Curious About Jobs That Only Require You To "Be There"..

[FrugalZen]

Was thinking the other day about some of the jobs I'd heard about in the past where the Sole Requirement is for you to "Be There" in case something goes wrong....as I recall most of these type of jobs only paid Minimum Wage but thats not the point...you are there but your time is your own otherwise...Great for students and earning money while you do something else.. Doulbe Duty I guess you could say.
Automated Radio Stations was one of them as I recall.
Anyone hear of other types or have any experience with them?

[George the original one]

Housesitting might qualify.
The old-style of corporate data center was good money, but the bodies just aren't needed anymore as the big systems don't need anywhere near the babysitting they used to.
Movie projectionist allows free time, but sometimes it can be a hectic crunch in the cinemaplex. The digital revolution will do away with this job, too.

[BeyondtheWrap]

Security guard seems to be pretty good for this.

[dot_com_vet]

I second computer operations at a data center. The big guys have downsized this, but medium sized companies have too many problems to automate fully.
Being in a windowless, noisy room for 10 - 12 hours sounds really boring to me though.

[KevinW]

Two I've heard of:
- apartment superintendent or onsite manager

- storage unit superintendent

[mikeBOS]

I just got one. My night job working for a nonprofit that cares for adults with mental health issues. I show up at 11pm, wish the day shift person a safe ride home, and then the office with computer + wireless internet, kitchen, and living room with cable tv, are all mine until 7am. The residents are sort of transitioning towards independent living and just need a little supervision to make sure they don't go off the rails. Most of the time they sleep through my entire shift, once in a while they'll chat me up for a few minutes on their way to the kitchen to get a midnight nosh. I love the guys who live there and I'm really rooting for them so it's nice to talk to them now and then about how things are going for them. Literally, other than being there and being trained to react appropriately in case an emergency comes up, all I'm obligated to do through my entire 8 hours is make a 5-minute entry in the log note at the end of my shift, what I do with the other 7hrs 55m is up to me.
I thought about getting a high-end gaming laptop to bring with me, but they're pricey and I really should spend the time studying anyway. Maybe I'll order one as a graduation present to myself...
I worked nights once as the front desk guy at a hotel. That job was pretty good for doing you're own thing, but I would actually have to get up and work for an hour around 6am when the early birds would start checking out.
When I was a kid I dreamed of being a drawbridge operator. Up alone in a little viewing tower with a great view of the waterway and eight hours all to yourself...
A friend of mine at the telephone company works in a central switching office monitoring water-level, power outage, and other types of alarms at multiple locations. He tells me he actually has to do something for maybe 3 hours out of his 40 hours/week, the rest of the time he's on his laptop.

[m741]

I was thinking about these jobs. Seems like a pretty good deal if you are allowed to have a laptop or book with you. You could write or program or do something constructive on the laptop (and surf the web), and relax while reading.
Night shift at a hotel seems like a great deal to me. I definitely wouldn't be averse to doing that part-time in retirement for some cash on the side.

[dragoncar]

Unfortunately, a lot of jobs that seem like this probably aren't. Night shift at a hotel is often filled by someone who can do some rudimentary accounting work for the previous day (so I'm told). One job that springs to mind was the desk person in the dorms... they were basically there to make sure everyone badged in, etc. But in general if an employer can get you to do anything else (mop floors, fold napkins, etc.) during your off time, you can bet they will.

[Suzanne]

I know a few students that have "library duty" a few hours a week. The university basically pays them to study or surf the net, and I hear it pays really well - far above minimum wage. Only limitation is that hoeeurs are limited.

[riparian]

I was a night auditor/front desk person at a hotel in high school. There was a couple hours of auditing work and a couple hours of morning check ins, but otherwise I was able to do 3 years worth of high school assignments in 4 months!
Job coaches for almost-independent developmentally disabled folks typically require you to just sit there and be a resource for them or actively check in with them every 30 m or something.
I spend a few nights a month with an elderly lady. I get there, we chat, I assist her with some personal care, and then we sleep. In the morning I usually wake up 30m before shift change and do a chore or two, but basically I get paid $18/hr to sleep and hang out with one of my heroes.
I was a computer lab monitor once upon a time too. Mostly I browsed the internet and every once in a while someone would ask me how to print or send an attachment or something.

