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?

@NiceLegsShameAboutTheFace

You express my broad view on the matter. I think it is consider the current situation, and think that only the people doing essential jobs that keep things going in the short-term are important. We need the engineers who design things in the long-run. If we didn't have contract lawyers, life would be more difficult.

There are definitely some jobs I think we could do without (I'd be quite happy without life coaches, wedding planners, divorce lawyers, and "tax advisers" for big businesses - sorry to anyone with those careers), but we all likely play a role somewhere in creating a functioning society.

I sell furniture for a living. Hit me with that bullshit stamp.

NHS worker here, frontline in the past and now in the blood transfusion dept so no bullshit job here. A lot of bullshit work politics to contend with though

My previous post didn't make much sense - I wanted to say "I think it would be wrong to consider that, given the current situation, only those people doing essential jobs that keep things going in the short-term are important."

Even non-BS jobs are only necessary to the point of keeping people IN BS jobs alive and functioning - but if there were fewer people full stop, there'd be fewer people needed in essential services too.

I'm a Chief Operations Officer for a small non-profit. Sounds very fancy and important, but what it feels like is 'mum'. Lots of responsibility to constantly be looking after piddly little things, always looking to trim a budget, say no to the requests of whiny staff. Managing people who are old enough and shouldn't need any sort of managing (I've never actually been managed in my life - just turned up and did my job competently and occasionally get told well done).

I do get to do some innovating, risk taking, smart planning... but mostly it feels like 'mum'. What I hate is that I ended up in this job by being competent, and the more competent I got, the more I became responsible for incompetent people.

(Now I'm in charge of hiring I'm steadily fixing this problem - none of the people I've chosen have required much management either. Just train them and let them get on with it.)

I help rich people sue other rich people for hundreds of millions of dollars. Such bullshit.

I'm not really a proponent of the 'BS jobs' argument.

Firstly, unless we rejig our entire economic system, we're dependent on the so called 'BS jobs' which are revenue generating to fund everything else.

Secondly, while food and healthcare are the 'essentials' to life, there's plenty else that makes life worth living. I'm not sure i'm ready for life without entertainment, travel, events, fashion, non essential retail.

We need structure and rules around laws/finance and that requires people to administer it.

Some of the most distrusted jobs (marketing/advertising/PR etc) are utilised by 'worthy' sectors like charities/healthcare as well as corporate.

I think it would be wrong to consider that, given the current situation, only those people doing essential jobs that keep things going in the short-term are important.

Absolutely. Do we want to live like this forever?

Even in the medium term I'm worried about what happens when the stream of quality TV production dries up.

My job involves work to make people safer, and to make the planet slightly less trashed so that part of it is not BS.

Some of my work involves art and design which might sound like BS but I think is the most important part of what I do - I think art spreads joy and without joy what's the point.

Crosser62

@sassanach I work in a jobcenter but its in Denmark. Its a similar setup but we're not as stringent as uk jobcenters - at least from what I read.

I do believe we live in an unnatural state, which is why mental health is so bad. Id be interested to see what depression levels are like for instance in remote tribes in comparison.

I conceptualise (for sales) and then design training courses. Some of them are bullshit ones (ones commissioned by organisations that don’t care about anything other than ticking boxes as cheaply as possible), but most of them are actually meaningful and I feel proud to have worked on them. I do a lot of courses for charities/third sector/humanitarian organisations on complex decision making in emergencies.

My job was in footwear retail. So, not bullshit in the sense that people do need shoes and in that it gave work to small family factories in sunny European countries, leather suppliers in Italy. Also I was very much the business end of stock, cost prices etc. However, bullshit in that women do not need a new pair of shoes every 4 months nor a new pair of winter boots each year.

essentially going back hundreds of years… live off the land

This is a fantasized notion of life in the "old days". Basically everyone worked themselves to the bone just to stay alive. The benefit of us all doing these bullshit jobs today is that we don't have to work so long and hard and can spend our (ever-increasing) leisure time doing things that are meaningful to ourselves.

Sales and marketing. Total bullshit job.

@Brooksey5 I was sitting here wondering the same thing. But I (generally 😄)make my clients very happy and improve their living environments so I say not a bs job. 😄

@crosser62

@earsup
My ex friend is not a proper qualified counsellor..she just added that to her services. No training in that area.. proper counsellor are not a non job. I wasn't very clear.

No, you were absolutely fine :) thanks for explaining, I know a few people like your friend as well