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Comment by evklein | Hacker News Reader

Something the author sorta neglects to mention is that this makes you feel like shit, if you have any sort of conscience at all. Corporations largely don't care about individuals, and so maybe you shouldn't care about loyalty to your employer, but if you pride yourself on a skill or being able to do your job competently then doing mass time theft comes up with a nasty side effect; the time you spend planning trips or doing hobbies, or doing anything that you shouldn't be, isn't time that can be fully enjoyed. Additionally, you're taking a big risk, and you're opening yourself up to all kinds of scrutiny and potentially even losing your job if you're caught.

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not at all. the author, said he was getting his obligations done and making his boss's life easier. that's a win for both the employee, the boss and the company.

why do you think it's morally acceptable for an employee to negotiate as toughly as possible for his/her salary but not for their time? It's all a negotiation process. the key thing is, he's meeting his agreed upon obligations. whether or not you do it efficiently (like him) or inefficiently wasting all your time is up to you.

I highly doubt OP was paid on "tasks" and not per hour, Logging hours you weren't actually working could be considered time theft or fraud

If you are salaried and can complete your tasks (job description) in under the alloted time, is the onus on you or your manager to find more tasks?

Why is ok for your employer to make you complete additional tasks, draining you of your excess energy, but not increasing your salary at all?

When there exists this productivity/energy gap, the default US view seems to be you should give it up to the employer, but the article author is instead keeping it for himself.

I don't know, maybe the desire for greatness? Desire to help the company that feeds you and your family?

maybe.

i think the types of environments that foster the culture of bullshit jobs are bereft of conscience (ymmv as far as how you react to that in your own job).

additionally, many people within those environments feel that scrutiny or lack of job security even when they play by the rules.

something i've been thinking about a lot lately is that i don't feel very bad being cynical about these kinds of systems when they're helmed by people who are cynical about me. if my job is at risk due to mismanagement, restructuring, "the market" or anything else that would cause my employer to see me as a line item and not a human being with needs, i have every right to view my employment as an asset to manipulate as i see fit as well. turnabout is fair play. conversely, i've also been lucky to have had some good bosses and i don't act as ruthlessly in those situations.

I don't disagree with your idea at all, just with the approach. I think if you exist within an environment where you can still thrive leeching off of an ineffective organization, and you're okay with this because you understand that they view you as an expendable asset, then the right thing to do isn't to just keep doing that; the right thing to do is find a better spot to work.

All of this is easier said than done, and there's lots of reasons to stay put and half-ass a good thing while you can. I can't fault anyone for making that choice, and I don't even really view it as particularly malicious. Just not something I can do and simultaneously go home feeling good about my place in the world.

I get all my fulfillment from outside of work, I am ok with having a 'bullshit' job which facilitates the rest of my very nice and enriching life.

I think also that 'bullshit jobs' are a side effect of large (not even ineffective) organisations. At a certain size, you end up with roles and abstractions that take you far away from what your employer actually produces/generates revenue from, and if you are in such a cost center it can be hard to see how your individual work is meaningful to the bottom line in any way.

Came here to say exactly this. Every interaction becomes a lie. I can bullshit with the best of them but doing it every day is not a path to satisfaction for me personally. Trying to do a side hustle at the same time only makes it worse.

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