Tricks to look busy at work

[Alexander's Horse]

1. Always carry a notebook or papers when you are strolling the coridors to stretch your legs.

2. Walk quickly with a fixed expression like you are too busy to chit chat.

3. Scatter papers around your desk. Put a pen on them.

4. Never completely empty your in-tray or out-tray.

5. Always leave some papers in your pidgeon hole.

6. Try to be a bit late for meetings but not too late.

[alva]

Try to get your boss to chit-chit with you for hours, good topics are his last vacation and some of his silly hobby's, kids could do the trick too

[alva]

Have something on stand-by to print out the moment your boss walks in.

[General Ludd]

Rest your head on the phone while holding it and lean on the desk, then take a snooze.

[gunkulator]

Have 20-30 windows open at a time, especially stuff that only tangentially concerns you. Bring one of them to the front to cover the Apolyton window when the boss walks by. It'll look like you take a broad view of your job.

[CerberusIV]

Be the boss! Then people have to knock before they walk into your office so you have time to pick something up and look busy.

[FrustratedPoet]

Have 20-30 windows open at a time, especially stuff that only tangentially concerns you. Bring one of them to the front to cover the Apolyton window when the boss walks by. It'll look like you take a broad view of your job.

I do that.

Scatter papers around your desk. Put a pen on them.

I use this method frequently. The pen is very important. You MUST have the pen.

[Japher]

I check my messages every 30 minutes or so, my boss sees me do this about twice a day... makes him think that I have been away from my desk ... which I should be more than I am.

Type your messages to Poly really loud and really fast.

Have 20-30 windows open at a time, especially stuff that only tangentially concerns you. Bring one of them to the front to cover the Apolyton window when the boss walks by. It'll look like you take a broad view of your job.

I will also mutter a swear word every now and then, then, when my boss hears he will be 'what's wrong?' and I will be 'stupid Windows just lost that huge report, now I have to start all over'...



Honestly, I don't ever try and look busy. You know what they say; if you want something done, give it to a busy person.

[Boris Godunov]

I like the George Costanza method. Just look irritated, and people will always think you are overworked.

[Ming]

The "team" method works well... Book a conference room for the entire day, and have a few of your work buddies stay behind locked doors all day talking sports or whatever. If done properly, you can even order in lunch and have the company pay. Just have a random power point presentation up on a screen, so that when somebody walks in, you can change the discussion to whats on the screen.

[DAVOUT]

All those tricks will not fool for long an experienced supervisor (experienced meaning that the guy was on your chair the year before). What is really useful is to get the reputation of a thinker; then you can do absolutely nothing for hours in a meditative attitude of your own (not acrobatic or ridiculous, but bizarre although comfortable enough to be kept for hours), and everybody will refrain to disturb you. In real emergency, they will always begin by *excuse me*, and you will wait 10 seconds before turning your head toward them, as if you made a terrible effort to extract yourself from deep thoughs.

[Japher]

I think the "Scotty Approach" works too...

Tell your boss that it will take twice as long to do something than you belief it will, then get it done early... You then have the choice to look good, or to post on poly!

The thinker thing works, but eventually they are going to want to see results. Everyone here thinks I am good at math, which I am, so they generally come to me on experiment designs... Pretty much, I don't do a whole lot of my own work, I ussually consult for others, which is really time consuming (hehe)...

My boss is rather non-envolved in what I do, so I like to send him monthly updates on what I have done. It looks like a lot, but it really isn't. The good thing about doing this is that it takes me about 2 (1/2 hour) days to write that report, and my boss never bugs me about stuff... I don't even think he reads it half the time.

[Solly]

I am in an office where we get measured per credit card applications dug/keyed/QCed, so there is no real way to cheat.

[Cruddy]

Originally posted by Boddington's
I am in an office where we get measured per credit card applications dug/keyed/QCed, so there is no real way to cheat.

Used to do a similar job, but the criteria were how many you entered accruately, not how fast... I started off blazingly fast and was told to do it properly on more than 1 occassion.

Couldn't stand that job. Boss was a 2 faced 8itch.

Can't think of any tips. Typically I am always busy - that's the British workplace though, long hours and low productivity.


Oh yeah! Strolling around with a load of scrap paperwork, "dropping" it and then "resorting" it.

[Solly]

Used to do a similar job, but the criteria were how many you entered accruately, not how fast... I started off blazingly fast and was told to do it properly on more than 1 occassion.

Mistakes will always creep in. I'm the quickest there and at the moment, judging by the QC process, highly accurate as well. Might have to ask for a pay rise.

Well I work 9am-3pm so I have no complaints there. Given that we avoid a lunch hour with those hours, I am at work for six hours and get paid for six. Previously it was 9-5. "At" work for eight hours, and getting paid for seven (lunch hour!). Plus took longer travelling home on bus. This way seems to make more sense.

Oh yeah! Strolling around with a load of scrap paperwork, "dropping" it and then "resorting" it.

I don't want a clumsy reputation...

Actually I prefer being busy; makes you feel like you've contributed and makes time flow quicker anyway.

One neat trick I found is to have toilet breaks outside of planned tea breaks, and to get a drink outside of your breaks as well. Oh, and when going for a drink, take a tray and offer to get other people's.

gts you away from the desk and shows you are working as a team.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Japher
Tell your boss that it will take twice as long to do something than you belief it will, then get it done early... You then have the choice to look good, or to post on poly!

