‘Want a job resembling Joe Exotic’ — recruiter hopes ‘Tiger King’ will entice prospects

An Air Force recruiting office in Ohio is hoping the scintillating popularity of Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, better known as the bleach-blonde mullet aficionado Joe Exotic, will yield results as recruiters struggle to keep up in an evolving landscape beset by COVID-19.

Air Force Recruiting Portsmouth, Ohio, posted the solicitation Wednesday, referencing the wildly captivating Netflix documentary, “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.”

“Have you been so intrigued with the Tiger King that you may be thinking you want a job resembling Joe Exotic carrying a gun or working with animals?” the recruiting office posted, alongside side-by-side images of Joe and Carol “Hey, all you cool cats and kittens” Baskin.

Go on...

“Well in the Air Force we have a career field that you can do both!”

To follow in Joe’s eccentric footsteps, recruits can pursue a career in handling weapons and animals — dogs, in this case — as security forces K-9 handlers, the office suggested.

Or, mimic a lifestyle similar to Carol “I don’t know where Don Lewis is” Baskin as an entomologist — or in the Air Force’s case, a pest management specialist.

“You’d be responsible of relocating and removing animals that get in the way of our Air Force Operations,” the office said.

Love the smell of roadkill in the morning.

No matter the similarities between a career as an airman and that of Joe Exotic, members of security forces will at least never have to inform a room full of customers that, “Just about an hour ago we had an incident where one of the employees stuck their arm through the cage and the tiger tore her arm off. ... I can give you your money back or I can give you a rain check.”

Air Force officials would not specify whether achieving country music expertise would be part of the enlistment bonus.

“'Cause I saw a Tiger. Now I understand. Well, I saw a tiger. And a tiger saw a man.”

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