According to a Farsi report by Mehr, a “pseudo-job” is an occupation that involves no real production or service; its exact activities or income sources are unclear, too. Plus, there is no regulation, and thus, no tax on pseudo-jobs.
There are plenty of pseudo-jobs in Iran; in this report, we introduce some of the oddest ones:
Shar-Khar
It is one of oldest pseudo-jobs in Iran. People hire shar-khars to force debtors with bounced checks to settle their debts. By beating and threatening, a Shar-khar forces the poor debtor to pay off his debts.
Shouter
They are called so because they must keep shouting all day long to attract potential clients to the stores. They have to acquire costumers for the shop owner to earn around $6 per day at best; otherwise they are fired.
Licence plate concealer
Their job is to stand near traffic control or odd-even traffic plan zones to find the drivers who need help to camouflage their cars’ licence plates and beat police cameras. Their task involves running behind vehicles’ licence plates to get paid by drivers a sum lesser than the fine of illegally going into traffic control zone!
Parking spot finder
Finding a place to park one’s car is a major problem in metropolitan areas; and some people abuse this need to make job opportunities for themselves! Therefore, you see individuals standing outside the shops, restaurants, etc., reserving parking spots to get paid.
Crier in funerals
Some people get paid for crying and mourning in others’ funerals.
Patient attendant
This pseudo-job has been recently seen in hospitals. In many hospitals, you see people who are introduced by nurses to patients who need attendants. The cost of an attendant is about $6 with food and about $3 without food in public hospitals; in private hospitals the cost is up to $12 per day. The patients who have no attendant, though, have to pay more to hire an attendant.
Turn-seller
With automatic queue management systems used in banks, people have a much easier time taking turns; however, this initiative can also create jobs: some people go to busy bank branches and receive the tickets consecutively, then sell them to customers who arrive late and are in a hurry.
Receipt-seller
In front of several offices and organisations, such as Company Registration Office, where the customers have to go to a bank to settle a small amount of money and then deliver its receipt, you see people with “anonymous paid bank receipts” who exempt the costumers from standing in long lines of banks by selling them the anonymous receipts for a price higher than the receipt sum.
Wedding party cheerer
The title speaks for itself: The cheerers must do everything they can to cheer up the participants of the ceremony. The better they cheer up, the more they are paid.
Rented best man
In recent years, we hear the word “Saqdoosh (groomsman or best man)” a lot in Iran. Wedding ceremonies in western style require Iranians to adapt to their accessories; so it is necessary to hire best men to have a special wedding party.
