Work is Weird

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

(Maybe no one else has experienced this and I'm about to really annoy you all)

Does anyone have a job where sometimes you literally get paid for doing nothing?

It doesn't happen all the time, but I've been at my new place of employment for a little over a month now, and every so often I don't have anything to do. Like right now I don't have anything until this afternoon, when I have a meeting. I spoke to some of the girls in the office about this and they told me that whenever it happens you just come in and do what you want for the morning.

Obviously I'm not going to tell my boss what I'm doing, but basically it consists of listening to Bellowhead on YouTube, commenting on the Escapist, and playing endless games of Spider Solitaire.

So has anyone else experienced this? Do you also have a job where you sometimes have nothing to do?

PS. Obviously most of the time it's nose to the grindstone. This is only the second day in six weeks I've been able to relax, but it still feels weird.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Yup. I work as a 911 Emergency dispatcher and basically, if nothing is happening, nothing is happening. I don't have any control over it.

 

[pope_of_larry]

i don't but my dad has this he gets called in to fix radiation therapy machines and some times he will not be called in for weeks, and when he is called in it's mostly around 4-5 so he gets overtime.

 

[Fenra]

Happens a fair amount to me. I work for a very small company dealing with thier postal orders, online orders, man-ing phones, dealing with royal mail paperwork etc etc etc.

Sounds like a lot of work and a lot of the time it is, and certainly was when I first started and so was new and slow at everything but I find myself these days getting into a groove/rhythm and finishing the work I have to do at least an hour or 2 before my shift ends, particularily on very quiet days, which happen sometimes since its such a small business (only 5 of us, 6 including the boss)

So just sit around just in case anyone phones. In the end my boss tends to tell me "looks quiet, dont think theres anything more coming today, might as well go home" which is neat, I do love my boss

Best part, I'm timetabled to work 4 hour shifts, but even if I dont work all 4 for whatever reason, slow day/etc. I still get paid for all 4, which is a pretty sweet deal.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

I am a watchkeeper. If I have nothing to do, (which happens luckily more than often,) it is a good thing! Means things are going right! Unfortunately have to stay at my desk though so If something happens I can respond... O well, hello Escapist!

 

[gellert1984]

Yes but no. Yes I do have times in work wherein I have little to do, but I can usually find something, I work in a factory and I can always prepare poly/labels/machines/etc for the next product, clean up, do a walkaround to make sure everything in my area is working etc.

Chances are your boss already knows your not doing anything, so long as you do your work they probably wont complain, but it wont hurt your chances of a promotion if you take the initiative and start doing any odd jobs that crop up or familiarise yourself with other aspects of the company that employs you.

 

[Bloodastral]

Sometimes I have a very easy job. This morning I downloaded and watched the new episode of The Walking Dead and I plan on watching a lot more TV today. Most days I play on the internet and I only work 4 days and get paid very well. Gotta take the smooth with the rough, last week was manic, Monday 13.5 hours, Tuesday - Thursday 12.5 hours each.

 

[Starik20X6]

I've had jobs like that. I once worked at a watch-repair stall, and we'd often go hours at a time between customers. I was essentially getting paid to sit there and play my DS, which I had started bringing after a few days of skull crushing boredom. Strangely enough they went out of business, can't think why...

 

[Dr_Pie]

round xmas times we do very little for about 2 months

I wish my work was like that =(

I work in a butchers, X-mas is our busiest time.

 

[Sarcastic_Applause]

(Maybe no one else has experienced this and I'm about to really annoy you all)

Does anyone have a job where sometimes you literally get paid for doing nothing?

It doesn't happen all the time, but I've been at my new place of employment for a little over a month now, and every so often I don't have anything to do. Like right now I don't have anything until this afternoon, when I have a meeting. I spoke to some of the girls in the office about this and they told me that whenever it happens you just come in and do what you want for the morning.

Obviously I'm not going to tell my boss what I'm doing, but basically it consists of listening to Bellowhead on YouTube, commenting on the Escapist, and playing endless games of Spider Solitaire.

So has anyone else experienced this? Do you also have a job where you sometimes have nothing to do?

PS. Obviously most of the time it's nose to the grindstone. This is only the second day in six weeks I've been able to relax, but it still feels weird.

