No none of that relates to the job they have. I think I worded my question incorrectly, or maybe you didnt interpret it correctly. What I mean is, "how can one set themselves up career wise to encounter unconventional people". Not, "how can I judge people I don't know based on their profession".
@ James,
My clumsily expressed point was that most people have an unconventional and interesting side to them if you look for it. I meant no offense, and in case I wasn't actually answering your question.
If you want to meet interesting people, I recommend social work in psychiatry field. I really enjoyed it. It was like they paid me to sit there and people came to my room and told me all kinds of interesting things and gave me complicated, really unique problems to solve. The problem solving is what I enjoy the most, so I liked it.
Of course, there is a tragic side to it, but basically, if you took the patient's claim by face value and started to think how to solve it, it led to some of the most memorable things I've ever encountered. Like there was a patient who drank a lot of water. We wondered why, and finally figured out that it was because her medication came in a box by a Swedish medicine brand called Bluefish. She told us that she believed there was fish inside her (the box said so!), and she feared it would die without water. It was logical, actually. I found the most delusions were, in the own way.
Also, the doctors and nurses who work in the field, tend to have excellent, dark sense humour. It helps to deal with unexpected.
That reminds me of another "job" that presented those opportunities.
I volunteered at the local animal shelter. Started out just walking dogs every week and the director got to know me and one day asked if I'd like to take a dog on a weekly field trip.
They'd screen dogs for the task and I would take them to institutions where people could benefit from interaction with them. Went to senior citizen place first and later became regular at some kind of "halfway house".
Met a lot of interesting and different people. I was always trying to figure out when I met someone new: what was their thing? It wasn't always very obvious. In fact, there were several that I deemed to be perfectly normal. But maybe that reveals too much about me?