[Ralphy]

I worked at a gas station/convenience store in a tiny town (~300 people) on the weekends when I was in high school. It would be busy after church let out and around meal times, but in between you could count on it being completely dead. That's where I did most of my homework.
I had a friend who supervised a university computer lab, too - sounds about exactly how riparian described it.

[Phayen]

I worked at the front desk of a 24 hour gym during the night shift. Basically I would be there from 10 PM to 6 AM. I'd have to sit there between 10PM - 11PM to check people in, but after that nobody was there. I'd do homework, play guitar, watch movies on my laptop. Do that till about 4 AM and put everything back in my car. Around 4:30 AM some eccentric early workout people would start showing up and it was just checking their IDs till 6. It was a great and easy job. Free gym membership too. The bad part at the time was it was my second job, so I basically wasn't sleeping anymore.

[Emanuel]

I worked as a security guard for two months during summer. Night shifts I worked maybe 20m max. I had the parking lot all for myself but I couldn't read or think. Knew others in better places that played video games, browsed the web, etc

[Hoplite]

Night desk in a commercial building. Bonus points if it's union so no extra duties piled on. The guys in my building are on their laptops all night.
Night watchman of any kind; construction site (much better cabins now), parks, or, if you really like it quiet, a cemetery.
A lot of pet/animal sitting type jobs; in house at the owner's home, in the pet store or the animal shelter, or outsourced to your own home.
Maytag repairman?

[Stahlmann]

hmmm.

[Jason]

I've encountered a few scenarios recently:

- A post office was shut down with term left on its lease and a worker was assigned to turn away people in need of mail services. This went on for years. "Neither snow nor rain..."

- The library situation happens in very specialized places where de facto no one shows up because its specialized to the point of pretty much no one walking the planet giving a shit about what your the librarian of i.e. arboretums, any musical society with "clav" in it etc.

- Information booths on the highways. You know those places that has all the maps of a local area, like walking tours, and hay rides and shit. And the maps are like 50 years old and all come from the original print run because its a stop on a highway and the only reason people stop is to pay for overpriced fast food and take a dump not to take a trail hike under high voltage power lines;

-Certain sites undergoing land use changes. Environmental sites, or land preservations usually have people assigned to watch over the site and I don't know, make sure no one shoots a duck or while trying to get laid gets pollutants on their junk. In certain situations, I am sure they have qualifications but in essence they are doing nothing all day.

[EdithKeeler]

The lifeguard at my pool in the early morning hours. He opens the pool, checks the PH, skims the pool, picks up a little trash and rearranged the chairs, then drinks his coffee and watched the three fat ladies doing water aerobics in the pool at 5 am. No kids or poor swimmers to police and I think he gets off at 10 when it starts to get busier. Pretty much my dream retirement job.

[Stahlmann]

has anyone consider this in case of reskilling (like learning to code)?
it's like one year passed, bur I'm still not happy with my sitautionm but somehow I need cashflow nevertheless the situation.
+
also how to handle such settings in case of being socially inept perfectionist with "duty to work"-syndrome?
even I roleplay here as welfare abuser, but maybe I'm just mythomaniac.
(still don't have fancy f's from "professional")

[arcyallen]

Being a "swap driver" for a new car dealership. Not exactly what you're looking for, but it goes like this: They call me a day or two in advance and ask if I want the job. I say yes or no. If yes I drive to the dealership to get the car the next morning and drive 50-250 miles to another dealership to get the car my dealership wants and drop off the one they didn't. It's 10-20 minutes of face to face time with people, and other than that it's in a new car listening to podcasts and talking to family on the phone. And I love driving random cars so that's a plus.

[Lemur]

@Stahlmann

Look into Microsoft SQL Server, SharePoint Development, SAP Development, or Cloudera certifications. All always in demand, pay well, and you get complete anatomy of your work for the most part.