My work last night was the epitome of nothingness; Much like purgatory. Don't get me wrong, it was a good bit of juxtaposition; it was busy as hell the night before due to Bonfire night. But i can't stand the quiet: there literally nothing to do except Skype my friend. I take the good with the bad though. You'd be amazed how we miss the things we take for granted.

 

[BumblebeeEU]

I work in retail so while there might not necessarily be anything to do with the job you have been given for that period of time, tills for instance. You can always find something to do, tidy the till point, recover the shelves around your till point.

More often then not I am put on front of store as we don't have a security guard and the christmas gifts are rolled out at the moment which are targeted by shoplifters a lot, so while my actual task is to watch out for shoplifters you can find plenty of other things to do keep you busy, chatting to customers stops me from smashing my head against the wall out of boredom.

 

[Wuggy]

Yes, when I began working where I do now, I had literally weeks of excess time mainly because I had been doing my work too quickly and new projects were planned to start later (and I had no access to them beforehand).

 

[King of the Sandbox]

Dude... my job as a senior hotel night auditor involves precisely 15 mintues of 'work' a night. The rest of the time, I'm on the internet, playing xbox or watching tv.

It's pretty k-rad. I also get free food and drink.

You jelly?

 

[BringBackBuck]

Obviously I'm not going to tell my boss what I'm doing

Why not? Unless your boss is a retard, they will have a fair idea that you are having some down time. Maybe not the extent to which you are doing nothing, so most bosses will appreciate you saying you are bored. Either your boss has some work that you were unaware of and will give you something to do, or he knows that there is nothing to do for the time being and will tell you to just chill out so you can bum around guilt free, or he'll tell you to take an afternoon off.

Either way it's not likely he will fire you. I mean, if you were the boss of 5 people, and one of your employees told you there is only enough work for 4 people would you fire that guy? Or would you decide that one of your staff needed to go, so you would evaluate which of your 5 staff is the most expendable? - not likely to be the one person being honest and showing some initiative.

 

[Vault101]

my usual work was a little slow today...so I took too sorting out paper clips

sooooo many paper clips

 

[Red Bomb]

I am self employed Horse sports massage therapist, so unfortunately I cannot simply 'do nothing'. Although I can let a horse loose in the arena for a while to see if "it's moving freely enough through the back & legs"...In other words 'im just gonna sit here for a bit and have a rest' while your horse has a bit of a run.

 

[babinro]

Call center employee here. We have times where calls aren't coming in (availability)...but we have no real freedoms to take advantage of it beyond conversations with our peers.

Reading, internet use, cell phone use and the like are banned. They even took away our Excel Spreadsheets when they found out people were using them to play chess or battleship and the like.

 

[LongAndShort]

It happens rarely, but I like it when it happens. usually spend the day joking with my coworkers and making paper planes. I have made a shitload of paper planes.

 

[Duck Sandwich]

I work for my dad in construction, mainly doing housekeeping type work at the yard where I work. When I'm done everything I've been told to do, I sweep the floor inside the shop, look for tools to put away, and sometimes if no one's looking, I'll clean stuff that doesn't even need to be cleaned, or I'll sweep the floor even if it's already been swept. Basically, if I don't have anything left to do, and no one needs me to give them a hand with anything, I'm supposed to either make it look like I'm working, or stay out of sight.

Radio announcers also have their moments of doing-shit-all-time. When they're playing songs (which is done automatically by the station's computer) or otherwise not talking on the air, and they already have their show prep (what they're going to say on-air, like news stories and such), lined up, they have free reign to watch Youtube videos, eat, piss, whatever they feel like - just as long as they finish in time to go back on-air.

I kind of miss my job delivering newspapers - or I would if the pay wasn't complete garbage and I could work more than once a week. Once I got my 300ish papers dropped off at my house, I had pretty much the whole day to fold, pack, drive/walk around, and deliver them. And once I was done, I went home. None of that standing around bullshit to "put in the hours."

It makes me feel like I'm stealing money when I get paid for not doing any work.

 

[Slaanesh]

Work at an oil lube, sometimes its bust as hell, and sometimes its just dead. Whenever its dead, I do whatever needs to be done around the place(sweep, empty trash, pump dirty oil into the drums we eventually throw into the dolphin habitat, etc).

But if everything is taken care of, then I just kick up my feet and watch TV. And I can do that for hours until my boss comes down from his house, calls me the ethnic slur of the day and sends me home. Greedy bastard doesn't want to pay me to watch Law and Order.