I know someone whose job was to print out a PDF, highlight a set field on the PDF with a highlighter (say, SSN or sometning) then scan it back in and shred the PDF. All. Day. Long. Surely pushing a boulder up a hill is better than that
this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2025
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Stuff like this exists because someone doesn't understand the technology. It's infuriating, and I have had to deal with similar situations.
I had a job where I needed to interact with a PDF doc that came out every month. The person doing it would print out all 50 pages, someone would sign the last page and she would scan the whole doc back in. So now instead of a useful PDF, we just had 50 pages of pictures.
This bullshit exists because of the archaic practice of wet ink signatures that lots of government and corporate entities still insist on, many places refuse to let you use digital signatures, but if there is no compulsion for wet ink signature then only some dinosaur idiots who don't know any better work like this
Ok I blame them rather than general tech illiteracy. Surely you would search "pdf appender" at some point in your life if that was your career.
How long ago was that? I'm an Automation Software Engineer and I feel like I could automate that in an afternoon. Stuff like that grinds my gears.
This was maybe five or ten years ago. IIRC it was some sort of “insurance compliance” thing, but for legal compliance everyone accepts electronic document AFAIK, and they were providing electronic documents in the end so…. It sure seems like the profound ignorance of technology which is raising your blood pressure. 🤷♂️
How do you find a job in this role, I've always liked the idea of bringing modern efficency to dated practices as a software engineer, but most job posts I find are boring crud web app work
I might just be in a fortunate poison in my company, as my actual title is Software Engineer in Test, so my actual job is writing automated tests. I spend a lot of my time on testing framework, rather than the tests themselves, but also am sometimes tasked with automating repetitive tasks. If I notice something repetitive, I'm usually allowed to just automate it. So I guess my advice would be to find a job as an SDET or SET and get lucky, but that probably isn't terribly good advice haha.
I've been considering switching to SDET, but every job post I see for that expects multiple years of experience as a SDET and with their testing frameworks and tools, do you think getting some testing certifications and applying anyway would get me interviews. Also I know the pay will be less than SDE, but is the job stable with good WLB?
I've got no idea about the courses, as this was my first job out of college. They trained me on the job to be familiar with their testing framework. At my company it's seemingly been pretty stable with good WLB, but I feel like that depends more on the company, as that's also true for the SEs here.
They couldn't just... highlight it in software?
No, the pdf was also just a picture of a document and transparency hadn’t yet been invented
That sounds like too much technology.
Or write a cron job that would do it automatically.
Technology is truly a wonderful thing.
Shred the...PDF?
Fair. I did mean shred the printout of the PDF.
Sissyphean with 30 extra steps 😭
Nothing compares to slow rot and decay of the office. Every day your body slowly grows more decrepit, more out of form. Fingers bending to natural shapes, knuckles becoming knobbed and fingers thin. The slow click clack of the keyboard and shuffle of paper lulling your mind into a soft slumber you dare not take. Your back aches, but you know it’s your fault for not keeping good posture, surely it’s not related to spending god knows how many hours sitting in the same exact spot. Your legs feel numb. What how long have you been here exactly? How many hours has it been? Surely your shift is over now sure the clocks is wrong? The calendar too? Bill from accounting comes to your desk pulling your mind away from this terrifying thought. more office chatter, can’t he see your busy? You have so much work to do, wait, what is it you do again? You’ve been here so long but you still can’t really tell what it is they want you to do. You pretend as long as you can. Papers in papers out, emails read and responded, forms filled. When people ask what you do you give them some vague important sounding title and try to change the subject. How long have you been here…?
I quit and went to trade school. One of the best decisions of my life. "What do I do? Sit the fuck down motherfucker I'm about to get technical. No no, don't look at Jim, Jim can't help you now. Alright, SO. You ever use a plastic fork?..."
I'd rather push a rock. It must be good for my health at least.
So Sisyphus is now an insurance salesman.
...I'd rather push the rock.
"I miss my boulder."
Severance be like:
going remote was literally the best thing that happened in my life and then the pandemic was the best time of my life. I got healthy, started having hobbies again and stopped feeling miserable most of the time. fuck office jobs to hell!
The opposite happened to me. But each to their own.
sorry about that
~~Pushing boulders~~
Pushing pencils
Never thought about it, but yeah.. Sisyphus would be shredded. 24/7 sitting behind a desk would fuck him up though.
yeah i'd freak out too if i had to go from naked all the time except for my crown to business casual office attire.
Not the TPS reports!
I have eight different bosses.
Yeah, did you get the memo about the new covers? Yeah... If you could use the new covers for the TPS reports, that would be great...
Inaccurate. Sisyphus would be in an open-office plan.
Naw man, no reserved seating just a docking station
now that's cruel
If you like this comic, please read the Terry Pratchett short novel "Eric".
Cruel and unusual.
At least I'd be ripped pushing boulders uphill all day.
my pants are ripped after eating so many tacos at my desk
Bold of you to assume there's boring office jobs for the condemned in Greece
Wearing clothing for an eternity? 😥