roustabout

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Look up roustabout in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

A rouseabout throwing a freshly shorn fleece onto a wool table for skirting and classing.

Roustabouts unloading cotton from steamboat ca. 1900.

A roustabout is a labourer typically performing temporary, unskilled work. The term has traditionally been used to refer to traveling-circus, natural gas, or oil rig workers.

An oil "roustabout" refers to a worker who maintains all things in the oil field. He or she sets up oil well "heads," oil lead lines connected to stock tanks. Roustabouts will maintain salt water disposal pumps, lease roads, lease mowing, create dykes around tank batteries on a lease, etc. An oil roustabout has no limits in the oil industry and can, and will do any and all oil field work, including roughneck drilling, oil well completion and well service, and even chemical work. An oil field roustabout will also do all things that an oil field "pumper" would have to do.

In the southern United States, mid to late 19th century, roustabout was used to refer to unskilled labour working on or loading and unloading steamboats.^[1] In reference to the Mississippi River fire and subsequent sinking of the Steamer Josie Harry:

NY Times, Dec 15, 1883, "A Steam-Boat Burned": "...The fireman and greaser and two roustabouts jumped into the river..."

A variation in spelling, rouseabout (often abbreviated to 'rousie'), is commonly used in Australia and New Zealand to refer to shedhands who pick up wool after it has been taken from the sheep's back during shearing operations.^[2]

"Roustabout" is also an official classification of natural gas and oil rig personnel. Roustabouts working on oil/gas fields in the north of the United States typically perform various jobs requiring little training. However, they frequently turn out to be long-term employees and take on more difficult and sometimes dangerous jobs as they gain experience. Most go on to at least become roughnecks if they work for the rig company for more than a few months.

An early 2010 survey by Careercast.com of best and worst jobs — based on five criteria: environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress — rated 'roustabout' as the worst job.^[3] Nonetheless, the anecdotal and subjective experience of an actual roustabout reveals the excitement of a challenging, adventurous job.^[4]

In popular culture

The term was used in Disney's 1941 animated film Dumbo, during a musical scene in which a group of African-American labourers pulled circus materials off the train for construction. Roustabout was a 1964 musical movie starring Elvis Presley, Barbara Stanwyck, and Joan Freeman in a story set in a traveling carnival — for which Presley recorded the song titled "Roustabout". The term is used in the song "The Mariner's Revenge Song", by The Decemberists. "Roustabout" is also the name of a song recorded by the bluegrass band, Open Road, on their album Lucky Drive. The term is also used by Beats Antique for two songs off of their album Collide. The Slamball team Rousties is named after a roustabout. Roustabout Ltd in the UK is a Marquee design and hire service specialising in festivals and event hire. (See: "Roustabout Ltd". http://www.roustabout.ltd.uk/. )

Richie in the BBC Bottom (TV_series) shouts the insult "Now look here you roustabouts!" from the top of a ferris wheel in "episode 13, time 2:03". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdT5aazO9gI.  ^[5]

See also

• Roughneck

References

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