day 2 vol. 3

i debated with myself whether i should post again today. there needs to be a limit. you see, today there is lots of down time. lots. like boat loads. and technically i would/should be posting all doggone day. but that is not realistic. but i wanted to get this one thing off my mind... so, for my last post i would like to briefly discuss a phenomenon that happens at many work places. i will call it the, "look-busy-even-though-you-aren't-and-your-boss-knows-it" phenomenon.

------the phenomenon-------------------
here, and i'm sure many other job places, my boss knows what i have to work on in a day/week/whatever. he dishes out the workload to us employees and we get it done. so why wouldn't he know what we are doing? and throughout the day he peruses the office to see how things/projects are coming along. sometimes we get our work done and there is nothing left to do for the time being - sometimes even for the rest of the day. and the boss man knows it. so now what do we do? nothing? something? here's a good idea - we could see if anyone else needs help. yep, that's a good idea!

**remember, i'm full of good ideas ;-) **

(patting ourselves on the back and dusting our hands off) that was productive, not to mention kind to help a coworker. so again, we find ourselves asking the same question, "now what?" this time there really is nothing to do. a little bit of anxiety might set in and thoughts of, "what if my boss catches me... doing nothing?" be it as it may we find things - unrelated to work - to pass the time. and if you are anything like me and my cube mate, lori, you might check out your favorite online news site (acceptable at work), maybe check your email (1000 times a day might be frowned upon), sneak a little facebook session (definitely a no-no at work) or just plain ol' surf the web (borderline a no-no). i'm a big fan of googling things.... anything really.... anyway. the next thing we know, our boss walks around the corner and looks in our direction, and we panic!

"oh shoot. what do i do? this isn't work related. i might get in trouble! quick! close all browser windows - open up work email - perhaps even a project folder or working document. yeah. good one"

all for the hopes that we "look busy". who are we kidding!? no one really, since our boss basically knows what our workload looks like - in most cases anyway. if your boss is one that is detached from you and your workload then good for you... i think... but that is a whole different topic. why is it that we feel compelled to "look busy" when we aren't, especially if we are in the group who's bosses know we have nothing to do? seriously. why? what else are we supposed to do when there is nothing left to do for the day?

(chuckle) i know one thing my boss would suggest - cleaning things. desks. rooms. cabinets. what-have-you. i'm sorry. if i didn't make the mess, i don't clean the mess. willingly that is. that's just me. unless someone were to ask me nicely. then i might.
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and there you have it. so, what do you do to pass the time when you are not busy? i did something different yesterday - started this blog.

good day to you!

..............jfk..............