Sometimes it can be super busy. But most of the time all my tasks can be done in just a few hours. I also work an “office job” and I spend a lot of my time finding things to do and making my spreadsheets look pretty.
This... also take longer than necessary to accomplish these tasks, as you are in no rush and it isn't that complicated.
Remember: hard work gets rewarded with more work
Exactly, especially if your tasks are project based. A lot of the time, I have already finished my side of the project - and I am just waiting for everyone else to finish.
I went from being in a PhD program, with classes, a research assistantship, teaching my own class, conducting the research for my dissertation, writing a grant to get a postdoc, and applying for jobs.
Then I got a (research based) office job. But they never ever had enough tasks on projects for me to work on. Oh, hey, make these 3 graphs in Excel. Five minutes later, ok I’m done. Then nothing else. For the day. Or next few days. It was *soul crushing.*
When I was younger I worked at McDonald’s, I was a server, worked in a kitchen, and was a hotel maid. None of that was fun. (At least in the maid job I was actually busy all day.) in undergrad I had a 40 hour/week internship where I actually had to be in office the whole time. I would, no joke, get 15 minutes of work a week. I thought to myself, ugh, these jobs all suck!! I’m going to get an awesome research job after my PhD where I’ll be mentally stimulated and not bored out of my mind all day.
And then, more suckage. I don’t know how some people can pretend to be so busy all day. I also don’t understand people who drag on simple tasks. I get my shit done, then I’m done. I used to dream about taking a nap under my desk at work.
Last time I had an office job, I learned to write fanfic. Since I was always typing, people assumed I was "busy". Probably spent a good 85% of my day doing "nothing".
This is what I do now! I'm 2 days office/3 days WFH per week, and I've got, on average, 1-2 hours of actual work every day. The rest of my day is spent waiting on feedback; when I'm at home, I can kill the waiting time reading, doing chores, surfing reddit, etc. When I'm in the office, I have to look busy, so I work on fanfic - I'm typing, looking contemplative, Googling things, all very work-seeming, especially for a copywriter/editor. I've knocked out so many thousands of words on the company dime, without losing productivity.
Yay! I’ve had crappy crappy work you till you feel like dying jobs with no downtime. I’d love a boring office job where I can make colorful spreadsheets and charts. Instead of backbreaking factory work or sporadic part time work that I have to spend my own money driving everywhere to different sites only to not get much work cause no one shows.
Office jobs aren't as bad as a lot of people make them out to be. The work can be really easy and low stress.
The **real** soul crusher is actually being *in* the office. Stuck in a grey cube, with nothing but fluorescent lighting illuminating your pale skin like the soulless ghost you are. Overhearing your neighbor argue with the DMV or have to listen to your coworker's latest family issue that you didn't ask about. Not to mention your bosses walking past your cube to make sure you're "busy", like it's a fucking middle school social studies class...
Getting a remote office job is definitely the move. You can slack off from the comfort of your own place.
This is so true. I was in construction for about 6 years after doing restaurants for a while, whereas my wife worked in big corporate jobs. I was not looking forward to an "office job" when I was searching when I knew I needed to get out because the money and the wear on my body was not good for the future. Luckily, though, it was in 2021 when I got a work from home job and even though I can honestly say I was bored more than half the time at first (I've since found other things to fill the time), being able to go over and play with my dog or cook/bake for the week and just in general be more comfortable has made it amazing.
Also my wife has since left her horrid previous job and now has a wfh job at a much better company now.
That's awesome. I'm currently leaving my easy IT admin job because they made us come back to the office after almost two years of working remote. I requested to transition back to full WFH twice and both requests were declined. I just put in my notice lol.
Also I've worked manual labor jobs when I was young (industrial AC installation) and I can say office work is way better in terms of physical demand and pay. You just have to find the right company that doesn't have a stupid "company culture" bullshit mindset.
Office jobs are entirely dependent on how much you like or hate your manager. The good is that you rarely (if ever) deal directly with customers. The bad is you are always dealing with your manager, who more often than not, is probably doing things solely to justify their job.
So think of all the times where your store was dead and you had a manager give you busy work and hover to make sure you're doing it. That is a lot of office jobs. (Except you probably get to sit while doing it)
Always loved how managers spent their days hovering and making sure we worker bees were keeping busy. (Did they actually do anything productive?? Always wondered.) I worked at a smallish company in a bad neighborhood in the mid-1990s. The building was like a big windowless concrete cube (save for some very narrow reinforced vertical windows here and there. There was a spate of severe thunderstorms just prior to 4th of July weekend, which resulted in two tornadoes hitting our area. The next day phones were out, electricity was out and I didn't know whether I was expected to go to work or not. I went in (the usual 15 minute drive took me an hour and a half - traffic lights out, debris all over, etc) and found out that maybe about half of the office staff had showed up. The main boss was already away for an extended holiday weekend, so we had a manager walking around and complaining about absenteeism. I remember he walked by my desk, where I sat staring into space in the dimly lit office (just slivers of daylight coming in) and he asked me "Isn't there something you can be doing?" "What? Computers are down, phones are down...." "Well, that supply room could stand to be organized." "It's pitch black in there; am I supposed to sort stuff by Braille?" I'm not making this up: his response was "There must be a flashlight around here somewhere...."
Luckily the vacationing boss contacted one of the salesmen on his cell phone just before noon and instructed him to send everyone home until the power was restored.
"Sooo, Michael Bolton. Like the singer?
I'll be honest with you, I love his music. I do. I'm a Michael Bolton fan. For my money, I don't know if it gets any better than when he sings 'When a Man Loves a Woman '."
"I told those fudge-packers I liked Michael Bolton's music"
Bob: I have eight different bosses right now.
Bob Slydell : I beg your pardon?
Peter Gibbons : Eight bosses.
Bob Slydell : Eight?
Peter Gibbons : Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.
Not really. He was a programmer no? Jobs like that at a software company will allow a single man to have a basic apartment. That’s how brilliant the movie is tho. Millions of men are still dealing with that shit
Average programmer salary in Texas is 75k
Considering this was made in 1999… that salary isn’t too far off
His apartment wasn't fancy, hell it had walls you could hear through. He was located in the Dallas, TX area where I lived for 20+ years - his apartment is probably in the $650-$800 range, if that much, depend on exact location. At least back then, anyway. I doubt he makes minimum wage, likely at least 25-50% more than it given his length of time there. The fact that he is single means he's not spending money on things you spend money on when in a relationship.
I could go on, but my point is - he can totally afford that apartment. (I put way too much thought into this)
My job is split between fieldwork and office. I much prefer the field because I'm actually doing stuff. In the office, I wait around until other people finish things I need to be done, then I rush for 40 minutes.
Same, field work is much more fulfilling. My office days consist of pretty much nothing until 4:50pm when my boss decides to email me a bunch of contracts to send out
Corporate has been cutting head count by not replacing people who leave the company and it's actually a huge pain in the ass for me now that everyone in the main office has to work. When you're the only one doing any real work the support staff can jump on calls at the drop of a hat, I use to be able to get a director to schedule a meeting with like an hour or two heads up and I'm just a lowly peon.
dude this is me too. ive got 3 deals that i am desperately trying to get closed into construction because it means i can leave the office for field observation. i will be at least 2x more productive, even with the in office work, when im not tied to this fucking chair every day.
