Buzz
Have you ever imagined getting paid to do absolutely nothing? Instead of being trapped in a job, you could spend your days reading or browsing the web endlessly. Sounds like a fantasy, right?
Sometimes, fate plays its part, and people end up earning money with little more than their presence. Let’s explore 10 ways people have made money by doing almost nothing.
10. Getting Paid to Stand in Line
Standing in line may be a hassle, but what if you could earn money just by saving someone’s spot? It might sound odd, but it could make perfect economic sense.
In Italy, for instance, the bureaucracy at government offices is so overwhelming that the average Italian spends approximately 400 hours each year waiting in line, which results in a loss of about $44 billion in total productive time. This is partly due to the preference for cash payments, leading to fewer online transactions and longer processing delays.
The solution for some is to hire a codista (a “queuer”), a professional who waits in line on your behalf. These experts take care of tasks like paying bills, mailing packages, and dealing with government offices. This role has become so widespread that there’s now a standard contract and insurance policy for the client, covering any accidents the codista may encounter while waiting.
If you’re looking for people who do this, New York City is a good place to start. There, you can find professional line-waiters who specialize in securing concert tickets, getting DMV appointments, or even purchasing limited-edition sneakers. Let’s just hope these line-sitting services don’t become too popular, or you might need to hire someone to wait in line to hire someone to wait in line.
9. Paid to Lie in Bed for Months at a Time
We all have those days when we wish we could just stay in bed and skip the responsibilities of the day. But imagine if your job was simply to stay in bed all day long?
Researchers sometimes offer payment to individuals who stay in bed for extended periods to study the effects on their bodies. NASA has conducted these studies multiple times over the last decade. While it might initially seem like a dream to get paid for lounging in bed, participants report facing several challenges. Being part of such a study means limited access to basic needs like showers, bathroom breaks, eating, and moving around.
However, you won’t simply be lying down doing nothing for the entire study. Participants must engage in various tests, meaning medical staff will frequently monitor you with instruments. Some procedures may even be painful, such as muscle stimulation. The question remains: Are you willing to endure this for the chance to lie down and get paid?
In 2017, France launched a similar program where participants had to keep one shoulder in contact with the bed for 60 days. Those who took part were paid the equivalent of over $17,000 for their participation. This wasn’t just a repeat of earlier studies; some participants were given a mixture of drugs to see if they could prevent long-term issues, like insulin resistance.
8. Paid to Wait at a Reassignment Center
In some school districts, teachers accused of misconduct are not immediately dismissed or sent home. Instead, they are reassigned to a peculiar arrangement where they continue to receive their pay but are not permitted to work. Despite this, they are still expected to report to work.
These teachers often find themselves sitting in rooms—known as “rubber rooms” or “reassignment centers”—where they do little to nothing during what would otherwise be their work hours. In places like New York City, school staff may wait years for their legal proceedings to be resolved. It's not uncommon for this waiting period to stretch two, three, or even more years.
Reports indicate that New York also has rubber rooms for corrections officers, where they are assigned light duties, such as guarding empty jail cells, while still collecting their salaries. While officials claim that administrative tasks are assigned to keep them occupied, investigations and photos reveal that much of their time is spent idly or napping.
Rubber rooms have been notoriously difficult to eliminate due to laws that make it challenging to terminate certain employees. Numerous attempts have been made to address the issue in New York.
A school district in Los Angeles managed to eliminate its rubber rooms after implementing a policy change. Now, some teachers who were once assigned to rubber rooms receive their usual paychecks from the comfort of their own homes while they await the resolution of the charges against them.
7. Paid to Avoid Wrestling
It’s not unusual for wrestlers to take breaks from the ring, whether it’s to recover from an injury or simply because no one can handle the physical toll of wrestling day after day. Some of the top wrestlers might only work a few days each year, saving their energy for the biggest events and using the rest of their time to stay in shape.
For instance, The Undertaker, one of the most well-known WWE wrestlers, often takes months or even years off without a match. In such situations, companies will pay these wrestlers to keep them under contract for future events.
