Other than surfing the Internet, what are some ways you help pass those times at work when there seems to be little to do (I say seems because in most places there almost always is something productive that could be done), or when you know that there is work to be done, but you just don’t have the ambition to deal with it at the moment? If you have ever been caught doing something to escape workplace doldrums, how was it handled?
For me, I will sometimes doodle, which is something I did more often at my last job where I had no Internet access. Only once was I caught doing this. My supervisor confiscated my doodling, showed it to the manager and I was briefly counseled and told not to do it again, nothing big. Also at my previous job, I was caught one time skimming through a magazine article one morning when I wasn’t quite up to getting at the job I needed to do that day. The manager on duty just glared at me and sternly said, “get to work!”
I used to do data entry but I had to wait till the work came through so there would be hours for me with nothing to do so I decided to sneak a book in and read it between paperwork
Also I uesd to take a snooze in the toliets, that takes up about 30 minutes
Hmmm…snoozing on the toilet, eh? I’ll have to try that one. I just “Go out to my car” for a bit and sleep out there for a while. Internet is always good. When you’re sitting at a computer, people always think you’re busy. And I read. Not too much, but sometimes I exhaust everything on the internet, so I try books. And doodling always helps. Crossword puzzles are the big thing here at the station. As you can tell, we often have a lot of free time.
At my shitty shitty shit shit job working at a grocery store, spare time is made doing other little chores, like returning baskets, carts, and groceries left in the middle of nowhere. Basically, anything that will keep me away from my register and away from the customers (it’s amazing how working in service makes you hate your fellow human beings on sight).
Just out of curiosity dwc1970, where do you work that they confiscate your doodles?
This was back at my previous job where I worked at a well-known office supplies retailer. I was in the electronics department. To deter shoplifters and to ensure that customers intent on buying high-dollar items, such as those in the electronics department, were served promptly, we were required to stay on the sales floor within our department during most of the day, that is, we couldn’t bring freight out or set up displays, etc. after a certain hour. At times there would be no customers in the department, so it got to be a real drag just standing there waiting for someone to enter my area, so I had to do something to keep my mind from rotting from boredom (playing games on the display computers was a complete no-no). Since it was an office supply store I could have explained to my supervisor that I was, uhh uhh, just testing the products we sell, yeah, yeah, that’s it! I doubt he would have bought it, though. I would have been willing to do other things during slack periods, and I would have been willing to go around the store and help customers in other areas (this, folks, is partly the reason why it is difficult to find someone to help you in some stores, the employees are anchored to their designated areas).
Yep, SDMB for sure. Things have been really slow the last month or so, so I’d estimate that I’m browsing, posting to SDMB, or doing research for same for >85% of the time for which I’m paid to be here.
Used to be SDMB. After the new year, though, for whatever reason, it’s turned mostly to LJ and email.
Sometimes, though, I turn the laptop around (so no one can see) and play D2 or Wolfenstein for a few hours. And that’s while I’m actually working (running scripts that take 3 hours to complete leaves me with idle time.)
Why the Straight Dope Message Board of course. It’s one of the finest suppositories of knowledge available on the internet, and chock full of charmingly whimsical characters who visit regularly to share their thoughts on topics both significant and trivial.
Before I started telecommuting, I would work on my novel. Now that I work from home, I usually don’t do anything extraneous other than surf the Internet.
My first job was making cookies, usually with no super vision. Small operation and I made my own hours, just so long as I finished my orders in a reasonable amount of time. Although sometimes my friend was there. When we were bored we’d eat cookie dough, or cookies. If we were REALLY bored we’d make little balls of cookie dough and try to toss it through a hole in the ceiling. Don’t worry though, our cookies were clean, but we did eat a lot.
My next job was at Taco Bell at the corner of the U. of Arizona campus. During the summer it got really slow. When I got bored I’d clean. Man those table tops were spotless.
After that I worked for ABC stores in Waikiki and thankfully a HUGE past time in Hawaii is to “Talk Story.” Somedays me and a manager would spend half an hour gabbing and not doing any of the work we were supposed to. Sure if a customer came in we’d help them but I would put off the window cleaning, gardening and stocking although I would always get it done before my shift ended.
And I also used to be in thinksnow’s position of waiting for programs to finish. Man I used to play thousands of games of bingo on the internet waiting and waiting. Although again I had no supervisor and could do as I please. Listened to a lot of music too.
But what I’m really good at is just fixing my eyes at one place, say the screen, stop seeing, go into torpor and let my imagination take over. That one was probably the most fun.
Let’s see…
SDMB, reading other folks LJs (cuz I don’t have one) sometimes mudding, sometimes ircing, etc etc…
yes, my coworkers and boss know as I make no attempt to hide it. I do have dead spells where there is literally nothing to do, and none of the above interefere with me doing my job - I am always available regardless.
SDMB, baby. I have to be careful surfing, as my cube is situated in the worst possible spot relative to my manager’s in terms of getting caught surfing. (She knows everyone does it, but it’s not good to be caught surfing when there’s work to do.)
Also, I smoke like a chimney, so I go out for MANY 10-minute smoke breaks every day.
Sometimes, I just open a PDF of something I’m supposed to be “researching” for an upcoming project… and just stare blankly at the screen while listening to web radio disco on my headphones.
And once my manager leaves (usually between 3:30 and 4:00), I don’t even pretend to be working any more and just surf. This is great when I stay late (6 - 6:30).
Lately, when I get bored of the current posts on the boards, I’ve going back to the beginning and reading really, really old threads.
Or I do board searches on whatever tickles my fancy…
I can’t believe they pay me for this. Fucked company, indeed.
In one of my previous jobs I’d often work a machine press with a Filipino guy. Some nights our conversations would get so involved that we’d deliberately break the press and not ring in the repairment for a couple of hours (that damn 40 second cycle time made arguing politics and culture really difficult).
Where I work, there is no such thing as boredom or free time. I always have ten times as much work to do than is possible in the time frame they want it, and people making me do other tasks which are not part of my job, but part of other people’s jobs who couldn’t be bothered to show up to work, thus eliminating any chance I ever had of actually completing the things that are my job, causing everything to plummet in a spiral of despair, stress and anxiety until I reach my breaking point and demand all my vacation hours at once and then call the district manager to tell him what a friggin’ idiot my store manager is.
Um. I want a new job. One where I get to be bored…
