This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gigi Principe, 26, who has been working for Same Ole Line Dudes, a line-sitting company, since 2023 and is now a manager. Business Insider has verified her employment. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
Life after graduating college in 2019 meant bouncing from job to job, burning myself out at each one. Getting furloughed during the pandemic didn’t help, but I eventually started working odd gigs again and auditioning for acting roles. There were times when I would struggle financially, then do okay, then struggle, then do okay. It was a pattern that I hated, but a pattern I was used to. It was so stressful.
The job came at the right time
In 2023, at my lowest year personally, a friend referred me to Same Ole Line Dudes, a company that pays people to wait in lines on their behalf. My first gig was a Jimmy Choo sample sale in October of 2023. When I first got the Google Invite form for the job, I thought it was a scam. All I had to do was show up and sit in line, and I’d get paid around $74.
I was only planning to be there for four hours, but I relooped to the back of the line for another client and made extra money. I basically got addicted, and soon, I was hustling. Once the company figured out I was in it for the long run and was broke, they kept calling me back for more sample sales — The Row, Versace, McQueen. You’ve got to understand what 74 bucks was for me.
At my previous job, I had a moment where I wished someone would pay me to do nothing, and then boom. I didn’t mind sitting out in the winter. Bring a blanket! It was sample sale, sample sale, sample sale, then Lucali’s, a pizza place in Brooklyn that doesn’t take reservations. It was a top restaurant for us at the time, so getting that job was a sign I’d made it in the company. Lucali’s cost $32 an hour, and it was easy peasy to put someone’s name down. I knew my way around Brooklyn and kept coming back despite the cold, because, again, I was broke!
Jobs got bigger and bigger
The managers started rewarding me, and eventually, they brought me on full time. I think I spent almost every day of 2024 line-sitting. Donald Trump’s trial was huge for us — I would line sit from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m., or sometimes midnight to 8 a.m., and then take the subway to my day job uptown. There were days I might have bailed if I hadn’t had my tent.
I also did the Daniel Penny trial, the Luigi Mangione trial, and the Diddy trial. I can’t talk about my clients, but I’ve sat for the press, lawyers, and the public. Sometimes, I travel for clients. (We charge for travel time, and clients pay for the tickets.)
How people spend says a lot
Hourly rates depend on the event — sometimes $25, sometimes $32, sometimes $50 — and I’ve been getting commission since I became a manager in March. This job is hard, it’s taxing on the body, but it saved my life, and it really helps people. I get paid to wait, but also to watch wrestling videos, or write, or rest.
The money keeps flowing in, and that’s also taught me a lot about what people are willing to pay for.
First, people will pay a lot for convenience. That’s clear when I’m traveling and people pay for my plane tickets, train tickets, or rental cars.
And people will pay to be first. The number of times I hear, ‘I want to be first in line,’ or at least in the first group, is crazy. I want to make that happen for people, but it’s not a simple request — because everybody wants to be first. But I’ve seen that the little things in life, like being first in the door, really matter to people.
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