After her job contract for the City of New York ended amid the pandemic, Tanya was left scrambling.
It was something, she thought, she could also easily do.
to get to beat the queues,professional line-standershave become a growing part of the gig economy.
For people with more money than time, it’s an easy way to save a few precious hours.
For those who wait, it’s not a bad deal.
The client then comes back at the reserved time to claim their table.
Tanya quickly learned that different lines have different protocols.
She didn’t end up getting the reservation.
“They were disappointed,” Tanya said, adding that they “hesitated to pay.”
But she has never been stiffed for failing to get a spot.
“Some places the process is very predictable,” she tells me.
Tanya charges $20 an hour.
“It’s definitely one of my most consistent task categories,” Tanya says.
“It’s relatively easy, but then it’s not.
You do have to have patience and you do have to come prepared.”
“It was a limited engagement and it was closing,” she tells me.
“People were really going crazy trying to get these tickets.”
It was January 2024 and one of the coldest days of the year.
Other people didn’t start showing up until 9:30.
“I was freezing, it was brutal.
It tested everything I had,” she says.
On top of $120 for standing in line, they gave Tanya a $50 tip.
Professional line-standing is not limited to New York.
From there, standing in line snowballed into a full-time business.
Goff has stood in line for concerts, book signings, new iPhones, and releases of limited-edition liquors.
However, her most lucrative jobs are standing in line forSupreme Court hearings.
“So people do have to line up, sometimes for days.”
For both cases, she got her clients seats in the courtroom.
Goff has found that others in the line are interested in hearing about her services.
“It’s a popular topic of conversation,” she says.
Tanya, for the most part, works alone.
Standing in line, in comparison, is light work.
“I can hold it,” she says.
At some of the most coveted spots, Tanya will be one of many hired line standers.
“They know my face, I know their face.”
Sometimes, it can get competitive.
“It was cold, I’d been waiting for two hours,” she recalls.
“It was not gonna happen.”
As lines get more time-consuming and competitive, more services have sprung up to help people save time.
For that reason, some venues don’t allow line skipping.
“I’ve gotten smarter,” she says.
“I memorize the person’s name and act like they’re with me.”
Still, some people get mad when they realize she is being paid to stand in line.
“One person asked me, ‘How early do you get here?
‘,” Tanya says.
“‘That’s not really fair,'” the person responded.
Tanya and Goff were quick to defend line skippers.
“Life is busy.
You don’t owe an explanation,” Tanya says.
Although Tanya waited in line at Lucali over 20 times last year, she’s never waited for herself.
Her personal line standing mainly involves getting tickets to Broadway shows.
Eve Upton-Clarkis a features writer covering culture and society.
