Work Boredom - Constructive Uses?

[Gracelette]

Dear White Courtesy Phone (and all who dwell within)

So it looks like I,Aeom going to be at this secretarial temp job for at least another month, possibly longer.

It,Aeos in a good location, well-paid, and the office environment is pleasant enough so I have no desire to leave.

However, I am bored. Really really bored.

And not funny ha-ha surfing craigslist for kicks bored either.

I,Aeom talking about the other kind ,Aei where you,Aeore scared your brain might just atrophy from lack of any kind of intellectual challenge or stimulation, however meagre (and at this point, I would gladly welcome ,Aeofiling,Aeo and ,Aeostuffing envelopes,Aeo as intellectual stimulation).

Every couple of weeks, I send round emails to my colleagues asking if they need help, but everybody is very protective of their workloads and nobody wants any help. But they also want a secretary there because, like having a company car, a secretary is a status symbol so, even if she has no actual work to do, you still have to have one.

Out of an 8-hour day, I have enough work to last me 30 minutes, if I stretch it out. None of this work involves any kind of challenge (answering the phone, filing, typing other people,Aeos letters, posting other people,Aeos letters), but at least I don,Aeot have to sit there and pretend to look busy while I,Aeom dealing with it.

My question is ,Aei what can I do for the other 7.5 hours of the day that is constructive and will save me from seriously breaking down in tears from the boredom?

I have internet access, all the MS Office programmes, and, while my computer screen is overlooked, nobody is looking *that* closely.

I,Aeove already read every e-text on the Gaslight website and have made a start on Project Gutenberg as well as reading some stuff from the Anarchist Archives. But I can,Aeot read for 7 hours a day. I just can,Aeot.

I,Aeom already using a portion of the time to do music magazine stuff, but, after a year, I,Aeove got that job pretty much nailed and it doesn,Aeot take up nearly as much time as it used to.

I,Aeom thinking about stuff like learning a language, learning some sort of computer programming stuff, or maths stuff, or helping people out with something,AeP I,Aeom not really sure what, but it is a really sickening feeling to know that you,Aeove essentially spent a third of the day doing nothing and achieving nothing.

So,AeP does anyone have any useful suggestions or relevant websites or anything like that? If so, please share here. I,Aeom looking for actual constructive stuff here, rather than chronomocidal activities (so posting to messageboards, browsing craigslist, and making paperclip chains don,Aeot count, though they are all fun).

Thank you kindly!

Gracelette
-x-

[Andrew_TSKS]

were i you, i'd be writing a novel. or doing polishes on every piece of writing i've got sitting around from the past three or so years that got finished but that i'm not happy with (god, now i wish i had your job just so i could do that). but i don't know if you're into that, so... i'm probably not too much help.

you can't read books?

[Greg Nog]

Welcome to my world.

Gracelette, I have three words for you:

ANAGRAMS, ANAGRAMS, ANAGRAMS!!!

Bonus points if you anagram a name to make it a description of the person in question.  For example:

Greg Erskine = Greek Singer

[stephanie]

Oh LORD, am I in the exact same boat as Ms. Gracelette.  Like, exact.  30 minutes of work/day and people protective of their workloads and everything.  Going insane.  My brain has begun to atrophy.

As such, I have no suggestions (except, possibly, find a band you love and start doing their website -- the HTML I know, I learned while at this job) and quite possibly this:

http://www.onlinevolunteering.org

Good luck.

[Greg Nog]

online volunteering?

or

GENUINE VOLTRON LINE?

[Maaik]

We need to start manufacturing portable Gregs for edutainment purposes.  At home and abroad.  Greg, could you ship me a jar of your wit that I could study and replicate under labratory conditions?

As far as what to do at work in the long boring stretches...man.  Last time I had a job anywhere near resembling that, LPTJ didn't have forums yet.  Learn a foreign language and translate all of Greg's comics.  That'll help market these home models to the foreign market.

[Andrew_TSKS]

myke reminds me--i once spent three weeks of work going through and reading every article on lptj, all the way back to the beginning. this is totally worth your time if you haven't done it already. your wishlist will grow by a good 100 albums or so, but still.

[Maaik]

I did that while I was working at a crappy music store.  It fueled my boredom knowing that I was a million miles away from anything John was writing about.

[coldforge]

everything2.com

[Ashley]

everything2.com

terrible. What I end up reading tends to piss me off.

But I just can't stop.

[missy]

I am in a similar situation right now. I have found it really interesting to learn the field that i'm working in right now. My educational and work background are in English/Women's Studies/non-profit and e-commerce. I am currently working for a Home Nursing agency and you'd be surprised how willing to talk about their work people can be. I will take full advantage of the knowledge of being surrounded by nutritionists, physical therapists, and nurses and get all the free advice and information that I can. I have learned new medical terms, vitamin and diet information and care for my wounded knee that I sprained this summer in a scooter mishap. ha. I also ask questions like "what's Cumadin" "What does PT and INR mean?"

i'd say if you are at all interested in the work, talk to anyone you can about stuff. I already regret not tapping all my resources at previous jobs after this.

Are you allowed to have a radio or ipod? maybe listen to podcasts/itunes radio. You can listen to stuff you've never heard and there are plenty of talk radio stations and things that will get the old noggin working.

Oh, and you can always improve your excel skills, or word, or mail merge or anything else to make you  more marketable. I make lists of my collections (books, toys, dvds etc) keep track of their value,  work on formulas. stuff like that.

in temp solidarity,
Missy

[missy]

oh. another thing I used to do is write letters. Real letters. The unlimited time and office supplies can make for some really nice mail for your friends and family.  i also pay all of my bills during work hours.

i live for downtime.

[elpollodiablo]

Sometimes I have 7 and 1/2 hours of free time at work. I've spent it sleeping, getting high, reading, watching HBO, swimming... And reading the whole LPTJ backlog. Like Andrew said.

[missy]

Sometimes I have 7 and 1/2 hours of free time at work. I've spent it sleeping, getting high, reading, watching HBO, swimming... And reading the whole LPTJ backlog. Like Andrew said.

ok. what the hell do you do that you can SWIM and watch HBO in your downtime?

JERK!

[Andrew_TSKS]

my friend nate works at a scuba shop with a pool in back. on slow days he'll totally lock the door of the store for 45 minutes and go swim.

[elpollodiablo]

I alternate between second and third shifts at a hotel. It's only about eighty rooms, which means that on second and third, there's only one employee here: me. Second shift absolutely sucks, because you're doing checkins and taking abuse and it's hectic and there are children and it's just not very much fun. Third shift, however, is the best: You've got thirty minutes of paper shuffling to do, and that's about it. The rest of my responsibilites include locking the pool and setting out muffins before the breakfast hostess shows up at 6 am. Lots of time to swim and smoke and veg and read and play video games. Back (way back) when I was involved, there were even more interesting things you could get paid to do...

[elpollodiablo]

Ah, go on then... I'm asking.  

FUCKIN

[coldforge]

pollo, you were a man-ho?

[elpollodiablo]

Were?

No, by involved, I meant: when I had a girlfriend. And by paid activities, I meant: when she'd visit me whilst I was at work.

[alexandra]

oh yes, learn a language.

http://www.esperanto.ca/kurso/index.htm

[swilkes]

Practice Dvorak typing! I picked up this zine at a small press expo last week, and now I'm hooked. All standard Macs & Windows system have the Dvorak option built in, so print out a keyboard guide and give it a whirl!

[Andrew_TSKS]

that dvorak keyboard is designed to work against me, for i am left-handed.

and besides, i can touch-type now, so i would never want to have to relearn all that.