Top 20+ strange jobs people actually had and (mostly) loved: 'Working as a professional sleeper for sleep studies'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Aug 7, 2024 8:00 AM EDT

We've all come across a bizarre job advertisement on the internet that made us consider the most out-of-left-field career pivots. Perhaps you have found yourself stuck in your current industry with no sign of a promotion or upward mobility. You consider quitting on the spot but you've got rent and bills and you don't want to risk having zero income for an unforeseeable amount of time.

Then, out of nowhere, you see the job posting you never knew you needed, one you never could have predicted either. If you're one of these Redditors, who shared the strangest jobs they ever had throughout their professional careers, that posting could have been a translating job that ultimately involved no work or expertise whatsoever, a professional sleeper for various sleep studies, and a professional "untangler" of Christmas lights. Hey, whatever pays the bills, as they say!

Keep scrolling below for the full stories. For more, check out this story about a raucous family of Karens at a restaurant and the decent customers that defended their server.

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  • 01
    "The strangest job I've ever had was being a trampoline tester at an amusement park."
    via Flavius Les
  • 02
    Bunnyagents 12h ago . Oh man, I've had my share of odd jobs, but this one takes the cake. A few years ago, I was hired as a Professional Line Waiter. Yep, you read that right. My job was to stand in line for people who didn't want to waste their time.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 03
    It all started when the latest iPhone was about to drop. A local entrepreneur hired me to be the first in line so he could snag the phone and resell it at a premium. Word spread, and soon I was getting calls from people who needed someone to stand in line for all sorts of things: concert tickets, Black Friday deals, exclusive restaurant reservations, even limited-edition sneaker releases.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 04
    The strangest part? I became somewhat of a local celebrity. People would recognize me and ask, "Who are you waiting for this time?" I'd get offers for line- waiting gigs weeks in advance. It was surprisingly lucrative, too. Some clients were willing to pay big bucks to avoid the hassle.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 05
    I once spent 36 hours in line for a highly-anticipated video game release. Camped out with a portable charger, snacks, and a good book, I made friends with fellow line-waiters, shared stories, and even networked a bit. It was like a bizarre, temporary community.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 06
    The whole experience was a mix of boredom, excitement, and a dash of absurdity. Eventually, the demand died down, and I moved on to more conventional work. But to this day, whenever I pass a long line, I can't help but think, "I could be making bank right now."
    via thaibabe_11
  • 07
    So, if you ever see someone standing in line with an absurdly comfortable camping chair and a grin, it might just be a professional!
    via thaibabe_11
  • 08
    Echo Ellies 11h ago . So far pet food taster, what makes it strange is because some of them tasted good to me, so I ask myself "Am I a pet?"
    via thaibabe_11
  • 09
    Galactic_Goose_3 · 11h ago • Working as a professional sleeper for sleep studies.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 10
    Resident-Paper15 • 12h ago Not a real job, but when I was a kid a neighbor (old lady,) paid me to watch her dog in her garden while she was inside her home.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 11
    Her dog was old and didn't move a lot. Mostly laying in a shady place and enjoying life. I was sitting there looking at the dog getting 50 bucks a week. I always wondered what she was doing inside that she couldn't take care of her dog and that almost every day in summer time
    via thaibabe_11
  • 12
    annnamey • 10h ago I once got paid to untangle Christmas lights for an entire afternoon
    via thaibabe_11
  • 13
    diyujian 10h ago I used to be paid to hangout with others and i dont even mean in an way. Like literally "can you wait in line with me for these new shoes i'll pay you $200".
    via thaibabe_11
  • 14
    . gaijinandtonic • 9h ago I responded to a gig request in Japan to translate a company's business materials into English. I showed up to the company in an old office building and it was just one old guy. He was pleasant and asked me to sit while he got some tea and cookies. He started telling me stories about living in America in the 80's and other travels. I kept asking "should we get started with the translation?" but
    via thaibabe_11
  • 15
    he kept getting sidetracked with stories. Eventually we opened up some materials....and they were already translated! He asked me to make sure the translations were correct and they were perfect. When our time was up, he handed me an envelopes with 50,000 yen in it, thanked me and showed me the door. I never found out what that company did, but I made a lot of money for doing nothing.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 16
    Lvcivs2311 9h ago • Walking around in a 10 kg armour, sandals and a "dress" (sorta) every day in a historical park. Yes, without trousers if the weather allowed that. However, the strangest bit weren't the clothes, the tasks or even the weirder ones amongst the visitors. Nothing could beat the way that place was run by a complete madman.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 17
    Ok_Distance9511 • 11h ago Company was migrating from one customer information database to another. They didn't want to do it automatically, for whatever reason, so they hired a few students (I was one of them) to type it manually. So I spent an entire summer typing names and addresses into a system. It was ok, I was 19 years old, made good money.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 18
    • Venture_compound 9h ago When I was a ranch hand, I had to put down the mule that kicked Frankie Muniz. I quit pretty soon after that. Apparently Frankie lost most of his memory of filming Malcolm in the Middle because of that mule. Still, he was just being a mule and didn't deserve to do
    via thaibabe_11
  • 19
    . EclipseEagle_21 • 11h ago Service crew, so many karens
    via thaibabe_11
  • 20
    tizod 10h ago • I had a summer job in high school which involved repeatedly calling directory assistances to get people's phone numbers.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 21
    This was waaay before the internet so the way you got someone's phone number was to either look it up in the phone book or call 411 and give them someone's name and address and they would give you the number. Each shift I was given a print out of a giant list of names and addresses and had to call 411 over and over. We could ask for two listings per call.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 22
    Here's where it really got odd. We would work from about 9pm until 5am and it was ran out of a guy's apartment. The guy who owned the business/apartment was a paraplegic so he could only get around in a motorized wheel chair. He was also a huge pot head so every night he would pass out around 11pm in his chair and we would steal some of his pot and get high and make the calls all night. Paid cash.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 23
    ChairmanLaParka 9h ago I worked for a company that made rubber gaskets for windows. I worked in the factory. Wearing a giant aOspacesuit looking thing that protected me from getting chemical burns during work.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 24
    I had to stand in front of a giant, probably 30 foot long, 5 foot wide "salt bath". basically the stuff they used to make the gaskets. My entire job was regulating the temperature to keep it in optimal range. It had a 20 degree "safe point. Anything lower, chemical needs added. Anything higher, chemical. That was it. All day.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 25
    There'd be hours where it was just fine and I didn't have to do anything but sweat in that suit. If it was 90 degrees outside, it'd be 105 or higher in the factory, and 120 inside the suit. It sucked. Paid really well though for a kid just out of high school. Something like $17 an hour at a time when minimum wage was around $5 an hour.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 26
    AmusedGravityCat 11h ago • Social media content deleter
    via thaibabe_11
  • 27
    • GoddessCharm_ · 10h ago My uncle owns a business and hired me to put stamps on over 10,000 letters. That was tedious and weird. But hey I made $100.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 28
    . Free-Supermarket-516 10h ago High school summer job. Thought I'd be selling speakers. Which I was, but on the road. In parking lots. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. People allowing us to follow them to the ATM to take out $400 for fake speakers. They worked, but they weren't what they were advertising.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 29
    I don't know if that white van scam is around anymore, but good God that job made me feel filthy. I stayed for 2 weeks and then went and worked with a tree removal crew.
    via thaibabe_11
  • 30
    DrawZealousideal4131 6h ago. • The strangest job I've ever had was being a trampoline tester at an amusement park. If it's real! Basically, my job was to jump on different trampolines to make sure they were safe and fun for visitors.
    via thaibabe_11

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