Maybe you’re in the wrong field.
Well, there’s no reason to quit a job where I do nothing so I can sit at home on the couch and do just as much nothing but not get paid for it.
Also, I’m pretty sure it’s not my immediate supervisor’s fault that I have nothing to do. What it seems like is we are essentially an internal consulting organization that other groups like to get advice from, but can’t decide whether they want to act on that advice.
I’ve thought about that. I think it has more to do with the corporate institutional environment than the actual work. I don’t know that changing fields unless it is something radically different like race car driver professional scuba diver or something would help.
Based on your previous posts, I’d guess you make plenty of money. Why can’t you use some of it to go learn to do something radically different?
Start an internet business and set up shop in your office.
Or take some online college classes
You’re really approaching this problem the wrong way, dude.
The solution is to get a second job you can do from your cubicle. You could run a side consulting businesses, do technical writing, or any number of things that do not require your physical presence most of the time. That way you challenge yourself, AND you keep the high paying job, AND you get the wonderful feeling of sticking it to the man.
I’m glad to see others in my position. This is my “real” job out of college, and it’s not what I expected at all. I’ve been here since the end of August '08. At the beginning, I’d work hard on projects for the entire 8 hours of the day. Then I realized I could do much, *much *less with no consequences whatsoever.
Nowadays, I meet my weekly numbers and still have time to surf the web and zone out for about 5-6 hours a day. On my *busiest *days, I’ll have to put in about 4 hours of solid work. And they’re paying me a salary for this? It’s nice, I suppose… but I feel so unfulfilled, so unsatisfied.
I’ve had jobs like that, where you’re just bored to tears all day. It does suck, but the flipside of that can be as bad. I’m living it now. There is not one.fucking.day. that I’m not given a tasking that has to be done by COB “nobody goes home”. No one wants to here that, especially when we have PT formation every day at 0630.
Its frustrating because on top of everything else that has to be done in a day I’m constantly being pelted with new stuff coming up at the last minute. Right after I got home to change after PT I get a text message from the platoon sergeant that we have a barracks inspection formation in 35 minutes. Which means I have to change shower and be on my way in about 15 minutes. Yeah, I can do it, but dammit, couldn’t you have told me that yesterday? I would have just changed and showered on post. Then I get two more “this needs to be done by COB” tasks as soon as I get to work, notification that one of my soldiers has to be in some kind of training monday so we have to get him ready for it and this is on top of a tasking by the Battalion Sergeant Major that absolutely has to be done quickly and correctly. I have no life outside of work anymore because I’m usually working at home at night or I’m catatonic from exhaustion. I look forward to saturday only because I can get some sleep. Monday to Friday I dread evenings because I know I have to be up early for insane PT (our 1SG is either going to make us all superhuman or kill us…I’m thinking kill us).
I’m tired…and getting old…I could use a job with a bloated salary where I can sit around all day. I may have to retire at 20 just to preserve my own mental and physical health.
I dunno. If you are bored, you really have no one but yourself to blame. Figure something you can do that you would find stimulating or rewarding. As someone suggested, write. If not a book, maybe a blog.
Heck, research your company, and try to figure out ways you could provide input in other departments. Try to make connections for a possible transfer/promotion.
Or instead of just surfing the net, do so in a manner that will improve you in some manner. Study up on some area that interests you.
Develop a hobby that you can do from your desk, whether origami or magic. Handle as many household budgetting/scheduling chores as possible from work, freeing up home time.
I’ve got a full-time job that I can easily do in 1/2 the allotted time. A lot of people have it a lot worse than I. The paycheck is considerable reward. Although, after 20+ years here, I often think that I would be incapable of a job that required me to be productive 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.
In all fairness, my company does feel like one of the companies from Atlas Shrugged where all the employees were a bunch of bums, looters and moochers. And is there a bigger looter company than our competitor, AIG?
I’m starting to think that either I’m the crazy one or maybe like Rand’s book, the world has simply gone to shit around me and the whole concept of hard work is outdated.