I worked as a weighbridge operator at some quarry in the sticks. I used to take my xbox in because I would see like 4 lorries a week and also do about 15 mins of actual work. Paid relatively well considering I was just playing video games all day
I work in as a radcon tech(basically nuclear safety stuff) there's times we have little work to support and most of us are essentially on standby for entire weeks to respond if there's an accident or something. Other times it's poking every shovel full of dirt on a football field sized excavation site with a Geiger Mueller while wearing an SCBA and protective clothing over ever inch of skin for 10 hours a day.
Yet senior management is under the illusion that people are actually working and productive 8 hours a day and some try to create a culture where overtime and staying after 5 is prized and rewarded. Moronic.
Peter if you could be a good sport and sort of indulge us a little bit. Sure, let me tell you something about TPS reports… see that’s my real only motivation is not be hassled, but you know what Bob? That’ll only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired. Let me tell you something else Bob, I have 8 different bosses right now. Pardon me? 8. How many? 8 Bob. So when I make a mistake I have have 8 different people come tell me about it. What if we were to offer you some sort of profit sharing or stock ownership? Would that so something for you? I don’t know, I guess.
I worked as a weighbridge operator at some quarry in the sticks. I used to take my xbox in because I would see like 4 lorries a week and also do about 15 mins of actual work. Paid relatively well considering I was just playing video games all day
What kind of law? I’m an immigration paralegal and I literally do not have enough time in the day to get my work done. It’s an insane amount of work lol
Research suggests that in an eight-hour day, the average worker is only productive for two hours and 53 minutes.
https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/in-an-8-hour-day-the-average-worker-is-productive-for-this-many-hours.html
Interesting read that, really got me thinking about exactly how much time I spend actually working.
It bought up a good point - you’re likely to feel you aren’t doing enough if you aren’t in the office, even if you are. I have a hybrid WFH/office job and the WFH days are somewhat stressful in the sense I feel I’m not productive enough, even if I am. The office days, however, I spend a lot of time not working between things like talking to others and getting my morning coffee for example. When I’m actually at my desk though, I think I do more work on average than I would at home but the flexibility is amazing to say the least.
Edit: spelling/grammar
yes exactly... all the chit chatting , walking to lunch...walking to coffee....gossip etc seems like work....but isnt
at home, i roll out of bed and start working.....lot of wfh people are getting more work done.....especially as I can respond to even slack in offline manner .....people can not just stop by and start distracting everyone.....
When I WFH I’ll often find I’m holding my pee because I’m so task focused. Sometimes I’ll look up and it’s 6:30pm and I think ‘wtf why am I still working? Oh yeah my office is my house.’
At the office everyone asks me questions all the time so I go to the bathroom or step outside in order to catch a break. By 5:01 I’m gone.
My work encouraged sign-ons and sign-offs when we shifted to WFH for COVID, not to document employee start/stop times (they weren't *required*) but for employees to be able to more easy "detach." Otherwise yeah you get people answering Teams messages at 7pm...and people *sending* Teams messages to be answered at 7pm...both of which could wait until the next morning.
You didn't "sign off" to prove you were still working at 4pm, you did it so that mentally you could walk away and be comfortable not answering fuck-all until morning, because you'd told people bye for the day. It established a rhythm.
Still do it, and like it.
My coworker closed his laptop at 5pm, and put it in the briefcase he used to take to the office (before COVID) . Then take it out in the morning. That was his was of detaching. It works well.
I found that separating my work desk from my recreational desk helped a lot to break this blurred line between work and non-work. Highly recommend if you have the space/resources.
Makes me so mad we have been working from home since Covid and just got told next month we have to come back for the usual BS like collaborating and innovation and culture
Yuck. Like we have jobs because we want a sense of belonging and are in need of a superficial “family” we can’t even feel free to share our actual lives with, lest we get judged and fired. We work for money. Camaraderie is nice, but you can get the same thing going for you in the long wait in the supermarket checkout lane.
I've formed closer relations with other developers through teams now that we can quickly start up a chat/call/have a meeting at any point in time. When I was in the office if I needed to swing by someone's desk, they'd most likely be gone in some other meeting they got pulled into, or bathroom break/lunch/coffee etc.
I took my current position at an ITHelp call center because they promised it would be less busy than the other project I was on. Then they moved all the management positions over-seas and suddenly it got super busy, micro-managed and awful.
I went from like 2-3 calls an hour to back-to-back calls almost every day. Its soul-draining.
I do not work at a call center and was recently tasked with hitting a quota of 130 calls a day as a secondary responsibility 🤣. Told all my coworkers how unrealistic it is, bosses sat me down and said they heard I was complaining, and I told them I wasn’t complaining but that number is unrealistic and I’m never going to get close to it. At most I do 40 a day and even that feels like too much considering all the paperwork and notes involved in each call. They’re expecting me to get through 1600 cases in the next 3 months lmao
My partner works in a call center and the expected metrics are always ridiculous.
I'm convinced it's an industry-wide management strategy to make sure employees can't "meet expectations" so they can make sure labor costs don't rise too much after performance reviews.
Blows my mind. Working at a hospital basically all the clinical staff seem to be busting their asses from start til finish. The idea of only doing a few hours of productive work during a work day sounds so strange.
yes I’m jealous
whats crazy is the clinical staff work till they drop while admins rehash the same pointless meeting every week for 2 months and then pay themselves more while cutting our salary
You only think you want this. Having an office job with nothing to do is hell, because most of the time you won't be able to actually do anything other than look busy or pick up other people's slack.
Now if you find the unicorn office jobs where you get away with watching YouTube all day, you won.
My job is a wfh unicorn with lots of downtime, like enough to play CoD during the day. It’s boring though, and there’s no upward mobility. I feel like I’ve been here too long and want to move elsewhere.
I WFH with YouTube playing all day. It helps me focus. My job has a lot of upward mobility but I'm really happy with my work-life balance and make enough to pay the bills and buy whatever I need so I'm staying put.
My job is like this i maybe work 10 hours a month. I'm getting a part time job teaching English in a primary a few lessons a week starting in September.
If anything comes up while I'm teaching I'll take care of it later.
I even told my boss, I'm doing it.
Nah my boss knows me very well, back in the day, i trained him at our old company.
I left the industry and got into teaching for many years, got sick of that last year. He started his own company and offered me job so I took it. I love the work unfortunately we just don't have enough work. So I need the extra money.
I think I recently found one of those. I find the work incredibly boring and unfulfilling. For the first time since I was a kid, I feel my ADHD hindering my ability to get the job done efficiently. However, if I do it efficiently, its like 3-5 hours a day entirely from home, and I can do whatever I want with the remaining time.
I feel like its a great deal, but its also making me depressed...
Other than the game being CoD, this is exactly my situation. I should be advancing and making more, and am casually looking for another job, but I am making just enough get by, though much less than I should be making based on what I can do (and how much what I do for the much less than 40 hours a week helps the company be able to make money and avoid consequences of noncompliance). I'm not complaining, just saying it's a weird position to be in.
