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Q: What is the most useless job in China?
Broncogerry just got me thinking, what is the most worthless job in China.
For me it is not the security guards a scanners going into the metro, it is the people in yellow who stand on the platform and ensure no one is standing on the yellow lines, followed by the security guard that supervises their supervision of metro users.
Girls in shop doorways clapping their hands for hours on end in order to attract attention to their shops. The look in their eyes says "Somebody just kill me."
smoglife:
Especially when their job actively deters me from entering the shop. Two of my students did that for work experience once and after a week they said they preferred studying for the Gaokao.
mArtiAn:
I guess it beats that job some people have back west holding sign posts that simply read 'Golf Sale'. Their job is secondary to what it actually says on the sign.
"What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a sign post."
where i live, we got this "street cleaners" who spend hours a day sweeping snow and leaves in a very small area. then the snow falls again an hour later and they repeat the process.. all winter... then the big snow plows come and do their jobs, making the snow sweeper's job useless... a waste of city money... and and waste of manual labor. plus they just add to the traffic because they stand and sit in the middle of the icy roads...
where i live, we got this "street cleaners" who spend hours a day sweeping snow and leaves in a very small area. then the snow falls again an hour later and they repeat the process.. all winter... then the big snow plows come and do their jobs, making the snow sweeper's job useless... a waste of city money... and and waste of manual labor. plus they just add to the traffic because they stand and sit in the middle of the icy roads...
the girls at the doors of restaurants. Must be mind-numbing.
Scandinavian:
if they are dressed right their efforts are not wasted (on old dirty foreign bastards)
I saw cop in Dalian, 'regulating' traffic on 4-lane (main) road from the sidewalk. I've never seen him in the middle of the road in my six months 'passing by'. His job was regular, some 2 hours daily 'working day' endeavour. He was always off on weekends….bas-ta-rd!
Mayor, President etc. All the official titles hold no power but only serve as puppets of the party bosses that hover above them.
in our community, the guy who painted yellow warning lines along the sides of the walkways by the water must feel his efforts were wasted as the lines have now been painted over by a new base coat of pain to protect the wood. Oh, wait, this was done by the same team of painters just some weeks apart.
In a ticket office of some crowded coach station, there was this employee whose sole purpose was to randomly blow a whisle in order to create some feeling of order enforcement.
Guess what, it actually worked, and people seemed to somewhat unconsciously stay in line. Great lesson of crowd control.
Many, many people in China........very, very busy.........very, very tired....
Jobs for all.
Happy every day.
Girls in shop doorways clapping their hands for hours on end in order to attract attention to their shops. The look in their eyes says "Somebody just kill me."
smoglife:
Especially when their job actively deters me from entering the shop. Two of my students did that for work experience once and after a week they said they preferred studying for the Gaokao.
mArtiAn:
I guess it beats that job some people have back west holding sign posts that simply read 'Golf Sale'. Their job is secondary to what it actually says on the sign.
"What do you do for a living?"
"I'm a sign post."
We have workers here that are one step below the street sweepers. Their job is to take a rag and wipe down the blue construction barriers that get dusty.
How much trouble do you think I would be in if I said ?: editor of a expat forum
did I ? 
too many useless jobs here... like mine. if the people could think and could calculate 1+1 the proper way i wouldnt be here
How about the people at the highway toll boots only passing the card on the reader.....
Scene: Supermarket fruit and veg section. Hand bag to weigher. She hands bag to bag sealer. Bag is sealed and handed back to weigher. She weighs, places tag on bag.
Me (taking the piss): Why are you weighing the bag after the metal clip has been added to the weight? Tài guìle I say.
there's a lady in my school. She cleans the corridor after each class.. then 10 mins break its all dirty again and as the classes begin there she comes again...
And also those girls who dress up everyday to stand in front of the doors to welcome customers..
I went to a jewellery store and there was a man hammering a silver bar the whole day just to show it's silver ..
My choice are people at Tesco supermarket whose job is to pass shopping carts to Tesco's customers. Of course, no one takes it, because people take the carts from different place.
The doctors that do anal inspections.
EDIT: I know some conditions require that but to include it in the yearly health check at most companies is just weird.
mArtiAn:
I've never had that but i've had my fair share of penile swabs. One doctor left the thing in and walked off. Had me stand there looking like a pencil sharpener, I was afraid a nurse was gonna walk in. Not a good look.
Saw this yesterday when finishing work. A foreign guy no older than 20 being a bell boy at a hotel here.
Iron_Monkey:
mmm, that would only be useless if he doesn't speak Chinese.
Washing up. Or at least it is the way the wife does it.
Oh oh I got it, the most useless job in China...
Those people (usually on street corners or metro exits where there is high pedestrian traffic) that hand out leaflets and brochures.
What's even worse is the way they try to force it into your hand.
What's even worse is around these people there's usually a huge amount of the very leaflets and brochures that they're handing out all over the ground.
Last month I witnessed the local "workers" actually shaking the trees so they could sweep the fallen leaves into piles.
Iron_Monkey:
Sure they weren't fruit bearing trees?
Couple years back in Guangzhou Tianhe area some of the streets are lined with mango trees. Once ripe enough you see chefs from local restaurants coming out with sticks to wack the mangos down while their buddy is below waiting to catch it. Then the police come and they all scatter with mangos in tow.
Freaking hilarious.
icnif77:
If you shake 'your' tree today, you might have off tomorrow........
wagon:
I saw a version of this on Wednesday. A man was beating the branches with a long stick, then sweeping up the leaves.
I've always found wumaos to be pretty dang useless. Especially that 981 twit, who seems to have recently resurfaced.
They're kinda rare nowadays, but those guys who stay in the elevator and press the buttons for you. Not only are they not necessary, but they don't even do it most of the time. They just sit on a chair in an elevator all day, taking up space, and doing absolutely nothing.
diverdude1:
I can still remember them from London, Moskva, St. Petersburg in the '70's. Lifts still had like a crank device,,, whatever it was before buttons...
I think the guys down the road from me. All they do all day is stand on a small podium in the middle of the road, at the entrance to a community, and salute the cars going in or out. That's it all day, what a waste of time.
