You can go now

Sometimes I see people doing jobs that nobody should have to do. In many cases their entire function could be replaced by a box, a sign, or a traffic light. In some cases, the function is already being done by a box, sign or traffic light, and the person is completely superfluous.

Examples of such jobs, which usually make me feel sorry for the person doing them: 

People standing on a street corner holding an advertisement on a pole. 

People waving pedestrians across the street. 

People standing next to construction work waving people around the cones.

People trying to hand out brochures to pedestrians.

Many large car parks have an attendant out the front. His job is to indicate to a car when they can drive out the exit, or to indicate to a pedestrian when they can walk past the exit. I don't mean he does this on festival days or days of incredibly high traffic, I mean he does this all the time, even though a driver should clearly be able to identify for him or herself whether there is a pedestrian walking in front of her car.

Sometimes you even have assistants stationed at traffic lights or random side streets to tell people when to walk and stop. I admit I find these ones a bit irritating. I am an adult; I know how to cross the street by myself.

They have these on the street near my university. I was told they were there to make sure the students *did* stop to let traffic through occasionally, otherwise there might be a constant stream of students crossing the road. Okay, but most of the streets *don't* have an attendant, and I have often seen students stop en masse to let traffic pass - all of their own volition! Wow!

I must admire the work ethic of these guys. I'm sure it's soul-crushingly boring work, but most of them are quite diligent, waving with gusto and a very efficient-sounding shout of 'okay, you can go now!'