I’m haunted by this constantly. I’ve never worked in a govt of any kind, but have had numerous corporate jobs where I don’t do shit, and even if I tried, it would be squashed by the bureaucracy. It becomes a game of “do I put in effort when it immediately becomes worthless?”

Every time I find myself in this situation, I quickly become miserable. I try to just ride the wave and spend my time focusing on other things, but I hate earning money for work I know is subpar. It hurts my soul.