THE STRANGEST JOBS

Imagine that scientists want to test their sleep medicines, and they pay you to sleep in their lab. Paul is a professional sleeper at two sleep clinics in London. He says, ‘It’s a job that not many people think of doing. My friends think that it’s an easy job, but it really makes me tired. You must take sleep medicines and go to bed at a laboratory at any time the scientists want.’ Paul must work flexible hours. It means that he can’t say no when they call him to go to the laboratory at any time. He says, ‘The good thing is that they pay you $20,000 per year and you don’t have to study anything for it. You just have to be there to sleep.’  

Have you heard of a professional mourner? In some countries, when someone in a family dies, all the family get together in that person’s home for the funeral. The close relatives of the dead person usually cry. But sometimes they live far away and can’t come to the funeral, so the family brings in people who get money to cry. Pai-han is from Taiwan and has cried for lots of families in the past 20 years. She says, ‘You must practise at home because it’s difficult to cry when you’re not really sad. But when I start crying, I change other people’s mood. This makes crying easier.’ A good professional mourner can earn about $500 in every funeral.