Considering his laziness, the number of meltdowns he’s almost caused and his general incompetence, it’s nothing short of miraculous that Homer Simpson is still the nuclear plant’s Safety Inspector. All fans of The Simpsons know that Homer’s had a wide range of jobs besides, but how about Marge?
Casual viewers might not realize it, but the down-to-Earth, responsible glue that holds the family together has also dabbled in all sorts of careers since the earliest days of the show. Not as many as her husband, granted, but her C.V. encompasses everything from estate agent to Mayor of Springfield. Let’s take a look at some of her best career moves to date.
10 Realtor
Firstly, we’re going to take a look at a job that Marge enjoyed and gave her all at, but just wasn’t her style. In Episode Nine of Season Nine, “Realty Bites,” Marge becomes a realtor, working with Lionel Hutz at Red Blazer Realty. She wears that blazer with pride, but just can’t settle into the job.
Under Hutz, she is taught the importance of lying to the customers in order to close deals on homes. Being the straight arrow she is, she just can’t bring herself to do it. The one house she does (almost) successfully sell is quickly destroyed by a feuding Homer and Snake the Jailbird, in a suitably ridiculous sub-plot. It was a good job, but just didn’t suit Marge very well. Last place!
9 Substitute Teacher
This was never going to end well. If you’ve seen some of Bart’s hijinks at Springfield Elementary, you’ll know that the role of substitute teacher is always going to be a tough gig. For every Martin Prince at the school, there’s a Nelson Muntz or four.
In “The PTA Disbands,” a teacher’s riot that Bart partly incited utterly backfires on him, when Principal Skinner brings in adults from around Springfield to serve as substitutes (with mostly disastrous results, as pictured here). Predictably, Bart messes with them, until Marge herself is brought in to teach and mothers him in front of his class. As such a responsible yet difficult position, this entry comes in ninth.
8 Power Plant Employee
Speaking of responsible and difficult positions, Marge has also worked at the nuclear plant herself. “Marge Gets A Job” sees the Simpsons struggling to pay for repairs to the foundations of their house, so Marge applies for a newly vacant position at the plant to bring in some extra money.
The dastardly Mr. Burns immediately falls for his new employee, who quickly loses the job when she rejects his advances. This job was a little more high-profile than those before it (she meets musical legend Tom Jones, after all), even if it was just as difficult and short-lived.
7 Trade Show Model
The episode “Large Marge” sees the Simpson matriarch worrying that Homer doesn’t find her as attractive as he once did. She discusses her concerns with Apu’s wife Manjula, and eventually arrives at the idea of having liposuction. After a mix-up at the hospital, however, she is given breast implants instead.
While Homer is thrilled, Marge has mixed feelings. The men of Springfield become infatuated with her and she embarks on a career as a model, which certainly helps with her self-esteem. The unflattering side of the attention and the back pains soon get to her, though, and it isn’t long before she has the implants removed again. As the job and the situation gave her such mixed feelings, it’s only fair to put this entry around the middle of the list.
6 Pretzel Vendor
Speaking of jobs that had all kinds of mixed results, Marge’s pretzel vending business has to rank right in the center of our list. The whole thing came about in the episode “The Twisted World Of Marge Simpson,” in which Marge decided to buy a pretzel franchise to spite The Investorettes, who kicked her out of their group.
She toils away to little success at first, until Homer secretly brings Fat Tony and his mobsters on board to help. With the mob scaring away rivals, Marge’s business briefly booms, until Fat Tony and his men arrive demanding payment. The whole situation is resolved in typically ridiculous fashion and Marge’s short-lived pretzel empire comes to an end.
5 Author
A very different career in which Marge found great (but short-lived) success is writing. In Season 15’s “Diatribe of a Mad Housewife,” she takes it upon herself to write a novel. The Harpooned Heart is a romantic tale, centering around characters based upon herself and Ned Flanders as the lovers and Homer as the antagonist.
The book is very well received and successfully published, but things end badly after Homer takes the characterization literally, believes that Ned Flanders is really pursuing his wife and seems to want to kill him. That’s not the case at all, but things escalate very quickly and could have ended in disaster.
4 Police Officer
One of Marge’s most high-profile jobs, her gig with the police came about after she experienced the thrill of apprehending a villain (Snake, when he tricked Homer in a card game) and felt something she never had before in her everyday routine.
She applied for a job with the Springfield Police force, passed every test with flying colors and performing the role with aplomb. This could have been Marge’s greatest job of all, and a life-long career, had the rampant corruption of the force and law-breaking around Springfield not forced her to resign.
3 Creator Of Shapes
The gym chain Shapes is a curious case in the overarching lore of The Simpsons. Marge became self-conscious about gaining weight and had a bad experience at another gym, so she created her own: Shapes, a reference to the real-life chain Curves. It became a huge success that made Marge famous.
Fantastic as this is, it’s possible (as The Simpsons Fandom explains) that the entire story of Shapes’ creation, expansion and success was just a dream of Homer’s. Its never mentioned again after the events of “Husbands and Knives.”
2 Listen Lady
Interestingly, one of the greatest jobs Marge ever had was one that never paid her a dime. Like her daughter Lisa, Marge is committed to working for the good of Springfield and its citizens, which is how she came to volunteer to serve as the Listen Lady, Reverend Lovejoy’s over-the-phone counsellor.
The only issue is, she performs the role too well, being hounded everywhere for advice while Reverend Lovejoy himself feels like he isn’t needed. Everything is resolved when Marge’s advice to Ned Flanders goes awry and Lovejoy has to help them both (and rescue Ned from the baboon enclosure at Springfield City Zoo, as is normal for The Simpsons’ plots). She wasn’t paid, granted, but this valuable service to the community is exactly the kind of job that would suit Marge best.
1 Mayor Of Springfield
When it comes to job opportunities that really allowed Marge to serve her fellow Springfield residents, there’s really only one final entry that tops the last: Mayor of the town.
In “The Old Blue Mayor She Ain’t What She Used To Be,” Mayor Quimby causes yet another disaster, going on to shame Marge at a town meeting when she calls him out on it. In response, she runs for Mayor herself and narrowly defeats Quimby in the election. She quickly loses support when her empathetic side wins out, refusing to lose sight of her family life in order to cater to the people. Marge’s career was unsuccessful and Quimby soon took power again, but the illustrious position and opportunity perhaps made this the greatest job role Marge has held to date.
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