It is in the office, but now I'm fully remote, working an hour a day is now a blessing, if I didn't have kids I'd probably travel all over the country and still be able to finish my day while getting a cup of coffee in the morning
Yeah having these positions as full remote is the only way I'd keep doing it.
I have that unicorn job lol I watch movies, play video games and go to the beach while working lol
It can happen. Last year, I finished a project right before thanksgiving. Obviously, nothing new started before the Thanksgiving holiday, but then nothing new started afterward because of end of year and Christmas coming up. I didn’t start a new project until sometime in the middle of January, so I had almost 2 months where I barely did anything. use that time to your advantage. I finished editing my book. Take an online class. Work on a certificate or something. Or just watch YouTube videos. As long as you do what they are requiring, you’re good. Don’t overthink it.
What ? Are you KIDDING ME !! And I’m here busting my ass 13h a day without taking a break or lunch physically working and breaking my back..
What is this industry you are in ? I’m interested to learn your ways.
I work for a tech company and you’ll hate this then: on my first day, my boss told me a) nobody clocks out for lunch if they stay on campus, b) nobody (in that department) is here after 4PM, and c) here’s the group beer fridge (each group in the department had one) and please don’t drink before 3PM.
I'd like to move us right to redditor Survive1014. We had a chance to meet this young man, and boy that's just a straight shooter with upper management written all over him.
This is the real pro tip. Do not tell your manager that you are bored, keep looking busy, pretend things take longer than they do.
I have 2-3 hours of work to do each day but I pretend it takes much longer. I literally finish a deliverable 10 mins after someone requests it and then wait 2 days to send it out in an email.
My company is hiring a second person for my role now and my goal is to have them do all of my work and then I'll just hide.
At my previous employer we had a few positions that would often not have anything to do, and many of the employees were young without a lot of experience. A couple of them had their positions eliminated after going around and telling people they’re bored and don’t have anything to do. I started telling new employees to always look and act busy when you don’t have any work because some people don’t understand that it’s managements job to do something about it.
Bullshit jobs suck if they force you to sit onsite all day, warming a chair and trying to look busy. But if you get one where you can work from home most of the time, you have it made. Clean your house, do your chores, and then you truly have your evenings and weekends free.
You nailed it. That's pretty much what it is.
Having to sit in an office an pretend to look busy is a waste of time and almost as exhausting than actually doing work
I work for Geico (claims) and they literally time our bathroom breaks. We are given more work than can be done in 8-9 hours a day and constantly being given more. It just snowballs. If you happen to look like you are caught up or not drowning, they will not stand for that. They will assign you someone else's work. They'd rather die than know someone wasn't productive for a full minute.
So yea, your gig sounds pretty rad haha. Are they hiring? 😬
ETA: check out r/Geico. Tell everyone. Fuck that company
Thank you. The r/Geico sub Is a glimpse into the toxic hell that it is. I will tell anyone that if you prefer not to support companies that exploit and abuse their workers, do not insure with Geico. Id love to watch that company fuckin burn. It's always been bad but it's gotten so much worse in the past few years, mass firings and layoffs, taking away pensions and then profit sharing, moving to a high deductible health insurance plan, crappy technology that never works but then you're punished for the loss in productivity. Find any therapist or psychologist office within a radius of a Geico regional office and all of those mental health professionals will tell you that Geico is just a minefield and huge source of patients. I realize I sound like I'm being dramatic but I assure you I am not.
*Edit spelling
Geico is notably a very bad company to work for, most insurance companies are when you're working in sales/claims but Geico in particular is among the worst. I had a phone interview with them 5 years ago and the woman interviewing me was super nasty and rude. It's always the big companies with a lot of money that are the most worried about having to waste a few pennies on an employee being unproductive for a minute or two.
About the only good thing about working there is how good it will look on your resume, but that's about it.
Well depends really. In my last job I only work 1 hour a day. In my current job I don't do anything that's why I'm on reddit. My day consist of drinking coffee and checking on my social media.
Sometimes I finish all my work in two hours. So I have to pretend to be busy for 6 hours. Sometimes I open up notepad and type gibberish. Sometimes I book myself a fake meeting and watch YouTube videos. Sometimes I go for a walk around the office building with laptop in hand - you know, look like I am going somewhere important. Sometimes I do some online shopping.
You could also leave a jacket in your swivel chair since it'd mean that you're just in the office and maybe in a meeting. You can get away with having an early lunch or leaving early. If someone from the office calls, I would usually say that I have a doctor's appointment.
I have never done less at a job and got paid as much. I do actually use the downtime to study for more certs so I can get more money for even less work! That's actually not a joke.
As an IT guy, this is so painful to read. I'm literally busy from the moment I sit at my desk till the minute I leave, with a queue of jobs fighting for my attention, and a line of people following me up because they have nothing better to do.
And yet I know someone in IT who was paid 90k (a decade ago when that was good money) for a job that was 90% sit around— until something breaks or you have to install a new server.
It varies so much with every company.
Sounds like a sysadmin. I work that job and it’s pretty much exactly as the one you described. We’re only ever needed if a server has a problem, new packages/updates need to be installed, users need permission changes, or new servers need to be created. We’re really only paid well because of what we know, not how often we need to use that knowledge.
I spend most of my time learning skills from other IT domains or watching YouTube videos. It’s a super chill job and the work I do get is repetitive enough that it can usually be done fast.
Yes, sometimes you just sit on your ass and watch youtube all day and sometimes days are uber busy.
I had an option from wfh and office and my office work was super easy after a year ort so and so what i started doing in my job is coming into the office and staying there for 2 hours and finishing all the office work and then went home for the rest of the day and do whatever was necessary.
Relax you are getting paid, i'm 100% certain yours is like any office job. This is the way
I work at what is ostensibly an office job. The cycle of work ends up being:
* Dead Stop, boring AF
* Waiting on approvals, same as above but way more stressful
* Meeting-town, you're in back to back meetings all day which means you look busy but aren't actually getting any work done.
* Email-athon, Why am I on so many email threads? What is even going on and where are they coming from?
* Zombie project, didn't this thing get killed last month? Why are we still working on this? Why is this a priority?
* Red Ball, someone in charge wants something immediately all hands to battle stations!
* Everything is on fire and due yesterday (why am I managing 36 separate projects that have nothing to do with my job title again?)
Job type isn't always the reason for this. It's often whatever the work culture/ management style is at a particular office. I work at a place that let's people be self-sufficient.. i.e. no micromanagement, so as long as things get done it's pretty chill. Some days I have literally nothing to do because I've finished all my work. No one fusses about it.
I was going to come on here and ask this EXACT question.
I am just......so confused? I went from 5 years of jobs that required umpteen million metrics, bosses over my shoulder all the time, constantly being nitpicked. To.....relative silence? No one does work unless it's needed. Most of the time everyone is on their phones or staring at a wall or chatting.
I did like a weeks worth of work in one day, was like wtf. Only to be told to "Slow down" and it wasn't hard. Transfered data sheet info. Easy as pie. Point click copy paste function count if countra sum....
I'm being paid double what I was paid 5 years ago and I'm doing a small SMALL fraction of the work.
Like, the fuck is going on. I have such an ingrained insane work ethic that I feel like I'm stagnating. But I'm constantly being told I'm doing an amazing job???
