So Bored!

[klo1335]

Any advice on what to do while bored at work? I was just talking to a friend over IM and he suggested causing a big diversion and changing all the clocks to quitting time :) Don't think that will work.

[pisces2473]

This was me this morning...I'm sitting here on QLC, waiting to have some good dialog or something, and no one is on. :(

[klo1335]

Jen, I am so bored to tears right now! My company just hired some computer firm to "clean up our computers." Which means I will be losing my AIM in the near furture and that makes me very sad :( Its not like I don't do my work. I do my work (much more then my co-workers) and then have nothing to do!

[pisces2473]

Katie,

I'm sorry! That's horrible, I couldn't live w/out AIM--I don't have it at work though :( I do my work too, but it's still boooorrring around here and the work is tedious! I have a headache right now, that's how bored I am. When I first started here, I was bored to tears all the time!

Hang in there! :)

[klo1335]

The one really awful manager in my office quit and is going to another company. The ones who are filling in are pretty good. One of them is an alumni from my college. I told her how bored I was an that I am getting so restless. I think this scared them into thinking I might want to find another job, because they are going to "give me more responsibility." I wish they would just give me more money. But I can always dream!

[pisces2473]

I got promoted and was supposed to have more work. So far all I've seen is more money in my paycheck, which is great, but I would like to be fully occupied the 7.5 hours I am here each day. There is work to be done, it's just so damn tedious!

[klo1335]

Um yeah...I work 9 hour days and have nothing to do! I wish I could just go and sleep somewhere. But I can't so it sit at my computer and pretend I am doing work while I am really just playing on the internet.

[pisces2473]

Yeah...good thing my job is totally on the computer...all those mouse clicks are really me browsing through all kinds of sites! :twisted:

[klo1335]

hahahaha! Same here! I am posting on QLC and everyone thinks I am typing case notes. So I guess its good that I have the freedom to do that and not just sit and stare into space.

[pisces2473]

Imagine if we didn't have internet???? :eek:

[klo1335]

I think I would drive myself to an early death if the internet didn't exist!

[pisces2473]

I bet back in the day, people actually got more work done. :p They didn't have diversions like computers and stuff...

[klo1335]

I don't want to think about what people did w/o the internet. But what do you think they did? THink about the poor people who are in retail who don't have access to a computer all day. What do they do to occupy their time?

[pisces2473]

They went outside and smoked--more people smoked then.

When I worked retail, the first thing I would do when I got home was to check my email! LOL Oh there are plenty of things to do in retail when you are bored--straightening, restocking, annoying the customers, etc.

[klo1335]

yeah...30 min left in the day for me and I just found out that my managers are all going to a meeting for the rest of the week @ our corporate office, which is in Michigan. YEah! :)

[doctor_kaz]

Dang! I thought I was the only one who was really, really bored and trying to kill time on the internet. I actually arrange my office so that my computer screen faces away from the door so that I can goof off with this stuff. :cool:

It feels bad because everyone else in the office always looks like they are busy. I wonder if that's because they are less efficient, they have more work assigned to them, they are more ambitious, or what?

[klo1335]

I feel the same exact way. The people in my office always are so busy and complain about how huge their workload is. At first is was because they did have a bigger caseload then me. But now I have the same numbers they do yet always seem to have nothing to do. I have even told my supervisors that I am bored and need more stuff to do. I thought that they were maybe doing their job better then I was but learned that wasn't the case either. I am still trying to figure it out :) Its good to know that I am not alone!

[doctor_kaz]

I can never figure out whether to ask for more work, or what. I am 29 now, and for the 8+ years that I have been out of college, I have very frequently found myself bored with little or nothing to do. It is kind of compounded by the feeling that you are being left out of the loop and not getting a lot of attention.

I do wonder whether some people just get bored because they are more efficient than others. I am worried that if I ask for more stuff to do, I'll get stuff that I don't like.

:confused:

[KyFeller]

Same here. I sit by the phone waiting for a computer user calling me with a problem. It's either extremely slow and boring like this past Friday or crazy. Never anything inbetween, but at least the crazy days gives me a little more job security. I get a lot of reading done on the slow days.

Oh, and NEVER tell your boss/manager that you're bored.. especially in this job market!

