Bullshit Jobs

KosherBosher · 2023-02-09T12:47:49+00:00

What overall percentage of bullshit or useless jobs do you think exist in the job market? For example, if we removed half of all jobs today, what sort of soc...

gingermilk

KosherBosher this is probably unrelated to what you are asking. I couldn't say for sure how many jobs are considered to be bullshit, but many jobs, especially in tech, are a total waste of time where people slack off for half of the day. that's why no one wants to go back to the office after the pandemic since they can finish the work in whatever pace they like in a much more comfortable environment by wfh.

MeathShot

If your job can easily be replaced by a robot, then there's a high chance that it's probably a useless job

Woland

KosherBosher ? I think if you can't describe your job in three words or have a long job title then you likely have a bullshit job.

This feels silly to me, a complex society requires complex jobs. Someone who is able to say "I catch fish" isn't any better or worse than someone who can only limit their job description to, say, "I represent clients in court." Both jobs are important, but require varying levels of complexity to explain to an outsider. Unless we get super reductive and all doctors are "I heal people" regardless of specialty, which is also ridiculous. A real "bullshit job" is getting paid as a useless advisor because your dad owns the firm or whatever, or the company literally forgetting you're on the payroll.

MeathShot If your job can easily be replaced by a robot, then there's a high chance that it's probably a useless job

I'd argue the exact opposite. If a company deems your job important enough to automate, it's probably pretty damn important.

Sandro

I don't know if it's a good thing to think of a job as inherently "Bullshit", as some jobs just dont age well compared to others. When they find a way to make serving automated and the majority of people are satisfied with it, theres a 95% guarantee that it will become the norm going forward. But there will always be a market for people wanting personal service. AIs will not be able to reproduce that for a very long time. It's harder to say for logistics, as some of the automation actually removes some of the risk factor in doing it yourself. But I think keeping a mindset of knowing how to do it yourself will make you way more useful if you plan to market yourself for a new job.

KosherBosher

Woland I think it's a pretty good rule of thumb. "I practice law" or "represent people in court" could be one for a lawyer. Another for a graphic designer could be "I design logos". But the more complex your title or description, the higher chance of it being a bullshit job. Also if your job is being automated, all it proves is that you have unskilled labour that is easily replaced.

Remove

Basile

Basile describe it in 3 words

Describing the jobs I've had

Outsourced English Lessons
Private English Lessons
Credit Repair Salesman (actual bullshit job)
Tax Record Library

The first one was part of a call center. I called Korean students and conducted an English lesson over the phone with them between 10 and 20 minutes. After 10 minutes I had to type up and send a report about their performance. Sometimes my schedule was so packed I couldn't use the bathroom. Plus, it was me only conversing with them for 10 minutes at times. Does that really help?

The second was the same thing but I was working for a Chinese independent teacher specifically. And the classes were 20 minutes instead, over Zoom so I get more leeway for creativity. Downside: it was mostly children. Sometimes as young as 3 years old. I was an entertainer more than a teacher at times. But rarely, there were young adults! Met a cool guy 5 months older than me.

Last one was a government job; I worked at the tax department. It was okay, but I certainly didn't wish to do that forever.

MeathShot

Talking from experience, i honestly feel like a majority of janitorial work is pretty useless. I worked as a janny at my school as a part time job and i always felt a part of my soul die when i came back in the next day and saw it was the same mess i spent hours cleaning up before hand. Machinery taking over cleaning jobs is something that im perfectly fine with, provided it doesn't make more messes for the other wagies to clean up like a certain other robot that drives around the grocery store.

++

I hate modern jobs. Office work especially is dreadful. I wish I could've been an artisan before the industrial takeover.

MeathShot a majority of janitorial work is pretty useless

It's all right considering it's unpaid.

Jmcw2023

Thx Marty the Robot, now i have to pick up the trash -.-

gingermilk

++ reminds me of this

userlame

I don't think it's really jobs that are bullshit, but how long people spend working. 100 years ago people thought that we'd have a 3 day work week. It would be possible to have a 3/4 day work week now but obviously our handlers can't let us have that, so I doubt we'll ever have one despite the evidence showing that a 3/4 day work week has no effect on efficiency.

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userlame seriously, work today feels more like a way to keep the boot on your neck than an actual contribution to anything.

Nick and his names

I've sorta ran around with jobs, the only really useless one was an internship with an IT firm. It was paid (only reason I stuck around there for as long as I did) but if I wasn't sitting on my ass doing nothing I did little more than lift printers and image computers when I was promised a lot more. But before that I was a librarian and after that I started work as a mechanic after I got certified. Both of those being pretty killer jobs.

PTaylor

KosherBosher
My 3 words are "support worker, autism" and yeah in another world my job would be bullshit because special needs people wouldn't be treated nicely. I'd have nobody to look after or keep safe.

I spend a lot of time on my phone or reading books because there's a lot of down time. For instance now, there's a dangerous man on the sofa next to me, but he's fast asleep so I'm writing this instead of being bored. When he's awake it's best to pay more attention heheh. I work 12 hour shifts and only have to do say 3 hours of actual work. I'm not complaining -- I'm helping people and living an easy life for the pleasure.

I'd recommend getting a "bullshit job" for a while. I'm going to be studying soon, and while i am, the 3 hours of work getting paid for 12 is going to save my energies for my education.

mechap

Strangely enough, Economies around the world are, increasingly, becoming vast engines for producing nonsense. In the same way as the fact that so many people feel unhappy being paid to do anything defies our current assumptions about human nature, the fact that so many people are being paid to do nothing in the first place defies all our assumptions about how market economies are supposed to work.
Part of the reason no one has noticed this phenomenon until recently is that people simply refused to believe that capitalism could produce such results, even if that meant considering their own experiences or those of their friends and family as somehow anomalous. All conversations on changes in the structure of employment have to begin with an acknowledgement that the overall global trend, especially in rich countries, has been for a steady decline in farming and manufacturing, and a steady increase in something called "services"

The idea of a service economy in general is the real issue here. When a country's economy is characterized as being dominated by the services sector, one gets the impression that its citizens primarily support themselves by serving each other iced lattes.

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