"... in acting in an obstructive or unhelpful manner. It characterizes one who upholds petty rules even at the expense of effectiveness or efficiency. 'Jobsworth' is a British colloquial word derived from the phrase 'I can't do that, it's more than my job's worth,' meaning that to do what is requested of them would be against what their job requires and would be likely to cause them to lose their job. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as 'A person in authority (esp. a minor official) who insists on adhering to rules and regulations or bureaucratic procedures even at the expense of common sense.'"
Wikipedia defines "Jobsworth," a word I just learned.
I encountered it in the context of a Reddit discussion of that Disney employee who intervened in a marriage proposal. (Video at the link.) Somebody commented: "What a jobsworth….karma will deal with his decision to destroy a once in a lifetime moment for that couple."
The OED finds the earliest use in print in the September 1970 issue of the magazine Melody Maker: "If you are a taxi-driver, jobsworth or policeman, you will now be able to understand hippie lingo." Oh, now I desperately want to read Melody Maker's guide to hippie lingo!
Of course, there are many other lists of hippie lingo, but I want one written in 1970. Here's something from 2021, informing us of the too-obvious: bread, dough, bummer, dig, downer, flow (in "go with the flow"), fry, the fuzz, grok, groove, groovy, hang-up, head, hit, heavy, the man, the establishment, mellow, primo, psychedelic, threads, trip, trippy, vibe.
And then all the phrases, like "blow your mind." Too numerous to type out here. But they left out my favorite: "Do your own thing."
That's the problem with being a jobsworth. You're quite specifically not doing your own thing.
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I thought the DMV invented jobsworth
You see, if you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do, kid..
I think this is the story of Musk’s success with SpaceX. Lot’s of people say SpaceX is subsidized by NASA and DOD, but he didn’t take their money. He knew that once he did, some jobsworth would tell him what he couldn’t do with his rocket. Once he got his Falcon 9 to do what he wanted it to do, he then sold access to the Falcon 9 launcher to NASA and DOD.
Half of all government employees are jobsworth, and often known in the US as "gate keepers." They may not have accomplished much in life, but are strongly dominant and controlling. They thereby latch onto one rule or law of 100 relevant rules and use one rule to limit their workload, shut down debate, and put people in their subservient places.
See the novel Catch 22 for details, and/or training for a successful career as a bureaucrat.
per Google's ngram viewer, the word got very little use in print until about the early 1980s.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=jobsworth&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cjobsworth%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cjobsworth%3B%2Cc0
Jobsworth in action
I am surprised the word is not ??!! Dickensian?!
Scott Adams talks about a useful concept, Malicious Compliance. It is included as a link in the jobsworth Wikipedia page.
Colin Quinn has a funny bit in "The New York Story" on Netflix about Jewish immigrants dealing with Irish civil servants and the bureaucracy that's seemingly designed to warn people off. (can't find a good link)
A fine, fine essay (non-political) to start the day. Thanks.
I like jobsworth in this context: If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well.
But then again, that's antithetical to the actual definition. Leave it to the English.
I think this is the story of Musk’s success with SpaceX. Lot’s of people say SpaceX is subsidized by NASA and DOD, but he didn’t take their money.
Well, that is simply not true. DoD and NASA were pouring money into SpaceX before the first Falcon 9 was launched. He was on the verge of bankruptcy (with three of the first five Falcon 1 launches failing) in 2008. The DoD and NASA contracts saved the company.
""You see, if you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do, kid."
He's right. I did this the last 20 years of my working life. I went independent and did not have to report to anyone. I worked hard anyway and figured I was tired of working with Jobworths. I sold where I wanted, to whom I wanted, representing those companies (and products) I wanted. I was offered a number of positions to come back to the corporate end of things and I regularly refused them. My independence had a value that their money could not touch. And, as it turns out, it was the best thing I ever did.
Isn't that also a definition of chickenshit?
Grok. I remember that word. Isn't it a Ray Bradburyism?
“You don’t think I will go into combat with lose change in my pocket… would you?”
Copy pasta to your browser 👉🏽 https://youtu.be/DUAK7t3Lf8s
Yeah, the 60s were all about questioning authority and the celebration of non-conformity and the "Rebel". Now, its the celebration of conformity and love of Billionaires and those with power.