[2Throo]

Okay folks, I think that I have it figured out. Perhaps everyone is bored at work (some more than others). Being excited to work a long week??? It's all an act. Now that I've been out of school for over 6 years, I've started acting as well! Even if I'm all over the internet for personal reasons such as QLC or IM, I always am sure to walk around the office FAST while carrying papers ---even if I'm just going to the kitchen to get coffee. It works. It's hilarious. People are always like ...... wow, you're a hard worker! ....wow, you looked busy. I just simply smile & appear to rush off to another task.

Don't get me wrong, I feel guilty about it sometimes, however, when I think about how miserable I am in corporate america, i merely increase my walking pace & my smile!!! Can anyone else relate?

-2Throo

[Radgirl]

Wow, I honestly thought I was the only one who was bored to tears at work. To be honest, I am quite sick of coming to work and having nothing to do. Many people may like not having something to keep them busy, but I'm about ready to be but into the looney farm because I'm going outta my mind! I like working, I like being kept busy, but none of that is happening. It's getting so bad that I hate coming to work and am considering leaving if the job market betters.

[rozebud621]

OMG...I am so happy that there are others out there who abuse their Internet privileges too! I thought Iwas the only one...

By the way, hi, I'm new. Glad I found a place to chat with adults. I was getting tired of reading message boards about hot rock stars and what the 15 year olds would do with them on a date.

[rozebud621]

OMG...I am so happy that there are others out there who abuse their Internet privileges too! I thought Iwas the only one...

By the way, hi, I'm new. Glad I found a place to chat with adults. I was getting tired of reading message boards about hot rock stars and what the 15 year olds would do with them on a date.

[pisces2473]

Hey! Welcome to the madness...this site will suck you in... :D

[coll214]

Welcome!! Trust me...this site quickly becomes addicting...it's great when you're bored to tears at work of can't sleep at 3am!!

[rozebud621]

Apparently, the people who held my position before me were slower than molasses in winter so they were always "occupied." I guess being efficient means that 7 hours of the day is filled by thoughts of "Did I turn the iron off?" or "Will that tickle in my throat go away if I have some candy?"

I expect work to be fairly boring; I mean , it's work. But it really chafes my bum to think about all the things I could be doing with myself today instead of sitting here, praying that someone will need something typed.

[coll214]

yeah I hear ya... i've gotten to the point that i break up tasks that should take an hour tops into seperate steps so that it takes longer and helps the day go by just a little bit faster... Sometimes i ALMOSt wish for a little chaos every now and then...

[KyFeller]

I think you said the key word. They LOOK like they are busy, just like you look busy typing on QLC! They probably think the same of you.

[ravingsockmonke]

I wouldn't mind it being steady... but crazy busy (end of the month is bad for us... last month was the end of the fiscal year for many of our clients which made it worse) is another issue all together. I feel bad though, because if you look at our support database, there's plenty of stuff to do, but I know how to fix like 0% of it. Most of it is dealing with database modules that I have no experience with and accounting stuff. Luckily I do get some beta testing to try out, but even that can get mundane... watching the program slowly update... print this report... make sure that button doesn't crash the program... etc. Sometimes I feel like I could just pcAnywhere into my work computer and just stay home.

[Longshotss]

Bored here too.....

Some thoughts on what some people wrote...

What did people do before the internet and computers...?
Well, computers and the internet have made accomplishing tasks so mcuh faster than before, so IMO people used to be actually working and getting things done. We still get things done today, just much quicker, so more time to browse on the Internet.


DON'T EVER SAY YOU ARE BORED!!!!
I can't stress that enough. Companies will look at a chance to downsize or to reorganize, you don't want to be either. If you are bored, be sly about it, let your boss know that you think you could handle a bit more casework or that you would like a little bit more responsiblity, most bosses would love to give you some of the stuff they are working on, so that they can browse the Internet...I guilty of that!

I love what the person stated about walking around quickly with papers..looking busy. That perception is so important around evaluation and raise time. Really do that stuff a lot more at the end of the fiscal year, or before evaluation time.....Management will think back to more recent times...

If your bored, instead of IMing, improve some skills....HA..I started online trading and taught myself how to read financial technicals....I'm making making money by trading online at work...