Bullshit Jobs

Anthropologist David Graeber talks classifies Bullshit Jobs into five categories:

• flunkies, who serve to make their superiors feel important, e.g., receptionists, door attendants, etc.
• goons, who act to harm or deceive others on behalf of their employer, or to prevent other goons from doing so, e.g., lobbyists, corporate lawyers, telemarketers, etc.
• duct tapers, who temporarily fix problems that could be fixed permanently, e.g., programmers repairing bloated code, airline desk staff who calm passengers whose bags do not arrive;
• box tickers, who create the appearance that something useful is being done when it is not, e.g., corporate compliance officers, quality service managers;
• taskmasters, who create extra work for those who do not need it, e.g., middle management;