Just to add to the chorus of agreement, I’m in a similar position with my current job. I think one of the worst aspects is that I feel guilty for disliking my job when there’s so many people out there desperate for any job at all, where I’m sitting on my ass all day, rocking my sinecure. I would greatly prefer it if I could work from home, which isn’t too far fetched since I work in an office 100% of the time and my boss actually works in another state, but my company isn’t quite at that point yet where they allow telecommuting for everybody that wants it.
I have one of these jobs, too, most days. You start to feel like this big, formless blob after a while.
I know no one is supposed to derive their self-image from their job, but dammit, it’s very hard to spend that much time doing something without some of it rubbing off on you. I may not be my job, but my job is changing me, every day.
A couple of my buddies here at work and I regularly remind ourselves not to be too critical of what geeks and losers our co-workers are, because we have been there longer than most of them …
Who told you that? You spend more time at your job than you do anything else in life. People spend more time in their life preparing and educating themselves for their chosen profession than they do anything else. Your entire station in life is defined by what you do and where you work. Your job is your contribution to society. It colors everything about how you see the world.
That is the reason most people hate their jobs. Because they don’t derive self-image from their jobs or it isn’t something they want to do. Or their job isn’t a good fit for their abilities and personality.
Unfortunately no. I don’t see any track here. That’s one problem.
My big penis doesn’t understand the little penis rules here. It’s like an NBA basketball player being put in some weird elementary school league for imbeciles or something. Ok, so with my mad skillz, I should be able to dunk on anyone on the court. Ahhh…no. We don’t play like that. No dunking. Oh. Alright. Well watch this mad three. Mmmm…sorry. The kids can’t shoot three pointers. Well, what about a… no. Jimmy, shoots the ball. Your job is to catch the pass from Stacy and then pass it to Jimmy.
Well, I think you take it too far the other way. No, my job isn’t my contribution to society. It’s a contribution, not “the” contribution.
I feel for the OP. I’m in the exact same position. I’m grateful to have a job, especially one that allows me to work part-time. And it has a great salary and benefits. However, there are long periods where there is no work to do. I’ve asked for more, but projects have been cut due to the economy, so there’s no surplus work to be had.
And, BTW, I HAVE been writing the great American novel. Problem is that it’s rather difficult to get your creative mojo going when you are in a cubicle hearing conference calls all around you. I’ve gotten a headset and listen to music now, but I’d much, much rather be working an honest day’s work for an honest day’s wage.
For years I never posted here at work because I know that we may be monitored. However, I can only write for so many hours a day. I wish I could just quit and volunteer somewhere that really needs my talents, but with the stock market collapse, that’s not realistic. But it sure sucks to be in the prime of my life and surfing the internet.
Thought I would post an update.
Not only have a barely seen another human at work in about a week, they are dismantling half of the offices around me. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that the company went out of business and they are demolishing the building but through some glitch, no one told me and I am still sitting here in the ruins collecting a paycheck.
Did they take your stapler?
Careful.
My wife was in that situation…and complained about it. She took another job and absolutely hated it…wishing she could have her ‘do nothing’ job back 
I had a friend who was also in that situation. He was hired because a department was slammed with work. After a few months, he determined that there really was no work to be done.
So he started his own business and did it from work. 
Has it occurred to you that they’re putting you out to pasture? Especially if your typical charm offensive here on the boards carries over to your professional life.
Pride goeth before a fall. I’m not sure I would talk the big game of “I define myself and my values through my very important job that I am extremely dedicated to, unlike you assholes who think this is a not-so-bad situation to be in” if you are (i) shifted from boss to boss to boss in the space of one year, (ii) are given no assignments, and (iii-a) exiled to a remote part of the building that (iii-b) they seem to be in the process of dismantling.
I got a big raise last year, a decent raise this year (a year where many got squat), and avoided a layoff a couple of months ago. Yet my bosses spend far more time trying to stop me from doing work than helping me get more work.
I’ve come to the conclusion that there are certain people (“grinds”) who see a job as performing a prescribed series of actions and then receiving a paycheck for doing so. Those actions can be useful or they can be digging a hole and filling it up again, over and over forever. The grind doesn’t care.
In previous jobs, there were always a couple of grinds around, but they were kept safely out of the way so others could be productive. My current company is *run *by grinds.