Sure.
But, given the current economic climate, you might understand if some people find it hard to generate too much sympathy for someone in a secure, high-paying job that doesn’t require him to actually do any work.
I always wondered why people in this position didn’t work on a side business or write a book or something with that time.
I can sympathize. I have had jobs kinda like that. A day of doing nuthin’ is a looooooonnnnggg day. Plus, it makes you feel bad.
Much better to have work to do, apply your skills and feel productive and useful.
Yeah, it does sound like it.
In reality, you’re bored out of your skull. And when you’re not bored out of your skull (because there really IS only so much 'net surfing you can do) you’re wondering where your life is going because you’re doing a “job” that won’t give you any experience or anything to put on your resume.
I spent the last two years doing that job, and all it got me was a lot of self-doubt that I could actually do useful, fulfilling work.
I was actually quite relieved when I was laid off, since it gave me an excuse to find something else.
I take as many courses as I can (work paid for me to go through University part time, so now I have a diploma), I go to relevent seminars, which they pay for (though that’s maybe once a month, if that), I teach fitness on the side (which I plan classes for during work time), I’m editing my grandmothers’ book, and I’ve been sending my resume out when a job that looks better comes along.
That is to say, I AM doing other things, and it still drives me crazy.
I hear the OP. I have experienced this and it tore at my self-worth something fierce. I felt guilty about taking the money, I got really bored even with all the interwebs at my disposal, I started to doubt myself, I wasn’t learning jackshit, and when I asked for work I was ignored. It really sucked. One would have to have a much greater tolerance for nothing to do and eternity to do it in than I had to flourish in that kind of gig.
Shame, poor guy. Must be terrible spending all that money you know you did nothing to earn, and you can’t do a goddamn thing about it. What a shame. At least you can moan on a messageboard instead of looking for another job. Poor guy. Poor, poor guy.
So do you think a job doing nothing all day is something to aspire to? Quite frankly I find it disturbing that so many people think this is an “ideal job”.
Well that’s just it. How “secure” can a job where you don’t do anything actually be in an environment like this. Don’t get me wrong, it certainly beats being unemployed. But I’d certainly feel a lot better if there was some way to demonstrate that there is a value for me to be here.
Alright, I have to go. These mines aren’t going to sweep themselves.
It’s not that I think it’s an ideal job, but since I’m currently searching for work and finding the going a bit rough, I would be glad to have ANY decent-paying job. I’d FIND a way to make good use of the time. I mean, people are getting evicted left and right and unemployment is increasing all over, and you’re complaining about your job? Be fucking glad that you HAVE one and be creative in making the best use of the time that you have there.
I can completely understand wanting to quit a dead-end job that does not offer opportunity for career advancement or raises. You have to think about the future.
That was what I was getting at with the ‘screw up your resume’ part. In other words, a prospective employer sees that you worked job X for Y years but weren’t promoted, given a raise, etc. That would be a problem and an excellent reason to leave.
My (obviously flawed) reading of the OP led me to think that you were on a career advancement/raise & promotion track, just that you were irritated that it was so easy. Kind of like a “My enormous penis makes my
life difficult” kind of post.
Seriously, it’s not worth it. They will not listen to you, things are unlikely to change for the better. Find something else before they drive you crazy.
cite?
And that’s the nub. He doesn’t have a secure job, he has a do-nothing deadwood job. And when somebody with an ounce of sense takes over his business unit the first thing they’re gonna do is fire all the unproductive deadwood.
If you are producing value for your company at least you know that a semi-competent boss isn’t going to fire you, because then who’s going to do all the work? But if you’re not doing anything worthwhile then a smart boss would fire you. So having nothing to do proves your boss is an idiot and proves their boss is an idiot, and the second the boss’s boss’s boss figures that out you’re gonna get fired.
Think of it as practice for being dead, which you’ll be at far longer than this job.
Been there, and it sucks. Well, Ok - for a month or so, it’s kinda OK, then it starts to draaaaag.
I know it’s out of a self-help book, but if there is a professional cert or field of study you’ve been dying to get into, now is the time. A clean desk and a quiet phone - break out the goddarn books!
Look at that… you don’t have shit to do, and you’re still having time management issues. 
That is exactly what happened to me. I had a job where I was lucky if I had an hour of real work to do each day. I was willing to do anything just to keep busy. I never had a single complaint about any of the work I produced, yet after two years of it, they up an fired me because I wasn’t contributing enough to the company.
You think doing nothing and getting paid for it makes you feel worthless. Try getting fired for not doing nothing good enough!
Sucks, I know. I’ve been in that chair in the past. Being busy is a whole lot easier than looking busy and it sounds like you don’t even have to put forth that much effort.
You don’t mention what kind of job you were hired on for, but in your situation I’d round up 5 or 6 workstations and put together a network. Linux, Windows, whatever, and hone my administrative skills. Study up and put a few more certifications in the workbook.
Maybe even do some online college towards the next degree level.
Find a way to expand that thought into several hundred pages, and I see a Department of Labor research grant in your future.
Either people “with an ounce of sense” are vanishingly rare, or this is an urban legend, at least in my experience with corporate America. The unproductive deadwood are the pillars of industry in far too many situations.
Enjoy,
Steven
I sympathize, msmith527. I actually think a job with nothing to do is one of the worst things there is. The time just crawls, and when you get home you feel like you just flushed a day of your life down the toilet for nothing. I’d much rather be too busy than not busy enough.
Are you thinking of starting/have you already started a job search? If I remember right, you’re in some sort of finance position, which has got to be a tough industry to job hunt in right now. At the same time, life is too short to spend just waiting to die.