Lots of people don't have creative intelligence. They don't understand there's a reason behind the rule, and when the reason doesn't apply neither does the rule. I've seen people stop at stop signs when the cross street has been blocked off at both ends. But their brains just register "Stop sign - must stop".
Btw, Help isn't as good as "hard days night" but it has its moments.
'Don't touch money' is only good advice for government wards or trust fund people.
Not a fan of either.
'He knew that once he did, some jobsworth would tell him what he couldn’t do with his rocket.'
This is the business model of the US government.
They take your local tax dollars, ship them to DC, take their cut to pay jobsworths, then dole it back out with conditions.
They pay you with your own money while telling you what you can and cannot do with it.
This is the model that needs to stop.
This is why things like the Department of Education need to be shuttered.
Keep it at the local level and tell the feds to fuck off.
How I began to hate my job…instead of understanding the workings of the company and its operations, people did their job by mandated checklists. The irony was that some offices would have good internal audit reviews yet experience operating errors that cost the firm $$$. Other offices had people with more knowledge who maybe had a few audit checkpoints but no errors. Priority was on audit.
I have heard the word/phrase before watching British drama, and context allowed me to figure it out eventually.
I learned the word "flibbertigibbet" in a class on Shakespeare, and was amazed when a female acquaintance claimed it as a positive description of herself. Accurate, yes, but not as becoming as she apparently thought.
Scott Patton, www.reddit.com/r/MaliciousCompliance is devoted to that subject.
A trend among doctors, particularly older ones who have no student loans, is to drop all insurance and Medicare. They practice for cash and their overhead drops by 70%. That seems related to this topic.
I was just rewatching the movie "The Times of Bill Cunningham," about the street fashion photographer. At one point, he says: "You see, if you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do, kid. That’s the key to the whole thing. Don’t touch money."
So, he was independently wealthy?
Jobworth traits in people run through every profession, trade and unskilled level. The world system is designed to run at that level. Not the lowest but the most common common denominator.
I'm with Temujin. When I bought my machinery sales company back in the 80s the guy that sold it to me told me that there are 3-4 times as many potential clients as I will ever be able to handle. He also told me that life is too short to have to deal with assholes and I should let my competitors sell to them.
I've been lucky in that 1) There are not that many assholes in industry. Not that I've run across, anyway. There are a few, I almost got into a fistfight with a client once. I let the competition sell that one. 2) He was right, I can't sell to all the potential clients and if I pass a few by, it doesn't hurt my income, I just find someone else.
Re Jobsworthy: Isn't this the same as "working to rule"? Management puts out rules or guidelines about what employees should or should not do and how they should do it. Some companies have huge manuals full of detail. Following those instructions to the letter can really slow things down.
Don't blame the employees. Management is the one that put them in place.
John LGKTQ Henry
In the military there is something called "silent contempt" or "silent insubordination" This is where you hold an officer in contempt by following military protocol to the exact letter and beyond. Putting 5-6 "sirs" in each sentence. Saluting when not required, but not prohibited and other things along those lines.
Not sure if this is jobsworthy but it can be rewarding to drive an officer crazy by being excessively courteous. It is not an infraction and there is nothing they can do about it.
Unless you coordinate with others. Then it becomes "mutiny" and that is a VERY serious offense.
John LGKTQ Henry
"just !earned"
Where, oh where, have you been keeping yourself?
To refute the Britishness of the expression, let me relate a tale of Brit Rail...
We had been bike touring south England. Riding, and trains. Bikes in the train's baggage wagons.
Leaving Salisbury for York, waiting on the train platform with our bikes...
Supervisor approaches and asks what we are planning. Frowns sorowfully, and informs us that the York train is an express, and hence does not allow bikes in the baggage van. We look sad. His face brightens, and he says, "I'll make sure to b"e out of sight when the train arrives. You go ask the baggage conductor to board, and as long as he doesn't see me, he'll likely let you on."
Smiles all round.
Later, success loading the bikes.
Of course, this all happened 37 years ago...
"I learned the word "flibbertigibbet" in a class on Shakespeare, and was amazed when a female acquaintance claimed it as a positive description of herself."
One of the Meg Ryan characters describes herself this way in Joe vs the Volcano.
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