# What exactly was Chandler's job? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 13, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827 "2011-05-13T21:29:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/61 "2011-05-16T04:00:43Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I always assumed he sold nautical supplies. I saw what you did there. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/62 "2011-05-16T05:20:31Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Ursula waited on the Buchmans alot. And she was a porn star, using Phoebe’s name. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/63 "2011-05-16T05:52:26Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > And she was a porn star, using Phoebe’s name. **Buffay the Vampire Layer** being one of her greatest hits. And didn’t Phoebe also start charging people for “Phoebe’s” architect? ---
**Author:** ![Grapefruit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@Grapefruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grapefruit)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/64 "2011-05-16T15:49:15Z")
So we have for Phoebe’s jobs so far: Masseuse Bell Ringer Sales Rep Caterer Telemarketer Chandler’s Assistant Musician (paid?) Wikipedia says she made sombreros and worked as a phone sex worker before. I think these were mentioned in passing, and I sort of remember the phone sex one, but when did she ever say she made sombreros? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/65 "2011-05-16T16:08:27Z")
Had things been a little different she would have been a stock broker (or something like that, I can’t recall the exact job). Her grandmother (I think) had a taxi-cab that Phoebe took on personal trips, but I’m not sure if she ever worked as a cabdriver. She was also a psychic, not sure if she did that professionally. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/66 "2011-05-16T16:15:17Z")
Don’t forget mugger. Phoebe mugged Ross when they were teenagers before they were Friends. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/67 "2011-05-16T17:43:50Z")
Joey was also a waiter in Monica’s restaurant (where they all hated Monica). I know, when you say “actor” the “also waiter” is understood. 🙂 ETA: Joey was also an assistant at Chandler’s company. He was playing a role of “office worker” (but actually working as an office worker). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/68 "2011-05-16T17:55:31Z")
Oh, man, I loved _Friends_ so much. And the trivia-game episode is one of my all-time favorites. > [@Biggirl](#): > > Don’t forget mugger. Phoebe mugged Ross when they were teenagers before they were Friends. I came in here just to mention that. How many different ways did Monica sort her towels? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/69 "2011-05-16T17:59:01Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > …One of my all time favorite [Chandler moments…](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCowrXGwdjs) (Chandler as Santa Claus) LOL. “Go play with your toys while Santa, the Armadillo and I have a little chat in the kitchen… _there’s_ a sentence I never expected to say.” ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/70 "2011-05-16T18:02:10Z")
Phoebe was Joey’s manager for about 56 hours there, and really quite good at it. I don’t know if he ever paid her though. . . ETA: And wasn’t Ross a museum curator before the professor job? I think he did himself in over a Thanksgiving leftover sandwich?\* And seriously, is anybody still eating the stuffing cold the following Monday? That’s just begging for food poisoning! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/71 "2011-05-16T18:12:22Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > And seriously, is anybody still eating the stuffing cold the following Monday? That’s just begging for food poisoning! It’s perfectly fine if the stuffing has been properly cooled and refrigerated overnight. Especially if the stuffing is the dry enough to gag on kind. The sugar content and acidity of the cranberry sauce is pretty good protection against bacterial growth, but the turkey meat, gravy, and mashed potatoes are just as much a problem as the stuffing if not properly stored. Back to the topic, are you talking about the time that Phoebe pretended to be Joey’s agent? ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/72 "2011-05-16T18:13:16Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > And she was a porn star, using Phoebe’s name. Yes, to Phoebe’s chagrin. But … the checks still come to Phoebe, in her name. So that’s some of her income, even if it’s not her job. Gotta work that somehow into the “Where do they get their money?” calculation. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/73 "2011-05-16T18:27:58Z")
> [@Grapefruit](#): > > I seem to remember Chandler being the only one who was ever shown having a computer. He had some sort of dinky laptop with a crazy small screen… it was used to generate Ross’s Rachel vs Julie - Pro / Con list. No, actually Ross is shown to have a laptop in season eight or nine – he’s using it to create his profile on the alumni website of the college he and Chandler went to in the episode where an escalating prank war results in his pretending to be dead while Chandler and Monica host a memorial service for him (at which a gay fellow alum shows up solely to hit on Chandler, whom Ross has “outed” as part of the same prank war, and assumes Monica is a drag queen when she tells him that she and Chandler are together). Ross: “Nobody cares that I’m dead?!” Monica: “I look like a MAN?!” Chandler: “Okay, ONE RIDICULOUS PROBLEM AT A TIME!” ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/74 "2011-05-16T18:31:02Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > **Buffay the Vampire Layer** being one of her greatest hits. And didn’t Phoebe also start charging people for “Phoebe’s” architect? Too much smoke machine in _Buffay the Vampire Layer_, if you ask me. I think her performance in _Inspect Her Gadget_ was much more compelling. ---
