8 weirdest jobs you never knew existed

june 25, 2025

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From professional movie watchers to pet food tasters, weird gets weirder in this list of the strangest jobs to have existed.

Image: wikipedia.org/public domain

Town criers would travel the streets ringing bells to gather a crowd and make announcements. The job disappeared in the late 19th century as masses became more literate and print media became popular.

Image: wikipedia.org/public domain

Town crier

A professional sleeper is a person who gets paid to sleep. Their skills are often employed in product testing for mattresses, scientific studies and sometimes at art exhibitions.

Professional sleeper

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They were hired to rouse people from their sleep by tapping on their doors or windows early in the morning. The job disappeared as alarm clocks became common.

Knocker-upper

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They are professionals who are trained to analyse different smells. They are hired in various industries, including perfume and food. They determine whether a product stinks or not.

Odour judge

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Also known as moirologists, they are people paid to attend a stranger's funeral as a friend or family member to grieve. This job has its roots in ancient Egypt, Greece and China.

Professional mourner

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A pet food taster's job includes tasting and testing pet food. This includes evaluating the pet food’s nutritional value and writing reports to enhance it. It's a high-skilled job.

Pet food taster

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Some people are paid to watch movies and TV shows. It entails watching, rating, tagging and annotating movies or series.

Movie watcher

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Far from their old-Hollywood image, bounty hunters today are also known as bail enforcement agents, and their job entails apprehending fugitives with bounties on their heads.

Bounty hunter

Image: Shutterstock

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