot.com/...ightmares.html

Totally agree with that last paragraph (that you highlighted).

[Henry Rogue]

Waterboarding license, oh wait the government doesn't need a license for that.

[Henry Rogue]

TV repair license, may not be the dumbest, but seems dumb.
http://www.bear.ca.gov/about_us/history.shtml

[Anti Federalist]

"During the 1950s, only five percent of American workers needed a permission slip from the government to work. Today, that figure is almost 40 percent."

Well now, that sure explains a lot now, doesn't it.

Even I didn't think it was that bad.

[kcchiefs6465]

Everything.

I'm amazed weekly, if not more frequently.

[GunnyFreedom]

So I'm talking with the motorcycle salesman from Wisconsin. He tells me that you need a license to sell these things. Not just a dealer license, but an individual sales license.

Guess I should not be surprised, but I'm always shocked at this stuff. I know it's government getting their take, but I attribute the development to something more major: the lazy American. I really get tired of consumers who think it's society's job to check out every merchant for them because the consumer is too lazy watching TV. playing with his phone, or playing with himself.

Okay, I know there must be something dumber than the license for the Wisconsin salesman. What have you encountered?

North Carolina.

Braiding Hair.

http://www.carolinajournal.com/artic...y.html?id=6455

RALEIGH — African hair braiders in North Carolina will soon need a license to practice their craft.

As of July 1, North Carolina will become the 18th state to require women to carry a license to braid hair.

Braiders have a year — until July 1, 2011 — to take a written and practical exam administered by the North Carolina Board of Cosmetic Art Examiners. Those who fail must spend 300 hours and thousands of dollars at a cosmetology school to relearn a skill most braiders mastered as young children.

Anyone trying to enter the field after July 2011 will have to take the 300 class hours, without the opportunity to test out.

One problem: the vast majority of hair braiders emigrated from West Africa, and most can’t read or write English. Moreover, traditional African hair braiders do not use chemicals, so they say there’s no need to provide instruction on hygiene and other safety concerns that do not apply to their skills.

more...

and:
http://state-relations-reports.blogs...uirements.html
North Carolina - One must have a Natural Hairstylist License in order to do braiding (300 hours of training required)

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

North Carolina.

Braiding Hair.

http://www.carolinajournal.com/artic...y.html?id=6455



and:
http://state-relations-reports.blogs...uirements.html
North Carolina - One must have a Natural Hairstylist License in order to do braiding (300 hours of training required)

From the article: Rep. Earline Parmon, a black Democrat from Forsyth County, said she introduced the licensing legislation for health and public safety reasons.

“Several of my cosmetologist constituents in Winston-Salem were seeing a lot of customers who had been to hair-braiding shops and were having all kinds of problems with hair breakage or chemicals that had been placed in their hair inappropriately,” Parmon said.


If there were really this damage from African hair braiding shops, then the cosmetologists would be jumping for joy. The damage done by Africans would mean even more business for the local cosmetologist.

Nothing like getting caught in your own lie, eh Parmon?

[GunnyFreedom]

From the article: Rep. Earline Parmon, a black Democrat from Forsyth County, said she introduced the licensing legislation for health and public safety reasons.

“Several of my cosmetologist constituents in Winston-Salem were seeing a lot of customers who had been to hair-braiding shops and were having all kinds of problems with hair breakage or chemicals that had been placed in their hair inappropriately,” Parmon said.


If there were really this damage from African hair braiding shops, then the cosmetologists would be jumping for joy. The damage done by Africans would mean even more business for the local cosmetologist.

Nothing like getting caught in your own lie, eh Parmon?

I blew her mind over the Racial Justice Act repeal by standing up on the house floor and calling out both sides for stupidity and incompetence, and because of the utter lack of common sense now we have to pick between pretending that statistics commit crimes instead of people, or pretending that racism doesn't exist in the justice system. I said it's like being asked if I want to get shot in the head or in the heart. What if I don't want to get shot at all? And then I voted against overriding the veto. A lot of people became very worried at that point because I had also made clear that I hated the interim budget, which we were about to vote on. So they asked me what I wanted in exchange, I said this House Resolution opposing the suspension of Habeas Corpus in the NDAA. They said, uh, no, what else do you want...

Parmon came up to me later and said she finally understood why I insisted you can't do it with statistics, numbers are not victims of racism, people are. Numbers do not commit crime, people do. When you weigh justice by location, then justice is broken. Then IIRC she left the NCGA and the RJA still has that dam statistics piece.