Professional mourner
This might seem downright insensitive or creepy but it’s a “job” that’s been around for more than two thousand years. Those who practice it are called ‘moirologists’ and receive between $35-$500 per hour, depending on their performance. The job description requires you to be able to cry on demand and depending on the situation, to speak in public.
Professional mourners are quite normal in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Chinese cultures, especially when people want to organize extravagant funerals for their departed family members. The professional morning industry is not that developed in the United States, but this doesn’t mean it’s impossible to find such a job.
Sleep
Is there anything better than getting paid to sleep? I beg to differ. People who are lucky enough to make money while sleeping are called bed testers and are hired by bed manufacturers to test the quality of their beds (usually luxury products). The bed testing idea, and thus the bed tester job, was made popular by Hotel Chatter in 2006 when they announced they were looking for a professional to test their 25,000 beds. Can you imagine the competition?
