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Original poster

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

140 replies

MrsMerryHenry · 28/07/2009 23:09

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!

OP posts:
frogwatcher · 30/07/2009 12:00

medicine - as a GP. Imagine sitting and seeing people with the same old complaints day in day out. Nightmare. No wonder our docs at our practice look so bloody miserable all the time. We had an excellent, fun female GP for a while but she left to do something other than medicine. A doctor in a hospital might be more interesting though as you would see more than just colds, toenail infections, piles etc - uhhh.

BonsoirAnna · 30/07/2009 12:04

LOL frogwatcher. I remember when I was at university thinking that being a university GP must be just frightful - contraception, contraceptive failure, abortion seemed to be about the sum total of their lot!

snorkle · 30/07/2009 13:04

I worked in a laundry as a holiday job several times as a child. Mostly packing, occasionally ironing & finally I was promoted to the office (got paid more) & did the invoices (pre-computer days, so by hand, but had a calculator).

Although all the tasks were really rather mundane, I didn't get bored, we chatted & worked like stink as the deadlines came & went & there was a certain rhythm to it all. I preferred being on the floor to the office. Don't think I could have stuck any of it for more than a few weeks at a time though.

101handbags · 30/07/2009 13:23

I had a temporary job when I was a student working in a Xmas gift tags factory. During a boiling hot summer. Just counting ten tags into a pack... are they up the right way...seal bag...repeat. Was sick of Xmas by the end of August. And then the thrill of seeing all the tags I had packed reappear in the shops come November when I'd thought I'd seen the back of them.

BikeRunSki · 30/07/2009 13:49

hi Blueshoes and unquietdad

That Boring entry wasn't the same in every area's Yellow Pages, but yes, it was in some. I think it now comes under "Geotechnical Engineering" or "Site Investigation".

Armageddon - Hillarious! Clearly no geotechnical consultant on board on that one...

lovegriff · 30/07/2009 15:54

My first job was an hour every Friday in the local post office dusting the insides of the greeting cards... Yawn.

shouldweorshouldntwe · 30/07/2009 16:00

Any Civil Service jobs. Did 8 years and it was a life sentence. Glad I escaped.

ExtraFancy · 30/07/2009 16:03

Agreed shouldweorshouldntwe - manning the JSA phone lines is particularly mind-numbing!

dinkystinky · 30/07/2009 16:46

Any back office support functions - data inputer for example... yawn...

Also, working in the fast food retail sector - can not think of anything worse than washing and shredding lettuce and frying processed gunk for a living...

GetOrfMoiLand · 30/07/2009 17:14

Working for 118118.

Poor sod: Name?
Customer: Jones
Poor sod: Town?
Customer: Melton Mowbray
Poor sod: Would you like to be connected? That will be 97p per minute from a BT line.

Repeat ad infinitum.

MiniMarmite · 30/07/2009 18:24

Whippomorph

MiniMarmite · 30/07/2009 18:24

oops, that'll be the wrong thread then!

Wigeon · 30/07/2009 19:36

Can I just redress the balance re Civil Service / Home Office. I work for the Home Office and I like it! Not boring! But then I do work on one of the more glamarous policy areas [puts pants on outside trousers and looks smug]. And do seem to be turning into a career civil servant...

However, packing Crayola crayons, or putting toppings on pizzas standing by a conveyor belt, or filling in some numbers in a spreadsheet all day long, now they're boring (sorry, back to functions not industries...). Summer jobs as a student.

hf128219 · 30/07/2009 19:45

Lots of perks in the Civil Service too! Pension, generous Annual Leave, flexible working etc

alypaly · 30/07/2009 19:50

Pharmacy.........just putting tablets in bottles and stickin a label on it with a tw*t of a pharmacist

lovechoc · 30/07/2009 19:54

my friend is a pharmacist, and she does sometimes get a bit bored of it, but the pay is actually quite good so she's sticking with it for now!

carrotsandpeasifyouplease · 30/07/2009 20:03

Can't agree with Financial Services, accountant in a stockbrokers, its actually quite fascinating especially these days...

moondog · 30/07/2009 20:27

God, yes Pharmacy.
All that training to sell corn plasters to old people and stand behind a counter in a shop all day.

shouldweorshouldntwe · 30/07/2009 20:28

There may be lots of perks in the Civil Service but its not worth wasting a life for a pension!

hf128219 · 30/07/2009 20:32

What about the exciting bits? MI5/6, GCHQ etc?

Wigeon · 30/07/2009 20:49

Exactly! I think my bit is pretty interesting too.

hf128219 · 30/07/2009 20:50

And mine

Wigeon · 30/07/2009 20:58

Can you say where you work?!

hf128219 · 30/07/2009 21:08

Sure - London!

Wigeon · 30/07/2009 21:11

Hey, me too!