Fake Email Job

About

Fake Email Job is a slang phrase that was popularized in the early 2020s. The phrase typically refers to simple and easy-to-manage office jobs that consist of sending emails, editing documents or undertaking simple administrative tasks. X / Twitter user and musician @Eve6 was the first to use the expression in December 2020, with parallel terms like Lazy Girl Jobs taking off in 2023. "Fake email jobs" often grew to be associated with female office workers as the use of the term spread.

Origin

The earliest known instance of the phrase "fake email job" being used online is a December 21st, 2020, post by X^[1] user @Eve6, in which he writes, "what time do you guys get done with your fake email jobs." The post gathered over 2,000 likes in three years (seen below).

Spread

On May 2nd, 2021, X^[2] user @bugposting made a post that read, "when you are 22 the world asks you: do you want a fake email job and permanently detach from your body or do you want a fake service job and forget that you own a brain this is forever btw," gathering over 70,000 likes in three years (seen below).

The phrase "Fake Email Job" was added to Urban Dictionary^[3] on September 16th, 2021, where it was described as:

Gainful, probably fully remote employment where your only responsibility is to respond to emails. Fake email jobs can be accomplished whilst drinking at a bar, or from a beach in the Bahamas. It's not a fake email job if you actually contribute directly to the company's product or service, nor if you hold an executive role where your decisions have a real impact on lots of people. Fake email jobs are more in line with middle-management roles.

The phrase "Fake Email Job," as well as requests for leads on such jobs, made repeat appearances on /r/RedscarePod, a subreddit dedicated to the Red Scare Podcast, around this timeframe.

A May 2nd, 2022, post^[4] by Redditor /u/GezelligheidBoyz asked, "Is it possible to acquire a fake email job without a bachelors degree?" (seen below, left). A June 2nd, 2023 post^[5] by Redditor /u/crabapple247 warned, "People way over-estimate how many high-paying fake email jobs there are (especially now)" (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References