Staying sane while working (or waiting for the work)

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Hey all.

I'm in a small, poorly ventilated room surrounded by computers in order to edit a short documentary I am doing on the side at the end of my school year... That's the theory anyway. At the moment this 'editing' actually requires me to sit around for hours while the software imports the raw video/audio.

As my input at this stage is pretty much limited to saying "and now this folder..." to the computer, I thought I'd make a thread because I'm incredibly bored.

What's the most boring part of your job or what you do over the course of your studies?

How do you keep engaged and attentive to detail?

Personally, I'm diving into Dune while this goes on. A good read with the occasional glance at the screen pretty much solves the wait time for me. Before I got back to school for film studies, I used to have a boring retail job (and you can't just read on shift there) so I would spend the time thinking of things to write and then would jot those notes down if they were any good while lifting boxes.

It's a pretty universal human thing to figure out a way to make boring or unsavoury things go by quicker. What's your method?

...

Well, back to the loading bar.

[sup][sup]Oh good, it hasn't crashed again. That's nice.[/sup][/sup]

 

[Barbas]

The most boring part of my work is sitting there and staring at the wall while I wonder what I should write next. Something the creativity spring flows freely and, at others times, everything slows to a trickle and it feels like I'm sitting in a barren waiting room listening to the ticking of the white plastic clock on the wall.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Depends on the work. Nothing is worse than working in a job in retail, or such where you're waiting on customers, with nothing to do no less. Especially because short of having someone to talk to there is no way to alleviate the boredom. This is especially bad because in these sort of jobs you get to be bored for 8-10 hours while on your feet the majority of the time.

 

[Queen Michael]

Me, I turn to novels of all kinds to keep tedium from reaching lethal levels.

 

[SweetShark]

If you know you won't have a customer for hours, like me, I reject reality and go deep to my happy world.
Listing everything I remember and writing in the forums of Escapist
Also I buy books and I read them. NEVER read a book to the PC/Tablet/Phone. The feeling is totaly different.
SOmetimes I can watch a movie or TV series with my brother.
That all I can think for now.

 

[Lufia Erim]

I work retail. But the people i work with are all kinda of awsome so there is never a dull moment. My boss is my age 26 so we talk about video games and tech all the time , een on workin hours, and i can't get yelled at because i'm wasting time with my boss.

The employees also talk to each other even if the aren't in the same row. You'll often here employees talking with others in rows adjacent to each other.

Then there are the dumb shit we do for the lols. Like wearing funny hats and stuff we find in the store. One i was playing around and found an open package of chocolate cake mix, i threw it at a friend of mine at work and he decided it was a good idea to kick it while it was flying at him. That resulted in the entire package of cake mix opening up and he was covered in the stuff. The face he made when he realised what happened was priceless. I helped him clean it up, it was so funny.

Never a dull moment

 

[L. Declis]

Whenever I am studying, I tend to leave a documentary or podcast on in the background to tune in and out of. Helps a fuck ton if I'm working on my game or practising my drawing, because I am simply on auto-pilot for most of it.

However, I find that there is always more to do, and boredom is as good a motivator to work as any. If you're working, time goes faster. So if I'm sitting with a client who has buggered off, I do some marking or fill out the lesson plan while I wait, or if I'm in class and everyone is fucking about (they always do), I just practise writing some characters while I wait.

Make work for yourself; it helps with the skill and I find it passes the time. When you're working hard, you find there is never enough time to finish everything you need to do, and find yourself (like me right now) skipping sleep for just ONE MORE HOUR of work.

 

[Elfgore]

Back in retail, I either day-dreamed about having a more interesting life or thought of story ideas. The work was repetitive and simple, so one could easily just lose themselves in their mind.

As I've moved up and now work at a call center on third shift, my days are slower than ever. If I feel like being productive, I read. If not, I listen to creepypastas, watch Funhaus, watch comics explained, watch work-approproate anime[footnote]Yes, the list is very small. I barely count One Piece and Fairy Tail.[/footnote], and listen to music.

 

[Little Woodsman]

Why on Earth would you want to stay sane?

If I had to be sane for any appreciable length of time it would drive me crazy!

 

[Dalek Caan]

During my last few days working at a toy store during my Christmas job it was pretty silent because Christmas day had come and gone so most of the time I was standing at my counter, not sitting because chairs don't exist there apparently, so I always made sure to ask if the radio could be played through the intercom.

 

[Rebel_Raven]

See, this is why I keep handheld games on hand. Part of, well, a lot of work involves "hurry up and wait."

A cellphone with fun apps, and music. A new 3DS with games downloaded for portability.

If you're the sort that feels comfortable with it (I'm not) strike up a coversation with someone near by.

Take up a creative venture. A pen and paper gaming campaign to think about. Or some stories to write on your own terms.

 

[SmugFrog]

Watching a screen and waiting for something bad to happen... Not right now, obviously, because I couldn't be on a computer while watching the screen.