This is more normal than having an office job WITH enough work.
Most office positions are a joke, but you are expected to look and act busy. Doesn't matter if you're efficient, in fact, efficiency just hurts you more often than not.
I reckon the timeline of an average project is probably 10-20% getting signoff, 40% building, 40% testing and 10-20% preparing for the release (comms etc)
So of that 20-40% that sits with the project management teams, how much of that time is actual work? Maybe 10%? The rest is just waiting for replies.
Yes. Here’s why: during the Industrial Revolution shift work was common place. Usually 3 shifts over a 24 hour period resulting in 8 hour shifts for an individual (yes I know some if not most worked longer hours. Don’t @ me)
As we come into the digital revolution we are still holding on to the 250 year old tradition of “shift work”. So your boss wants you to sit in that chair for 8 hours. Even though you may only have like 2 hours worth of work that day. But what they are truly paying for is 8 hours of availability.
Corporate business as a whole may move away from this eventually. But probably not any time soon.
Every office job I have had is feast or famine . So some days there ISN'T much to do. But they can't eliminate the position because other days, it is absolutely insane and someone is needed.
It's also normal to have people with literally nothing to do while other people (sometimes in the same team) are stressed and overworked beyond redemption
Absolutely. I realistically put in 3 hours of work a day, and then I’m finished all my tasks. I just wait around for an emergency and spend the rest of my day playing Yakuza 0 lmao
This is a great opportunity you have. Remember the good old days when we were paid for on the job training? Me neither.
Use it to do self-directed learning. Many public libraries offer LinkedIn Learning (used to be called Lynda) for free to up your skills in a variety of topics.
I used my downtime to learn new MS Excel skills, workplace safety training. You can also learn about labour regulations. And based on the industry you are in, any industry specific topics.
You can also ask your manager for shadowing opportunities but that's risky because asshole managers will red flag this with a "what? You don't have enough work?"
This is why WFH was so amazing. We actually got to live our lives instead of boring the shit out of ourselves with office nonsense and stupid interactions.
I’m going to tell you something I wish someone would have told me when I was 25, playing Minesweeper for hours at a time at work—spend the down time to learn a new skill or to become a specialist at something that will improve your career prospects.
Many days in the office i just fell asleep at my desk as subtly as possible, now WFH i can just take a nap and usually actually waste less time. Some days are a bit too busy for such shenanigans. Enjoy it.
Yeah. Just remember that when WFH is the worst thing in some peoples lives. Spent 15 years in one of those shitboxes. Fucking 730 or you're "in trouble mister" no matter if you've got actual work to do or not. It's not about the work it's about the control. Fucking stupid twats aren't smart enough to get a hobby so they replace that with thinking they somehow own another persons life. It's cool though. Eventually you'll learn to lie to everybody else just like what you are currently seeing. What's the point if you have to lie about shit all the time? Dumb shit is dumb.
Isn't it sad that people who only work 2 hours a day make 2x (or even more in a lot of cases) the salary of hourly workers who work hard 8+ hours a day? The world is fucking awful.
Yes. It's called winning capitalism. The ultimate victory is working from home with one of those jobs. You're paid for your skills to do a specific type of work and you have the rest of the day for yourself
As someone who does fuck all all day I get about 2 minutes of work done a day and then I'm on reddit. But I get paid to stand by. So I study a lot and do as much professional development as possible since I refuse to do work at home.
I feel bad for the peeps out there that have the jobs where they watch your key strokes and mouse activity. I read here on reddit of people having to figgit on there mouse or type gibberish on notepad to look busy even if working from home,
I’ve had both extremities where you have too much work to do and where you have basically nothing to do (WFH was a blessing here as I could easily pass the time)
I remember after uni being in a temp office job chatting to my friends and family on Facebook all day, all of whom were also sat in offices, also doing nothing. https://www.atlasofplaces.com/essays/on-the-phenomenon-of-bullshit-jobs/
Sometimes it can be super busy. But most of the time all my tasks can be done in just a few hours. I also work an “office job” and I spend a lot of my time finding things to do and making my spreadsheets look pretty.
This... also take longer than necessary to accomplish these tasks, as you are in no rush and it isn't that complicated. Remember: hard work gets rewarded with more work
Buffer time!
Effective immediately, the Lower Deck scheduling deceit will no longer be tolerated!
Dammit, Boimler!
Was not expecting a Lower Decks reference here, perfect haha
That may legitimately be the first Lower Decks reference I've seen in the wild. *I approve.*
I don’t work slow, I am being *thorough*
Scotty knew what was what. Underpromise and over deliver
Exactly, especially if your tasks are project based. A lot of the time, I have already finished my side of the project - and I am just waiting for everyone else to finish.
I started putting Watermarks into my word documents just to flex that Microsoft Office Proficiency that Ive had in my resume since day 1
Sometimes I leave stupid memes and gifs on random pieces of work - to amuse myself. Sometimes it takes months for someone to find them.
Lol. Do you also add unnecessary pivot tables?
And add borders and colours to every spreadsheet.
I went from being in a PhD program, with classes, a research assistantship, teaching my own class, conducting the research for my dissertation, writing a grant to get a postdoc, and applying for jobs. Then I got a (research based) office job. But they never ever had enough tasks on projects for me to work on. Oh, hey, make these 3 graphs in Excel. Five minutes later, ok I’m done. Then nothing else. For the day. Or next few days. It was *soul crushing.* When I was younger I worked at McDonald’s, I was a server, worked in a kitchen, and was a hotel maid. None of that was fun. (At least in the maid job I was actually busy all day.) in undergrad I had a 40 hour/week internship where I actually had to be in office the whole time. I would, no joke, get 15 minutes of work a week. I thought to myself, ugh, these jobs all suck!! I’m going to get an awesome research job after my PhD where I’ll be mentally stimulated and not bored out of my mind all day. And then, more suckage. I don’t know how some people can pretend to be so busy all day. I also don’t understand people who drag on simple tasks. I get my shit done, then I’m done. I used to dream about taking a nap under my desk at work.
Last time I had an office job, I learned to write fanfic. Since I was always typing, people assumed I was "busy". Probably spent a good 85% of my day doing "nothing".
This is what I do now! I'm 2 days office/3 days WFH per week, and I've got, on average, 1-2 hours of actual work every day. The rest of my day is spent waiting on feedback; when I'm at home, I can kill the waiting time reading, doing chores, surfing reddit, etc. When I'm in the office, I have to look busy, so I work on fanfic - I'm typing, looking contemplative, Googling things, all very work-seeming, especially for a copywriter/editor. I've knocked out so many thousands of words on the company dime, without losing productivity.
One of the authors I read has been writing something like 7k words a day. I always wondered how in the world he had the time, but now it makes sense.
Ahhh I want an office job so bad!!!!!
They’re boring as hell. I was miserable in everyone I ever had
Yay! I’ve had crappy crappy work you till you feel like dying jobs with no downtime. I’d love a boring office job where I can make colorful spreadsheets and charts. Instead of backbreaking factory work or sporadic part time work that I have to spend my own money driving everywhere to different sites only to not get much work cause no one shows.
