Oh, the life of a firefighter: the thrills, the excitement, the esteem. If you want to be a fireman, you know you have to be strong and fearless and all that. But did you know you also need to have expertise on cleaning up messy chili? That's according to the latest Fire Department civil-service exam, as reported yesterday in the Daily News:

"As a rookie firefighter you are responsible for cleaning the kitchen. You arrive for the beginning of your shift to find the kitchen area is a mess. And there is a bowl of chili spilled on the floor from the firefighters from the previous shift. The reason the kitchen is such a mess is due to the previous crew having gone out on a call to a fire during their dinner, and they are still actively fighting the fire … What should you do with the following circumstances?"

Candidates were asked to assign a value ranging from "highly desirable" to "highly undesirable" for a series of possible actions, like "Clean the mess up, but complain to anyone who will listen" and "Wait for everyone from the previous shift to return, yell at them that they should have cleaned up the mess."

Yeah, yell at the guys who were fighting a fire. Highly desirable. Definitely.

FDNY Exam Has Them Fuming [NYDN]