Everyday Ethics

A “stupid” job has many nuances  and qualities that make it what it is.  Often, stupid jobs are steeped in policies, rules and regulations, or other guidelines that cause the opposite of their intended goal to occur.  For example, I was recently a case manager for a public social program.  This program has the best of intentions, but the combination of excessive bureaucracy and confusing, often arbitrary policy causes workers to spend more time working to preserve their own jobs than serving the needs of their clientele.  Hence the opposite results from those intended. 

Stupid jobs can be low paying or not, but in either case the pay should be disproportionate to the amount of knowledge and skill required, and to the amount of actual work being done on a daily basis.  But the one quality that makes a job “stupid” is an overwhelming sense that the entire organization, regardless of their purpose, is so dysfunctional that society would be better served in simply bulldozing it to the ground than in attempting to repair the damage already done.  We have all had such a job, and most will relate to the ethical dilemma that stupid jobs cause.  It is the moral conundrum that is justifiable laziness.

All employees of stupid jobs face this issue at some point in their careers.  It is the little voice inside of you that says “these guys are idiots anyway, why am I killing myself to try to fix everything?”  It comes in various verbal arrangements, but the essence is always the same:  This job sucks, so its okay to be lazy.  But is this a morally acceptable attitude, or are we just trying to vent our frustration?  More importantly, why does this happen to intelligent, valuable workers who should be capable of avoiding such flawed thinking? 

The first question appears simple enough when we are honest with ourselves.  It is quite clearly not ethical to lower your own job performance in response to negative workplace conditions, regardless of how frustrated you may feel.  By accepting employment, you have effectively signed on to the agreement with your employer that they will pay you a set amount of money for your time, and that they will determine how that time is to be spent.  Should either of you fail to uphold your end of the bargain, you are each justified in terminating the relationship.  Although we have rules and laws that allow for certain other protections and guarantees, such as the right to not be sexually harassed or treated in an abusive manner, these are societal requirements and not specifically part of the core agreement between employer and employee.  From this, one must ask the simple question of whether keeping your word and acting honorably are important to you. 

If the answer is yes, you are morally obligated to work hard and do your best regardless of how stupid your job may in fact be.  If the answer is no, you must accept and deal with the consequences of rejecting the virtue of upholding agreements and being a reliable and trustworthy person in all of your life interactions and relationships.  Most people are not prepared to reject such a virtue.  Rather, this virtue is embraced by most people, as it is conducive to the kind of society that many of us would like to live in, namely one made up of honorable, trustworthy people.  

This feeling of frustration expressed through justified laziness is a byproduct of being an intelligent and capable human in a dysfunctional, ridiculous world.  It is easy to become jaded, to throw in the ethical towel and say “Screw it, I’m tired.”  But if we resort to this, we only feed an always hungrier monster.  This too does not lead us to the kind of world that most of us want to live in.  There are only so many who are blessed with the gift of talent, intellect,  and vision, and we are morally obligated to push the cart forward to the best of our ability and in all that we do, regardless of what anyone else is doing. 

About the Author

Elijah Weber is a graduate student at Bowling Green State University. He holds a Master's degree in philosophy from Colorado State University, and Bachelor’s degrees in sociology and philosophy from Chapman Univerity. He currently lives in Bowling Green, Ohio with his wife Laura, his newborn son Brandon, and his feline life-partner Monte.