What are some tips for wasting time at work?

Question

My job is so boring and I get all my work done within the first 2 hours of work and thats when I work at a snail's pace. I have minimal supervision (my bosses stay in their offices with the doors shut or are never here). I don't want to surf the net all day, play games or read books/magazine. Just some simple things I can do at my desk that aren't overly obvious and waste minutes, hours or even the whole day even. Even weird suggestions are great!

Answer 1

So many options, here are a few...

You could put something important on your computer screen, like that big report and act like you are working on it ... then watch a movie. If someone comes up behind you, switch back to that big important report and act like you are analyzing it. Just be careful you’re not LOL or crying unless you can quickly think of some excuse for the behavior. Like: "I’m laughing/crying because there is no way this budget is going to come together; I’ll be here at least the next 2 hours crunching the numbers!"

Then there are the random phone calls to your coworkers. "Just wanted to see how you are doing on such and such..." Should take up a half hour to forty five minutes. More depending on the number of coworkers you have. No coworkers? Call relatives and ask their opinion on the latest happenings.

Coffee break(s) can take up a lot of time, especially if you have to make the coffee yourself or go on a coffee run for the whole office! Water breaks work roughly the same way, but you have to get up and amble to the water cooler every few minutes then back. If you combine these two you should be able to kill a good hour of the day. Then there are the bathroom breaks to couple with this...

Set up a big brother/big sister day with your company as sponsors. Volunteer to do this important community outreach. Then you could present it to your boss. If he/she doesn’t go for it, you’ve only wasted a few hours trying to help out these kids in need. You could also plan a day for a park clean up, an office party, or a picnic. Get an office team together for softball or another sport.

You could get all your files in order, but it’s much more fun to write an actual letter to your grandmother or mother. Though if you haven’t done this in a while, it could be detrimental to their health -- I’m talking about the fall after the fainting spell. Of course then you’d have to take time off for a hospital visit. I don’t know if it’s worth the trade off.

Do your nails. Or if it’s available, call to have the spa brought to you. Mani’s and pedi’s all around? Takes a good hour. There is a business here that’ll bring the mani, pedi, and a massage to you -- something like that could take 2 hours or more. And it’s SO good for morale, HOW could your boss object?

Answer 2

I'm assuming that you are in the same position as me. You have a good-paying, temporary job that would be stupid to quit because there are not many better ones out there. I am also assuming that you feel the same way I do at work: unable to concentrate and definitely not in the mood for high-power brain work.

What can be done to ease the boredom of a 6-hour do-nothing day is:

- Go to Microsoft Paintbrush and paint a picture ( or make a design) on 800% zoom with grid-lines. This means painting the picture pixel by pixel. It takes awhile and yeilds amazing results.
- If you do not have Microsoft Paintbrush, use the drawing options in Microsoft Word to make a picture of a landscape, person, etc. using many layers and the transparency and special fill options until whatever it is actually starts to look real.
- Go to Microsoft PowerPoint and insert clip art, then triple click on it to un-group the individual components. Now, you can change the colors or edit it whatever way you want. I once turned a clip art of a navy capitan into a nun.
- Ask for special projects from your managers, because they likely have some grunt work that they do not feel like doing themselves. Just be careful. The last time I did this I got stuck with sorting 3 binders worth of papers into hanging folders, but other times I was given more stimulating work like creating an instruction sheet.
- Sign up for $24/year at www.mylanguageexchange.com, and practice any foreign language you know by writing e-mails to people in other countries, and using the IM feature. This is a great way to learn about other cultures and countries.
- You could try writing a book, learning another language, or reading up on something that interests you, but if you are like me, you do not have the patience at work.

Answer 3

You could try doing strange things to freak out your co-workers like:

Adding 1 sheet of paper to the copy machine each time you make a copy. (works even better if you remove all the paper that's in there first).

Line up several bottles of white out on your desk. Whenever you need to use it. Use one bottle per brush stroke.

Try using different voices when speaking to different co-workers

Whenever you use the restroom bring a papertowel to pen and close doors. Be sure you're co-workers see you. (I did this and it was hilarious!! Soon everyone was doing the same thing. No one ever asked me about it-- just assume something gross was going on in the bathroom)

Good luck spicing it up

Answer 4

You might want to start writing procedures for your job so that when you quit, the next person will have specific written instructions on how to do the job. Of course, that's assuming you're not satisfied with spending 8 hours each day doing 2 hours of work and you're spending part of that time looking for a new job!

Answer 5

I feel for you . . . I end up with a lot of down time too.

Sometimes I balance my checkbook, but that never takes long. From time to time I try to find articles online that relates to my field and/or things that interest me and read them. One of the absolute best things to do is to find something to do that will make your job more efficient. I run out of these things, but sometimes I reorganize my desk . . . shred old documents, work on help sheets/check sheets. Check to see if any other co-workers need help with anything.

Also if you like to cook . . . look up recipes online. I like http://www.allrecipes.com I joined for free and browse through recipes and save the ones that appeal to me to my recipe box.

Answer 6

You should find a way to work up the corporate ladder instead of finding a way to waste your time. If you can't find a way to do it with your current job, move on to a better one. Let your bosses know that is your intention. Maybe they can make your job worth your while.

Answer 7

a. Do someone else's work.

b. Write a book (or poetry, or screenplays, or whatever you find interesting).

c. Find someone else at work who is in the same situation and spend time with them.

d. Talk on the phone.

e. Spend time looking for a job that requires you to do more work.

Answer 8

try giving a friend a call but tell them youre at work and if you need to go tell them youll need to say good bye professionally. play games on the computer. make a list of things you need to do. go online shopping.

Answer 9

Destroy paperclips
Twist paperclips into weird sculptures
Make little men out of blue tack
Make a moving cartoon with a post it pad
Origami
Rubber band ball
Doodle

Answer 10

My job is not boring but still I take time to go on Yahoo, ask and answer questions. I look forward to it, it relaxes me.