I have discovered my job is literally Peter Gibbons’s job in the movie Office Space. Now, I love the movie Office Space, and in fact,traveled with a digital copy on my laptop to watch while on flights, in my hotel, etc.. while I had a contract that required weekly travel from 2006 through 2009. That job was a high-pressure job, and working from the road all the time wasn’t always easy, but back then, running my own business, and experiencing so many different places was so much better than just being in an Office Space type work environment. Why do I say that my current job is Peter Gibbons’s? Because the job doesn’t seem matter, at all. I do my work, which is completely trite, unrewarding, and for the most part without meaning, or consequence, good or bad. I get direction from management, but it’s rarely ever followed-up on, or consistent. I have eight different bosses who will all tell me the same thing, or in most cases, nothing at all. My presence is required, but at the same time, completely optional as long as work gets done. My only fulfillment comes via direct deposit, which isn’t great, but the flip-side is, once I leave the office I don’t have to think about my job at all. Not a single bit. No worries, no over-hang of stress, no wondering how I will solve problems, or make anything work. Nothing. I can completely focus on things that actually matter to me.
There is a certain serenity in that. I’m not changing the world here, but it keeps the bills paid while I work on changing my world elsewhere. When I’m here I hate it, and I want to leave, or find something new. But at the same time, I realize such jobs are pretty rare.