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Thread ID: 75270 2006-12-23 01:30:00 The Most Useless Job in the World chainey (9225) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
508826 2006-12-23 04:08:00 Why? Are you looking for a more meaningful career?

Nope. Just got thinking about it.

For some reason that part of the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came into my head where all the Hairdressers and [some other profession] were told that the earth would soon be destroyed and they were herded onto spaceships and sent "on ahead", although the rest of the population had no intention of following them. I couldn't remember what the other profession was. Then I thought that hairdressers weren't really so useless unless the people left behind were going to cut their own hair.

So trying to fill in the gap led me to wonder if there really were any truly useless jobs, or whether in fact liberal capitalism is 100% efficient in that everyone's job (since someone is willing to pay for it) must be of some use.

So I thought I'd seek some opinions.
chainey (9225)
508827 2006-12-23 04:17:00 Web designer (what's wrong with a word document and a paperclip?)

thats not a Useless Job in the World :) ;)
stu161204 (123)
508828 2006-12-23 04:41:00 There are some jobs which may seem to be useless (depending on what you demand, some things may be important to a small group of people only). However, if there are no such jobs, more people will be unemployed, thus we may need to pay more tax to look after them. In this way, their jobs save you some money :)
All jobs are there for a reason. The market decides what jobs there should be.
developer (4447)
508829 2006-12-23 05:13:00 thats not a Useless Job in the World :) ;)

My apologies, it was a sly remark, the paperclip is just miffed because it doesn't get paid nearly as much, but is always there... holding things together even when the web goes down, the power goes off and the property market crashes... oh wait, that's next week :xmouth:
Shortcircuit (1666)
508830 2006-12-23 05:28:00 Sports people. pctek (84)
508831 2006-12-23 05:47:00 TV News Readers.... and if I need to explain why then your job as well. sam m (517)
508832 2006-12-23 05:54:00 Sports people.

Is that because of a general dislike of sports, a regret for the loss of amateurism, or a dislike of the NZ rubgy sporting culture?
chainey (9225)
508833 2006-12-23 06:08:00 If I lived in the UK I could put myself down as a Coronation Programme Seller.

Fairly sure there were quite a few of these and so feel they were common at the time.

This would mean that I would not have worked since 2nd June 1953 and don't expect to until Queen Elizabeth II shuffles off and the next monarch is crowned (whenever this happens).

Hopefully if we get a suitably young successor I will only have to work one more day in my lifetime. Barring, of course, assassinations, medical conditions, accidents or abdications. :-)

Do I win?
Sweep (90)
508834 2006-12-23 06:10:00 If a job is useless, then why does he or she get paid for it?

Cheers :)
Renmoo (66)
508835 2006-12-23 06:33:00 usually because the people payin the wage dont have to earn it, They simply steal it from us through taxes and rates. All councils in NZ are bloated, most of them are reduntant, and all of them are duplicated. Metla (12)
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