I’ve finally reached that point in my “career” (I am still in college) where I’ve been given my own office at work. (I’m in Germany, where they don’t seem to do the cubicle thing, so this is not as impressive as it sounds.) So I have my own computer where I’m not being watched over, yet I have very (very) few actual responsibilities. Most of the “work” I’m given involves simply looking over various materials for my own edification, but I’m rarely expected to actually produce anything. (Yes, I know this makes me very lucky.)
Thus, I’ve discovered the true magic of whiling away my days at work by messing around on the Internet. Now, I know from several years of reading the Dope that many Dopers are far more productive than their coworkers, leaving them with pleeeeeenty of free time to Dope at work. And from the prevalance of “NSFW” disclaimers I’ve deduced that it must be pretty common to read the Dope in the workplace.
So my question is, just how much do you tend to read the Dope at work? What percent of your working hours are spent Doping or otherwise entertaining yourself online? Does your boss care if he walks by and you’re obviously not doing something work-related (i.e. posting on a message board?) I’m guessing most people don’t work in a place where they are expected to be concentrating on a work task 100% of the time between 9 and 5 … but I’m curious about what the norms are. Like, do you take a break from working to Dope, or a break from Doping to work?
Hmmm - well some of us who work for Big Corporation X have Big Brother X watching over us, so doping at work is at a minimum. Other’s who do not work for BCX and have amore lax work life can dope at different times or whenever they wish.
I for instance am in a senior management role and have the dope minimized on my screen most of the day. So I poke in and out when ever I want to chat it up. It’s rarely intrusive and I have never had it impair my ability to get things done.
Also, look at peoples post counts…ask the 30k plus people how much they dope at work…or in retirement, or whatever…
I missed something, did a second doper go over 30k?
I posted too much from work. In fact I posted too much. I have cut back a lot lately. Overall doping did not prevent me from getting my job done, but I had to cut back.
Jim
ETA: I checked, I see **Liberal ** has passed the 30k mark to join Guin.
My job is a feast/famine type of deal. If I have work to do, it’s a shit ton of work and it is due yesterday. During these times, I only access the internet for strictly work related research and only use email to corespond with people to get my work done.
The other times, there’s very little to do. Sure, there’s stuff I could be doing for training and what not, but I have no deadlines and I’m not expected to produce anything. During these times, I’m guilty of spending a few hours a day online just to pass the time.
I’m a teacher, so it’s impossible to Dope during class (unless there’s a computer in the classroom and the students are doing independent reading or something). I usually have the Dope open while I’m prepping for class and pop in and out when I can.
It depends on the season. Summers are (thankfully) slow here, so I have time. Springs & falls, not so much. Spring especially is hugely busy so when I have time I fall into the Dope like a drug.
I’ve personally asked our IT guy to block the dope for a while so I quit screwing around. We have a lot of freedom here but I did just find out that a report on who, where, when with regards to the internet gets emailed to the VP (my boss) every day. I’m number 3 on the list of users. So I’m pretty much afraid of getting fired now because I have been slacking lately.
That said, I’m off to work now!
Intriguing. I guess what’s raising questions for me is that I don’t really have any work with which the Dope would be interfering. In such a situation, would you Dope all day guilt free?
(I’m doing an internship in Germany for 3 months, the main point of which is to learn more German and immerse myself in German culture… so I try to read threads on Germany when possible )
ETA: I also spend a lot of Internet time arranging meetings/corresponding with German speaking partners and poking around “learn German” websites… and looking up places in Berlin where I can frolic about after work.
If I had no responsibilities that I was shirking, I would Dope all day guilt free, too (when I was a temp and hated my job, I Doped all day guilt-free then, too. I just would have been fired if caught.)
This is pretty much my case, too. I still feel guilty about the time I spend on the Dope, but it doesn’t interfere with me getting my work done. If I need to bury my head in something, I just do it.
I have a lot of 5-10 minute down periods here at work while I’m waiting for a machine to be imaged or a test to run(like right now), so that’s when I spend all of my “work time” on the internet. Even then, sometimes I do feel a bit guilty about the amount of time I spend on forums.
Do keep in mind that NSFW warnings are handy for people who aren’t Doping at Work, but are Doping in public places. I’m at the library right now, and while I don’t think anyone can see my computer screen, I’d just as soon not be presented with potentially embarassing images.
The company I work for has a strict “business use only” internet policy. But the policy is widely ignored. On my first day, I saw guys selling stuff on eBay, watching youtube, and posting on Japanese-language forums…hardly business-related. I don’t feel guilty popping in here from time to time, but I’m sure that if management wanted to get rid of any of us, they’ve given us enough rope.
That is much like me but I don’t get the down times as often. If I’m stuck at my workstation waiting for something to finish I pop it on the second monitor and read news, slashdot, and sometimes SDMB on my main. I rarely, if ever, post from work though.
)