Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?
Or, maybe some people just enjoy doing weird stuff for money?
Who knows?
The point is, people out there do all kinds of strange things for money. Hey, as the saying goes, money talk, right?
Let’s check out these stories from folks on AskReddit who admitted they did weird stuff for some cash.
1. I can do that!
“Italian man came up to me on holiday in a town near Naples, he asked me to go talk to these 2 Americans he gave me 10 euros to buys them a couple of beers and talk about whatever.
No idea why.”
2. Now, that is weird.
“I was paid to watch alternating clips of nature and pornography while a camera in my vagina measured the hue of my vaginal walls to determine the amount of bloodflow to the area (which indicates the level of physical arousal).
At the same time, I also had to take notes on what I thought about the images I was seeing (rating arousal level).This was to attempt to study the relationship between physical arousal and mental arousal.”
3. Let’s see the cash.
“When I was in sixth grade, some eighth graders came up to me and offered me $5 to snort crushed tic tacs. As I was snorting them, one of them got a teacher and told her I was doing drugs.
I started crying and explained everything, and after the principal confirmed that they were just tic tacs, the eighth graders all got a week of detention.
And I still got my $5.”
4. It adds up.
“Not like that weird but when I was 6 or 7 I used to pluck my parent’s grey hairs for 10 cents per strand.”
5. That’s really smart.
“Not me but my friend threw his $300 phone into a river for $25.
It was deep so he didn’t get it back.”
6. Sounds pretty cool.
“Wrote fanfic to order. Gimme characters and plot (or plot what plot scenario), $15 per thousand words. Was fun, and occasionally hilarious, even if I’d never admit publicly to some of the stories I wrote …
It was that, or work a second retail job. Writing commissions won.”
7. Babysitting.
“‘Babysat’ a rock star before a gig so that he would stay put and not go off into the local area (which he didn’t know) looking for drugs. We talked about TV and films.
It was more than 20 years ago and everyone involved is British.
The need to do this kind of thing is exactly why Get Him To The Greek was made, but that was 10+ years later. I wouldn’t be surprised if stories Russell Brand can tell got put straight into the movie (if he could remember any of them).”
8. Sex tape research.
“I worked as a runner (paid intern) for a TV talk show in the UK. David Hasselhoff was a guest and while researching him, one of the team found out he was in a soft core porn movie.
We were based in Soho, London so they sent me out to the sex shops to see if I could track it down. I was sick with anxiety going into the shops but I kept thinking ‘at least I’m being paid.’
Funniest thing was I gave no context as to why I was hunting down David’s sex tape.. all they knew was a nervous looking kid was desperate to see Hasselhoff’s schlong.”
9. Super weird.
“In college I used to stow flip flops in my bag when I went out to the bars, so I could switch out my heels for the walk home.
One night I sold those dirty flip flops to a creepy old dude at the bar for $200.
Easiest, yet most upsetting money I’ve ever made.”
10. Waiting in line.
“Stood in line for Dole Whips at Disney. Some guy paid me $50 to wait in the line while his family rode a ride.
I was pregnant at the time and my family was in line for a ride I couldn’t ride. I overheard a family trying to figure out how they would use their fastpass, make it to lunch AND manage to try a Dole Whip. I offered to stand in the line for him for $20.
He gave me $50.”
11. Yummy!
“When I was a teen, I drank a mug full of melted garlic butter for $5 at work.”
12. That’s wild.
“When I was a kid, a neighbor paid me to be “a live scarecrow”in his garden.
My job was to chase the birds and other animals away that might otherwise destroy his garden when he wasn’t home to guard it.”
13. Definitely sad.
“Not really “weird” and more “sad”. I once hugged an infantryman for 40 minutes at a time, once a day for three weeks. I am also male.
I was a psychologist for the British Army for a few years before I changed careers. Usually pretty pedestrian stuff in terms of the kind of psychology assistance you need to give to servicepeople. Usually people with PTSD or other trauma, family problems etc.
Usually you would just talk for 40 minutes at a time, check up on their well being, offer advice, put them in touch with other support programs if needs be. Pretty standard. There was one guy who, for three weeks straight, just came in to have a good cry and hug for a bit without really talking much.
After that he opened up and talked to me (although I already had his referral notes, I knew what had happened to him).
I mean, my job was to talk, but if he wasn’t ready and just wanted to hug and cry until he *was* ready, I wasn’t going to refuse. Dude was in a seriously bad place. In the end he retired and went on to a new career.
I wasn’t given details of where service people went if they retired on mental health grounds, but I was told he had a positive outcome. Unfortunately, all that is is code for “they didn’t commit suicide or harm anyone else”. So fortunately I know he’s (presumably) still alive and hopefully doing well, but I can’t be sure.”
14. An odd project.
“As an adult: client asked me to create a powerpoint for him for a major presentation he was doing for top secret organization. I owned a web consulting company at the time, but he had been a top client, so I acquiesced.
After a while, the modifications & wording become more and more bizarre. He would contact me weekly with new changes and additions, and I soon realized there was something mentally amiss with the gent. I had a connection with his family, and wanted to alert them that he was paying me good money for this odd project, and I didn’t want to charge for something that was clearly coming from a delusional state.
His wife contacted me and asked if I would please continue working with him, and she would pay my full rate for the service (they were incredibly wealthy, and this was not going to make any dent in their massive fortune). She said the project was making him happier than he’d been in months, and he was focused and staying in one place to work on it, and it gave her a rest from his dementia/Alzheimers.
I figured out a way to keep working with him, still didn’t charge my full rate, but learned a lot about maintaining a positive relationship with an older person who is losing their cognitive functions… which prepared me well for now as my father is heading in that direction.”
Now we’d like to hear from you.
In the comments, please tell us if you’ve ever done anything weird or crazy for some extra cash.
We look forward to hearing your stories!
