Is this the only job I should be working on? If not then I don’t mind doing it. I would take it for $100/hr. I would use the rest of my time to do what I like and I will also be able to giveaway most of that $100; I don’t need that much, which will make the pointless job a very “meaningfull” job.

I regularly read your blog with great interest, and think you have great ideas to live your idiosyncratic lifestyle. A few questions: I assume you are in your 30s, do you expect to get old? Do you plan for the changes this will bring? And does your wife write a blog? I’m so curious about her point of view.

It depends on for how many hours per week. If it were for 40 hours a week and I had to sit in traffic for an hour a day, $10,000 per hour would be necessary.

George

Stanley’s comments about Einstein made me smile. I’m no Einsten, but I chose exactly the same type of (meaningless and boring?) job precisely so that I would have lots of free time to think. I get my work done well every day and my boss is very happy with me, yet I still have plenty of spare time while on the job to pursue my intellectual needs. And I just now did the math… I am working for $85/hour, Jacob! By the way, I plan to take Early Retirement in three months.

I have been managing a bakery for 20 years, Working in the bakery for 28 years. It is mindless work to me, but now i’m capped no more “raises”.
That is why I started visiting sites like this so I can Quit working. With no “raises” not even cost of living I need to get out.

I was going to say I do such a pointless job now, so about $40 an hour, with full benefits. I would do the “inside job,” by the way–the thought of digging holes and refilling them in the Memphis summer months is simply too miserable to contemplate.

Years ago I worked for a company that was a pretty early adopter of the paperless workplace. I work in insurance, so you can only imagine the amount of incoming paper mail to an insurance claims department. There were two steps in the scanning process at that time–the people who fed the sheets of paper into the scanner and the people who indexed the documents with the claim number in the computer system. A person got promoted from the “feeder” position to the “indexing” position, I think the thought was that it gave those poor feeders something to look forward to. And of course these jobs didn’t pay a tremendous amount.

I think we lost about half the “feeders” before they got promoted, and over half of the “indexers” quit after about 6 months in that position. I seem to recall that we had slightly better luck when we went to part time temp help, but then the accuracy of the results went way down.

Realistically, though, I wonder what the “cure” for dull jobs is. On the one hand, the complexity of life and work has resulted in the need to break down jobs into component parts, resulting in a lot of really dull, boring jobs. On the other hand, if you have one person doing multiple disparate tasks to execute the job (arguably, perhaps, resulting in a more interesting job for the worker, perhaps leading to greater engagement), you lose all efficiency… and are likely paying a higher wage.

Hey Lab Monkey,

This ed assistant thinks what you do is awesome. And thanks for being the person who answers the lab phone when I’m desperately hunting something down. Just think, you might actually find something out someday. At the very least you will fill in the blanks. I, on the other hand, will not. But that’s okay with me.

Keep it up!

If my pay wasn’t tied to production, then I’d take the hole digging job. Get outside, lean on the shovel, feign work, get a bit of exercise if I so desired. *Inadvertently* throw dirt on passersby.

Pay required…I’d do it for $125 an hour. Self-esteem and all that.

I would dig/fill holes. Can I pick when and how long I work for? If so I would do a couple hours a week for the rest of my life. My logic being that I exercise anyways in my normal life, so getting paid to do something I’d already do anyways is just more efficient. I’d also do it for any wage really, again, because it’s more efficient than not getting paid to exercise.

Or in this scenario do I not become stronger from the hole digging, since there are no other benefits per the rules? Then I’d say $100/hr, and only if I can pick when and how long I work for. I would still do the digging/filling because it would be far less artsy than if I were writing get the same thing over and over.

In that case I probably wouldn’t do it very regularly, just occasionally we there’s something extra I want (like a vacation to Italy or something).

If I had to return to the workforce, I’d choose the filling holes job. Having worked a pointless and mind numbing office job for 12 years I don’t think I could go back to being cooped up inside like that again. Sun on my face & physical exercise with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company sounds good to me. As for pay, depends on how much money I needed. We don’t have an expensive lifestyle (but we’re not definitely NOT ERE) so maybe $40k+ benefits. (assuming I was supporting both Hubby and myself)

Let’s be honest. Most of the corporate jobs are completely pointless.

I would be digging for 80 bucks an hour.
Currently I am pumping around money for this rate, so digging is even healthier.