Random Weirdest Jobs In The White House (14 items)

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  (#9) Chief Data Scientist And Deputy Chief Technology Officer For Data Policy

  It's pretty weird when the President basically creates a job just for you. Dhanurjay "DJ" Patil is widely considered to have coined the term "data science," so it's fitting that former president Barack Obama appointed him as the White House's first Chief Data Scientist and Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Data Policy (or CDSaDCTODT for "short"). So what did the former Silicon Valley hotshot do, exactly?

  He functioned as a statistician, analyst, and "data hacker" tasked with helping the federal government to "harness the power of technology and innovation to help government better serve the American people" and better "utilize public data and make it usable by everyone." Patil calls being a data scientist the "sexiest job of the 21st century." Patil left the position in 2017, and his role has yet to be filled by the Trump administration.
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  (#6) 'Body Man'

  Also known as a "Special Assistant and Personal Aide," the President's "Body Man" takes care of their personal needs. The role is sometimes considered to be "part valet, part buddy" and was famously filled by President Obama's so-called "little brother," Reggie Love, from 2008-2011.

  Obama jokingly called him "iReggie" in a New York Times interview (“I have an iReggie, who has my books, my newspapers, my music all in one place") and the two frequently played basketball together. Love also kept the President supplied with Nicorette gum while he was quitting smoking.
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  (#12) Director Of Oval Office Operations

  No one gets into the Oval Office to see the President without getting past the Director of Oval Office Operations, a position that's basically a cross between a personal assistant and personal secretary (although the President has a separate one of those, too). The DOOO isn't a powerful politician, but as The Washington Post notes, they have "more freedom than just about anyone to go into the Oval Office unannounced."

  President Obama's DOOO and Special Assistant to the President, Brian Mosteller, almost never left the President's side when he was in Washington, attending to his every need, including readying the Oval Office every morning and "closing up shop" in the evening. He's also the guy that readied Obama's remarks and placed them on the lectern, told the Commander-in-Chief if his shirt was wrinkled, and researched what beverages various heads of state enjoyed so the President would be prepared to offer them. Several people have held this position during President Trump's administration, including Keith Schiller, Jordan Karem, and Madeleine Westerhout.
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  (#14) Executive Chef

  Cooking for the leader of the free world, the first family, and all of the illustrious guests of the White House has to be one of the most intense - and bizarre - jobs you can have in the culinary world. Former White House Executive Chef Walter Scheib puts it this way: "We’re not just around outside and next to the President; we’re physically inside of him. You really couldn’t get any more close to that. In a way, you may be one of the singularly most trusted people in the whole country."

  It's also pretty weird to know what these powerful people love to eat (Hillary Clinton, for example, had "50 or 60 different hot sauces she liked to use").
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  (#1) Usher

  A White House usher is a member of the household staff at the Executive Residence, which means they're bound to sometimes accidentally see the president nude. That's what happened to Skip Allen when he caught "The Gipper" naked in his private residence.

  He was delivering a top secret document, the story goes, when President Reagan allowed Allen to enter the residence... even though he was totally naked and dripping wet, having just stepped out of the shower. Reagan was allegedly "unfazed" and later teased Allen about the encounter... when he saw the President in his underwear later that night!
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  (#4) Portrait Artist

  While not an official position at the White House, the role of Portrait Artist is one that is nonetheless filled with every new elected President. It's a weird, unpredictable gig, too: Théobald Chartran was commissioned to do President Theodore Roosevelt's portrait in 1902, but Roosevelt hated it so much he destroyed it (he thought it wasn't masculine enough).

  John Singer Sargent was brought in to do another one, which Roosevelt loved (after giving Sargent a notoriously hard time). President John F. Kennedy's was done posthumously, requiring painter Aaron Shikler to cobble it together from photographs (Kennedy's body is actually his brother Ted's body).

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