YOU can now make up to £45 an hour doing a highly unusual job, and you don’t even need a qualification.
But before you go signing up, be warned: You will have to cry on demand.
Professional mourners are becoming more and more commonplace in the UK (stock image)[/caption]
Nobody likes attending funerals but now you can sign up to become a professional mourner.
This unsual side hustle doesn’t involve filling out the crowd or standing mysteriously by the graveside, it’s a lot more in depth.
Professional mourners pretend to be friends and family of the deceased, assuming fake identities and convincing attending they’re one of the bereaved.
The practice has been commonplace in countries like China and is now starting to take off in Western countries.
Professional mourners take a series of steps to prepare for the unique role.
Before attending the funeral, they carry out a full character study of the deceased.
Often the family are able to help with this, helping the mourner establish a back story, which includes reasons why other funeral attendees have never met them before.
And knowing the background of the deceased isn’t enough for this job.
To be a successful mourner, you will have to trigger sadness on demand.
It can be difficult to work up tears over someone you’ve never met so often the mourners turn to Hollywood tear-jerkers or personal tragedies for their big moment.
However, mourners need to be careful to seem to genuine to avoid any suspicions
And while people rarely suspect professional actors have infiltrated the congregation, some are often wearing of opportunistic strangers running a scam for cash.
The practice has been traced back to ancinet China, with “wailing women” also playing a role in Egypt.
However, it has now spread worldwide, meaning mourners are required to know the basics about grieving processes across all religions.
And according to Owen Vaughan, who works as a professional mourner in London, the families can also be very demanding about the performance.
Side hustles in numbers
Based on new research from Finder, an estimated 22.8 million Brits are using side hustles to top up their income.
Among those aged 18-23, 68 percent have a side hustle in 2024.
Those aged 24-42 aren’t far behind, with 65 per cent having an additional source of income.
Side hustles are less popular among older generations, with 40 percent of those aged 43-54 having one.
Whereas 23 percent of people aged 55-73 and just 7 per cent of those aged 74 and over are earning extra cash this way.
He recalled a specific funeral he was hired to attend during an interview with Cracked.
“I was warned not to give any condolences to his siblings (who didn’t know he was hiring us), not to eat at the reception, to stay only in a certain area, and to basically sit and look sad for two hours,” he said.
But if the high demands and emotionally drainage don’t sound to off-putting, this constantly evolving business could be a handy way to make money for any budding actors.
And according to Fellowship Recruitment, you can make up to £45 an hour, depending on whose funeral it is and the role that they are playing.
Professional mourners, officially known as moirologists, have been in practice for well over 2,000 years, with the number of UK bookings going up 50% in the past year.
Crying on demand is one of the requirements of this unusual role (stock image)[/caption]