Do you have a bullshit job?

[bogrl]

On zoom earlier with some friends and were having this discussion about what constitutes a 'bullshit job' (ie one that doesn't really matter in the great scheme of life.

Given the current circumstances and how life has really been pulled into focus we were thinking about what we contribute.

I was being smug as a teacher and then when I thought about it, all I really do is prepare kids for bullshit jobs!

We basically ended up with saying we need to live in small communities where everyone works for the good of that community with no travel - essentially going back hundreds of years. No bullshit jobs and living off the land.

Do you have a bullshit job? Has all this made you look at things differently?

@ Wewearpinkonwednesdays Childminding is the absolutely antithesis of a bullshit job.

My job is definitely a bullshit job. The overall vision and purpose of what I do isn’t bullshit but the minutiae and bureaucracy that surrounds it absolutely is. I regularly get the feeling of wanting to shout “what the fuck is the point??!!” during tedious meetings. I struggle to give up the good salary, so I persevere!

I often wish I was doing something tangible, that impacted individual people, like a clinical role, or that I had the gumption to write something that people would want to read.

I have a job that helps people (and the police) in an industry which isn’t known for it.

I had a bullshit job. I felt like I just moved paper around for eight hours a day, five days a week, and no-one would really notice if I wasn’t there. I left and retrained for a non-bullshit job which I love so much. Best thing I ever did, after having kids.

I feel like other people think I have a bullshit job. I'm a childminder

This is not a bullshit job!

And then we all go an man the Golgafrincham Arc B

I'm in marketing, my entire career is built on the perfection of bullshit 👌

Non clinical job in mental health working with children, adults and the elderly in care homes. I've worked in mental health for 2 decades and I'm dreading what's coming

Midwife. Not bullshit, but there is a lot of bullshit paperwork.

Meant to add, it's not a bullshit job but my job wouldn't exist/ be required if mental health and social care was properly funded and the staff had the time and resources to do their jobs properly

Ticklemelmo

I salute you for the honesty of
How bullshit your job is

Lockdown has made me realise that IF I lost
My job I could thrive in a less paid and more
Meaningful job

It’s always annoyed me though

Even now in this crisis we have a bulkshit project going on

Taking data from one platform and putting it on another

WHY

@Prokupatuscrakedatus

Im traing ti so a meaningful job for the NHS. Tbh after this i wish that i had a bullshit job where i could make lots of cash.

Traing to do even...

@Nearlyalmost50 thank you. I got a wee lump in my throat when you said that 😂.

Training even!!

Yes I realised I had a bullshit job at the end of last year. I kind of always knew it was bullshit but it got to the point where I couldn’t carry on in good conscience any more and I stopped caring enough to make the required effort.

The big trigger for me was that a relative died and she had done some amazing things in her life and was very accomplished. It made me think about what would people say about me and my life’s contribution if it were my funeral. I realised that I didn’t want: “She half-heartedly worked in an industry that benefited no one except massive, tax-dodging corporations and was a microscopic cog of such insignificance that her contribution, such as it was, is barely worth a mention.”

So I quit. And I applied to uni to retrain in a completely different career that definitely isn’t bullshit and will help me be of service to others.

I want there to be a point to me getting up and going to work all day beyond just making money to pay bills.

@1066vegan I'm so glad you think that. I feel like people think I'm at it when I tell them what I do. I feel like they think it's not a "real job".

I don't care if a job is bs so long as it pays well.

As I work in compliance, my job isn't actually bs but has some wider purpose behind it keeping the capitalistic professional services firm I work for on the straight and narrow.

feel like other people think I have a bullshit job. I'm a childminder

No ! You care for peoples kids so they can do a bullshit job

Corporate law, so a totally bullshit job by all accounts, but has now become even wankier by being involved in creating a Covid-19 Resource Centre and Business Toolkit for worried clients. Unfortunately it's well paid bullshit so I'm stuck with it for now.

Yes, I am from a large family. Those of us with ‘bullshit jobs’ are essentially the high earners in secure jobs and working safely from home. The other half are in food production, health care, post office and are all out working and being paid less to do so. It’s an eye opener.

I know obviously bullshit jobs also fulfil a purpose but it’s an interesting parallel.

I did have - until recently I was a retail merchandiser (as in buying, not store layouts). I want to do something non-bullshit 3 days a week but I fear I'm asking for the moon on a stick.

I don't have a job at the moment, and your scenario sounds like heaven to me.
Although I'm working night and day to be ready for when our work will return.
Can I take this opportunity to hijack to say find your local Arts Centres and support them, there's lots to see, and the acts could do with the viewings. It might even earn them a bob or two.
We recorded one for ours last week.
I will be selling phones and ipads in a call centre, once I can attend the interview.
There are West End singers working in Tesco, they have bills too.
I don't quite think one fully understood the role when stating "I'll be singing and dancing in the Aisles. But what a hell of an attitude to getting stuck in.

@Thisisworsethananticpated 😂 in all honesty, a lot of my parents tell me what they do and it goes 🤯 I have no idea what they do. I just presume it must be very important.