What would be the most BORING industry you could imagine working in?

[MrsMerryHenry]

In my efforts to get my freelance career off the ground I am doing a writing project and am searching for ideas.

Your suggestions much appreciated!

[moondog]

I'd quite like replacing a windscreen.Don't they huge huge suction pads and sort of seal it into place with satisfying squelch?

[SoccerMum]

Anything is fairly mundane when you do it all day every day.

[Swedes]

BonsoirAnna - Agree. But it's difficult not to differentiate. Human resources person for a hospital isn't a medic.

[Mintyy]

Banking, law, IT.

[Mintyy]

Financial services.

[BonsoirAnna]

Well, I think that there are functions that are pretty universally boring whatever industry you are in (is IT really going to be differently fascinating if you work at L'Oréal or in the NHS?).

The thread title was about industries, however.

[Swedes]

DP thinks civil service is the worst, by far. He once spent a year seconded to the Home Office and he still shudders at the memory.

[kathyis6incheshigh]

I would hate to work in any job whatsoever to do with sport.
Whether it was in a sportswear shop or as a top sports reporter who got to go to all the supposedly exciting finals and things, or as a groundsman on a cricket pitch, I just know it would bore me to tears.

[zippy539]

Yes - I agree with the carpet shop suggestion. Bleak. Bleak. Bleak.

[pointydog]

I would love to talk to a bloke who was trying to sell chewing gum to the Russians. That sounds ace.

In fact, talking to anyone involved in selling chewing gum would be fun.

[Marthasmama]

Financial services - yawn. So boring. I was financial consultant and I had the same conversation with different people day in day out. I was also rubbish at sales and hated putting the pressure on.

[GossipMonger]

Not an industry but a job that would KILL me is

The Toll road people who take money off you.

How awful must that be?

Day in day out, taking money, no time for a chat or a smile.

I would die.

[Blackduck]

IT is only boring if you have to deal with the users (who ask you mindnumbing dull questions that make you wonder if they have an brain cells at all...).... (says she who is an IT Consultant...) Also IT is SO broad - now coding - I think that is boring, but dp loves it, something about the satisfaction of getting something to work just so...
But I agree with the arguement that IT is IT whether it is for the NHS or whoever....

Anything repetative - I should think work on a production line is boring.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

YY Financial Services. Specifically anuity sales or pensions.

Human resources, especially for the public sector, e.g. the DVLA.

Window cleaner for a tower block

I actually did work experience in a pathology lab, testing blood, other body fluids etc, tissue samples etc. It was fascinating.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I am currently on a secondment working in IT procurement for large scale projects, I actually find it really, really interesting.

However my line of work is aerospace engineering and sub-contract management, which I imagine many of you would find boring in the extreme. But I love it (sad but true).

[HairyMuff]

I worked for a pittance years ago in a cardboard box factory. Now that was pure boredom. Who, I mean, who, can get excited abot cardboard boxes?

A close second is my days spent in a plastic pipe factory. God that was shit too. I was supposed to pack 100 tubes into boxes but always lost count, and you could never quite fit 100 in anyway so I just used to sling a load in and seal it shut without counting. I left before I got found out. They were the sort of pipes that came out of the back of loos. What makes someone say " I want to go into the bog pipe industry? Who are these people?!

[blueshoes]

Is IT really IT whichever industry?

If IT people really think that, their systems are doomed to failure. The interesting thing about IT is tailoring systems for the specific business. I spend a lot of my time working with IT people and trying to make them more business-focused, rather than expecting their users to eat whatever out-of-the-box functionality (being polite here) they serve up.

[nickytwotimes]

Retail is as boring as fuck.

I'd imagine factory work mut be rotten.

[blueshoes]

I would imagine proofreading or editing would be pretty boring.

I am actually struggling to find a boring industry. Any industry is interesting - even if it is only in the way it is set up, run and generates profits.

[blueshoes]

GetOrf, I would find aerospace engineering and (less so) sub-contract management hugely interesting

[Mintyy]

I think repetitive work such as factory work or cleaning is not that dire because you are on your own in your own world and to a certain extent you can go into a zone and think about all the things you could do/will do one day when you don't have this shite job any more. Or, indeed, you could contemplate all the other things going on in your life whilst accepting your job as just a job and a way to make money.

Boring jobs that require a level of thinking/energy/input plus maybe client interaction or responsibility for budgets or other staff must be soul-destroying.

[Stinkyfeet]

Optician.

"Is it clearer with ..... or without?"



"Clearer with ..... or without?"

ad infinitum.

I know there's much more to it than that, but that part must be mindnumbing!

[blueshoes]

mintyy: "Boring jobs that require a level of thinking/energy/input plus maybe client interaction or responsibility for budgets or other staff must be soul-destroying."

Curious you say that. Have you held an executive or management-level position that destroyed your soul?

I cannot imagine doing a job that requires no thinking, energy or input or people management - I guess a cleaner or factory worker might fall within that. Work is not just a means to an end. The best work engages the brain and is rather enjoyable, plus keeps your mind sharp, knowledge up-to-date and most likely pays much better than cleaning/factory work.

[MollieO]

Cleaning computer screens/keyboards/telephones.

Polishing and watering office plants.

[Mintyy]

Hello blueshoes, yes, I have had the most horribly boring jobs that involve a high level of responsibility. Many times I thought to myself "I would rather clean the toilets at Waterloo station than do this job for one second longer".

Do you have difficulty imagining this?

To me the ultimate goal is to be self employed. Otherwise you are always someone else's wage slave.