A particularly unusual case involves Lanny Poffo, who signed long-term contracts with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) during the 1990s. Poffo, a gifted wrestler who also performed under the alias “The Genius,” became part of this strange arrangement.
He was also the brother of the legendary “Macho Man” Randy Savage, which Poffo credits as the reason he secured the contract in the first place. However, from 1995 to about 1999, he never stepped into the ring for a single match under the WCW, despite being under contract and receiving payment.
In a subsequent interview, Poffo revealed that he stayed in shape and awaited a call to return to the ring, but the call never came. Reports suggest that WCW was paying Poffo a substantial amount for his non-existent appearances. One source claims it was as much as $150,000 per year. Eventually, WCW ceased operations as a company.
6. Paid for Never Showing Up to Government Jobs
Imagine earning a steady salary for a decade without ever setting foot in the office. In Kuwait, a recent investigation into the attendance of government employees uncovered over 900 workers with “irregular attendance,” leading to their suspension.
One of the individuals had apparently never reported to work at all. His absence only came to light when the country began cracking down on a long-standing attendance issue.
In 2011, Kuwait released a report revealing that only half of the public sector employees were actually showing up for work as expected. Conditions in public sector jobs in Kuwait and other Gulf countries are reportedly not very demanding, allowing many to collect a salary for doing little or nothing at all.
Governments in these countries are now taking steps to address this issue. However, the challenge lies in the fact that many people are so accustomed to the ease of these government jobs that they are reluctant to enter the private sector, where they would face longer working hours and greater competition. The situation has gotten so bad that one news outlet described these workers as a “ghost army.”
Kuwait recently introduced a policy that requires public employees to scan their fingers on a biometric reader at their workplace every day. As a result, thousands of employees quit, fearing they would be caught for violating attendance rules.
In 2016, the ruler of Dubai made headlines when he made surprise visits to various government offices and discovered that many employees were skipping work. Definitely not the best day to skip out.
5. Paid To Own A Truck
In 2004, a scandal in Chicago revealed that truck companies were making big money for minimal or no work. An investigation by the Sun-Times uncovered that owners of entire fleets, including dump trucks and construction vehicles, were paid millions of dollars over several years while their trucks mostly sat idle.
Reporters from the Sun-Times tracked some of these trucks to see what they were really doing during the contracted hours. Over several days, they witnessed dump trucks doing nothing more than idling at various city work sites. They also saw one truck make a detour to a restaurant and a store before finally hauling a small load.
Although it's not uncommon for vehicles to be hired without full utilization, what made this case stand out was that these private trucks didn’t have to compete in any bidding process. The mayor’s budget department handpicked who would be paid, bypassing any contracts.
It was later uncovered that bribes were exchanged between the truck companies and city officials, which led to a federal investigation. Some truck companies had ties to organized crime. In the end, 48 individuals were sent to prison after it was revealed that this dump truck hiring scheme was little more than a massive scam.
4. Paid To Annoy French Bureaucrats
Imagine angering your boss to the point where their revenge results in paying you not to work for over a decade. This is exactly what happened in France, where Charles Simon, a rail operator, was paid 5,400 euros per month for 12 years despite being sidelined due to a dispute with his employer.
According to Simon, he was a whistle-blower who exposed a massive false invoice fraud at his company, involving millions of euros. As any dedicated employee would do, he reported the fraud to his superiors, only to be removed from his position and told he would be reassigned elsewhere.
However, his reassignment never came. Instead, Simon found himself in limbo, doing absolutely nothing. Thanks to France's complex labor laws, his former job status was safeguarded, and while waiting for a position that never materialized, he continued to receive paychecks. His case made headlines in 2015 when he sued his employer, claiming they destroyed his career.
Simon’s case is not an isolated one in France. Bosko Herman, for instance, also spent over ten years receiving a salary without actually working, thanks to a legal loophole. Herman had worked at a town hall for five years before a personal conflict with the mayor led to his removal.
Although Herman was officially relieved of his duties, he wasn’t actually fired because of a legal clause that allowed civil servants to continue collecting paychecks until they found a new position. Despite sending out numerous job applications, Herman was never hired elsewhere and continued to receive payments from the government.
