Boredom at Work!

[HAnn521]

Anyone else have a kind-of 8-5 "desk job" that goes pretty slow from day to day? I would like to know what you do to occupy the time when you have no work...

what can I do to help my time go by?

[Lue]

If you have access to the internet you could start a free online course, you could do the course when you don't have much work to do. Vision2learn offer free courses

[WoWo]

all depends on your 'visibillity' I had a similar job to the one you describe, I was in a high visibillity seat and it was a nightmare, I then managed to get a seat right in the corner and I could do anything I liked without anybody seeing.

As for what to do, those in ear headphones are pretty invisible if you just use one. stick a magazine inside a folder.

But most of the time I spent on the internet. One tip for that is start off looking for 30 minutes a day, ramp it up by 30 mins a week. If by week 4 nobody has said anthing it's clear they aren't checking it.

[HAnn521]

Thanks to you both...I actually do have my own office, with quite a bit of privacy...and I know that surfing the net is OK...but I seem to only be able to occupy so much time with that...it still goes by very slowly... I am new to this job, and I am just going to pray, for my sake, that it soon picks up!

[Andy008]

Last year I worked a 3-month contract in the call centre of a well-known high street bank. Activities to pass the time included surfing the corporate intranet - learning about morgtgages and bonds, bending paper clips, and drinking lots of cups of hot chocolate.

[Hermia]

Are there no new projects you could start? My job can be pretty routine too and I do get bored. I got ideas for a few projects and my boss thought they were good ideas. So, I now work on these when I have a few spare moments. It's really boosted my CV!

[twiglet4frog]

www.yetisports.org is the best way to lose a few hours of your day and there is a handy "Boss" button that if anyone is around u can press and it pauses the game and brings up a fake spreadsheet program

[Hermia]

Possibly a good idea to find out whether your web access is monitored first! Ours is. The IT team don't sit there remotely watching you, but they have a 'black box' and can get a record of what you look at on the web if needed. One my my ex-colleagues was sacked when he spent several hours surfing the web every day.

[Gilli]

I really do sympathise ... I've had a job where business was slack and you'd sit there twiddling your thumbs. What was worse was that surfing outside of lunch was forbidden, as was reading even respectable or informative magazines, papers or books !

The only reading matter allowed was business related - so I spent a lot of time trawling through the office intranet, which, though mostly boring, did throw up the occasional thing of interest. I also spent a great deal of time going to the loo, getting the drinks (not at the same time I hasten to add), tidying my desk or sorting through the staionery cupboard !

.... all mind boggling stuff !

I also used to have a "net pet" who I used to stare at in a hypnotic state as it bounced amusingly all over the screen. Very sad.

If all else fails, see if you can get involved in other aspects of office life to use up the time. Not only does volunteering usually win you brownie points, it can also mean that this voluntary work takes priority over "real" and maybe less interesting work, when it doers pick up. For instance, I got heavily involved in the monthly magazine and it was great fun compiling quizzes, gathering gossip and writing up other people's holidays and getting paid for it !

[milly143]

I sit here from 8.00 am till 5.00 pm and basically do this all day. I literally spend about 5% of my working day actually working (not because im lazy, because I have no work to do). Generally i read AB all day and when I have gone through all the Q's i try to start topical debates in the office. It gets very dull!

[MunkeyBoy]

I�m a pro at wasting time in the office so am more than happy to give you some advice on the subject. I work in the accounts department so as you can imagine my job is VERY boring but because it pays so well I can�t actually afford to make a career change. So I make the most of my time.
I am a very social person so out side of work I don�t have time to do al the things I would like so that�s were my job comes in handy.
Of course there is plenty of time to surf the net for jokes and funny e-mails but this soon runs dry so I have found a much better use for your time-
I like to organise my whole life at work. Here�s a few examples.
Make lists, things to do at home and at work/special occasions, birthdays/ reminders, mow the lawn, buy your mum a birthday present (and ideas for the present).
I find this is great for taking extra weight off your mind and you can add/take away things from the list whenever you think of new things.
If you have the Internet then Internet banking is great for making sure your finances are up to date and organised. Again make lists of things that need to be paid and things that have been paid, I even work out how much a can spend each day on lunches and at weekends. Sad I know but really has helped me save money.
I also work-out at the gym when I�m not at work so have a workout plan (which of course I wrote while at work) and keep it up to date on a regular basis. It includes details of weights/reps and targets. I also have a diet plan on there to hep monitor what I�m eating.

Cont...

[MunkeyBoy]

Cont..

I have everything I could ever need on this saved worksheet, I have stared a few business ideas for when I finally get off my lazy ass and want to get a real job and have even started writing my own film script- the net has loads of resources for these kinds of things so use them to your advantage. You could even make a list of the jobs you would love to do or would suit you and search around for companies you would like to work for then write your CV and cover letter and send them off to the companies on this list of companies. These are the kinds of things you wish you had time to do but never get around to doing, now you can.
I recommend that you save this valuable info onto your comp but remember to password protect the sheet just in case the worst was to happen. I found a great way to hide all this info- I hide it all underneath a set of notes I wrote when I first started for my job- put all your info at the bottom of this page so nobody will think to look through it all. If the IT guy asks why you have password protected your notes just put your work passwords in this file and tell him you don�t want everyone having access to them.
Make the most of the job you have been given- most people work hard for there money, you and I have been given the gift of extra time in our lives and we get paid to do it, most people would die for a job like this.
Sorry it was so long but I was sooo bored at work!  I love my job :O)

[HAnn521]

Thanks again to you all! These are truly great responses to my troubling question...especially Gilli and Munkeyboy...I really feel like you are empathatic to my issue and I greatly appreciate your comments...

and since I do have plenty of time right now at work, I will let you know that you did have some good advice...Munkeyboy, I have actually already realized how much the extra time I have day after day can be a blessing...and I am certainly not complaining about making good money for doing very little actual 'work'...

also, to Munkeyboy, I too like organization and order...I keep notes, calendars, reminders, etc. for work and personal life...I do like to have time to keep things structured and tidy, so A-men to that!  ;-)

[MunkeyBoy]

A word of warning HAnn521 (this is so ironic it's scary!)  about an hour after writing my very long reply I went to look at my "secret" saved files and OH MY GOD!!! it's gone! All of them gone! Deleted from the system. I'm looking into who deleted them but I think it must have been the IT guy. More of a pain in the ass than anything so my advice save another copy somewhere other than work.

I have checked my contract though and it seems there is nothing about saving personal files on a work comp being against company policy.

Just goes to show that big brother is ALWAYS watching no matter what you think- you have been warned.

Glad my reply was useful to you and I will keep yu updated on weather I lose my job or not over this! :O)

[HAnn521]

Munkeyboy, do be careful! Bringing up this topic seems to have been a good idea, seeing as how there are many of you "slow desk job workers" like me out there...but I do not want anyone to get into trouble...

Hope all is well with you on this Tuesday morning, we are two days into the week...nothin wrong with that ;0)