The book Bullshit Jobs has changed my life

[Polarbearflavour]

Anybody else?

Article here. www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/books/2018/may/25/bullshit-jobs-a-theory-by-david-graeber-review

Most of my jobs are bullshit. My current job involves vast periods of time doing nothing, sometimes doing audits that nobody reads and just get filed away. Or attending committees, doing minutes for them that again, nobody ever reads.

I can't really say as it's quite niche....but involves admin in this niche industry.

This time last year they had 5 people in my dept with nothing to do, most have left now to pursue something worthwhile. If I left I would have to take a huge paycut and the hours are flexible which works too.

There are loads of these jobs about flirty!

I too have a bullshit job. I spend 2 days in the office, 2 WAH. Don't work Mondays, but classed as full time because my other 4 days are long.

All my work gets done in the office and I struggle to fill those two days. So, for full time money I work an average of 12 hours a week. Generous leave allowance, not bad pay - 45k.

Public sector in case you are wondering. Lots of bullshit jobs there.

I hate it though. Would trade for half the pay for something meaningful.

OMG l have worked for myself almost all of my life and l always wish for more hours to get through all the tasks........l have never had a sick day in 30 years as l just have to keep going.....these jobs sound a damn sight easier than my life!

I don't do a bullshit job. I do a job that needs doing. Like most jobs like that it does not pay well.

I used to be a process development chemist in a big pharma company, I mostly worked on troubleshooting manufacturing processes of drugs that are already on the market.

I do a similar job! But biopharmaceuticals rather than small molecules so mainly developing processes from scratch and it's harder to demonstrate comparability in different facilities so manufacture is still mainly in the west.

The cartoon made me laugh though when it spoke about factory ownership by committee 'like a co-op'. Think Russia tried that model last century and it wasn't very successful.

I do an absolutely non-bullshit job in theory as I’m an English teacher. But my job is made unmanageable by the volume of bullshit tasks I have to do, largely to keep other people in their bullshit positions. So, endless data tracking and admin that serves no useful purpose at all. The education system is full of bullshit - kids doing a lot that they don’t need and don’t benefit from in order to tick more boxes and jump through more hoops.

Consequently, I’m reducing my days and going more part time because I can’t keep on top of all the bullshit and still do my job effectively. I’m planning for next year - all the work I will be doing on my days off in order to be able to be a great teacher when I’m in work. It is ridiculous and it is unfair!

My job is medium bullshit.

I run operations for a non-profit, providing employment for 10 people (whether in bullshit jobs or not, them having money is definitely on the plus side). Our work supports other workers.

I led a project creating something for the public sector, used by over 10k service providers on 250k service users - not bullshit.

I work on the long term strategy, keeping the company afloat for years.

But then a whole damn lot of what I do is bullshit.

Oh, but I do earn LOTS. And have lots of free time to enjoy writing.

I found the book poorly-written and not very insightful.

I would love one of these bullshit jobs. Please would someone in a cushy bullshit job message me on what area I should be looking in if I want to work an hour a day and do my own thing while looking busy for the rest of the day?

I used to be a project manager in an environment that didn’t need project managers. 100% bullshit and the requirement to look busy/constant fear of being ‘caught’ made a right mess of my mental health.

I am now in a more junior yet equally paid bullshit job where at least I have pens to push, but it is demoralising to say the least. I don’t think it’s capitalism; I’d love a bit of voluntary exchange of goods and services in my day. We just seem to be far removed from actually creating anything of value. I am also worried I’ve been employed to bullshit for so long I have forgotten how to be creative and productive.

It seems to me the genuine non bullshit jobs are the ones that are horrendously underpaid and undervalued. My job is nonbullshit I think, pretty poorly paid but is necessary for people who haven't got time to do the job themselves as they are out for long hours doing bullshit jobs (cleaner). I don't know if it makes my job bullshit but I like the busy 'beginning to end' feel of it with no pen pushing.

I don't do a bullshit job. I do a job that needs doing. Like most jobs like that it does not pay well.

This is the kicker. Because we are inherently selfish, we are happy to exploit other people’s kindness, empathy, good hearts, good upbringing, hard work, good intentions, years of struggle and sacrifice to do jobs that have to be done but for little pay. Nursing, elder care, teaching, social work, fire fighting, farming, butchery, retail work, highway maintenance, sewage workers, binmen, cooks, nursery workers, and so forth.

Meanwhile, other people, often inclined to be more focused on their own wellbeing, looking after no1, maximizing earnings, earn ££££ for doing bullshit jobs which go on to spawn other bullshit jobs (does the world really need so many yoga teachers, or lifestyle coaches, or fitness classes, or juicing experts, or wellness retreat hoteliers, or therapists and so forth?).

It’s all upside down and back to front. Net result is you end up with Brexit and the like.

Well I’d like to share a book that has really changed my life. I read it at a time where I was starting to care less about unimportant stuff anyway but I followed all the tasks in it and honestly, I have so much less mental stress. It’s called The Life Changing Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Sarah Knight.

I would say my job is bullshit on that, the principles on which it is based are against my general life philosophy ( all I am willing to say) but I certainly don't have masses of time with nothing to do. I work a lot.of extra hours to meet a lot of bullshit deadlines set by people who don't actually have to do the work but seem to know better than me how long it will take. Lot of ' busy' work with tight deadlines to produce stuff that is forgotten within a few weeks/ months

A true bullshit job is like mine, where if you never turned up again it wouldn't make a shite of difference.

There are shit jobs, and bullshit jobs.

yoga teachers, or lifestyle coaches, or fitness classes, or juicing experts, or wellness retreat hoteliers, or therapists

Whoa! those are all less bullshit than mine.

I agree about mechanics, carers etc but I think fitness is worthwhile - also last I looked the fitness instructors don't seem to earning a fortune. Farmers is an interesting one - I have met some very rich and very poor farmers so whilst farming is definitely not a bullshit job it isn't badly paid for some.

The cartoon made me laugh though when it spoke about factory ownership by committee 'like a co-op'. Think Russia tried that model last century and it wasn't very successful.

Like the well known case of the Russian nail factory.

They were paid by the weight they produced, since they weren't going to bother with nonsense like 'profitability', or market-driven production. So they just made reeeally big, but completely useless, nails because they were heavy and easy to make.

OP, I'd try reading "The Rational Optimist" rather than this stuff.

Like the well known case of the Russian nail factory.

This appears to be well-known as a soviet-era cartoon, and as a parable from some US economists.

Do you have a source to suggest it actually even happened?

My job wanted to be bullshit. Crucially, they created the job for me out of necessity, there was a need for it and I was part of the team that cane up with the idea that somebody needed to do it. When it was propsed that I be the one to actually do that we created, I gave them terms. I will do the actual job itself brilliantly and efficiently. I will send in reports on the actual work in within 24 hours of completing said assignment/individual task, I will come in for essential meetings. I don’t want a desk or office or anything and I won’t be there from 9-5, just pretending to work. They agreed because they had no choice really.

Just to add to that, I do feel bad when I say “bye!” and hop out f the building, while everyone else is still shuffling papers about their desks, looking bored. Pretty much everyone else is stuck in the bullshit. They could be so much more efficient if there wasn’t such a ‘bums on seats’ mentality everywhere.

@CountFosco what are you doing, antibodies? You're not based in a certain new town in the south east are you?

I think your area is going to be safe for a good few year yet - not only is it difficult to tech transfer, it's also fashionable. CEOs always like to be near to what they perceive to be the future. And for now that means, keeping it in high cost countries.