Dull: The New Cool

When growing up, I always thought – no, I actually knew – that growing up I would be one of those people who had a really cool job. You know, the kind of person who has a job everyone is envious of. The kind of job that pays a lot of money and it doesn’t even feel like you were working. The kind of job that is glamorous and exciting.

Now let’s talk about my reality. Almost all of my jobs have been overwhelming dull and the furthest thing from “cool” you can imagine. In order to rectify this, here is what I’m proposing: we change the way we look at dull. Dull will become the new cool. In fact, I’m going to start a new movement in North America where people with jobs they find dull are revered by all. I am going to start a Dull to Cool Movement (DTCM).

This is an example of the type of conversation I envision happening as part of the DTCM:

Mike: “My job is so flippin’ boring. I go to work and feel like I’m going to lose my mind because it’s just so...dull.”

Jim: “Wow. That’s cool! You are SO lucky! I wish I had a dull and boring job!”

I also envision the following:

- those with dull jobs being approached by top fashion designers and being asked to wear their ensembles to work

- those with dull jobs being featured on Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, and Access Hollywood to show everyone how hip and trendy it is to have a dull job. We can see highlights of their day...driving to work through heavy traffic, sitting at their desk reading mind-numbing emails , enduring non-relevant-waste-of-time meetings, talking about things they care less about yet trying to give an “I really care about this” look, and driving home to return to their other responsibilities.

- those with dull jobs being closely followed on Twitter by their legions of fans. They would post things like “ I just returned from a disorganized meeting run by someone who is being paid way too much to be in a leadership position.” And “Just had a prioritization meeting where we discussed how the code for TBM and WXY needs to be merged.”

- those with dull jobs being excessively photographed each day as they walk into work on the plush grey, dirty pavement with the look of dread etched deeply into their drawn out faces. These photographs would then be sold for thousands of dollars to People magazine.

- those with dull jobs being asked to appear in reality TV shows so everyone could live vicariously through them. After all, not everyone is fortunate enough to have a job they don’t like. Some poor people actually enjoy what they do. Bless their hearts.

So, please support me and become active in the DTCM. Dull...the new cool.