I work for a small business, the only people in the office are me, my boss, his wife (receptionist/accountant). No one knows anything 'bout computers but me.

He described what he wanted in his program, asked if I could do it in four months. I told him sure, four months is do-able.

I could've done it in one month.

And I get paid hourly, with no supervision, on a 2.53GHz P4 w/ 1GB of RAM (dual monitors).

It's awesome! Poly! Poly! Poly!
Money! Money! Money!

[gunkulator]

Originally posted by DAVOUT
All those tricks will not fool for long an experienced supervisor (experienced meaning that the guy was on your chair the year before).

Most managers where I work switch jobs as fast as they can to avoid the blame that comes when the sh1t hits the fan. As such, the average boss rarely has a clue what is going on. It's pretty easy to fool them and you only need to keep it up until they move on to their next job.

Another good trick is when you finally do produce something, send it to everyone you can possibly think of. So when the boss comes by and asks for a status report you can claim you are STILL waiting for input from persons X, Y and Z and that you can't go on until then.

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by Asher

I work for a small business, the only people in the office are me, my boss, his wife (receptionist/accountant). No one knows anything 'bout computers but me.

He described what he wanted in his program, asked if I could do it in four months. I told him sure, four months is do-able.

I could've done it in one month.

And I get paid hourly, with no supervision, on a 2.53GHz P4 w/ 1GB of RAM (dual monitors).

It's awesome! Poly! Poly! Poly!
Money! Money! Money!

I can only imagine.


I got my sister to pay me $50 to change the default screen resolution on civ3. (It annoyingly defaults at 1024x768, and I changed mine to 1280x1024.) When she saw it on my computer, she asked for me to do it to hers.

It takes one line of code in the ptw.ini.

[Japher]

Another good trick is when you finally do produce something, send it to everyone you can possibly think of. So when the boss comes by and asks for a status report you can claim you are STILL waiting for input from persons X, Y and Z and that you can't go on until then

That totally works!!! PTB all the way, baby!

[C0ckney]

ah, i need an office job (work on a farm), so much slacking so little time

[gunkulator]

Might as well add another one.

Whenever possible, try to work on more than one project. Just make sure that each project has a different boss. Bosses are even lazier than workers and most have the communication skills of a 2x4. When boss #1 asks what you're working on, you say it's boss #2's project and vice versa. Make sure to stress that you're almost done and should be able to get back to his job real soon.

The more jobs you work on the better. At any given time, one job will be in a crunch so bad that even all your dim witted bosses will have heard about it. You just claim to them that you're busting your butt on the crunch job. The goal is to have something moronically simple and unimportant to do on the crunch job. It will be so low on the radar that you can stretch it out for weeks.

[alva]

Can't think of any tips. Typically I am always busy - that's the British workplace though, long hours and low productivity.

True, short hours are much better for productivity.
-
And I know what you mean Cockney, know what you mean.
Damn desk-jockeys

[Az]

Originally posted by Jaguar Warrior



I can only imagine.


I got my sister to pay me $50 to change the default screen resolution on civ3. (It annoyingly defaults at 1024x768, and I changed mine to 1280x1024.) When she saw it on my computer, she asked for me to do it to hers.

It takes one line of code in the ptw.ini.

What kind of a bastard are you?

damn greedy jews.

[gunkulator]

Ah, hell I'm on a roll.

Meetings, meetings, meetings. Get yourself invited to as many as possible. Nothing says busy to the boss like a full calendar. The ideal meeting ends at either 11:00 AM or 3:30-4:00PM. Noone can expect you get anything done after that because of lunch/quitting-time. If the meeting ends before the ideal time, hang out with one or two attendees in a seemingly ad-hoc post-meeting rehash session that should get you through til 11:00 or 4:00.

One thing to watch out for are action items. Most meetings produce at least a few. Dodge them, or better yet, get them assigned to someone not at the meeting. "Well, this is really Bill's area of expertise." Occasionally, an action item is so easy that you should actually volunteer for it. Then get it done in an hour or so but make sure the boss thinks you'll need a couple days at least to finish it.

[alva]

Let me guess, you're the kind of manager that comes in with a full smile on monday morning right? Cheering everyone on, telling everyone how much you missed work and are glad to be back.
x 1000000

[gunkulator]

Last one for the night:

Training is the new corporate buzz word of the day. Managers love to ramble on and on about how they support employee training. Call their bluff. Fortunately, sue-happy lawyers have forced most corporations to provide a plethora of useless training dealing with such earth-shattering items like sensitivity, diversity, sexual harassment, drug free workplace, ethics, wellness, management, team-building and heaven knows what else. Then there are idiot-level courses like how to use Word, Excel, Windows, etc.

Most of the training is run by touchy-feely types who are even more worthless to the company than you. Sign up for all of them and make sure to recommend to management that you think the employees need even more kinds of training. You can literally waste weeks taking all these. The best training classes are "offsite" - offered by some valueless consultant. That's pretty much a free ticket to leave early and play golf.

[Makeo]

what kind of bastard charges his sister $50 bucks for a little computer help?

[Az]

gunkulator: this is all very true for the corporate world, but much less so for small sized companies. The boss is also the major shareholder, and also a workaholic. He can sit on you till he stomps you.

[Ming]

Yeah... offsite client meetings is the real key during the Summer. If you head out around noon to a meeting, NOBODY expects to see you back in the office. You can get your meeting done, and be on the golf course by 2:30...

[Az]

I think that's the saddest part: You get a meeting done, and have so much free time, and then... you waste it.