Are you stuck in a "bullshit job"?

[Anonymous]

I’d love to have a paralegal to look stuff up online for me all day are you kidding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d love to have a paralegal to look stuff up online for me all day are you kidding

Just ask Alexa.

[Anonymous]

My job has become one under new management I've had in the last year (new in each of the 3 layers above me).
Mine used to be a role of strategy and of innovation in terms of how we could work better internally and/or meeting emerging market needs. But now, since new management was given New Product X to roll out, all I do is grunt work because my boss and the boss above are very poor at actually managing, prioritizing, delegating/empowering, focusing on the big picture.

Result is that I'm assigned either to scramble to put out some 'fire' that really is not that urgent, or to deliver something related to New Product X that is taking excruciatingly long to get management feedback for me to finalize. I have nothing truly meaningful to show on my yearly review, after a year working for them. It is frustrating as I've been trying to continue working on the new solutions but get reprimanded for not doing the grunt work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My job has become one under new management I've had in the last year (new in each of the 3 layers above me).
Mine used to be a role of strategy and of innovation in terms of how we could work better internally and/or meeting emerging market needs. But now, since new management was given New Product X to roll out, all I do is grunt work because my boss and the boss above are very poor at actually managing, prioritizing, delegating/empowering, focusing on the big picture.

Result is that I'm assigned either to scramble to put out some 'fire' that really is not that urgent, or to deliver something related to New Product X that is taking excruciatingly long to get management feedback for me to finalize. I have nothing truly meaningful to show on my yearly review, after a year working for them. It is frustrating as I've been trying to continue working on the new solutions but get reprimanded for not doing the grunt work.

^^PP here, and it occurs to me that I consider it a meaningless job...but on the other hand maybe you meant by "BS job" that one can get away with really delivering nothing of value. In my case my manager really cares about me delivering certain things, and is micromanaging about it, but I know that these things are pointless and of minimal value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My job has become one under new management I've had in the last year (new in each of the 3 layers above me).
Mine used to be a role of strategy and of innovation in terms of how we could work better internally and/or meeting emerging market needs. But now, since new management was given New Product X to roll out, all I do is grunt work because my boss and the boss above are very poor at actually managing, prioritizing, delegating/empowering, focusing on the big picture.

Result is that I'm assigned either to scramble to put out some 'fire' that really is not that urgent, or to deliver something related to New Product X that is taking excruciatingly long to get management feedback for me to finalize. I have nothing truly meaningful to show on my yearly review, after a year working for them. It is frustrating as I've been trying to continue working on the new solutions but get reprimanded for not doing the grunt work.

^^PP here, and it occurs to me that I consider it a meaningless job...but on the other hand maybe you meant by "BS job" that one can get away with really delivering nothing of value. In my case my manager really cares about me delivering certain things, and is micromanaging about it, but I know that these things are pointless and of minimal value.

He is new, does not want to rock the boat, just wants to deliver some quick and easy things which will not be questioned. Also who knows how he is spinning this to those above; they rarely have any idea on the value of things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My job has become one under new management I've had in the last year (new in each of the 3 layers above me).
Mine used to be a role of strategy and of innovation in terms of how we could work better internally and/or meeting emerging market needs. But now, since new management was given New Product X to roll out, all I do is grunt work because my boss and the boss above are very poor at actually managing, prioritizing, delegating/empowering, focusing on the big picture.

Result is that I'm assigned either to scramble to put out some 'fire' that really is not that urgent, or to deliver something related to New Product X that is taking excruciatingly long to get management feedback for me to finalize. I have nothing truly meaningful to show on my yearly review, after a year working for them. It is frustrating as I've been trying to continue working on the new solutions but get reprimanded for not doing the grunt work.

^^PP here, and it occurs to me that I consider it a meaningless job...but on the other hand maybe you meant by "BS job" that one can get away with really delivering nothing of value. In my case my manager really cares about me delivering certain things, and is micromanaging about it, but I know that these things are pointless and of minimal value.

Yes,"BS job" adds no value to society.If it disappeared as profession nobody will miss it.

[Anonymous]

I read somewhere that if your job wasn't done by an animal in a Richard Scarry story, it probably shouldn't exist. Seems accurate. Doctors, nurses, firefighters, cooks, construction workers, all real jobs that provide tangible benefits to society. The million variations of sitting at a desk all day and entering data into a spreadsheet, not so much.

[Anonymous]

My spouse and I have jobs saving the government money.

We’ve literally saved agencies millions of dollars. But, what happens to those “savings”? Are they returned from the agency to the treasury to the taxpayer? No. They’re just spent on the next lower priority project on September 30. The project wouldn’t have existed without the funds we saved so it clearly wasn’t essential. It’s depressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My spouse and I have jobs saving the government money.

We’ve literally saved agencies millions of dollars. But, what happens to those “savings”? Are they returned from the agency to the treasury to the taxpayer? No. They’re just spent on the next lower priority project on September 30. The project wouldn’t have existed without the funds we saved so it clearly wasn’t essential. It’s depressing.

That’s sad to taxpayers..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New poster - what are tips people have for coping with it? What gets you through the end of each day?

What gets me through the day is my music; I put my headphones on and have to zone out.

I also make decent money so that helps as well.