Operational Risk!!

Boss, all that I have done today is sit with the operations people of my division and understand their job. And half a day with them and their work has me seriously riled.
What shit load amount of boring routine monotonous work they do day in and day out. I mean, seriously! This backend jobs phenomenon is completely mind numbing. These guys keep checking papers and uploading stuff every single day! And the work doesnt change at all. Pure paperwork and system related stuff. I seriously admire them. I mean, in half a day, I was properly fried and dried listening to them explain their work, and then finally do it myself. I can not imagine doing this for more then like 20 mins.
That brings me to the question- what exactly is meaningful work? What bosses do? Or what these guys at the back end do? And I remember what a junior had told me when i was gushing about the details of my job to him- he said, good for you, but in the end-its just a job!
It really doesnt matter- you actually are a few thousand dollars in a balance sheet worth around a few hundred million bucks. It's just something you need to do to gain acceptance in society, feel productive ( minus the larger picture), and finance our other more interesting pursuits.
More on this later, a colleague is taking us to dinner. Some of the perks of work! :D