Service: Lying Down on the Job

Li'l Abner, the hero of Al Capp's comic strip, worked as a mattress tester, sleeping away his hours on the job. This soft life is not for Helen and Robert Yurs of Sycamore, Ill., who operate Rayco Engineering, probably the only consulting service that makes house calls to test bedding for structural defects.

Several leading mattress manufacturers, including Sealy, Simmons and Serta, employ the husband-and-wife team to investigate customer complaints. The Yurses, who handle about 150 cases a week, either visit the customer's home or pass along the assignment to their network of some 20 part-time mattress testers in eight Midwestern states and Pennsylvania. Rayco's testers, mostly college students, earn at least $10 per call. Usually the problem can be easily remedied, perhaps by turning the mattress over or lubricating the box spring. After three years on the job, the Yurses earn $100,000 annually and are trying to recruit enough modern-day Li'l Abners to take the business nationwide.