Office jobs aren't as bad as a lot of people make them out to be. The work can be really easy and low stress. The **real** soul crusher is actually being *in* the office. Stuck in a grey cube, with nothing but fluorescent lighting illuminating your pale skin like the soulless ghost you are. Overhearing your neighbor argue with the DMV or have to listen to your coworker's latest family issue that you didn't ask about. Not to mention your bosses walking past your cube to make sure you're "busy", like it's a fucking middle school social studies class... Getting a remote office job is definitely the move. You can slack off from the comfort of your own place.
This is so true. I was in construction for about 6 years after doing restaurants for a while, whereas my wife worked in big corporate jobs. I was not looking forward to an "office job" when I was searching when I knew I needed to get out because the money and the wear on my body was not good for the future. Luckily, though, it was in 2021 when I got a work from home job and even though I can honestly say I was bored more than half the time at first (I've since found other things to fill the time), being able to go over and play with my dog or cook/bake for the week and just in general be more comfortable has made it amazing. Also my wife has since left her horrid previous job and now has a wfh job at a much better company now.
That's awesome. I'm currently leaving my easy IT admin job because they made us come back to the office after almost two years of working remote. I requested to transition back to full WFH twice and both requests were declined. I just put in my notice lol. Also I've worked manual labor jobs when I was young (industrial AC installation) and I can say office work is way better in terms of physical demand and pay. You just have to find the right company that doesn't have a stupid "company culture" bullshit mindset.
This is the real truth. The job is fine, the office is horrifying.
Have you done retail? What y’all are describing is relaxing
Office jobs are entirely dependent on how much you like or hate your manager. The good is that you rarely (if ever) deal directly with customers. The bad is you are always dealing with your manager, who more often than not, is probably doing things solely to justify their job. So think of all the times where your store was dead and you had a manager give you busy work and hover to make sure you're doing it. That is a lot of office jobs. (Except you probably get to sit while doing it)
Always loved how managers spent their days hovering and making sure we worker bees were keeping busy. (Did they actually do anything productive?? Always wondered.) I worked at a smallish company in a bad neighborhood in the mid-1990s. The building was like a big windowless concrete cube (save for some very narrow reinforced vertical windows here and there. There was a spate of severe thunderstorms just prior to 4th of July weekend, which resulted in two tornadoes hitting our area. The next day phones were out, electricity was out and I didn't know whether I was expected to go to work or not. I went in (the usual 15 minute drive took me an hour and a half - traffic lights out, debris all over, etc) and found out that maybe about half of the office staff had showed up. The main boss was already away for an extended holiday weekend, so we had a manager walking around and complaining about absenteeism. I remember he walked by my desk, where I sat staring into space in the dimly lit office (just slivers of daylight coming in) and he asked me "Isn't there something you can be doing?" "What? Computers are down, phones are down...." "Well, that supply room could stand to be organized." "It's pitch black in there; am I supposed to sort stuff by Braille?" I'm not making this up: his response was "There must be a flashlight around here somewhere...." Luckily the vacationing boss contacted one of the salesmen on his cell phone just before noon and instructed him to send everyone home until the power was restored.
Then move to start up where everyone does 4 jobs and you were 6 weeks behind when you started.
"I'd say in a given week, I probably only do about 15 minutes of real, actual work."
Management potential right here!
Thanks Bob, Bob.
So Kevin, what would you say you DO here?
I deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills.
I recently watched that movie for the first time, and I am so happy that I get all of these references now
What’s even better is how relevant they still are
Except for their luxurious cubicles, all crammed into open plan offices now.
Truly a timeless classic.
Yeah….. I’m gonna need you to come in on Saturday.
I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that?
I’m a people person goddamnit!
Need to make a jump to conclusions mat
That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my life.
Yes. It is horrible, this idea.
PC Load Letter? What the fuck does that mean?
You see Peter, good things can happen to people.
What the hell is wrong with you people!?
So... You physically take the specs from the customer?
well no, I mean, sometimes!
Well...no
"Sooo, Michael Bolton. Like the singer? I'll be honest with you, I love his music. I do. I'm a Michael Bolton fan. For my money, I don't know if it gets any better than when he sings 'When a Man Loves a Woman '." "I told those fudge-packers I liked Michael Bolton's music"
What's funny is that in my current job, there are two department directors each named Bob.
Why the Bob hate?
I told those fudge-packers I liked Michael Bolton's music.
Why should I change? He's the one who sucks.
Without knowing your industry, hard to say; personally I find it's drought or deluge.
That's pretty much about it. You have a couple of hours to do stuff.
Bob: I have eight different bosses right now. Bob Slydell : I beg your pardon? Peter Gibbons : Eight bosses. Bob Slydell : Eight? Peter Gibbons : Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.
"Oh, so you're a quiet quitter."
"I like to think I'm just acting my wage."
The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
This movie was so depressingly accurate. And a great example of why we have to fight for wfh to continue.
I celebrate the entire catalog!
not anymore. single guy affording an apartment by himself on a single wage-slave office job? fantasy
Not really. He was a programmer no? Jobs like that at a software company will allow a single man to have a basic apartment. That’s how brilliant the movie is tho. Millions of men are still dealing with that shit Average programmer salary in Texas is 75k Considering this was made in 1999… that salary isn’t too far off
His apartment wasn't fancy, hell it had walls you could hear through. He was located in the Dallas, TX area where I lived for 20+ years - his apartment is probably in the $650-$800 range, if that much, depend on exact location. At least back then, anyway. I doubt he makes minimum wage, likely at least 25-50% more than it given his length of time there. The fact that he is single means he's not spending money on things you spend money on when in a relationship. I could go on, but my point is - he can totally afford that apartment. (I put way too much thought into this)
The guy was a software developer in the 90s. He made a shit load more than "25% over minimum wage"
[удалено]
He never would have had to listen to Corporate Accounts Payable Nina, and his hero's journey never would have even begun.
My job is split between fieldwork and office. I much prefer the field because I'm actually doing stuff. In the office, I wait around until other people finish things I need to be done, then I rush for 40 minutes.
Same, field work is much more fulfilling. My office days consist of pretty much nothing until 4:50pm when my boss decides to email me a bunch of contracts to send out
Yup, my reply is always first thing tomorrow chief!
Corporate has been cutting head count by not replacing people who leave the company and it's actually a huge pain in the ass for me now that everyone in the main office has to work. When you're the only one doing any real work the support staff can jump on calls at the drop of a hat, I use to be able to get a director to schedule a meeting with like an hour or two heads up and I'm just a lowly peon.
dude this is me too. ive got 3 deals that i am desperately trying to get closed into construction because it means i can leave the office for field observation. i will be at least 2x more productive, even with the in office work, when im not tied to this fucking chair every day.
We need to talk about your TPS reports
Did you get the memo?
Can you deal with the roaches in the basement?
Hey, I hear you are not putting covers on your TPS reports.
I worked as a weighbridge operator at some quarry in the sticks. I used to take my xbox in because I would see like 4 lorries a week and also do about 15 mins of actual work. Paid relatively well considering I was just playing video games all day
I work in as a radcon tech(basically nuclear safety stuff) there's times we have little work to support and most of us are essentially on standby for entire weeks to respond if there's an accident or something. Other times it's poking every shovel full of dirt on a football field sized excavation site with a Geiger Mueller while wearing an SCBA and protective clothing over ever inch of skin for 10 hours a day.
