35 People Share Their Secret Regrets About Earning Money

People Share Their Secret Regrets About Earning Money

Sidra had always been a straight-A student and aspiring doctor, until mounting debt drove her to desperate measures just to keep a roof overhead. What she did to earn tuition money that year still makes her cringe with shame…Sarah’s shocking tale kicks off this illuminating collection of 35 startlingly honest stories of people pushed to the brink for cash.

35 Honest Stories Of People

Confession 1:

“In college, I worked as a car window tinter but we also installed illegal window tints way past the legal limit on request. I knew it was wrong but didn’t want to risk losing the income at the time.”

Confession 2:

“After going through a terrible divorce, I took a sketchy job installing spyware and tracking devices on people’s phones and computers for a shady private investigator service. The invasion of privacy still haunts me.”

Confession 3:

“When I was desperate for cash in my 20s, I signed up to be one of those annoying people who try to stop you on the street and aggressively sign you up for overpriced club memberships or subscriptions.”

Confession 4:

“Back in law school, I worked as a ‘sugar baby’ dating site profile editor where I’d clean up wealthy older guys’ profiles to help them get more dates with hot young women. So gross and demeaning, but tuition was crazy expensive.”

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Confession 5:

“I worked as a phone sex operator for a few months in college. Having to make up those wild fantasies and talk dirty to strangers was mortifying. I’m just glad none of my friends or family ever found out.”

Confession 6:

“When I was broke after a nasty divorce, I donated plasma twice a week every week for over a year just to keep paying rent. I’ve never felt so debased and like a dollar’s worth of product.”

Confession 7:

“As a teenager, I was a ‘merch girl’ traveling on tours and selling band t-shirts/merch for a super sleazy hair metal band in the 80s. The way they and the crew guys objectified and hit on me still makes me feel so gross.”

Confession 8:

“I used to resell garbage from dumpsters and yard sales on eBay and lie that the items were ‘new in box.’ I made decent money at it, but it was totally unethical and I’m not proud of being a scammer.”

Confession 9:

“After getting fired, I signed up to be a ‘mover’ for a sketchy company, not realizing it was just a front for hiring day labor to do hard manual labor for tiny pay under the table. I felt so taken advantage of.”

Confession 10:

“I was struggling to make rent in LA, so I lied about having a kid to get a job being the ’embassy brat’ at a super snobby private school. I had to pretend to be an ill-behaved, rich kid all day.”

Confession 11:

“For a computer class project in college, my friend and I created one of the very first ‘malware/spyware’ viruses that tracked user activity to sell marketing data. It worked really well and made us quick money, but we feel so unethical about it now.”

Confession 12:

“I spent 2 years working as a full-time ‘online persona’ for this shady company, using fake pics/details to hit on lonely guys and get them to buy credits to keep talking to me. I led so many lonely souls on and it ate me up inside.”

Confession 13:

“After the housing crisis, I took a job going door-to-door offering people ridiculous loans and preying on their desperation with deceptive tactics. So many families got scammed because of people like me.”

Confession 14:

“When I was undocumented, I donated my eggs at a shady fertility clinic over and over again just to afford living expenses. It felt so dehumanizing but I was desperate for any income I could get.”

Here are 22 more anonymous embarrassing confessions of shameful things people did for money:

Confession 15:

“I was a broke student who answered one of those shady ‘get paid to party’ ads. Turned out it was escorting wealthy dudes to high-end events and letting them grope me all night. I only did it twice but felt so degraded.”

Confession 16:

“After getting scammed by a multi-level marketing scheme, I actually became one of those annoying hunbots trying to con my friends and family into joining too, just to make back what I lost. I cringe at how brainwashed I was.”

Confession 17:

“When I was really down on my luck, I applied to be a ‘mover’ with a company, not realizing until I showed up that it was just a front for hiring day laborers off the books to do dangerous work for pennies.”

Confession 18:

“As a stupid teenager, I let a creepy photographer take explicit photos of me that ended up getting sold on shady ‘Barely Legal’ sites. I’m just glad none of my family or teachers ever found out.”

Confession 19:

“I spent two years as one of those annoying ‘sign spinners/wavier’ people you see on street corners. Having to dress up in a stupid costume and flail around all day was so dehumanizing and embarrassing.”

Confession 20:

“I worked as a ‘deleter’ at a sleazy reputation management company, getting paid to scrub people’s bad reviews and criminal records off online listings. It was totally unethical but the pay was good.”

Confession 21:

“When my startup went under, I donated my body to medical testing studies and let labs draw insane amounts of blood from me just to cover bills. It was scary but I was desperate.”

Confession 22:

“I spent 6 months as a total underpaid ‘content mill’ writer, just churning out garbage spammy articles and blog posts by the bushel for pennies apiece. It was soul-crushing work but the only gig I could find.”

Confession 23:

“After getting fired, I had to sign up to be a temporary worker renovating gross hoarder houses and cleaning up biohazard scenes. The things I saw and smells I dealt with were traumatizing, but it paid okay.”

Confession 24:

“When my car broke down, I donated my hair for cash, not realizing the company rips off donors by saying their hair isn’t ‘acceptable quality’ so they don’t have to pay out. I felt so violated.”

Confession 25:

“I did medical study trials testing nightmarish gas medications that gave me the worst gastrointestinal issues you can imagine, all because I needed money for rent. It was incredibly degrading.”

Confession 26:

“As a broke undergrad, I got a job dressing up as a raunchy mascot and doing sleazy performances at frat parties. The way I was objectified and groped still haunts me.”

Confession 27:

“I lied about being a widower dad to get hired as a ‘house manager’ for an Airbnb property, when really I was just a broke kid living alone in the house and faking things for the income.”

Confession 28:

“In college I answered a shady ‘get paid to party’ ad that turned out to just be code for being an escort to rich older guys at nightclubs and events. I only did it a few times but felt so cheap.”

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Confession 29:

“After a bad job loss, I had to sign up to be one of those door-to-door hired salespeople using scummy tactics to push overpriced products on vulnerable people. I felt like such a leech.”

Confession 30:

“I spent a summer as a telemarketer using deceptive scripts to try tricking people into buying sketchy products and subscriptions they didn’t need. I’ll never cold-call again after that abuse.”

Confession 31:

“In grad school I got a job as a standardized patient, having to pretend to have gross symptoms and letting student doctors examine me. I’d leave feeling so violated and unclean every day.”

Confession 32:

“I did a stint as one of those shady tax preparers using every loophole and trick in the book to inflate people’s returns illegally for bigger fees. It put my ethics to the ultimate test.”

Confession 33:

“After my roommate got deported, I lied about being a student to get hired as a university tour guide and do the whole fake admissions song-and-dance just because I needed the job’s income.”

Confession 34:

“In my early 20s, I got hired as a beer promoter to flirt with and incentivize guys at bars/clubs to order certain brands. Having to be so fake and manipulative for a paycheck was the worst.”

Confession 35:

“When money was beyond tight, I signed up to be a hotel bedroom secret shopper, which involved purposely messing up the rooms and seeing how staff would handle it for ‘quality control’. I felt awful.”

Conclusion

No matter how grim the money situation may seem at the moment, these confessions prove there’s always a line that shouldn’t be crossed just to earn a buck. But the good news is, with perseverance and ingenuity, there are always better solutions than doing something you’ll forever regret.