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Bullshit Jobs - Wikipedia (en.m.wikipedia.org)

submitted 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) by roastpotatothief@lemmy.ml to c/books@lemmy.ml

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read it? is it worth a read?

it doesn't seem to mention the two most obvious types

agents - people whose only job is intermediating, forwarding emails between a business and a customer, but not letting then talk directly. like employment agents who won't reveal the name of the company, because they know you could just talk to each other directly: the agent knows he is useless.
police, military, bouncers - people who spend 99% of their time doing nothing, standing around on street corners. when they do anything, it is only to fight, beat or kill normal working/productive people.

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[–] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 0 points 3 years ago (1 children)

I haven't read the book, but based on the Wikipedia dissertation of which jobs are bullshit I kind of disagree. Take for instance this one, which isn't a strawman:

goons, who act to harm or deceive others on behalf of their employer, e.g., lobbyists, corporate lawyers, telemarketers, public relations specialists, community managers;

Good luck having a gaming company without community managers. The developers are usually so boggled down with bugs and infrastructure they don't have the time or are too burnt out to talk to the community. While you could then blame this on many other things, excellent community managers (I'm from the gaming industry and speak anecdotally) can nearly completely mitigate the problem.

These jobs might not seem too important, but without them, customers don't feel good, and if they're spending money they're spending it to have a good time. It's not about practicality, it's about giving them something that lets them live life in the moment.

[–] roastpotatothief@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago)

that probably applies to all his categories. lobbyists can be valuable too. like the local cycling advocate group who every year meets the local council and tries to explain how to fix the godforsaken road network.

tbh there are special circumstances where even agents and soldiers can have a valuable pace in society. **" i had no idea what community managers are. thanks for explaining. i guess there are bad/useless ones too? maybe in other industries the vast majority are useless. I'll have to read the book.