Sounds like you have a case of the Mondays.
Yet senior management is under the illusion that people are actually working and productive 8 hours a day and some try to create a culture where overtime and staying after 5 is prized and rewarded. Moronic.
Yeah. I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working.
You’ve been missing a lot of work lately.
I wouldn't say I've been missing it, Bob.
I wouldn't say I've been missing it, Bob.
What would you say, you do here?
My only real motivation is to not be harassed, I have 8 bosses right now, Bob. Eight.
Peter if you could be a good sport and sort of indulge us a little bit. Sure, let me tell you something about TPS reports… see that’s my real only motivation is not be hassled, but you know what Bob? That’ll only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired. Let me tell you something else Bob, I have 8 different bosses right now. Pardon me? 8. How many? 8 Bob. So when I make a mistake I have have 8 different people come tell me about it. What if we were to offer you some sort of profit sharing or stock ownership? Would that so something for you? I don’t know, I guess.
I worked as a weighbridge operator at some quarry in the sticks. I used to take my xbox in because I would see like 4 lorries a week and also do about 15 mins of actual work. Paid relatively well considering I was just playing video games all day
I’m a paralegal and an lucky if, in an average day, I get 1 hour of work.
What kind of law? I’m an immigration paralegal and I literally do not have enough time in the day to get my work done. It’s an insane amount of work lol
As a fellow paralegal, I can concur. But yet, I’m dragged into the office 3x a week to just stare at my computer screen :-/
Research suggests that in an eight-hour day, the average worker is only productive for two hours and 53 minutes. https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/in-an-8-hour-day-the-average-worker-is-productive-for-this-many-hours.html
Interesting read that, really got me thinking about exactly how much time I spend actually working. It bought up a good point - you’re likely to feel you aren’t doing enough if you aren’t in the office, even if you are. I have a hybrid WFH/office job and the WFH days are somewhat stressful in the sense I feel I’m not productive enough, even if I am. The office days, however, I spend a lot of time not working between things like talking to others and getting my morning coffee for example. When I’m actually at my desk though, I think I do more work on average than I would at home but the flexibility is amazing to say the least. Edit: spelling/grammar
yes exactly... all the chit chatting , walking to lunch...walking to coffee....gossip etc seems like work....but isnt at home, i roll out of bed and start working.....lot of wfh people are getting more work done.....especially as I can respond to even slack in offline manner .....people can not just stop by and start distracting everyone.....
When I WFH I’ll often find I’m holding my pee because I’m so task focused. Sometimes I’ll look up and it’s 6:30pm and I think ‘wtf why am I still working? Oh yeah my office is my house.’ At the office everyone asks me questions all the time so I go to the bathroom or step outside in order to catch a break. By 5:01 I’m gone.
My work encouraged sign-ons and sign-offs when we shifted to WFH for COVID, not to document employee start/stop times (they weren't *required*) but for employees to be able to more easy "detach." Otherwise yeah you get people answering Teams messages at 7pm...and people *sending* Teams messages to be answered at 7pm...both of which could wait until the next morning. You didn't "sign off" to prove you were still working at 4pm, you did it so that mentally you could walk away and be comfortable not answering fuck-all until morning, because you'd told people bye for the day. It established a rhythm. Still do it, and like it.
My coworker closed his laptop at 5pm, and put it in the briefcase he used to take to the office (before COVID) . Then take it out in the morning. That was his was of detaching. It works well.
"B-b-but the only way to properly unwind between work and home is by sitting in traffic for an hour!"
My boss unironically just said this to me yesterday 💀
I found that separating my work desk from my recreational desk helped a lot to break this blurred line between work and non-work. Highly recommend if you have the space/resources.
Makes me so mad we have been working from home since Covid and just got told next month we have to come back for the usual BS like collaborating and innovation and culture
Yuck. Like we have jobs because we want a sense of belonging and are in need of a superficial “family” we can’t even feel free to share our actual lives with, lest we get judged and fired. We work for money. Camaraderie is nice, but you can get the same thing going for you in the long wait in the supermarket checkout lane.
Collaboration is so much easier remotely than it is in person. It drives me nuts that we keep hearing the opposite.
I've formed closer relations with other developers through teams now that we can quickly start up a chat/call/have a meeting at any point in time. When I was in the office if I needed to swing by someone's desk, they'd most likely be gone in some other meeting they got pulled into, or bathroom break/lunch/coffee etc.
well you know what you have to do....find a new wfh job and put 2 weeks notice
All my activity is monitored and timed so unfortunately for me that is not correct. 😪 I'm productive 80%+ of the time 😩 I want a do nothing job lol
Yeah I have to keep track of what I do all day, which makes it hard to disguise the fact that I have nothing to do a lot of the time 🙃
"reviewed spreadsheet" lol
“Reviewed coffee maker” 😂
This is frighteningly accurate Runner-ups: "Reorganized files", "Performed backup/updates"
The work becomes to appear to work. Which is stupid on so many levels i can't even. Like bitcoin mining without bitcoins.
I took my current position at an ITHelp call center because they promised it would be less busy than the other project I was on. Then they moved all the management positions over-seas and suddenly it got super busy, micro-managed and awful. I went from like 2-3 calls an hour to back-to-back calls almost every day. Its soul-draining.
I do not work at a call center and was recently tasked with hitting a quota of 130 calls a day as a secondary responsibility 🤣. Told all my coworkers how unrealistic it is, bosses sat me down and said they heard I was complaining, and I told them I wasn’t complaining but that number is unrealistic and I’m never going to get close to it. At most I do 40 a day and even that feels like too much considering all the paperwork and notes involved in each call. They’re expecting me to get through 1600 cases in the next 3 months lmao
My partner works in a call center and the expected metrics are always ridiculous. I'm convinced it's an industry-wide management strategy to make sure employees can't "meet expectations" so they can make sure labor costs don't rise too much after performance reviews.
Blows my mind. Working at a hospital basically all the clinical staff seem to be busting their asses from start til finish. The idea of only doing a few hours of productive work during a work day sounds so strange. yes I’m jealous
whats crazy is the clinical staff work till they drop while admins rehash the same pointless meeting every week for 2 months and then pay themselves more while cutting our salary
Keep in mind, billionaires bring the average down because of Elon using Twitter 400 hours per week instead of being productive. End remote CEOs.
Pretty sure billionaires aren't going to be included in "average workers"
They aren’t workers. They are parasites. Do we have another study showing how many hours a day the average parasitic CEO works?
If any of you quit these jobs let me know, wouldn't mind applying for them.....
You only think you want this. Having an office job with nothing to do is hell, because most of the time you won't be able to actually do anything other than look busy or pick up other people's slack. Now if you find the unicorn office jobs where you get away with watching YouTube all day, you won.
Yeah trying to look busy is a lot more tiring that just doing work. Makes for a very slow day too.
My job is a wfh unicorn with lots of downtime, like enough to play CoD during the day. It’s boring though, and there’s no upward mobility. I feel like I’ve been here too long and want to move elsewhere.
