Work can often be monotonous and tear inducing. Sometimes there is simply nothing to do. But when others are around you got to keep yourself looking like you're earning your keep. Even when we are busy and have much to do you can once and awhile find yourself staring off into the yonder. Then you're almost caught and have to cover. Oh the joys of adulting in the office.
Redditor u/ScheetyWok wanted to hear some interesting ways to stay "busy" when trying to not work by asking.... Office workers of Reddit, what's your go-to activity to "look busy" when you have no work to do?
Fluster....
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Just look frustrated with whatever you're doing.
Squint at your computer screen, shake your head, let out an occasional sigh, have a bunch of papers on your desk you can rifle through periodically.
You don't want to look so frustrated that you might need some help, but if you do this right everybody will think you're already too busy with something to be bothered. J-Dizzle42
Laps.....
I'm a cleaner/janitor in a warehouse complex.
I just grab a broom or a bucket.
Can walk laps of the place for hours without doing anything if I want. Oh, I can clock up those steps believe that.
Wore my girlfriends Fitbit one day... we were curious to see how for I'd go in a day.
10 hour shift I walked over 30 kilometers. 82recluse82
Filing the Brow....
I just read interesting stuff online and if someone walks back or looks at me I furrow my brow and maybe pull on the hair of my beard by my chin. And always have a reason if someone asks what's up - "Oh, I need this file in AI to send over and they only have the JPG..." even if it's a problem you solved earlier, as long as it's real it'll do. Administrative-Koala
View Source....
My coworkers don't really know computers like I do, and since my job is 90% on the computer, I just load up 3 or 4 explorer windows over a random Excel spreadsheet, and stare intently at it. GrilledStuffedDragon
- Right click on random webpage
- "View source"
- Stare intently at JavaScript NebXan
Reviewing.
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Reviewing. Going over work you did for the day "just to make sure I did everything right". Vyzantinist
Find the good clean remote restroom and use it.
If you work in a big enough building, you just put something important looking in one hand (papers, a clipboard works perfectly, etc) and scurry intensely from one random place to the next. Make friends in different areas, stop to chat briefly. Find the good clean remote restroom and use it. Grab a cup of coffee. Help somebody else with work that's more interesting than yours, etc. Rinse, repeat.
As long as you're holding something official looking (change it up) and hurrying semi-urgently from place to place you can go like this right up to your yearly review. Hopefully you managed to get some actual amazing stuff done here and there along the way. Congenital0ptimist
Chaos...
This was over thirty years ago, but a coworker and me used to delete one important file from a test UNIX server then see how long it took the other to fix it. That was a great way to learn. PreviousResponse
Netflix uses chaos monkey, it's a script with full super user permissions that can randomly terminate any process on any live server at any time. If their systems can't cope with the damage done, and their tech support can't get it back up fast enough they consider the system to be faulty and in need of improvements.
https://github.com/Netflix/SimianArmy/wiki/Chaos-Monkey Fenrir101
Click Away....
talk to strangers on reddit. WhenAllElseFail
I work on a Mac, with reddit dark mode I just have a corner peeking out behind my main window and if the boss walks in I click away to my work window. We work in a call center, when there's no one calling it gets boring, fast. MarkStonesHair
Ready Player One.
Find something to read that they can't tell isn't work if they don't look close. Like did you know the script of the Truman show is online somewhere? That was a fun day. Jenslosingit
I read Ready Player One like this.
Part of my job was just being up to date on research and best practice. So I'd have a pdf of a work-related journal article up and another pdf of Ready Player One. I only had to tab to the journal once. brad-corp
Shuffle a bit.
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When you look annoyed all the time, people think you're busy. BlinkRogue1
I have a co-worker who is always late... when they get into the office they just slam things around and shuffle papers and staple things and slam stapler down onto the desk. I guess they think if they make noise it looks like they came in and jumped right into work and are very busy! mrsh529
Do we even have a clue that they're the "one" that got away? How long until it sinks in? And how do we not know there isn't another "one" coming behind them? I have no answers. Just asking...
The Draft
Episode 1 Omg GIF by RuPaul's Drag RaceGiphy"The girl who summoned up the nerve to ask me out towards the beginning of high school. I was so humiliated by the life my family was living that I stalled until she gave up."
"Betsy, if by some stroke of dumb luck you're reading this... I'm so sorry. It was 25-27 years ago, but I still hate myself for that. You were beautiful, intelligent, a good person, and if I had anything resembling a stable, presentable home I would've said yes in a heartbeat... I had a crush on you since 7th-grade 'intro to drafting.'
I Love Her
"Weird, I was just confiding in my mom about this last night. I'm late but for catharsis's sake I'm going to post. My first girlfriend is a classic case of you don't know what you have until it's gone. She's the complete package. Beautiful, intelligent, compassionate, and so kind. We started dating when I was 17 and broke up when I was 21."
"For reference I'm 30 now. I was an idiot. I wanted to play the field. I wanted to party and hook up with college girls. It was fun at first but after a while I felt this gnawing hole in my heart. The feeling of doubt crept up slowly and still, a decade later my chest feels tight thinking about it."
