I started working in 1992 as a retail clerk at the Gurnee Mills mall. I sold stuff, restocked shelves, and answered questions. From that time until I joined the Army, I had jobs where I *did* stuff. I waited tables, taught English, and fixed computer problems. These were clearly defined jobs that could be described in short phrases.
The Army, though, was something different. As a company grade officer (lieutenant and captain), I didn't *do* stuff so much I was in charge of people who did stuff. As lieutenant, I led a platoon. As a company commander, I was responsible for 100 people and $12 million in property.
When I finished my stint as a company commander, though, I was moved to a position in a general's staff. It was hugely disorienting. I was no longer in charge of anyone, and my responsibilities weren't defined. My #1 job task was to "be available." I showed up and did what I was told.
It happened again when I worked as a contractor – there were no defined responsibilities, not enough work to keep me busy, and no one to be responsible for. Again, I had to "be available." As a contractor, I had to put in 40 hours per week of such "work."
Even how, as a GS employee, only a small fraction of my time is spent actually doing things. I get paid just as much as I did as an Army captain, and put in exactly 40 hours per week, but again, I am in charge of no one and have no measurable performance objectives.
As author David Graeber would explain it, I have a BS job.
In 2013, David Graeber published an essay in STRIKE! magazine called, "On the phenomenon of B***s*** jobs." [Link] It proved to be so popular that he wrote a book, which Penguin Books published in 2018.
Graeber starts by defining the term. A BS job is different from (and I'm paraphrasing here) a "bad" job. If the hours are long, the pay is bad, or the workplace is intolerable, that's a "bad" job.
A BS job, by comparison, is one in which even the person filling the position recognizes that it contributes nothing to the general welfare of society. It's a self-reflective term, not a judgment on what someone else does. A corporate lawyer may get paid well, work in an air-conditioned office, and even enjoy the respect of their peers, but if they contribute nothing to society and hate their life because of what they do, that's a BS job.
Graeber then describes five categories of BS jobs. Flunkies only exist to give their bosses' status, or to pad resumes. You can't be a big shot unless you've got someone beneath you, the thinking goes. I see this in the Army, where a general can't really justify their rank unless they have a certain number of colonels below them.
Goons are societal parasites. Like telemarketers or people who knowingly work for scams, Goons do the dirty work so someone else can profit from an unethical business practice. It may not have been their idea, but they're locked in (usually because of the salary) and are guilty of working for The Man. Even social workers can be goons if their work is more about making people jump through hoops than actually helping them.
Duct Tapers' jobs exist because of systemic flaws. For example, a person who takes information a legacy computer and has to manually retype it into another computer is a Duct Taper.
In the movie "Galaxy Quest," Sigourney Weaver's character is a Duct Taper. As the only one who can communicate directly to the ship's computer, her one job is to repeat exactly what other crew members ask. She realizes her one role is ridiculous, but it's the only thing that keeps her from being completely superfluous.
A Box Ticker is someone who does things that no one cares about. If you regularly produce a report that disappears somewhere, never to be looked at by anyone, you're a Box Ticker.
The last type of BS jobs are the Taskmasters. These are usually middle managers whose only job is to dole out tasks to subordinates. It doesn't matter if the subordinates are capable of assigning work amongst themselves, the Taskmaster serves as a powerless point of contact for someone higher up. In the comic strip Dilbert, the "pointy-haired boss" is a Taskmaster.
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