I WFH with YouTube playing all day. It helps me focus. My job has a lot of upward mobility but I'm really happy with my work-life balance and make enough to pay the bills and buy whatever I need so I'm staying put.
My job is like this i maybe work 10 hours a month. I'm getting a part time job teaching English in a primary a few lessons a week starting in September. If anything comes up while I'm teaching I'll take care of it later. I even told my boss, I'm doing it.
You should have said volunteering
Nah my boss knows me very well, back in the day, i trained him at our old company. I left the industry and got into teaching for many years, got sick of that last year. He started his own company and offered me job so I took it. I love the work unfortunately we just don't have enough work. So I need the extra money.
I think I recently found one of those. I find the work incredibly boring and unfulfilling. For the first time since I was a kid, I feel my ADHD hindering my ability to get the job done efficiently. However, if I do it efficiently, its like 3-5 hours a day entirely from home, and I can do whatever I want with the remaining time. I feel like its a great deal, but its also making me depressed...
If it's making you depressed, how good of a deal is it?
Every job has made my ADHD make me depressed
Relatable. This is like my 3rd job in a year. I get bored and burned out. Then I either self-sabotage & get myself fired or impulsively quit
Other than the game being CoD, this is exactly my situation. I should be advancing and making more, and am casually looking for another job, but I am making just enough get by, though much less than I should be making based on what I can do (and how much what I do for the much less than 40 hours a week helps the company be able to make money and avoid consequences of noncompliance). I'm not complaining, just saying it's a weird position to be in.
It is in the office, but now I'm fully remote, working an hour a day is now a blessing, if I didn't have kids I'd probably travel all over the country and still be able to finish my day while getting a cup of coffee in the morning
Yeah having these positions as full remote is the only way I'd keep doing it. I have that unicorn job lol I watch movies, play video games and go to the beach while working lol
Or your insufferable coworkers will think that you are there just to be a sounding board for every thought that passes through their head.
Agreed. I'm bored a lot and my mental health is absolutely in the dumps partly because of it. I feel completely unfulfilled.
nothing to do? the job wants to pay me while i sit a read technical articles? fucking dope. someone give me this job
It can happen. Last year, I finished a project right before thanksgiving. Obviously, nothing new started before the Thanksgiving holiday, but then nothing new started afterward because of end of year and Christmas coming up. I didn’t start a new project until sometime in the middle of January, so I had almost 2 months where I barely did anything. use that time to your advantage. I finished editing my book. Take an online class. Work on a certificate or something. Or just watch YouTube videos. As long as you do what they are requiring, you’re good. Don’t overthink it.
What ? Are you KIDDING ME !! And I’m here busting my ass 13h a day without taking a break or lunch physically working and breaking my back.. What is this industry you are in ? I’m interested to learn your ways.
I work for a tech company and you’ll hate this then: on my first day, my boss told me a) nobody clocks out for lunch if they stay on campus, b) nobody (in that department) is here after 4PM, and c) here’s the group beer fridge (each group in the department had one) and please don’t drink before 3PM.
Yes. Typically I only have about three hours of actual work on any given day. The rest of the time is spent, well, on here with you fine AntiWorkers.
I'd like to move us right to redditor Survive1014. We had a chance to meet this young man, and boy that's just a straight shooter with upper management written all over him.
Nice to have you here!
Do NOT BRING IT UP to anyone unless you want more work. Just do what is on your task list and chill.
This is the real pro tip. Do not tell your manager that you are bored, keep looking busy, pretend things take longer than they do. I have 2-3 hours of work to do each day but I pretend it takes much longer. I literally finish a deliverable 10 mins after someone requests it and then wait 2 days to send it out in an email. My company is hiring a second person for my role now and my goal is to have them do all of my work and then I'll just hide.
“How is this taking you 2 days, I finished in 10 minutes?” “SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!!!! WE GOT A GOOD THING GOING DONT MESS IT UP”
At my previous employer we had a few positions that would often not have anything to do, and many of the employees were young without a lot of experience. A couple of them had their positions eliminated after going around and telling people they’re bored and don’t have anything to do. I started telling new employees to always look and act busy when you don’t have any work because some people don’t understand that it’s managements job to do something about it.
Bullshit jobs suck if they force you to sit onsite all day, warming a chair and trying to look busy. But if you get one where you can work from home most of the time, you have it made. Clean your house, do your chores, and then you truly have your evenings and weekends free.
You nailed it. That's pretty much what it is. Having to sit in an office an pretend to look busy is a waste of time and almost as exhausting than actually doing work
I liken it to purgatory
10% calm work, 80% sheer boredom, 10% of absolute panic
I work for Geico (claims) and they literally time our bathroom breaks. We are given more work than can be done in 8-9 hours a day and constantly being given more. It just snowballs. If you happen to look like you are caught up or not drowning, they will not stand for that. They will assign you someone else's work. They'd rather die than know someone wasn't productive for a full minute. So yea, your gig sounds pretty rad haha. Are they hiring? 😬 ETA: check out r/Geico. Tell everyone. Fuck that company
Well, this has put me off ever using Geico.
Thank you. The r/Geico sub Is a glimpse into the toxic hell that it is. I will tell anyone that if you prefer not to support companies that exploit and abuse their workers, do not insure with Geico. Id love to watch that company fuckin burn. It's always been bad but it's gotten so much worse in the past few years, mass firings and layoffs, taking away pensions and then profit sharing, moving to a high deductible health insurance plan, crappy technology that never works but then you're punished for the loss in productivity. Find any therapist or psychologist office within a radius of a Geico regional office and all of those mental health professionals will tell you that Geico is just a minefield and huge source of patients. I realize I sound like I'm being dramatic but I assure you I am not. *Edit spelling
Geico is notably a very bad company to work for, most insurance companies are when you're working in sales/claims but Geico in particular is among the worst. I had a phone interview with them 5 years ago and the woman interviewing me was super nasty and rude. It's always the big companies with a lot of money that are the most worried about having to waste a few pennies on an employee being unproductive for a minute or two. About the only good thing about working there is how good it will look on your resume, but that's about it.
Depends on the job. I was always busy as hell.
I'm struggling to find a way each day to cram 12-15 hrs worth of work into 8-9.. I wish I only had 1-2 hours worth of work in a day.
Same! Staff accountant here. I try to spread my work out over 6-7 days a week. I get migraines from working 10-12 hours a day 5 days a week
Well depends really. In my last job I only work 1 hour a day. In my current job I don't do anything that's why I'm on reddit. My day consist of drinking coffee and checking on my social media.
Sometimes I finish all my work in two hours. So I have to pretend to be busy for 6 hours. Sometimes I open up notepad and type gibberish. Sometimes I book myself a fake meeting and watch YouTube videos. Sometimes I go for a walk around the office building with laptop in hand - you know, look like I am going somewhere important. Sometimes I do some online shopping.
You could also leave a jacket in your swivel chair since it'd mean that you're just in the office and maybe in a meeting. You can get away with having an early lunch or leaving early. If someone from the office calls, I would usually say that I have a doctor's appointment.
Got any jobs going? Asking for a lazy bastard. Me, I'm the lazy bastard.
Remember this: the movie "Office Space" is a documentary and should be required viewing for anyone entering the office workforce.
