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Dull work days

17:42 / 17.09.04

how do you pass the time at work when you're strenuously trying to a) avoid performing any actual work or b) pretend like mad that you do, indeed, have work to accomplish?

and what's the difficulty level of pulling it off without notice?

17:55 / 17.09.04

I find the best way to look busy is the George Costanza Method:

If you always look vaguely annoyed, everyone assumes you are busy.

Foolproof!

18:02 / 17.09.04

I tend to post here...

19:03 / 17.09.04

Both of the above. I log into Barbelith, check e-mail, and read websites, all the while shuffling papers around and frowning at my computer. I try to furrow my brow and look worried/annoyed/thoughtful. (Never mind that after a year or two of this I'm getting wrinkles.)

It's not so bad unless my boss is moving around the office a lot.

I do wonder, though, what he thinks I'm doing...

19:07 / 17.09.04

I have the sad burden of having a job in which I am unable to pass time at work without working. If I just stood around and didn't read meters for a while, I'd just have to read them later.

19:32 / 17.09.04

I actually do some work on here. Not much, but some.

Where's all the weird science the Lab is supposed to be giving me, huh? Huh?

21:44 / 17.09.04

I tend to employ a method I've heard referred to as "yak shearing:"

I work as a prepress tech at a printing plant. As such, I'm supposed to keep abreast of developments in the graphic arts/printing world. So I log onto a prepress forum. Someone at the forum mentions Macromedia Freehand. So I go to Macromedia's site and download a demo For Freehand. While I'm there I dl a copy of Flash and Fireworks too. And maybe Dreamweaver too (websites fall under the heading of graphic art, right? Besides, I'm pushing my boss to let me build the company a website). After playing around with the programs for a while I decide the documentation is woefully insufficient. Back online to find walkthroughs or tutorials. Wow, this person's got some cool looking animations that showcase the lesson. So I watch that again. Back to the Flash demo to try out some of the tricks I've learned...

If done correctly, yak shearing can take you to every corner of the 'net and last a week. The trick is keeping your reason for doing what you're doing at least tenuously related to what you're supposed to be doing.

My current project involves learning a couple of different freeware 3d rendering programs. I figure I can keep this one going for about a month...

flufeemunk effluvia

21:54 / 17.09.04

Whoa!

TRIPLE post.

My job lets me goof off, mainly because its at an arcade.

Cloned Christ on a HoverDonkey

22:10 / 17.09.04

When I'm working days, I walk around purposefully, clutching a stack of random paperwork. I occasionally stop to chat to someone, or for a cigarette, then I'm off again on my seemilngly urgent mission until I find someone else to talk to or another empty smoking area.

On nights, however, I post here, listen to Radio 4, drink coffee, smoke ciggies and watch DVDs in the office next door where a spangly new PC has been installed. I'm second in command during the night shifts and the main manager tends to come nowhere near me, so there's absolutely noone to be wary of.

Right, I'm just about to go put a pizza in the oven; I'll go for a ciggy while it cooks, then return to my office to snaffle it down whilst flicking through 'lith posts. All this hard work is shagging me out...

23:08 / 17.09.04

I used to have this thing, when I had a job which involved standing behind a counter for 8 hours straight, I figured out I could lay a book flat on the floor, and just stand there reading it without anyone knowing. As far as the boss’s security camera is concerned, I’m alert and on duty, and just deep in thought or something. In my socks I could turn the pages easy enough, and if the boss came into my booth unexpectedly, I had a box ready so I could kick the book under it.

That was a pretty good couple of months. In fact, I think I’d probably still be standing around reading books all day if the money wasn’t so shit.

08:23 / 20.09.04

You can read that far away? You must have good eye-site.

08:39 / 20.09.04

Just had an early lunch break (9.30 - 10.30). Very early. This is gonna be a long day.