I was contemplating this question while standing in line at a Fry’s in Austin last weekend. A Fry’s employee is stationed at the head of the line, watching for a register to open. When one does – always indicated by a flashing light – they’ll tell you which one it is. For some strange reason, it’s often an Asian woman at the head of the line, imploring customers “YOU GO NUMBER SIXTEEN”, or, if you’re lucky, “YOU GO NUMBER TWO!”
That’s the entire job. Stand, wait, watch for the flashing light, YOU GO NUMBER TWENTY ONE, wait, light, YOU GO NUMBER TWELVE. Seems boring as hell, but also incredibly simple.
So, what other jobs are incredibly simple to perform, even if they’re dull or low-paid?
That job you describe (Cueueing Engineer) may be easy on the gray matter, but it is going to be very hard on your feet. And it could get stressful when there aren’t enough open cashiers.
Taxi drivers just take people from A to B and get to sit all day.
On a busy day, we’d have one or two people come in. I spent the rest of the time in the manager’s living quarters, eating good Indian food and reading piles of library books.
I was at a family-resort hotel in the summer and the swimming pool was pretty crowded. Not only did they have a regular lifeguard on duty, they had an extra special kids lifeguard on duty. His job was to stand at the side of the kiddy end of the pool holding an inflatable thingy for lifesaving purposes; observing the kids in the water for any signs of drowning, I guess.
You get to work alone, at your own pace. You don’t have to answer calls or deal with customers. The only problem with the job is the unruly sack of produce you have to push on the shelves.
As a former stock clerk I’m gonna have to disagree with this one.
This job may not be mentally hard, but it is physically demanding. And anyone who has had to unload a truck with pallets falling over with cases of glass coke bottles exploding, or having to complete the next order by 5am, or dealing with coworkers that are stoned out of their mind can tell you that this job isn’t always easy.
If I could order entirely off the internet I’d never set foot in a grocery store again.
Physical Science Technician. Check my sample once every hour for about 30 seconds. Go back to playing on the internet for 10 hours a day, 4 days a week.
My easiest was probably swiping IDs at the cafeteria in college. No thought, not much to pay attention to, and it was okay if one of your friends parked their tray at a nearby table to keep you company. If one of the students did have a question or complaint, you weren’t exactly expected to have amazing customer service skills, you could just ignore someone if they were complaining about the food or whatever.
The Fry’s job actually doesn’t sound that easy, I can’t imagine being able to space out and daydream while you watch 20 registers and the customer queue.
My usual summer job during college was as a doorman for a building on Park Avenue in New York. The building had a street entrance for cars that opened into a courtyard where the entrances for six individual buildings were located. Many tenants were away for the summer at their second homes. All I had to do was open doors for the cars that entered the courtyard, say good morning to the tenants, and on rare occasions help a tenant pack up their car when they were going on vacation. The only real problem was going crazy with boredom.
I actually had a stocking job that was friggin’ rough. And I expected it to be nice and slackery. They were adamant about both the pace you worked (based on cases unpacked per hour) and on veeeeery nitpicky details on organization of the wares. Plus, uh, its at night, which sucks. And you’re in a big store, which at first you think might be fun, but then its kinda depressing.
