Have you got a b*ll shit job?

GC:OPINION Have you got a b*ll shit job?

Writing this at the start of January, I am sitting here watching all our good intentions both professionally and personally slowly wash away, before the cold realization that this year will probably be the same as last.

If you are unhappy in your job and quite possibly find it a pointless existence, then don’t worry you are not alone, in fact you are probably correct as your job is most probably a pointless waste of time according to leading academics.

In the spirit of self actualisation and getting you to take action, GC discovered the work of the late anthropologist and anarchist David Graeber, who came up with the concept of ‘Bullshit Jobs’. Graeber argued that the modern work environment is riven with BS jobs, in something which was only supposed to be a phenomena of the former Soviet Union and bloated government bureaucracies,it is also a common feature within modern capitalist organizations.

In the last century service sector jobs have become the dominant sector of employment within the west. Graeber uses this classification in a very broad definition that stretches from call center employees to CEO’s. It is no longer just classified thinly as people who serve you in a bar or restaurant.

The irony that Graeber notes of BS jobs is that it is the reverse of what we are told capitalism should be. If we use its definition in a classical sense, any organization in the capitalist system has weeded inefficiencies and operates a streamlined no waste operation. The actual truth is most organizations have many inefficiencies in them ranging from decision making and the actual day to day activities within.

Graeber states that the Soviet Union was built on the idea of ‘noble’ labor. With the word Soviet being loosely translated as a workers council, having a tendency to drive for full employment. It was quite common for factory managers to hire people for such roles as counting endless inventories of nuts and bolts within the factory to promote full employment.

In modern parlance, the BS jobs I witnessed first hand using Graebers definition I recalled a visit to Shanghai a couple of years back. I was amazed at the amount of people who were involved in making me a cup of tea when I visited the usual generic western super brand coffee shop.

I was curious to know how it takes two people in Cyprus to carry out this operation (order taker and maker / person to spell my one syllable name wrong) to what seemed like people queuing up to carry out this elaborate dance to combine hot water, a tea bag and milk.

My first thoughts were that the over employment was probably to keep the populace happy and limiting the chance of overturning the system, however it could have just been in Graebers terms an organization riven with BS jobs and that’s just the way it is.

In Graebers publication he outlined the BS jobs into five broad categories.

The Flunkies

Typically doorman receptionists and chauffeurs. They exist to make other people feel better about themselves. This role could easily be replaced by some form of technology.

The Duct tapers.

People who work to maintain the status quo of a problem that could easily be fixed permanently. They may not have the ability or will to remedy the situation. This is highlighted in such roles as an inventory manager in a warehouse, which in theory could be done automatically.

The Box Tickers

Army of endless drones that operate to make a company look legitimate. Such as making an inhouse magazine which makes stories about key executives (yikes) or a cultural coordinator. This is done using

Graebers understanding to make a small company look larger, so it is worth doing business with.

The Goons

Affectionate name for the section of people who he believes have a negative impact on society, but make them seem necessary by simply existing. This is illustrated by inhouse corporate lawyers, who don’t really produce anything and are more costly to outsource. It may cost you more as you are constantly fighting off lawsuits from other brands who have inhouse lawyers justifying their job.

Graeber argues this can be seen by patent trolls, where a company buys up a number of generic patents and tries to sue rivals in the hope that they will just settle out of court. Evidence of this is Apple suing Samsung on the design of the phone being similar in that it had rounded corners.

The task masters.

A group of management who look over a section of the workforce who do not need to be managed. Graeber argues that Sales managers can do this as they are generally acting in a cheerleading capacity - something I disagree with.

They will be distracted in calling needless meetings and creating worthless mission statements that achieve nothing and pull people away from a job where people do have a chance to make a difference Many taskmaster are in a role as it creates a corporate hierarchy that make the CEO’s feel good creating a system of task masters.

Where I disagree with Graeber is that salespeople just push the same amount of money between companies. In this I think he is wrong in that using his logic there is a set amount of money in circulation, and that sales people also create new jobs and generate revenue that keep the system moving. Although some owners would love to take sales people out of the equation

Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote in Gulag Archipelago, that to break a human’s spirit simply make them roll a rock from one end of the prison to the other and give them no reason or end date for this.Perhaps we are rolling the metaphorical rock in our day to day experience.

Are there really any massive differences between 21st century capitalism and 1950’s communism in the granular workplace where the counting endless inventories of nuts and bolts in the old Soviet system has been replaced in the modern technology age.

I think the best way to remedy this is to move away from the 40 hour week and go more task oriented. The most efficient business model I worked in was in my summer break at university when I would work on construction sites.

We would work on what is known as price work where we finished when the job finished. With this there was no 40 hour week, this could be long days or short days and the pay was the same and this got us to finish asap.

Any organization that seems to go from start up to employing over 5 people is naturally going to develop a BS job tendency. Moreover, I think that Graeber does not take into account that some people can develop this into their role in what he describes out of fear of not appearing to have not enough work to do and getting fired.

Moreover, I am sure we have worked with those who are not the dynamic types and revel in their BS job…. goodness knows I have worked with a few that have generated new forms of internal rules and bureaucracies.

If you find yourself in this position and are looking to get out, is there an answer? Apart from overthrowing capitalism and forming a new global economic model which can be quite hard to do on a Monday morning, I would suggest avoiding the happy clappy motivational types like Gary V etc as most people don’t have the resources to just leave a job and follow their dreams. Furthermore, not everyone is or wants to be an entrepreneur, most people just want to do something that is of interest to them or presents a mental or physical challenge on a daily basis.

I would suggest that you make a plan that gives you some form of hope and validation, in that there is some point to me doing this for eight hours a day for five days a week. One you embrace it and accept that this is modern life you can excel in your BS job by taking the money and seeing the humor in it. You are being paid to metaphorically pour water from one glass to another for 8 hours a day.

Other suggestions to alleviate yourself from this mental purgatory is to find solace in a hobby outside of your soul grinding daily role. Take up something where you do see an end result of your actions. Being a very small cog in a machine with no idea how or what your role achieves in the bigger picture, this can help you focus your mind outside.

Perhaps we have too much time on our hands to think that there is something better out there, and previous generations would just get drunk after work and drop dead of a heart attack at 65. We now exist in a world where we are comparing ourselves to others via our phones and social media, seeing people ‘living my best life’...maybe if Graeber was still alive he would see this as the ultimate BS job.

You can read more from David Graeber’s work called Bullshit Jobs: A theory which is published by Simon & Schuster and is available at the usual websites.