Taste Testing Candy Sounds Like a Great Gig, Right?

I've never had the opportunity to be a "professional" taste tester, though when I worked for a large over-the-counter drug manufacturer during my college days my amateur taste buds were frequently called upon. I'd be sitting at my desk, minding my own business (ie, calling friends, doing interviews for my zine, writing reviews for my zine, laying out my zine, you get the picture) when somebody would come up from the manufacturing wing with a tray of Dixie Cups and ask me and anybody else who was around to taste, describe and rate the contents.

And, being frequently hungover (in those days that is), there's nothing quite like taste-testing fruit-flavored childrens cough remedies packed with cloying artificial flavors and a texture that to this day I can recall describing as "gritty... like drinking a cup of sand". I don't think they asked me to taste test after that.

I suppose I got lucky though. My cough syrup taste tests simply left a bad taste in my mouth and some grit between my teeth. A group of candy tasters employed at Cadbury got more than they bargained for for their $10 an hour.