> In this respect, entire occupations might be considered phoney - from life coaches to "atmosphere co-ordinators" (people hired to create a party vibe in bars) to "chief learning officers" in the corporate world.
People hired to create atmosphere in bars might be "phoney" in an object-level sense, but as far as their job goes presumably they do provide an actual service to someone, by causing more people to visit the bar.
People creating a vibe in pubs doesn't feel like a bullshit job. They're providing a service to other pub goers, making it a more pleasant place.
You can't ignore pleasure and satisfaction of other people when considering a job is useful or not. In the end, those are the goals of anything we do; that the job does it directly rather than indirectly (by say improving industry, which makes life easier, which means people have more free time, which provides happiness/satisfaction) doesn't make it 'bullshit'
I think the "bullshitness" of a job is determined primarily by the person that does the job, if she judges it to be socially useful or not (under assumption that being the person doing the job, that is an expert, she is the most qualified to judge its utility).
So, someone creating a "phoney" friendly atmosphere is a bullshit job, even if it increases the bar attendance, while a genuine entertainer (like a magician) is not a bullshit job. Even though both may be payed the same, both may have to smile when they don't really have reason to, and both may lie (in case of magician). The dividing line is that phoney friendly atmosphere is not socially useful thing (as judged by both by people who do it and common sense), while a magic trick may be.
> You can't ignore pleasure and satisfaction of other people when considering a job is useful or not.
Extreme example would be a drug dealer - his job is not useful yet he provides pleasure and satisfaction (and also gets it himself, in making money). It's not necessarily a bullshit job, because drug dealer does not have to care about it being socially useful.
The pub should A/B test having the person there, and not there, and look at the bar sales. That would determine if it is bullshit or not.
If the person creates a vibe that gets more people there, e.g. patrons texting friends to stop in, or increased bar sales by people staying longer then it might be worth it.
Of course if the bar hired bartenders that created an atmosphere of fun whilst doing their jobs then that would be even more profitable.
People hired to create atmosphere in bars might be "phoney" in an object-level sense, but as far as their job goes presumably they do provide an actual service to someone, by causing more people to visit the bar.