Yes, Bullsh*t Jobs are Traumatic

Unfamiliar with BS Jobs? Start here 👇 https://youtu.be/6_s27cRnf4I?si=o8WACSWcuavMp_PC

I work from home for a company that fired everyone but me, they forgot I exist. I have not done a single thing since September and keep getting paid.

The existence of bullshit jobs is why a show like "Severance" hits such a nerve with so many people.

As you point out, it's easy to deride the 'moral trauma' of well-paying pointless jobs when making a comparison to people suffering without work, or those doing hard work for low pay. But it should be constantly re-emphasized that it is the suffering of others at the heart of this moral trauma. Someone feeling depressed at their pointless job isn't necessarily expressing woe only for themselves -- they are also expressing contempt and disdain for the injustice of the system that rewards themselves for doing nothing while ruthlessly exploiting others. It's more comparable to survivor's guilt. To complain about well-paid, pointless jobs isn't a first world problem, it's a complaint against the inequality that is the source of the suffering and pain of those in need.

I dont even know where to start, nor do I know if there is a conclusive "point" to this comment. This video hits hard. I left a BS job, taking a big paycut, to return to a meaningful job. Here, I help veterans, so these examples you use are strikingly familiar; I hear these things every day. And I get it. There is substantial utility to these stories and examples, I promise. My best friend makes almost twice as much money as I do. But his job is soul-crushing and meaningless. He envies that my job comes with appreciation, respect, deadlines, and purpose. But I would be lying if I said I didn’t envy the money he makes. Neither of us would be willing to sacrfice our current position, even though we desire aspects of the other's. I don't know what else to say, but thank your for making this video. Im glad I stumbled upon it.

there is some stress in it to maintain the facade of being useful. not work, but stress for lying when you normally dont lie. but i think it helps to rationalize that you arent alone in this predicament, and that it indeed is a blessing in disguise. i had a job where i felt inadequate before. that is still the alternative and that was worse.

Definitely can relate. I did quit a job that was like that a few years ago, and it turned out well. Indeed, the impossibility to just quit because money has to keep coming in and no other job is available is depressing. Indeed, there is nobody to turn the anger to...

I loved my BS job. Especially when we got to work from home a few days a week.

I know, I have two of them. I want to change careers but my wife got cancer and health insurance fought every medication, every treatment, everything because it was a rare hematological cancer. Because it's rare, there aren't well established treatments for it, they just do similar things that they do for leukemia. However, the insurance kept insisting that every prescription, every therapy, every procedure, everything was not standard of care. So now I'm overemployed, making 120K at one job and 65/hr at another and it's computer programming so it takes at least 80 hours a week. I hate what I do and I want to do something else at this point, but I can't, I have a mountain of medical bills and there's no real options for bankruptcy anymore unless you're under median income. Incidentally, I barely own more than a 2K worth of stuff. I have 250K in debt and in four or five years I might finally pay it down, I wish I could pay it down faster but taxes really eat into what I make and I have ongoing medical expenses and teenage children. I have not spent money on any luxuries, everything nice that I own I bought more than 7 years ago when my wife got sick. I have taken no vacations other than taking my wife to medical specialists out of town. I think my plasma TV is worth 200 dollars, and that's the most valuable single thing I own. We don't celebrate birthdays or Christmas anymore because we can't spare the money for gifts, I can't take time off and don't get any time off of my contract job, can't really even afford anything nice for dinner. Every dime I make is already spent on necessities. If I died and went to hell, I'd mistake it for paradise.

I wrote a paper recently on moral injury and the vast majority of current research done on MI is in the context of military service, this was an interesting take on it - there should definitely be more emphasis on MI in the workforce. Its also interesting to note how much time these jobs take out of one's life with very little active productivity, its a waste of time and potential that doesn't particularly line up with the economic view of work-value. I would be interested to know how MI might affect people who work illegal or immoral jobs like scams. It must affect people to an extent to hear how scamming affects their weaker targets like the elderly. Great video!

This made me sob

I've had BS jobs, except without the abundant compensation. We are not the same.

It’s all especially Kafkaesque lately.

it is so fucked. I never really worked at an bullshit job. I have worked in jobs I really loved and shit jobs that are meaningful but pay nearly nothing. I'm looking for a job at the moment and I have to decide weather to to take a chance on pursuing a career I'm passionate about or doing a job that pays next to nothing and severely limits my ability to follow my passions or doing some bullshit job that would kill my soul and destroy my ability to do anything meaningful for myself. We should get rid of the bullshit jobs, redistribute equally and/or compensate properly for the shit jobs and lower the working hours so everybody would have time to pursue things meaningful for themselves.

Ya…. Having a BS job may suck but I’m sure the financial security makes it all worth while😌👌🏽

to be fair, i work at startups and tech companies, a lot of what i do is a gamble at possibly sucsess for most people who pay me, so largely, the work of myself and peers, after all the soul sucking meetings and stressful deadlines, ends up in the bin. However a part of me finds solace in that with the skills we build maybe i will happen across a meaningful job/project..but until then I have no big problem seperating dummies from their money, especially since the people usually have more money then sense to begin with.

It's not like they quit and get a building job right. So realistically understand you got the better role in life. That's why no one wants to hear it. Do I explain it weel enough?

I had a BS job that was not not only largely worthless to society, but also came with an extremely high workload and was severely underpaid given the skilled nature of the work. It absolutely destroyed me. The worst part is that moral corruption was rampant and I did my best to do the right thing, but it made me an enemy of my coworkers. It became exhausting just trying to be a good person.

ok yeah i agree with you but id rather have the traumatic experience of sitting there pretending to work than be harassed by people every day at a walmart, its an interesting case of "first world problems are real problems because they dont have other problems to deal with therefore its real to them" re contextualized