3. Paid To Watch TV In A Vacant Care Home
In 2014, a care home in New Jersey was closing, and hundreds of employees were supposed to be reassigned or laid off. The facility had previously served over 200 individuals with developmental disabilities who lived in cottages on the grounds.
Despite the relocation of these residents, many workers continued to report to their jobs. In the empty cottages, they spent their days watching television and playing cards while still collecting their paychecks. A report revealed that millions of dollars were paid to these inactive employees during this period.
This peculiar situation arose due to several mistakes. In New Jersey, it is common for civil service employees, such as care home workers, to continue receiving pay during a layoff period to give them time to find new employment.
However, in this case, New Jersey extended the layoff period, guaranteeing 147 days of work and pay for the employees, even though there was no clear indication that the layoff would actually last that long.
There were also bookkeeping errors related to the night-shift workers’ pay adjustments. These workers continued receiving extra compensation despite no longer working the night shifts.
Some employees were offered the chance to start new jobs at different locations ahead of schedule. However, many opted not to take that opportunity, as they were still being paid to ‘work’ at the old care home. This was unfortunate because other facilities were reportedly in need of workers, and it seems the caregivers weren’t earning enough to be motivated to move on.
2. Paid To Sleep Or Stay Awake
Researchers are always on the lookout for participants in paid sleep studies, where you get paid to sleep while being monitored either in person or through body-monitoring devices.
Harvard Medical School offers a website where they list sleep studies that are actively seeking participants. Some require specific criteria, such as certain body types or health conditions, while others simply need someone who sleeps and is interested in earning money.
For example, one woman took part in sleep research and earned about $12,000 for 11 nights of 'work.' In 2017, she shared her experiences, detailing some of the more unusual aspects of the study, including medical tests before, during, and after sleep. At times, she had an IV, electrodes on her head, and even a rectal thermometer.
On top of that, you might be asked to maintain specific sleep positions or sleep in ways you’re not accustomed to. It could be a good idea to practice those sleeping postures before signing up.
Be cautious about what you’re committing to! While the pay might seem attractive, make sure you understand exactly what you’ll be doing. For instance, some studies focus on researching sleep deprivation as well.
One study had participants follow a modified sleep schedule for 20 days, where they were only allowed to sleep for just over four hours at a time. After completing the experiment, these participants were compensated with five 'recovery days' where they could sleep up to 10 hours a night.
Presumably, the participants made full use of their recovery days, catching up on much-needed sleep. Who would have thought that sleep studies could be so physically demanding?
1. Paid To Do Nothing In Isolation... As Long As You Can Stand It
In the 1950s, researchers were fascinated by the effects of boredom. They conducted experiments specifically designed to isolate individuals and induce extreme boredom. One study was described by a researcher as 'too cruel to do with animals, but not with college students.'
The students were compensated 24 hours a day for their participation in this study, but the downside was the nature of the experiment itself: it was a long stretch of grueling and relentless boredom.
The participants were confined to small rooms, lying on beds. They wore special glasses to obstruct their vision, earplugs to block sound, gloves on their hands, and cardboard cuffs around their wrists. This setup deprived them of much of their senses, including sight, hearing, and touch. An air conditioner ran constantly to mask outside noise, and microphones were available for communication if necessary.
They could leave to use the bathroom, and they typically ate their meals while sitting on the edge of their beds. Beyond these exceptions, they were alone, left only with their thoughts for company.
At the beginning, participants focused on everyday concerns, like personal issues and academic matters. Some passed the time by counting numbers in their heads. As the isolation dragged on, however, they found it increasingly difficult to concentrate and began reporting 'blank periods' where they couldn't think of much at all. Eventually, they began experiencing hallucinations.
Initially, the hallucinations were simple shapes or lights, but they soon morphed into more vivid and bizarre fantasies. One participant even described seeing a 'procession of squirrels with sacks over their shoulders.' These visions became progressively more disturbing and intense, eventually interfering with their ability to sleep.
One participant described the sensation as though 'something was draining my mind through my eyes.' These individuals received $20 per day, which would be around $190 in today's money. They were permitted to remain for as long as they wished.
