this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2026
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Bullshit jobs? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 3 days ago by schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works to c/autism@lemmy.world
48 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I just started working at a fast food restaurant and am really just blown away by how much rewarding it is that my last job working at a social welfare agency "helping people." There is almost ALWAYS something to do AND my work can be objectively measured, two things untrue of my last job.

I'm trying to figure out what I want out of life, and work, and career, and I think this is really important to me: I actually need to be DOING something, something that I have direct control over, and something that I don't NEED to say, "Look what a good job I did" because it is transparent.

Part of the reason I think this is important to me is if these requirements are NOT met, then the job is essentially convincing OTHERS that you are good at your job and/or that they like you. If what you do is opaque, unclear, or hard to measure, you have to constantly be policing the social narrative around yourself and your work--two things I have absolutely no interest (or ability?) in doing.

What's been your experience?

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[–] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Sounds horrible. I guess it's a blessing I dropped out of piano lessons when I did, though I´d always thought it a curse.

I have a theory that a lot of what we teach kids is just to get them to compete for entrance to college and scholarships. Once they've reached or failed to reach that goal, they completely abandon whatever it was they were doing. That's no way to raise children.

I took a few lessons with a clarinet teacher. His advertising talks a lot about how his students qualify and win competitions. I remember him talking to a little girl who wanted to learn a piece from How I Tamed My Dragon and he insisted she get the sheet music so he could teach it to her. That is, the only way he was willing to teach her to interact with the music was to read it. Disgusting and vile.

My projects on guitar are mostly adapting songs I like to some kind of fingerstyle arrangement. I actually don't play almost any song "like on the record". I think "Blackbird" by the Beatles is the only song I can play that way. I wonder what's wrong with me that I don´t want to imitate anyone directly--that seems to be the main motivation for most guitar players. And on clarinet, I find myself drawn more to imitating singers than other clarinet players. Something about music in the abstract, I guess, or maybe I just don´t have the patience or skill...

[–] groucho@retrolemmy.com 1 points 2 days ago

I have a theory that a lot of what we teach kids is just to get them to compete for entrance to college and scholarships. Once they’ve reached or failed to reach that goal, they completely abandon whatever it was they were doing. That’s no way to raise children.

Yep. That's how we handle kids in general. Find 1-3 things they're interested in, decide they'll do it for the rest of their life, drill them on it until they're sick of it. One of the best things my teacher ever did for me was say that I probably wouldn't work as a concert violinist because most people can't get work as violinists. She suggested switching to viola if I wanted an orchestra job, but I went to engineering school instead. It'd be nice if more introductory teachers just taught for enjoyment and a life skill, and referred the ones that actually want to pursue a career to appropriate teachers.

That is, the only way he was willing to teach her to interact with the music was to read it. Disgusting and vile.

Yeah. On the one hand, it's worth having a standardized way of communicating music. On the other hand, people get the idea that there's this ethereal thing called music and the only way to understand it is with western notation. Which.... no. Hell, even sitting down with her and transcribing it over a few lessons would be better than demanding she buy the sheet music.

I wonder what’s wrong with me that I don´t want to imitate anyone directly–that seems to be the main motivation for most guitar players.

Yeah, maybe it's the autism talking but I can't see a reason why any piece of music can't be played on any instrument. Granted, some pieces are easier on certain instruments and some pieces rely on layering the specific sounds for an effect, but it shouldn't be a hard block. The same goes for style and genre: shift a few beats and turn it into a reggae song, or rockabilly, or get a bunch of cellos and cover Metallica. I'm a bigger fan of people that take songs and do them in their own way than people that sit down and try to be as close to the original as possible. Music is mutable and doesn't have to be played the established way just because that's all everyone else does with it.