"I didn't realize until my later serious relationships that getting along with your SO's family is so important. Her mom and step dad genuinely treated me like a part of their family. It's not a stretch to say I literally grew up with these people. I spent some of my most formative years with them. Birthdays, Thanksgivings, Christmases, you name it. They celebrated me and my accomplishments. They genuinely cared about me. Just amazing, salt of the earth, lovely people."
"Her birthday was in March and I sent her a text and we ended up talking for a bit. She's happily married and stable with a daughter and a second on the way. I'm genuinely so happy for her. She deserves happiness. I just wish I was a part of that. Sitting at work 10 years later I'm tearing up. I numbed myself out to it for years, it's so strange to me that I've been so stuck on her lately. Is this normal?"
- direct07
15 Years Later
"My very first real love. I was a teenager and I didn't really know how to be comfortable in myself or with myself. I played silly teen girl games and lost him even as a friend. Now 15 years later I still think about R from time to time. I genuinely hope he's happy in his life."
"Edit: Wow this blew up while I was sleeping. Thanks for all the sweet words and to everyone with their "one" congratulations! I suppose I hadn't looked him up on social media because I'm scared, scared he won't respond, scared he will respond, scared he'll think I'm a stalker. I'm in a happy relationship now, but what if... Etc etc etc. But I'll give it a Google."
Missed You Much
rhythm nation dance GIF by Janet JacksonGiphyA girl I dated in high school. Went on a date one time she took me out parking and I was too stupid to realize it.
"She always talked about moving away as soon as she got finished with high school. I always thought I would stay in a little town the rest of my life. Turns out I was the one who left and move to another state. Later I heard that she had told someone that I knew that she thought that we would be married at some point. Missed it by that much."
Ok... I've been a bit blind to the light. People can be cruel, but also highly creative. Why not just lead with the truth? It'll always hurt more after lies.
Chuck E.
Chuck E Cheese Wink GIFGiphy"Ah the rare AskReddit question I can answer."
"I met a wonderful woman circa 2013-2015. We worked at what I can best describe as an upscaled Chuck E Cheese. Or ghetto Six Flags. Your choice."
"We hit it off instantly, though at the time I was rather romantically inept. Eventually, she says she's leaving to join the Air Force. I tell her I'll miss her, and wished her well. The thought of asking for her number so we could stay in contact didn't even cross my mind."
"Cue the next day, I stop for lunch on my way to work, and as I'm walking to my car I hear my name being called. I turn around, and it's her, running toward me. Universe giving me a second chance, right? Wrong. My dumb butt still didn't ask for her number. She looked a little upset, and I still think about her often. Desiree, I hope you're doing well."
The Getaway...
"He was my first and last love. I was 16 and he was 18 when we met. We bounced around like idiots, on again off again, finally got together mid 20s. We both fell into bad habits - drugs and alcohol, more booze for me, more drugs for him. We had some bad things happen that were pretty detrimental to staying sober. We would split, reconcile, get sober, fall off the wagon, split, etc... repeat as necessary. We realized we were very bad for each other unless we could BOTH just get sober for ourselves, and split."
"Ten years later, I was sober for 7 years (still am, going on 18 years end of this month, actually! Woo, go me!) and he was beginning to come back, sober about a year. He contacted me, we met, talked about trying again. He said that once he had been totally clean for a year, we'd do it. That whole "Don't make any changes for a year" thing. I would visit him, tho, things were good."
"He woke up one morning feeling bad, thought he had the flu. (This was pre-now) I stayed around because he was sick, but neither of us thought he was drastically bad, just the flu, right? He got worse and worse, finally we called an ambulance because he got up from a nap and couldn't breathe. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. Aortic dissection."
"He got away, but someday I'll see him again. I never stopped loving him, and him me. We just weren't good for each other."
Ce la vie...
"My most serious Ex."
"Don't think I truly understood love until I met her. Loved her more than I ever thought I could love anything. It eventually ended when she told me that, through no fault of my own, she had fallen out of love with me. That was 2 years ago, still hurts to think/talk about."
"Ce la vie..."
The Avoid...
"I'm in the middle of trying to avoid that right now actually."
"It's not worth the heartache trust me. I fought to stay in a relationship for an entire year. If I would've just let her go the first time she wanted there would've been a lot less pain. We would've left on good terms. I would've lost a lot less sleep. Rip the band-aid off because once the band-aid starts peeling it's inevitable it'll fall off with time."
Kim Tate Eye Roll GIF by Emmerdale"My ex and I broke up over 3 years ago. Mutual breakup through a lack of communication on both ends I feel."
"Thought I was over that hill until this week she messaged just to say hey and ask an innocent question. We text for the best part of the day and it's brought up a lot of old feeling. Feeling pretty bitter sweet right now."
Love is a mess. Why even bother trying if you can't be true? It's not hard to just spell out the situation. And if you're the one needing to put together the words... look closer. The dialogue shouldn't be difficult.
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