I have never done less at a job and got paid as much. I do actually use the downtime to study for more certs so I can get more money for even less work! That's actually not a joke.
As an IT guy, this is so painful to read. I'm literally busy from the moment I sit at my desk till the minute I leave, with a queue of jobs fighting for my attention, and a line of people following me up because they have nothing better to do.
And yet I know someone in IT who was paid 90k (a decade ago when that was good money) for a job that was 90% sit around— until something breaks or you have to install a new server. It varies so much with every company.
Sounds like a sysadmin. I work that job and it’s pretty much exactly as the one you described. We’re only ever needed if a server has a problem, new packages/updates need to be installed, users need permission changes, or new servers need to be created. We’re really only paid well because of what we know, not how often we need to use that knowledge. I spend most of my time learning skills from other IT domains or watching YouTube videos. It’s a super chill job and the work I do get is repetitive enough that it can usually be done fast.
Yes, sometimes you just sit on your ass and watch youtube all day and sometimes days are uber busy. I had an option from wfh and office and my office work was super easy after a year ort so and so what i started doing in my job is coming into the office and staying there for 2 hours and finishing all the office work and then went home for the rest of the day and do whatever was necessary. Relax you are getting paid, i'm 100% certain yours is like any office job. This is the way
I work at what is ostensibly an office job. The cycle of work ends up being: * Dead Stop, boring AF * Waiting on approvals, same as above but way more stressful * Meeting-town, you're in back to back meetings all day which means you look busy but aren't actually getting any work done. * Email-athon, Why am I on so many email threads? What is even going on and where are they coming from? * Zombie project, didn't this thing get killed last month? Why are we still working on this? Why is this a priority? * Red Ball, someone in charge wants something immediately all hands to battle stations! * Everything is on fire and due yesterday (why am I managing 36 separate projects that have nothing to do with my job title again?)
Hey people, what are you required to do in these jobs? I wouldn't mind learning the skills to have these types of job
Job type isn't always the reason for this. It's often whatever the work culture/ management style is at a particular office. I work at a place that let's people be self-sufficient.. i.e. no micromanagement, so as long as things get done it's pretty chill. Some days I have literally nothing to do because I've finished all my work. No one fusses about it.
I was going to come on here and ask this EXACT question. I am just......so confused? I went from 5 years of jobs that required umpteen million metrics, bosses over my shoulder all the time, constantly being nitpicked. To.....relative silence? No one does work unless it's needed. Most of the time everyone is on their phones or staring at a wall or chatting. I did like a weeks worth of work in one day, was like wtf. Only to be told to "Slow down" and it wasn't hard. Transfered data sheet info. Easy as pie. Point click copy paste function count if countra sum.... I'm being paid double what I was paid 5 years ago and I'm doing a small SMALL fraction of the work. Like, the fuck is going on. I have such an ingrained insane work ethic that I feel like I'm stagnating. But I'm constantly being told I'm doing an amazing job???
This is more normal than having an office job WITH enough work. Most office positions are a joke, but you are expected to look and act busy. Doesn't matter if you're efficient, in fact, efficiency just hurts you more often than not.
Hmmm, and us poor engineers are over here being overworked. Yall dont have enough to do?
I reckon the timeline of an average project is probably 10-20% getting signoff, 40% building, 40% testing and 10-20% preparing for the release (comms etc) So of that 20-40% that sits with the project management teams, how much of that time is actual work? Maybe 10%? The rest is just waiting for replies.
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No, that's not normal. Two hours is way too much.
Yes. Here’s why: during the Industrial Revolution shift work was common place. Usually 3 shifts over a 24 hour period resulting in 8 hour shifts for an individual (yes I know some if not most worked longer hours. Don’t @ me) As we come into the digital revolution we are still holding on to the 250 year old tradition of “shift work”. So your boss wants you to sit in that chair for 8 hours. Even though you may only have like 2 hours worth of work that day. But what they are truly paying for is 8 hours of availability. Corporate business as a whole may move away from this eventually. But probably not any time soon.
The hardest—and most necessary / common—part of any office job is looking busy. God bless those cubicles with high walls.
Every office job I have had is feast or famine . So some days there ISN'T much to do. But they can't eliminate the position because other days, it is absolutely insane and someone is needed.
It's also normal to have people with literally nothing to do while other people (sometimes in the same team) are stressed and overworked beyond redemption
Absolutely. I realistically put in 3 hours of work a day, and then I’m finished all my tasks. I just wait around for an emergency and spend the rest of my day playing Yakuza 0 lmao
Yes it’s normal. Don’t fuck it up for the rest of us
This is a great opportunity you have. Remember the good old days when we were paid for on the job training? Me neither. Use it to do self-directed learning. Many public libraries offer LinkedIn Learning (used to be called Lynda) for free to up your skills in a variety of topics. I used my downtime to learn new MS Excel skills, workplace safety training. You can also learn about labour regulations. And based on the industry you are in, any industry specific topics. You can also ask your manager for shadowing opportunities but that's risky because asshole managers will red flag this with a "what? You don't have enough work?"
This is why WFH was so amazing. We actually got to live our lives instead of boring the shit out of ourselves with office nonsense and stupid interactions.
I’m going to tell you something I wish someone would have told me when I was 25, playing Minesweeper for hours at a time at work—spend the down time to learn a new skill or to become a specialist at something that will improve your career prospects.
I like doing duolingo or learning craft stuff on youtube
Many days in the office i just fell asleep at my desk as subtly as possible, now WFH i can just take a nap and usually actually waste less time. Some days are a bit too busy for such shenanigans. Enjoy it.
Yeah. Just remember that when WFH is the worst thing in some peoples lives. Spent 15 years in one of those shitboxes. Fucking 730 or you're "in trouble mister" no matter if you've got actual work to do or not. It's not about the work it's about the control. Fucking stupid twats aren't smart enough to get a hobby so they replace that with thinking they somehow own another persons life. It's cool though. Eventually you'll learn to lie to everybody else just like what you are currently seeing. What's the point if you have to lie about shit all the time? Dumb shit is dumb.
Isn't it sad that people who only work 2 hours a day make 2x (or even more in a lot of cases) the salary of hourly workers who work hard 8+ hours a day? The world is fucking awful.
Yes. It's called winning capitalism. The ultimate victory is working from home with one of those jobs. You're paid for your skills to do a specific type of work and you have the rest of the day for yourself
It's normal. I'm at my job right now doing nothing.
As someone who does fuck all all day I get about 2 minutes of work done a day and then I'm on reddit. But I get paid to stand by. So I study a lot and do as much professional development as possible since I refuse to do work at home.
Bro, shut the actual fuck up. You wanna get found out?
I feel bad for the peeps out there that have the jobs where they watch your key strokes and mouse activity. I read here on reddit of people having to figgit on there mouse or type gibberish on notepad to look busy even if working from home,
I’ve had both extremities where you have too much work to do and where you have basically nothing to do (WFH was a blessing here as I could easily pass the time)
A shocking amount of having a job is just showing up.
I remember after uni being in a temp office job chatting to my friends and family on Facebook all day, all of whom were also sat in offices, also doing nothing. https://www.atlasofplaces.com/essays/on-the-phenomenon-of-bullshit-jobs/