A reader from Syracuse writes…  

When I was in the Air Force I had a job manning the O.R. desk.  We were a combat F-4 fighter squadron based in Thailand in 1973. O.R. stood for ‘Operationally Ready’ and referred to the maintenance status of an aircraft.

My boss noticed that as the flight crews stood in line in the maintenance debriefing room after a mission they would listen to other pilots ahead of them describe problems they had with their aircraft and then when their turn came they would relate some of the same problems or having had time in line to think about it, come up with something else to complain about.

So he made me the ‘O.R. Debriefer’ with a separate desk and a sign to that effect. If a pilot had an O.R. aircraft he could bypass the line, sign a form I had already filled out and pop out the door headed for the O-Club. Our O.R. rate skyrocketed! Most of the time I wasn’t doing anything so I would bring two books from the library every day so that when I finished one I had another to start on.

What do you think? Is a person in charge of taking forms that state that everything is okay engaged in a BS activity?  

A reader from Pennsylvania writes…  

Analyze and interpret other peoples’ work in order to pass on requirements in order for other people to continue doing said work. You get to tell people what they already know and tell them what they already expect. You get to attend “”Meetings”" that are not much more than stating problems and pawning off the responsibility of fixing said problems to someone who actually knows something and gets paid far more because they actually have a skill/trade.

The Business Analyst is the facilitator of time consuming numbness. As simple as a monkey opening a banana.

What do you think? Is it simple for a monkey to open a banana? Or is it just that it has a lot of practice?

A reader from Washington, D.C. writes…

This is not my job, but I have been the trapped innocent victim of the “”strategic planning consultant”" who has held captive scores of us in meetings that go for hours and it’s ALL BULLSHIT! Hours in planning that results only in more BS meetings to talk about “”next steps, mission, vision and goals”" …that means they can invoice for thousands of dollars to inflict miindnumbing pain that morphs one into a coma-like state despite coffee, peanut m&m’s and “”break out groups”" – your only chance for brief respite to vent if you have any sane people in your group.

But no – you only have the true believers that barf out all of the buzz words, phrases and acronyms that have been droned on about the first part of the day from hell. So, in the small breakout group, emerge the “”leaders and visionaries”" of this group and Oh shit..another strategic POD professional has been cloned.

Like a cult, another true believer is born and ready to be part of this BS industry!

Me? I’m the one with a mental block about how any of the verbage means productive outcome for anyone other than paying for a new beach house and a vacation in Tuscany. So, after 8 hours you leave with a presentation folder full of charts, color coded “planning sheets”, “technique tips”, “” tools”" and the “”notes”" area that is blank except for doodled “”HELP ME”" and “”UGH!”" entries. Coffee-logged but desperate for freedom you stumble out of hell and do all you can to avoid the follow up conference call in six weeks to report progress on …BS.

Living in Washington DC there is an endless amount of BS jobs – it’s the absolute BS mecca of the world! Here all BS who BS are highly regarded. The political hacks, the government agency bureaurcrats on local and federal levels, the corporates that pour in and out and their PACS, the endless nonprofit, international and academic realms – all full of BS jobs that go on without limits. From what I can tell only sanatation workers and Starbuck’s baristas work.

What do you think? Is this a bulls**t job?

A reader from Massachusetts writes…

Duties: Oversell limited back pain treatments as a fountain of youth.

$$: New graduates work as associates for very low pay, around $60k per year which isn’t much considering that you are $100k in debt before you start. Opening your own shop is more lucrative but risky, 50% of them close in five years. If you survive you’ll probably make 90k. Hire some underpaid associates of your own and you could make 140k/yr. Little wonder why the highest paid people in the field are seminar vendors or run schools.

The upside: Making your own hours. Successful high volume clinics often work about 30 hours per week.

The downside: High pressure to succeed, sleazy sales tactics, high student loans and quacks for colleagues.

The dark side: If you fail you’ll be stuck with those loans for life.

What do you think? Some people swear by these guys. Others just swear at them.

A reader from Ohio writes…

In college, I worked for a consultant studying the impact of strip mining in Louisiana (My supervisor was later offed by vigilante mobs who poured anti-freeze down his throat). My job was to water and fertilize the grass in the test beds. The test beds measured 10 x 10 feet. There were five test beds. I got paid $15/hour in 1981 dollars. I had all day to water and fertilize. I did my job in about 30 minutes, 15 min in the a.m. and 15 min in the p.m. I worked 10 hours a day and got paid 2 hours of overtime each day. Love it!

What do you think? Is the job bulls**t? Or the title? Or both?

A reader from Boston writes:

Upside:  Ride the bureaucracy wave, take more time than necessary to do everything, because nothing truly important is given to you to do because only real engineers are allowed to do actual engineering work.  Copy data from one form of spreadsheet into another.   Repeat.  Gain immense entertainment from people who’ve decided to dedicate their adult life to having meetings about the size, shape and color of stupid things like electrical connectors or wires and spend hours brooding over such things.  More $$  than any other intern or college student, and most entry-level teachers as well.

Downside:  Learn nothing, dread coming to work, immense boredom, stare at a computer monitor all day.

Darkside: Depression over career choice, occasion casual pressure from higher-ups.

Where you go from here:  Anywhere.  No one knows you’ve done nothing, both at this company and any other company that views your resume.  Continue earning massive $$ for doing nothing, at least until you graduate.

Readers, what do you think? Is this a bulls**t job?

A reader from San Francisco writes:

Good job … make sure everyone else is doing their job up to some standard using some methodology employing some practices that only you know of and can decide whether are appropriate for ‘this project’ or not.

Reviews how other resources are performing their job vis-à-vis methodology they are following and picking fault with an appropriate number of things they do and can ‘improve’. 

Guru of methodology; guru of some internationally recognized operational standard (to which everyone seems to aspire to and eventually gain some of the benefits everyone else apparently has gained); guru of management practices.

Comfortable existence; low stress; $125k + per year.

Readers, what do you think? Is this a bulls**t job?

A reader from Washington writes:

Get paid to write estimates for repairs, not actually perform the work. If you miss something, the shop will call, it’s actually quite common.

Readers, what do you think? Is this a bulls**t job?

A reader in Colorado writes:

Bull## Job description:  If working in major agency: get up at crack of nine, cruise into work post rush hour, fiddle with files at your desk, think about making calls, spend 3-4 hours per day drinking coffee and going out to lunch.  Hang out with other agents and talk about the one that got away.  My advice to new agents back when I was a decorated agency trainer, paraphrasing John Savage:  “Next Monday when you tell your wife/spouse/partner/significant-other you’re going to work, try it.  Before you know it you’ll be working 3 or 4 hours per day!”

Upside:  Better than BO or Multilevel marketing for getting undesirable seatmates to shut up on crowded airplanes.

Downside (if single):  Better babe repellant than BO or Multilevel marketing.

Dark side:  Professional meetings same average age as a mainline denomination.

Readers, what do you think? Is this a bulls**t job?