I don't understand what you mean. You can have a great manager but still not a meaningful job. That's what I meant when I talked about making the job easier and more pleasant - you can have a manager who optimizes for your happiness by making the job as non-tedious as possible. It may still be tedious in the grand scheme, but maybe they're rotating everyone through different tasks to make it less tedious, and you feel that and appreciate it. That's good and will definitely increase your satisfaction, but it doesn't mean the job is meaningful.
"Tedious" is different than "bullshit". A bullshit job is a combination of two things: pointlessness and tediousness. Painting pictures nobody buys is pointless, but it is not tedious if you're being creative. Likewise, working hard on an assembly line doing the exact same operation is incredibly tedious, but it is not pointless: the line has an output which is presumably useful.
Mere tediousness would consign all warehouse jobs and janitorial positions to "bullshit" - which they are not, as specifically called out in the book. They might be unpleasant, but are definitely necessary.
Parent commenter is stating that, with a good manager, they will remind you of the meaning inherent in the work. At McD's, perhaps: "Remember folks, we're getting hungry people fed, hard working folks deserve a fresh hot meal"
I like this post. My first employment with a corporation was McDonalds. You could really get a boost from the more involved managers. They didn't treat you like some replaceable idiot. I was genuinely surprised how much there was to learn at McDonalds. A large number of different food stations, a crazy amount of kit to repair, never ending specials and register upgrades. It was much more interesting than I expected. And, yes, the lunch crush was the most fun every day.
A bullshit sector, but the jobs themselves are not "bullshit jobs". Also, the climate change stuff here is a total non sequitur, stick to the discussion. I agree with you - everyone should eat a plant-based diet - but it's incredibly off-putting in this context. The worst part about being vegan is other vegans. There will always be food service jobs, and they will always be tedious and taxing, and also not bullshit jobs. That would still be true even if they were serving ideologically-correct foodstuff.
> A bullshit sector, but the jobs themselves are not "bullshit jobs"
If a sector (industry) is bullshit, the jobs are too.
> the climate change stuff here is a total non sequitur
I was reacting to
'with a good manager, they will remind you of the meaning inherent in the work. At McD's, perhaps: "Remember folks, we're getting hungry people fed, hard working folks deserve a fresh hot meal"'
Serving hungry people "fresh" hot meal does not alone make it non-bullshit job. Maybe I was not clear enough ... consuming meat & dairy destroys the environment (and animal agriculture is the main culprit), and not consuming meat & dairy is a best way to stop anthropocenic crisis (overshoot). There are enough peer reviewed scientific studies that confirm that. Ask if you want more sources.
> The worst part about being vegan is other vegans
If you talk to these workers, you can tell those who have a careful manager from those who don’t.