The Real Reason Most People Hate Their Jobs

If you are like most employees in America, you spend the majority of your time at work – 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Day in and day out, you sit through traffic, surrounded by other individuals driving to work as well. While listening to your favorite songs to pass the time, you see Remy in a Toyota Camry, Rizzo in a Ford F-Series, Splinter in a Honda Civic, and Templeton in a Nissan Altima. These four individuals have gray fur, ears on top of their heads, and long tails. However, being used to seeing such creatures, you bat no eye. After all, we’ve all heard of the following term: rat race.

“On your mark, get set, GOOOOOOO!”

Vroom…

The aforementioned term has been popular for a long time. Why? Simple. Most people hate their jobs. “Rat” is associated with vermin that scurry from place to place, scavenging for morsels of food for survival. “Race” implies competition to a finish line. In this day and age, since we humans have lost the know-how to live off the land directly, we need money to live. So, we work. We must share the streets and highways with other people during our commutes like NASCAR racers share a track. “Rat race” is a phrase often used by those who belong to the bourgeoisie class of citizens; that is to say, self-employed individuals that have amassed capital through their wit and grit. They use the term to reminisce about their days as workers, glad that they are no longer hamsters running as fast as they can in a stationary wheel.

The question is, why do most people hate their jobs? It’s understandable that not everyone will like their legal position, particularly those who work dead-end jobs. Someone has to dispose of the garbage from stinky bins, fry the fries in greasy rooms, and pour the cement in 110 degree weather. However, employees are compensated for their jobs. Perhaps they don’t exactly like their jobs, but why hate? Is it because humans, like other animals, are designed to abstract the most resources using the least amount of energy? That is what the theory of evolution proposes. Humans are naturally lazy and loathe effort. They want rivers to flow milk and clouds to rain grapes.

Except, this is not the case, says states David Graeber, author of B*llsh*t Jobs (2018). Graeber says that humans are psychologically oriented to derive a sense of meaning from their lives. Humans want to know that they have a meaningful effect on their environments. So no, most jobs are not despised due to the work. Rather, they are besmirched due to the lack of work; more precisely, the lack of legitimate work. Nobody truly works eight hours a day. Some of that time is spent slacking; some, pretending to work so that Bowser the boss doesn’t breathe his breath of fire down their necks, melting their bodies into lava that drains into the underworld.

The author coined this definition of a pointless job: “A [pointless] job is a form of paid employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence even though, as part of the conditions of employment, the employee feels obliged to pretend that this is not the case.”

Upon reading the above definition, many people imagine a paper puncher working a public sector job. This is valid. Many bureaucratic jobs are useful only to extract tax dollars from the backs of hard-working citizens. That said, there are just as many useless jobs in the private sector as well. Take the case mentioned by Graeber of a woman named Judy, for example. Judy worked as an HR specialist for an engineering firm. At longest, only an hour and a half was needed by her to complete her work. She was hired because her boss “didn’t want to leave his desk.” “My boss could have easily done my job yet again – f***ing lazy turd.”

Another case outlined in the book is of a man named Ben. Ben was a middle manager who was tasked with supervising ten underlinings. “My only function is to hand them work… I spend a lot of my time looking around wondering what I’m supposed to be doing. As best as I can tell. I’m supposed to be motivating my workers. I sort of doubt that I am earning my salary doing that, even if I’m really trying!”

Is it not the case that capitalism is founded on the principle of a free market – a market that serves the laws of supply and demand? Isn’t the point of a for-profit organization in a capitalist society to, well, maximize profits? Why spend the money on unnecessary payrolls when it could more appropriately be given to the shareholders? Pointless jobs exist to the benefit of the ruling class. From the perspective of the top less-than-1%, a citizenry with an excess of free time leads to chaos. “An idle mind is the Devil’s workshop.” Another reason: not working is immoral.

The first reason is implied in the book to be straightforward. A population of people free to think critically is more likely to overthrow the overlords than a population of obedient lemmings. The second reason – that not working is immoral – is examined further by Graeber. From where, exactly, does the idea that not working is immoral originate? Puritanism. Indeed, one of the fundamental tenets of this religious movement, which began in the late 1500s, is that devotion to work is a practice that builds character, even if said work by itself furthers no meaningful goal.

A concrete manifestation of this, relayed by Graeber, is an experience of a man named Mitch. Mitch was a ranch hand in Wyoming. His boss was, in short, a control freak. After Mitch completed the tasks assigned to him, the boss would make him pick up rocks. The ostensible goal was for the fields to be clear so that they’d not get caught in the tractor implements. Having plowed the fields before, Mitch saw right through this flimsy reasoning. No matter how diligently Mitch picked up the rocks, his boss never credited him for his diligence. Needless to say, Mitch hated his boss.

Many bosses hate seeing their employees not work, even if all the work for the day has been completed. They accuse such employees of “stealing their money,” since they “bought their employees’ time.” However, the idea of buying someone’s time is relatively new. Back in the Medieval Ages and before, when most workers – namely merchants and craftsmen – were self-employed, nobody paid for anyone else’s time. “Time” was not anything that was considered purchasable. Only the actual products, along with the craftsmanship that went into building them, were bought.

During those times, those expected work for wages were the young. Young people, starting from any age between three and seven, were sent to the houses of strangers to learn a skill. Training under masters, young people would also learn manners and how to comport themselves out in the world at large. Then, after they refined their technical skill, and their etiquette, they were sent off to open up a shop of their own and subsequently train the children of strangers, continuing the cycle. Only if you were self-employed were you considered a “complete man.”

Nowadays, the majority of not-so-young adults are working under the thumb of someone else. They don’t own their own time; at least, not 40 hours of it per week, which is still a huge chunk of said time. Granted, they are getting paid for their work, and, if marketable and competitive, can choose to get another job. Still, many of them can’t simply lay back if there is no work to be done. Their bosses don’t pay them to be available to work when legitimate work needs to get done. No siree, their bosses own them, they need to work work work even if they’re not actually working, lest their bosses suspect them of “stealing money.”

This is why most people hate their jobs.

If you like your job, then you are one of the lucky few.

If you are gainfully self-employed, then you deserve a commendation for your initiative and tenacity. Continue to ignore the complaining crabs sitting in the bottom of the barrel.

Best of luck to all.