I frequently have all of my work completed, and I am unfortunately not allowed to work from home. This means I spend a lot of time sitting at my desk scrolling social media, because there’s nothing that needs done. I feel like I’m wasting my time, even more than work already wasted the best hours of the day. How do you fill that downtime with something that is personally valuable, but not disruptive or noticeable enough that you’d get in trouble?
73 Comments
Talaraine@fedia.io · 43 pts · 329d
I wrote a book. Always looked busy. Was great!
Boozilla@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 329d
Talaraine@fedia.io · 5 pts · 329d
Haha same, but I had fun and learned a whole lot about the effort that goes into it. Had a newfound respect for everything I read after.
BlackXanthus@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 328d
Never think of your writing like that. Remember that both Twilight saga and 50 shades of grey exists as best sellers. Your writing is clearly better than that (just from this post!).
Consider something like Smashwords, or even sticking it on Amazon for free/cheap. You may not be the next Tolkien, but you worked on the book, let people read it!
Kissaki@feddit.org · 1 pts · 328d
What's your book genre and about?
pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 327d
Depending on how much of an asshole your company is, they probably have the rights to your book because you did it on company time
Staff@piefed.world · 20 pts · 328d
Do online courses in areas of your interest.
lando55@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 328d
Yes! Bonus points if your areas of interest align with your job, you may be able to get your company to foot the bill
P1nkman@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 327d
victorz@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 329d
Would you be able to create even more work for yourself and get paid more for doing it? Like suggesting things to be done, or doing side projects?
s3rvant@lemmy.ml · 17 pts · 329d
This was me. At first I automated some commonly used spreadsheets and then made some simple web tools to help our team which eventually led to getting to their IT department and now I work from home full time as a developer.
victorz@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 329d
From home full time is the dream. I'm at home Thu–Fri.
But yeah, very good! Showing what you can do will get you ahead and not be bored!
Eheran@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 329d
Will it get you ahead tho? Or only under very certain conditions? The last times(!) I have seen people going beyond it was essentially treated like that is to be expected. I have never seen that pay off to anyone. But you know what "always" pays off? Showing you boss you are busy. Just making that impression, not necessarily doing much.
victorz@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 328d
If you are at a company and nobody notices you are doing nothing but "looking busy", and that doesn't get you in trouble eventually, you don't want to be at that company. What the fuck is that, dude. You should be in a place of collaboration where people notice you, and notice if something is off. Otherwise the place is very clearly poorly run. Get out of there.
Eheran@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 328d
How many bosses are there that genuinely look at how efficient someone was based on objective data instead of going by gut feeling? How to even define efficient or any other metric? Way too complicated.
victorz@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 328d
The boss doesn't need to. If you are working with people, and you collaborate and talk about what you're doing every day, you'll quickly notice when someone isn't doing shit. This will bubble up to the relevant manager and boss and they would have a talk with you to mitigate this behavior. No success? You're out.
Not complicated in the least, if you have the proper team structure and communication routines. 🤷♂️
Eheran@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 327d
What kind of work do you do that it is so easy to see what and how much someone actually does?
For me, a new job could be a few hours or several days and I only truly know that when it is done and no further complications can pop up. For someone else doing the same thing, it could be the opposite (easy/fast vs slow/hard). Or it all hinges on one singular idea to solve some issue, so it could literally be a month without real progress and then it is solved within an hour.
chloroken@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 329d
Lmao
Xaphanos@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 329d
melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 14 pts · 328d
If I'm really bored I do actual work.
hanrahan@slrpnk.net · 14 pts · 328d
Mastubate in the toilet like every other sane person ?
RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 328d
We have just the one porta potty. It's gonna be a challenging wank not just because of the nastiness but also because of the pressure from people lining up to use it
Mac@mander.xyz · 4 pts · 327d
Skill issue
RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 327d
I mean I did say challenging and not impossible
s3rvant@lemmy.ml · 14 pts · 329d
I worked a factory job for several years that had nearly unrestricted internet and the ability to install programs. There's a LOT of options here depending on your technical skill and what you're able to get away with. One of my favs was setting up a remote connection to my home network so I could work on project there without much fuss on the work computers and was easy to just close the connection if needed.
Also games. I played a lot of games... even designed some with all the time we had.
Learning web development was my most productive though; I was able to contribute to the company and got promoted to IT which launched my career to where I am now.
remon@ani.social · 13 pts · 329d
Browsing lemmy and watching TV shows / youtube.
auginator@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 328d
Learn how to code
yermaw@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 328d
Watch out for potential troublemaking coworkers who think youre hacking.
Couldbealeotard@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 327d
Or the ones who think you're trying to make everyone redundant. I've worked on scripts that have been shut down because a co worker thought it would make people lose their jobs so they complain to the boss.
MaggiWuerze@feddit.org · 4 pts · 328d
As a dev, me too
slazer2au@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 329d
There is always more documentation to update sadly.
There is always old customer data to remove. I am currently working on a plan to remove the vxlan and firewall sub interfaces for a customer that was lost 3 years ago.
Boozilla@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 329d
Kissaki@feddit.org · 9 pts · 328d
I have no downtime like that. Quite the contrary. I have too much work, too many responsibility, and want to fix and improve things that annoy me which adds more.
I do visit programming.dev, which is a distraction, but tangential in my field of work, sometimes directly useful.
JargonWagon@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 327d
Same. I work from clock in to clock out and don't usually even have a second to check for messages on my phone from family.
Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 329d
ITGuyLevi@programming.dev · 8 pts · 328d
I write really dumb powershell scripts. One throws up a GUI with a picture of a wizard holding a magic 8-ball, clicking the 8-ball gives a random response from a list of responses. It was kind of fun figuring out how to store images in the script (just went with base64)...
Its always a fun way to guess if the meeting with M$ is going to be beneficial or not.
jjjalljs@ttrpg.network · 8 pts · 329d
At a customer service job I'd read whole books in the browser. Just keep the window small and it looks pretty inconspicuous.
Now I work from home so I look at Lemmy and such on my phone.
I have a hard rule of never playing video games on the clock because that's a slippery slope.
mesamunefire@piefed.social · 8 pts · 329d
Your seeing it for me.
That and ebooks/royal road/audiobooks via phone. Just make it look kinda like work and you should be good.
Alternatively, try to learn something new. Theres a lot of online resources out there!
Twongo@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 328d
What i do: oomscroll Lemmy, take smoke breaks, do "the little stuff" like organizing documents after your lazy coworkers, take a walk, read books and hop on codeacademy. Still - this freedom gets stale quickly because the most stressful part becomes pretending to look busy
darklamer@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 7 pts · 328d
Elextra@literature.cafe · 6 pts · 329d
Any way you can learn new skills or get certs while you work? Take on a project to put on your resume? Help others? Hopefully, you will find something that challenges you or make work more appealing during your day?
dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 327d
Chess puzzles. Sometimes informational YouTube. There's not usually that much time though.
zxqwas@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 329d
Chess puzzles. Reading about my hobbies.
HakunaHafada@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 327d
I've spent a lot of time ruminating on the state of society and mourning the loss of better days.
HerpinDerpNerd@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 328d
Im here. Hello. Currently working.
PonyOfWar@pawb.social · 4 pts · 329d
When I was still working in an office I used to listen to a lot of podcasts.
DeLancre@feddit.org · 1 pts · 327d
And audio books
Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 328d
By doom scrolling on Lemmy and Reddit.
deathmetal27@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 327d
You don't. I'd ask my lead/supervisor if there is any other item to work on. Doing this consistently will get you promoted.
LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 328d
I often bring a sewing project to work.
Kissaki@feddit.org · 3 pts · 328d
Patchwork just like my software projects.
HubertManne@piefed.social · 3 pts · 329d
suduko?
hexagonwin@lemmy.sdf.org · 3 pts · 328d
I read wikipedia or fun books(novels) from zlib/annas. Also some lemmy and hn.
lemmy_outta_here@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 328d
if you drop the file in word, it almost looks like you’re working
pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 328d
Sometimes I chat with coworkers. I work in IT so sometimes I go on a rabbithole of random computer stuff. Usually though, I don't have enough time to "kill".
folekaule@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 329d
octobob@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 326d
I walk around the shop and bullshit with others, maybe clean or organize stuff. Or help build panels if I'm caught up on testing. We're so busy right now tho those days are kind of long gone. Currently working overtime indefinitely til like 2027 at least.
Perspectivist@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 329d
When I'm done I go home. Benefits of being self-employed.
This wasn't ever much of an issue in my previous job either. Work fills the time given for it. If there's literally nothing to do then I'd browse reddit/Lemmy or watch YouTube videos.
Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 327d
I check other job listing.
anon6789@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 329d
Research something non-work related (usually owls)
Plan a vacation or home project
Study music/theory/plugins/production or play on my mini keyboard
Make friends with other contractors outside of my company
Go out and enjoy the fall weather
Read an ebook or enjoy an audiobook. I started Discworld. I'm down 4 so far out of 41 I think it is.
Basically stuff I'd want to do anyway that requires little or no equipment. Down time is my time. The only thing that stinks is an open office with no real privacy. People don't seem to care, but it makes it less enjoyable for me. I've been here 2 years now and no one has ever said anything.
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 329d
Read on kiwix. Browse the archive.
blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 328d
Do crosswords and puzzles to keep the ol' brain moist. The odd bit of doomscrolling as well of course.
I'm currently waiting for the line cleaner to work it's magic so am just sat in our site office.
There's no stock deliveries until tomorrow, it's too wet to paint (thanks Benjamin) so I'm relishing the quiet time before we go live tomorrow evening.
justme@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 328d
this was how I got my wow addiction back in 2005
TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 329d
Richii mahjong phone app
Signtist@bookwyr.me · 1 pts · 329d
I was lucky enough to be able to keep working from home after the quarantines of 2020, but when I used to be in the office, I'd find a YouTube video, make it full screen, then on a second monitor I'd click and drag another window on top of it to obscure it. Then I'd hover over the taskbar to bring up the preview, and watch the video on that.
If anyone was passing by, I'd just have to move my mouse to get rid of the preview, and it looked like I was looking at important business stuff. Even if I didn't realize someone was getting close, the preview is pretty small, so they never noticed it, though it helped that I worked in an office full of computer-illiterate people.
Sendpicsofsandwiches@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 329d
I play chess on lichess and chess.com
s3rvant@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 329d
Emulators, whether installed locally or played via an online version, are great too - replayed Ocarina of Time over night shift and was awesome for getting through that time
AmericanEconomicThinkTank@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 328d
When I work in office settings I usually set pace based on what I need to accomplish, and use any extra time to do proper reviews of my work.
RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 327d
Art.
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 329d
Playing games on my phone
Reading books
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 329d
I listen to podcasts or audiobooks, I often read from an eReader so from the outside can appear work related. But I also do a lot of origami so I don't know.
Mrkawfee@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 328d
Lately, Clash Royale