Absolutely pointless
I think we've all felt like this sometimes.
This should be the last day of Low Power Mode (on vacation!), and I’m excited to share what we have today. A full five years ago I shared basically the same story and prompts that you’ll find below — but (a) at least 90% of you weren’t here then, and (b) the point of this story isn’t the story, it’s the replies that people provide. Let me know if you agree.
An absolutely pointless job
What’s worse: a bad job, or a pointless job?
A London School of Economics named David Graeber wrote an article about the idea of pointless jobs. It went viral, so he turned it into a book: Bullsh*t Jobs: A Theory.
He argues that (a) many modern jobs are basically pointless, and (b) doing a pointless job carries with it a big societal or even psychological cost. He describes this kind of job as:
“a form of paid employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence even though, as part of the conditions of employment, the employee feels obliged to pretend that this is not the case.”
That sounded too familiar for comfort. So, I asked around. Who out there has a pointless job? Um…
I worked at an automatic car wash. We were completely unneeded. ... We even had the gall to ask for tips. I made $80 in tips one night doing absolutely nothing."
--Chad Zollinger, chief editor of the Debt and Tax blogs at Best Company.
and
"This was a well-compensated consulting gig, and the client was a medium-sized hospital. They engaged us to help them build a Medicaid plan for very ill children. This was a pointless job because we knew that it would fail. ... My boss at the time said: 'It's like being a defense attorney and knowing your client is guilty.'"--Chris Lee, founder and career consultant, Purpose Redeemed.
and
"Pointless jobs were my only jobs for a few years. I worked for Countrywide Home Loans in college, ... Stuffing envelopes, opening mail, filing paper. ... I went to the office everyday wondering why in the world all of this wasn't digital." --Prudence Limphaibule, Virtuity Financial Partners.
and
“I used to work at an online electronics retailer analyzing lots of SEO data. It was completely pointless. I made an Excel macro that automatically processed all of the data. The entire process took around 10 minutes. I would just sit there browsing Reddit.” --Neil Andrew, founder, PPC Protect.
High paid jobs, low paid jobs — all of them, pointless jobs. I could go on and on with examples.
But, I have a better idea. This seems like a good topic for a Friday comment thread. We’ve talked about bad jobs before — so today, how about the pointless ones?
Let’s start with the premise: What’s worse in your opinion, a bad job or a pointless one?
What’s the most pointless job you ever had?
Was there a silver lining? Did you learn anything from it?
And: What’s your strategy for dealing with a pointless job?
I’ll start with the story of one of my own pointless job experiences in the comments. Actually, I could probably mine an entire column with my own work experience, but I’ll try not to hog the space.
Photo: Screen grab from “Cool Hand Luke.” Like, the part when they make Paul Newman’s character dig the hole and fill it up over and over and over? Pointless, right?
7 other things worth knowing
We’re in low power mode … yet I’ve somehow managed to keep the 7 other things going. (Dear family: This is what I was doing before you got up today!)
Newly released police body camera video from the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022 shows desperate parents begged law enforcement officers to storm the building for more than an hour before police took any action. “Whose class is he in?” one parent can be heard asking. Another comes up and yells, “Come on man, my daughter is in there!” The gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, killed 19 students and two teachers. (Yahoo News)
How Trump’s DC takeover could supercharge surveillance: The emergency declaration, combined with new tech, will give government broad new abilities to watch and monitor citizens. (Defense One)
Artificial intelligence, touted for its potential to transform medicine, led to some doctors losing skills after just a few months in a new study. AI helped health professionals to better detect pre-cancerous growths in the colon, but when the assistance was removed, their ability to find tumors dropped by about 20% compared with rates before the tool was ever introduced, according to findings published Wednesday. (Bloomberg)
Chloe Malle is the frontrunner to take over at Vogue from fashion’s legendary ice queen Anna Wintour. The daughter of actress Candice Bergen and French film director Louis Malle. Malle, 39, is currently editor of Vogue.com and is in the “final rounds” of interviews to be the new head of editorial content for US Vogue. (PageSix)
Spirit Airlines warned this week that it may not make it through another year, citing concerns over its ability to raise enough cash, despite having successfully restructured its debt and emerging from bankruptcy just months ago. Given the uncertainty of whether the company can raise enough cash or reach deals with key partners, "management has concluded there is substantial doubt as to the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern within 12 months," the airline said in an SEC filing. (Fox Business)
Eighteen people have been arrested after a British police force sent out female undercover officers posing as joggers to catch men harassing women while they are out exercising. The pilot operation deployed female officers in running gear during rush hour to expose how often women are harassed: "One of our officers was honked at within 10 minutes, then another vehicle slowed down, beeping and making gestures just 30 seconds later – that’s how frequent it is." (The Guardian)
A driver clocked going 27 kph (17 mph) over the speed limit on a street in the Swiss city of Lausanne is now he's facing up to 90,000 Swiss francs (over $110,000) in fines as a result. But he can afford it. Why the eye-popping penalty? Because the speedster, a repeat offender, is one of Switzerland's wealthiest people, and the Vaud canton, or region, serves up fines based on factors like income, fortune or general family financial situation. Germany, France, Austria and the Nordic countries also issue punishments based on a person’s wealth. (ABC News)
Thanks for reading. Photo by Gabe Pierce on Unsplash. See you in the comments.
I’ve had a few of these over my career, but just to choose one:
Back in school, I worked for a team of attorneys. One of our many bosses commandeered me and some other student workers to review tens of thousands of documents before turning them over in a lawsuit.
We put in a heck of an effort, a couple of weeks worth of work including Saturdays and Sundays, and met the deadline.
But then, the lawyer/boss couldn’t be found. When we finally connected, he revealed the lawsuit had been settled not long after he’d given us the review assignment, so the whole thing was moot. He just hadn’t thought to tell us.
We were making good money, but it was very dispiriting.
Not sure any job is pointless - each add an opportunity: to work with others - human interaction, provides income- strength to the economy (more jobs); you learn something from everything you do.