**Author:** ![Grapefruit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@Grapefruit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grapefruit)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/75 "2011-05-16T22:50:12Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > No, actually Ross is shown to have a laptop in season eight or nine – he’s using it to create his profile on the alumni website of the college he and Chandler went to in the episode where an escalating prank war results in his pretending to be dead while Chandler and Monica host a memorial service for him (at which a gay fellow alum shows up solely to hit on Chandler, whom Ross has “outed” as part of the same prank war, and assumes Monica is a drag queen when she tells him that she and Chandler are together). > > Ross: “Nobody cares that I’m dead?!” > Monica: “I look like a MAN?!” > Chandler: “Okay, ONE RIDICULOUS PROBLEM AT A TIME!” Oh right… of course Ross would have a computer. He’s the nerdiest one! I can’t believe I forgot about that episode. Which episode did Chandler mention Google? I missed something in my initial Phoebe Career Tally. So the list, as it stands: Masseuse Bell Ringer Sales Rep Caterer Telemarketer Chandler’s Assistant Musician TV Extra Assembly Line (?) Worker for Sombreros Phone Sex Worker Porn Star (paycheque only) Agent for Joey (would she have gotten paid?) Mugger Prostitution is an iffy one; we don’t have actual confirmation, in passing or not, that she was actually one. She did say **a** pimp spit in her mouth, but she didn’t make a distinction on whether it was **her** pimp. Which episode was Phoebe Chandler’s assistant? It must be earlier in the series, but I think I’d like to go re-watch that. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/76 "2011-05-16T22:54:44Z")
> [@Grapefruit](#): > > Prostitution is an iffy one; we don’t have actual confirmation, in passing or not, that she was actually one. She did say **a** pimp spit in her mouth, but she didn’t make a distinction on whether it was **her** pimp. In one episode, Phoebe was fired from her job as a masseuse for having sex with a client, and I think she admitted that made her a whore. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/77 "2011-05-16T22:57:04Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > No, actually Ross is shown to have a laptop in season eight or nine – he’s using it to create his profile on the alumni website of the college he and Chandler went to in the episode where an escalating prank war results in his pretending to be dead while Chandler and Monica host a memorial service for him (at which a gay fellow alum shows up solely to hit on Chandler, whom Ross has “outed” as part of the same prank war, and assumes Monica is a drag queen when she tells him that she and Chandler are together). > > Ross: “Nobody cares that I’m dead?!” > Monica: “I look like a MAN?!” > Chandler: “Okay, ONE RIDICULOUS PROBLEM AT A TIME!” Ross’ laptop also makes an appearance in Barbados, when he has his speech written on it, and Chandler open an e-mail containing the Anna Kournikova virus. Chander apparently keeps a computer somewhere, Joey mentions using it to register as a minister on some internet church so he could perform Chandler and Monica’s wedding (and to look up porn, which he can only find because it’s right there when you turn on the computer). Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe apparently don’t have computers, unless Monica just shares Chandler’s. ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/78 "2011-05-16T23:05:34Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > In one episode, Phoebe was fired from her job as a masseuse for having sex with a client, and I think she admitted that made her a whore. Well, she didn’t actually have sex with him. She liked one of her clients, so she did some feet flirting with him and then told him about her crush. They were kissing when her boss walked in on them and assumed the worst (turned out the guy was married, too. Poor Phoebe!) Then on the way home after being fired she started offering massages to random people on the street, which led to the same misunderstanding with the police! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/79 "2011-05-16T23:14:41Z")
From _The One with the Dirty Girl_ > [@Phoebe Buffay](#): > > Look, I’ve had a lot of jobs, okay, and there are some people who just always try to get out of paying. It’s either, you know, "that massage wasn’t long enough, or, “I don’t recognize any of those songs,” or, you know, “These sombreros aren’t big enough. Bad little white girl!” ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827/80 "2011-05-16T23:38:43Z")
Also, didn’t Joey finally land a semi-steady gig as a doctor on _All My Children_ or something? (I also remember he had to fake having a foreskin in vying for a role, that I believe Phoebe helped make?.. ttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—umpp.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-was-chandlers-job/581827.md?page=5)