whats your top tips for looking busy ?

Question

i usually walk round the office holding a bit of paper , ive been doing it 3 years now and i havent been rumbled yet

Answer 1

Senior Pob, I do exactly the same thing. I have now introduced it as part of the induction for office juniors who seem cool. Rushing around (or doing the smackhead stroll as its known round here) also gives the impression that one is pressed for time and therefore very busy.

Answer 2

I was just going to recommend never walking anywhere without a piece of paper and a poised pen in the hand.
Years ago, I was called in to an office manager, who said all I'd done was stare out the window all afternoon. This was in the early days of computers, and I was writing a new program. I explained that first I have to envisage what someone, an inexperienced user, a non-programmer, wants from sitting in front of the screen, and then back-track to see how that would work. This means I don't approach the computer for a couple of hours, I kick ideas around in my head, watching the squirrels in the trees, and make a little note, and a flow-chart, which I showed him. He didn't understand it. I then explained that the problem was now in my head, and would probably keep me up most of the night, and that I'd be transcribing it to a program and keying it the next day.
Back to the window with another hot-chocolate!

Answer 3

Yes, but make sure it has something typed on it, not just blank. And frown a bit so it looks like you're concentrating.
Whatever you do - getting a coffee, drinking it, walking from one room to another; do it as if you only have moments to spare. Look at your watch very fast and look a bit dismayed at the time.
At other times read the paper very intently, and frown while you do it. Make it look as though you're thinking hard about something, people will be less likely to bother you with trivial stuff.
Try to appear as if you're doing two things at once, you'll look busier AND more valuable to the company. So as well as that bit of paper, a manilla file with more paper in it makes a useful prop.
And never forget the value of the Speaking Clock. You can be on Yahoo Answers, reading your manilla report AND checking the time all at the same time. Very impressive from the other side of the room.

Answer 4

Be on the offensive and know your job real well. Talk alot when someone comes in or can see you. Ask questions that show you've been in deep thought and impress with knowledge. Go visit other important or knowledgable people. You can be busy, without actually "being" busy. Try to go to meetings as well, these are great places to be out of view, but in view of those you need to impress. Dress really well and pay attention to little things that show class and you're in control of your environment. Pretend to read or have books or manuals open on your desk like you're doing intense research on something to make yourself better. Know what is "hot" and have stuff related to that on your desk. Start a project to make the work area better, something real easy and you like, then take your time doing it. Hold a B.S. meeting just to show you want things done "right", but really it's just another excuse to "F" off. Get to work early and leave late, people think you're a workaholic (LMAO). This is all from a 20 plus year military, we called it "gamefully employed".

Answer 5

Always have stuff on your table but not too much cos u dont want em to think u got a backlog. Make sure that the paperwork gets changed to different stuff cos u could be made by old stuff.

Walk fast as if u goin to do something urgent.

When on a personal call, hamme at the keybored to make it seem like you are capturing what the person is saying.

At some point im sure that 'looking busy' might be more stressful than being busy

Answer 6

I usually sit up straight and have Microsoft office or excel on my cpu. When I become incredibly tired and ready to take a nap, I get my cubicle bed ready and open a manual type book in front of my desk. My cubicle is nicely arranged with a wall on the left with my back turned to whoever approaches me which is great because people cannot see my face.

Now, I use my right arm to support my chin and then take a nice cozy nap while sitting up and pretending to be reading a book, I usually take at least one 20 min nap a day. I scratch my head time to time during the nap when I faintly hear people walking behind me to give the signal that I'm focusing intently on reading.

Answer 7

Yes, that always works great. Walk around holding some paper or folders and a pen. Walk a little bit briskly rather than dawdling, it makes it look like you have a purpose or somewhere to go. If it's really important to look busy, add in a frown or a slight look of stress.

Answer 8

-Make sure your work area features several "in process" projects (binders of important proposals open next to you, reports with highlighting on them, etc.).

-Have several of the applications you're "supposed" to use open on your computer. Outlook is a good one: several unread "attn: marketing ideas" messages, or several people's calendars open, etc.

-Place a pencil or pen behind your ear to give the impression that you are writing down so much important information that if it were possible, your hand itself would be a writing instrument. Remember, if your boss walks by your desk on the left side, place the pencil behind your left ear or the effect is lost.
Industry magazines are your friend. Get as many as you can and make a show of marking pages with sticky notes "to read later." Stick a paperback or other rag inside and you can read away at your desk.

-Take bathroom breaks (men should sit down when possible). You can get paid to spend 40 minutes sitting down reading the funnies.

-Don't limit yourself to calls of nature; the bathroom is a great place to catch up on personal hygiene.

-Brushing your teeth there in the morning buys you an extra 10 minutes of sleep at home. Brush your teeth after every cup of coffee and you can eat up 30-40 minutes, plus your teeth will look great.

-Visit friends in different departments, leaving your workspace very "busy" looking.

-Tell the person next to you that you are going to "double check something with someone from a different department" but what you're really doing is providing yourself with an excuse if your boss wonders where you were for an hour. "Oh, didn't tell you? I wanted to double check and make sure both of our departments were on the same page about the new ad campaign, I know it's an important issue and I would hate to have any mix-ups." Your boss will appreciate your ability to pay attention to details but what you're really doing is... well, you know...

-If you're in a job that requires you to make a quota on phone calls per day/week/month, call up Dell/Gateway/local computer shop and just let them put you on hold for 20 minutes before hanging up.

-You're eating up your time and on the computer that tracks call time it appears as if you're busy pushing clients to buy.

-You can browse websites while on hold, and tell your boss when he walks by: "I'm on hold, I've been on the phone for 20 minutes with this guy and he had to run to the bathroom, I'm close to a sale".

-Create meetings in Outlook with realistic sounding names.

-These can buy you an hour at a time, and if your boss asks, you can say you went all the way to the meeting and noone showed, so you just worked on some "paperwork" since you had the conference room.

-Next time you install a program, take a screenshot with the "installing" window. Make it your wallpaper when you need to leave the office.

-Always, always have a back up. Carry a document you might have been reading with you, best if it's a "long term project" that you can convincingly say you were finally getting to.

Answer 9

Yes, also have lots of paper on your desk and loads of files open on your computer. Occasionally look stressed and mumble a few words, then get up and go somewhere (just for a chat with a friend). When you come back say something along the lines of 'glad I sorted that out'

Answer 10

I once had a job that I hated. I used to do a days work in 2 hours in the morning and spend the rest of the day looking busy on the internet - a furrowed brow and the occaisional touching of the phone works well.

I got so good at it my boss thought I was snowed under and asked if he could help - of course I gave him all the work I could and carried on furrowing the brow and touching the phone - he was a complete w@nker!