When you’re paid for doing nothing and it turns out ‘ghost jobs’ are more common than you think

We’ve had plenty of jobs, obviously, and we’ve also seen a ghost – well, it might have been, but that’s another story – but we’ve never had a ‘ghost job’.

And we didn’t even really know it was a thing until we read this fabulous tale shared by jerichomega over on Reddit of a job which wasn’t really a job.

Not in the sense that it wasn’t paid – it pays very well, it turns out – but it doesn’t involve any work. Like, literally, no work at all.

And if you think that sounds too good to be true, over to jerichomega to tell you more.

Where we can we apply? And it turns out it’s more common than we thought. Here are our favourite things people said about it.

‘I saw a documentary on ghost employees once. Wild stuff. This sort of thing happens more than you’d think. One company did an audit and found an employee who was paid but hadn’t been to work in years. They fired him. Dude had the balls to show up the next pay day and complain that he wasn’t paid.

‘If I were you I’d be taking online classes while simultaneously keeping my head down. Ride that wave!’
badatmetroid

‘As long as you are contacting “Dave”. Keep a record of calls emails texts. Whatever. Make up work if you have to and keep riding the wave.’
devilsmile7

‘I’ve been sending him emails with excel reports twice a week of the employees from our department we pay. Takes me about ten minutes. That’s really all I do.’
jerichomega

‘I had a job like this once when I was a student, 6 months of receiving a minuscule but free salary. Those were the days.’
Critical-Ad2084

‘I hope you bought a red stapler for your desk.’
lufecaep

‘Do it up, my man. I used to work for a giant television corporation. Somewhere between my 7th and 8th managers in 2 years, I fell through the cracks.

‘I reported to someone who no longer worked there and no one ever said anything. My final 18 months there I did no work and taught myself how to edit video using their computers.’
KingDiEnd

‘Suggestion: Get a second job to do while you ‘work’ at your current position.

‘Double the money and if you get discovered, you’re not stuck looking for a job.

‘But, you really really really really should start documenting your efforts at your current job to be actually working. Send emails asking about work assignments. Even if they never reply, you’re covered as you’re trying to work, they’re just not giving you anything to do.’
Infernalism

Last word to this person.

‘Just one question. Are they hiring? I can have my resume to you pretty quickly…’
virgilreality

And this person.

‘Do. Not. Fuck. This. Up.’
OuroborousBlack

Source Reddit u/jerichomega