# Seinfeld: Did Kramer ever have a Job? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 10, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886 "2006-07-10T16:13:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/1 "2006-07-10T16:13:27Z")
I know he was fired from the office 9but he didn’t really work there), but what did he do all day? Did he work or was he disabled? His mother was a cleaning lady, so i doubt he had a trust fund. So what’s the story? ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/2 "2006-07-10T16:21:06Z")
We were never supposed to know. That’s one of the things about his character, it didn’t appear that he ever had a source of income but evidently had enough money to keep up with the lifestyles of a semi-famous comedian and his occasionally out-of-work buddies. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/3 "2006-07-10T16:24:18Z")
There was the episode where Kramer went to a baseball fantasy camp. George’s respons to that… “Kramer goes to a fantasy camp. His whole life is a fantasy camp. People should plunk down two-thousand dollars to live like him for a week. Do nothing, fall ass-backwards into money, mooch food off your neighbors, and have sex without dating. That’s a fantasy camp!” ---
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/4 "2006-07-10T16:28:09Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] I know he was fired from the office 9but he didn’t really work there), but what did he do all day? Did he work or was he disabled? His mother was a cleaning lady, so i doubt he had a trust fund. So what’s the story? [/QUOTE] I suppose the initial stages of marketing the “Bro” doesn’t count. Or “The Executive” either? But he did work at that bagel shop (after the 10 year strike?). ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/5 "2006-07-10T16:38:38Z")
In one episode it was revealed that Kramer was a bagle shop worker whose union had been on strike for years. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/6 "2006-07-10T16:38:50Z")
Besides the bagel shop, he modeled men’s underware, sold a coffee table book, won a bunch of money at the racetrack (not a job, but income) was a screenwriter, acted out different diseases for medical students… that’s the ones I can recall right off… ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/7 "2006-07-10T16:40:52Z")
He was also a department store Santa. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/8 "2006-07-10T16:41:11Z")
He actually had a few jobs: [ul] [li]Actor (appearing in a Murphy Brown epi)[/li][li]Author (Coffee Table Book and ghost-writing Peterman’s memoirs)[/li][li]Golf pro (Stan The Caddy was getting him ready)[/li][li]Do-it-yourself pizzeria impressario (with Poppy - thiss didn’t get off the ground either)[/li][li]CEO and tour guide of the Peterman Reality Bus Tour[/li][li]CEO of Kramerica Industries[/li][li]the aforementioned bagel making job[/li][li]Fake dermatologist for Kruger[/li][/ul] In the strictest sense, I guess only the bagelmaking, acting, and Peterman stuff count as real jobs… ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/9 "2006-07-10T16:52:22Z")
Don’t forget the free lifetime coffee! ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/10 "2006-07-10T19:09:29Z")
“These pretzels are making me thirsty!” ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/11 "2006-07-10T19:14:51Z")
One of my favorite Seinfeld moments involves George asking Kramer, as they stand in line at the liquor store, how it is that Kramer manages life when he never has any cash on his person. “Oh,” says Kramer, as George pays for the bottle, “I get by.” ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/12 "2006-07-10T19:36:19Z")
We found out that Kramer was on strike from the his job at the bagel shop for most of the run of the show. From [Wikipedia:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmo_Kramer) > [@](#): > > The only known steady job Kramer is known to have had was in “The Strike,” where he went back to work at H&H Bagels after being on strike for over a decade. His union finally settled the strike when the minimum wage of New York was raised to the same hourly rate Kramer was demanding from his employer (Kramer still felt the strike was a success), and he was reemployed. He only worked there during that one episode before he was fired. During the time he was working at the bagel shop, he went on strike again because of having to work on Festivus, a holiday fabricated by Frank Costanza. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/13 "2006-07-10T19:38:53Z")
Wasn’t he employed as an acting “stand-in” once? Together with a vertically-challenged friend? ---
**Author:** ![M.Meursault](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@M.Meursault](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/M.Meursault)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/14 "2006-07-10T19:46:06Z")
He’s also an inventor, having come up with the aforementioned “Bro” and the rubber bladder so oil wouldn’t spill out of tankers (Darren, Kramer’s intern from NYU, helped him with that). Maybe he just collects money here and there from patents. Kramer also free-lanced as a dog kidnapper although I don’t think he did it for money. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/15 "2006-07-10T19:52:34Z")
[QUOTE=cmkeller] Wasn’t he employed as an acting “stand-in” once? Together with a vertically-challenged friend? [/QUOTE] Kramer and Mickey had jobs as actors portraying diseased people so medical students could try to diagnose them. Jaundice and gonorrhea come to mind, “Hey, I gave you gonorrhea!”. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/16 "2006-07-10T19:57:52Z")
[QUOTE=Duke of Rat] Kramer and Mickey had jobs as actors portraying diseased people so medical students could try to diagnose them. Jaundice and gonorrhea come to mind, “Hey, I gave you gonorrhea!”. [/QUOTE] They were also actors stand-ins for some soap opera, Kramer as the father, Mickey as the 10 year old. Mickey had to start “heightening” due to the child actor’s growth spurt, resulting in his being ostracized by the height challenged community. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/17 "2006-07-10T19:59:58Z")
Yep, I forgot that gig… ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/18 "2006-07-10T21:25:26Z")
Kramer also had various one-off ventures, such as selling old vinyl records to a music shop. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/19 "2006-07-10T21:55:32Z")
[QUOTE=Tangent] Kramer also had various one-off ventures, such as selling old vinyl records to a music shop. [/QUOTE] And vintage raincoats ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886/20 "2006-07-10T21:55:47Z")
I was under the impression that Kramer actually made a pretty good score from his coffee table book and was able to live off of that for a few years. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seinfeld-did-kramer-ever-have-a-job/363886.md?page=2)