# What's the percentage of the time you spent really working? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 28, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276 "2011-03-28T16:33:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2011, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/41 "2011-03-31T05:01:53Z")
You left out greater than 100% for those who take work home. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Little\_Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Bird)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276/42 "2011-03-31T15:19:34Z")
I used to work in a call center where I was working essentially 100% of the day most of the time. I hated it. Now I work as a web developer, so I work in bursts of creativity usually. Most days I’ll be 50% work and 50% not work, which includes time where I am FTP-ing files around, waiting for clients to show up to meetings, and wasting the last 20 minutes of the day because there’s no way I’m starting a project then. I’d say I strictly “Goof off” maybe 30% of my time, with permission from my boss who understands sometime you need to have a break and think stuff through in order to do brilliant work. Then again, some days it’s go go go and I work from the moment I get in until the moment I leave, no lunch, and work at home too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-percentage-of-the-time-you-spent-really-working/576276.md?page=2)