‘What’s the strangest or most pointless task you’ve been given at work ?’ – 21 people wondering why the heck they’re bothering

In a world where the job market feels increasingly precarious, having work is a good thing.

But have you ever been given something to do which felt so utterly futile that you begin to question why you’re being paid for this nonsense, and also what is the point of life?

Plenty of people have on the AskUK subreddit, and it all came to light after yorkspirate posted this:

What’s the strangest or most pointless task you’ve been given at work?

I’m currently jet-washing freshly laid lawns, apparently this is the better way not soaking them with a hosepipe.

Yep, sounds like the sort of thing that would have you start to question the meaning on your existence. Lots of people added similar experiences, like these…

1.

‘After Covid I was told I had to go back to working in the office for “team cohesion”… Nobody at my office was on my team. I worked with literally nobody there.’
–tetlee

2.

‘I had to empty out all the bags of coal from the coal bunker, clean it and then put them back in…’
–Questjon

3.

‘Three and a half hour drive with physical copy of drawing to get client signature, waiting in reception until they sauntered down to meet me, three and a half hour drive back.

In the age of digital signatures, or e-mails to confirm approval or any number of alternatives.’
–mdmnl

4.

‘I had to drive 200 mile round trip to swap a mouse in a hotel reception. They had the mouse already, just no one with the necessary capacity to slide a small desktop forwards and swap them over.

Suited me though, lovely summers day and I’d just bought a convertible classic so I took the opportunity to rinse it round some country lanes and generally had a great time.’
–MrPatch

5.

‘My bosses are either too dumb to learn the digital rostering/timekeeping system I implemented three years ago (I do payroll and I wasn’t going to keep manually entering 80+ timesheets every fortnight for a 24/7 roster) or they’re just too lazy to do their job. Probably both.

So when an employee submits a leave request they require me to print out a screenshot, which they manually sign, then I have to scan it and save it to the system. Instead of them just clicking the approve button themselves.’
–MapOfIllHealth

6.

‘Dragged into work during lockdown, absolutely zero vehicles coming through for repair (less traffic, less crashes). Workshop was immaculate, floors washed, toilets cleaned, everyone’s toolbox pristine, brought forward all service intervals on equipment… within 3 days it looked brand new.

Literally nothing to do, but the boss would scream at us for sitting in the sun “IM NOT PAYING YOU TO SUNBATHE, FIND SOMETHING TO DO.”

I sanded an old metal filing cabinet that was in the scrap pile to bare metal, polished it to a mirror finish and lacquered it. He sold it for £1000, I got shouted at for wasting time and materials. I didn’t stay long after the world was allowed out again.’
–bozwold

7.

‘Maintenance request to ‘remove spider from bathtub’. Upon arriving at the job an hour later said spider was no longer there so ended up driving back.’
–One_Nefariousness547

8.

‘A friend was on the ‘executive support team’ which was supposed to be IT but he got a call to visit an office in another building because there was a wasp in an execs office. He arrived with a rolled up news paper but was fairly sternly told he wasn’t allowed to kill it, so he opened the window and it flew out.

These are the people looking after your pensions.’
–MrPatch

9.

‘I worked at a climbing wall and I had to sort all the screws and bolts into size order. It took me the full day, I put my headphones on, drank copious amounts of tea and got paid.

The next day they were used on the wall and all mixed up again.’
–Boulder_Brock

10.

‘I got given two weeks to sort out an Excel file into numerical order once. Best two weeks pay ever playing on my phone and wriggling my mouse every now and then. Did such a good job I got a gift card too.

Told no one it was done within one minute of getting the file.’
–Mglfll

11.

‘Painting grass green.’
–Aggravating_Bar_8097

12.

‘I have done this, when the Queen came to visit.’
–Pedantichrist