Job Value

[packbat]

Last year, conuly posted a story about an (idiot) office worker disdaining construction work, in which she pointed out the obvious fact that construction work is not only well-paid, but necessary. I was reminded of it today by a fellow commenting on Pharyngula, and that got me thinking about the classic "good job"/"bad job" distinctions people make.

And it hit me. I can't think of any bad jobs.

Give it a moment. Food service? You help bring tasty cheeseburgers to people and make them happy. Garbage collection? I can't find the quote, but I remember someone once said one measure of a civilization was how fast waste is moved away from the people. Middle management? I was a Boy Scout, I know how much chaos arises from a lack of good leadership. Advertising? Well, it may be the capitalist in me, but if having the cash to burn on ads signals confidence in the profitability of the product, advertisement should (with a few exceptions) be a useful indicator of quality. Even professional sports – the closest thing to a useless job I've thought of yet – encourage physical recreation (public health!), and (I suspect) improvements in some kinds of medicine and surgery.

What do you all think? Am I missing some useless occupation? Some useful occupation, too often derided? What do you say?

Comments

[hallan.livejournal.com]

Dirty politician. Con artist. Telemarketer.

Hallan

PS- I'd forgotten how awesome Absurd Notions was. Too bad it died. :(

[packbat.livejournal.com]

...okay, I'll grant that a lot of illegal occupations are, in fact, bad jobs. Telemarketing, though: intrusive and irritating though it may be, in its most benign form it's fundamentally another form of advertisement. Maybe one of the weakest in terms of signaling (unlike print or TV advertisements, you can't tell how much they're spending, and there's no-one with a vested interest in guaranteeing they're legit), but with the compensating advantage of interactivity.

Granted, it abuses the urgent nature of telephone communications. Still, it has some value.

[hallan.livejournal.com]

"The compensating advantage of interactivity."

...

Interactivity.

...

Right.

"Hi, I'd like a moment of your time to talk about this-"

"Not interested."

"-great deal we have at-"

"Not. Interested."

"-and if you act now, you can-"

"What part of 'not interested aren't you clueing in on?!?"

"-and we'll even throw in a-"

*AIRHORN* *click*

Hallan