Who does data entry? thinking about a career change, need input (LoL?)

Slacker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
8,623
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91
$12 to $15/hr

Trying for m~f 9~5 sit at a computer and punch away


I need to hear from people who do this job, do you love it or hate it, what sucks and what is great about it.

I am at a point where I dont need to earn as much as I have been and want something task oriented with no interaction with customers.

so....
 

MixMasterTang

Diamond Member
Jul 23, 2001
3,167
176
106
I used to scan shipping documents in for a trucking company. It was boring as can be, but there was absolutely no stress and you could just listen to music all day and/or shoot the sh*t with your co-workers. People that love it must have no desire for any real responsiblity or career advancement.
 

Slacker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
8,623
33
91
Originally posted by: MixMasterTang
I used to scan shipping documents in for a trucking company. It was boring as can be, but there was absolutely no stress and you could just listen to music all day and/or shoot the sh*t with your co-workers. People that love it must have no desire for any real responsiblity or career advancement.
That is pretty much what I am looking for, I need something to pay the bills while I am working on relocating.

 

Slacker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
8,623
33
91
Originally posted by: FoBoT
it might be too challenging for a "Slacker"
how about video store clerk? that sounds easier
LoL NO INTERACTION WITH CUSTOMERS
 

Slacker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
8,623
33
91
Originally posted by: savoyboy
I used to work as a data entry for Bank of America. it was the most boring job EVER. i stayed there for 2 months before i found a better job.
How much did you make, boring to some is peaceful to others...


 

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,084
15
81
fobot.com
Originally posted by: Slacker
Originally posted by: FoBoT
it might be too challenging for a "Slacker"
how about video store clerk? that sounds easier
LoL NO INTERACTION WITH CUSTOMERS

crap, i missed that part

how about a watchman, you sit in a little shack and wave people in cars through the gate. technically you only have to see them, not "interact" with them. but i guess once in a while someone would ask you a question, so maybe not
 

mattocs

Platinum Member
Jan 25, 2005
2,246
0
0
We hire a lot of data entry people where I work. We pay $9/hr. No benefits for them. They are all temp workers. Some get hired on and get benefits...most quit before then.
 

3NF

Golden Member
Feb 5, 2005
1,345
0
0
Invent a mechanism to eliminate data entry people all together. Once we understand how to genetically engineer and create life, we'll make people (organisms) to do just that, so nobody will ever have to work and they can screw all day.
 

trmiv

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
14,670
18
81
I did worked in a warehouse in college and my job involved a lot of data entry (although it was broken up with other tasks), it was OK but it got boring. Luckily I had other duties that made it a bit easier, plus it was a cool place to work. I worked there for a couple of years though because it paid well for a college kid, $13.40/hr hour and this was back in 1996-97.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
Originally posted by: MixMasterTang
I used to scan shipping documents in for a trucking company. It was boring as can be, but there was absolutely no stress and you could just listen to music all day and/or shoot the sh*t with your co-workers. People that love it must have no desire for any real responsiblity or career advancement.
What is the job title for this sort of thing? I've done menial labor quite a few times - from cashiering at Kmart, stocking shelves at Walmart, to working in a Home Depot warehouse. All of them are pretty physically demanding. Some of the stuff I had to work with at the HD warehouse weighed more than me. Something like scanning documents, that sounds more like my kind of weight range.


Originally posted by: compuwiz1
Sounds like a good way to get carpal tunnel to me.
Try to be a little ambidextrous. Find different ways of moving. Stretch.


I've tried applying for data entry jobs already. Despite a typing speed of 40WPM+, easily, I never get hired. But they'll take me in a heartbeat for warehouse or forklift work, probably because I speak good English. :)


Originally posted by: 3NF
Invent a mechanism to eliminate data entry people all together. Once we understand how to genetically engineer and create life, we'll make people (organisms) to do just that, so nobody will ever have to work and they can screw all day.
Psh, don't need "life," all we need to do is create a robot with a sophisticated text-recognition computer built into it, and a PS/2 port. Plug it into the computer, give it a stack of documents, and don't bother it.
The postal service already has some very advanced text and handwriting recognition software, so some of the work's been done already. :D
I find that there are a lot of jobs I see which I figure within 50 years will be replaced by semi-intelligent robots. The market is definitely there. It's the usual benefits you hear with robots - they don't need medical benefits, they don't complain about working conditions, they don't sleep, they don't take smoke/coffee breaks, they don't want vacations, they don't call in sick, and they don't mind being worked to death. At least, not yet.

Hopefully with being able to screw all day will come a good birth control method. STDs will run rampant, some people will die, but the strong will develop resistance, and perhaps even coexistence. Soon, the genital flora would match the prolific ecosystem within our digestive tracts.
 

imported_Imp

Diamond Member
Dec 20, 2005
9,148
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Data entry = suicide

I've done data entry, not full-time, but part of my jobs. Did about an hour or 2, maybe more, per week and I wanted to kill myself each time. Scrubbing toilets would be better.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
Originally posted by: Imp
Data entry = suicide

I've done data entry, not full-time, but part of my jobs. Did about an hour or 2, maybe more, per week and I wanted to kill myself each time. Scrubbing toilets would be better.
I guess it's one of those things you've got to try for yourself. That Home Depot warehouse wasn't air conditioned, and during the summer, the temperature inside would exceed body temperature. A lot of the guys there would go through more than a gallon of fluids per shift. It was dirty, noisy, and exhausting.

After that, I'd welcome an office job. Somewhere air conditioned, clean, with no heavy lifting, where people speak English. (If you don't know Spanish at a Home Depot warehouse, communicating with anyone can be pretty difficult, if not impossible. Seriously.)
 

TheShiz

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
3,846
0
0
did it for a while, yeah it sucks but it is easy, your mind can drift away to wherever you want it to. if you have a good imagination and like to think about things the job is manageable. and of course you can listen to music or be like me and listen to probably 100s of episodes of loveline, but if you do you have to get the old ones, the show ain't the same without carolla. long story short, ok for a few months, if you catch yourself doing it for any longer than that, quit and find a better job. the people i saw in there who had done it for years were like something out of a nightmare.