That reminds me of the forgotten employee, which is very awesome, and slightly relevant. https://sites.google.com/site/forgottenemployee/
I remember reading that years ago.
One day, I'd like that to be me.
The rise of the pointless job
281–290 of 499 posts
Re: The rise of the pointless job
#282Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is visited the USA just once (in 2003), but there was an old man that took my bag off the end of the luggage belt at the airport and handed it to me. I could easily have picked it up myself, but he was there for those 30 centimeters of bag travel. I remember being amazed about it and remarking the pointlessness of that job to my coworkers.
In the US you often see people holding a sign saying "slow" next to construction or road work. This is a job that could literally be automated with a pole :)
I don't know about now, but when minimum wage was $4.75 those guys were making $20.00 an hour. It was a highly coveted job in some circles. They are starting to automate it with portable traffic lights though.
Re: The rise of the pointless job
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is also common in higher-end nightclubs and bars in the U.S., although these aren't full-time jobs and the attendants work mostly for tips.
Or just strip clubs in general. I was in the most ghetto strip club I've ever heard about (unpainted cinder block walls), but they had an attendant.
Things even (especially?) the skeeviest strip club owner doesn't want happening on the premises: drug use,drug trade, prostitution.
And the skeevier the club the more likely that some of the clientele would be involved in one or more of the above.
Re: The rise of the pointless job
#284Earlier quoted context omitted.
On a Monday I quit my job and gave my two week notice. The next day my wife was fired. The day after that, my old boss offered me a raise if I would stick around. I did both jobs simultaneously for six months. In my entire life nothing has been more lucrative than this. I've tried investing in stocks, bonds, and real estate. Nothing has been more lucrative than double-dipping. The thing that's so bizarre, is that it…
I'm assuming at least one job (or both) is remote-only? This would be a hilarious story if you somehow managed to hold two simultaneous 9-5 on-site jobs, in neighboring offices.
There was a story on here about exactly that a few years back. IIRC the guy was a network support guy or similar, so both jobs were mostly reactive and didn't require lots of meetings or presence.
Re: The rise of the pointless job
#285I had a very similar experience once when I worked for the government. I wanted my small desk pointed a different direction, so I rotated it. A few hours later my supervisor and a union rep showed up fuming. They have people for moving things, why was I trying to take their jobs?!
Not sure if true or false to demonize unions, but I've heard stories about the horror of trade shows at union facilities where booth staff were literally not allowed to plug items into power strips within their booths - it required a service request and probably a charge.
Re: The rise of the pointless job
#286I have said this before, but I see some parallels between the modern world and Japan during the early Tokugawa era. Japan had pretty much reached a steady state by the time Tokugawa Iyeyasu came to power in 1600; most of the available land had been cultivated or settled, and, especially after the policies of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, society was locked in a rigid structure without much room for advancement or unrest. As a…
When my family lived in Japan years ago, we noticed that when taking the train, approximately three attendants checked our tickets before we boarded a train. At least two of those jobs are "bullshit" in terms of producing wealth, but they are socially beneficial in a culture where the social contract requires near-zero unemployment. (I, apparently like you, can't help but remember this kind of arrangement when listen…
In Japan, there are people whose job is to stand on the station holding a “shinkansen this way” sign.
In the US, many people get their living from holding a “anything helps, homeless vet” sign at the train station.
Coming back home from Tokyo is always a major shock.
Re: The rise of the pointless job
#287> I should add that there is really only one class of people who not only deny their jobs are pointless, but also express outright hostility to the very idea that our economy is rife with bullshit jobs. These are – predictably enough – business owners and others in charge of hiring and firing.
A manager's job can certainly be pointless, and often is; but how could the owner's possibly be? An owner who has hired managers who operate a profitable business with minimal supervision is just a success. The managers can be perfectly happy with this situation, if they prefer a stable salary to the risky residual claim. I'm not sure the author quite believes in capitalism here.
Re: The rise of the pointless job
#288my favorite flunky job is the one where an executive tells the flunky to print emails out on paper and put them into a big stack so the executive can ignore them later
Re: The rise of the pointless job
#289Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When I was in the US there was a guy handing me a towel in the bathroom. That is an incredibly meaningless and superfluous job! On the other hand, most Americans live their entire lives in the US without ever seeing such a guy. Are you mind-bogglingly rich?
You too may experience this "luxury" by going to pretty much any club (dance or strip) on pretty much any weekend in pretty much any major US city. The opulence wears off quickly, as it is made clear that you're expected to tip and all you want to do is wash your hands like a decent person.
Oh. Gp made it sound like it was a common thing in America.
Re: The rise of the pointless job
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
You’ve employed some sort of inverse ad hominem here. Credentials don’t mean we should take someone seriously. Their words should stand for themselves.
> Credentials don’t mean we should take someone seriously. This is a level of cognitive dissonance I’m not prepared to commit to arguing against. I’m not capable of issuing the bar to every lawyer I require the services of, nor the board to every presumed doctor, nor a thesis defense to every academic. Credentials aren’t perfect, but they are superior to the time required for everyone to judge everything on their own…
A lot of climate change "experts" are paid to generate research that is biased in order to support the agenda of whoever is paying them.
Sometimes I'll see research using data that only goes back to perhaps 1970 or the 1800s for example, which is ridiculous.
Climate change is the modern day religion. I wonder if the world will end up going to war over this.
Personally I believe that humans are not capable of causing climate change, they are too insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
And if the climate didn't change, it would be a bad thing, because that would mean that the planet is dead.