We have all experienced slow days in the office. You stare at the clock waiting for it to strike 5 or have trouble staying awake. Here are some great ways to pass the time at work when the day feels like it's dragging on.
A Few Minutes for Serious Daydreaming
“I go apartment shopping. New York, Paris, London, San Francisco. Usually I stay within my price range, but every now and then, I flip it to the most expensive and ogle the apartments that cost like $60,000 a month because why not?” (Source).
And He Even Provided a Link!
“I bookmarked a list of top 200 Sci-fi short stories to read before you die. Every one of them is available in pdf form after adequate googling and they’re short enough to finish in well under an hour. I move down the list and read one when I’m bored. I’ve found some great ones this way, the blood child by Octavia Butler in particular and everything by Ted Chiang. Here’s a link: http://scifilists.sffjazz.com/lists_short_stories.html You have to hit ‘more short stories’ at the bottom to see the second 100 (it’s hidden among other links) in case you want to read in order of what these people consider least best to best” (Source).
I Wouldn’t Get in This Guy’s Way
“Perfect my Machiavellian masterplan to overthrow my boss as the first step in my eventual takeover of the whole corporation as CEO then corner as many shares as I can then lay off as many employees as I can to ‘streamline operations’ and increase share prices then fudge company financials to wow stakeholders and again raise my share prices then cover my a– then sell off all my hypervalued shares the day before I tearfully say that the company has been thoroughly mismanaged by some choice scapegoats and I shall do the noble thing and step down then grab my golden parachute and all the profit from my disposed shares then maneuver my successor into making a deal with my secret corporate raider ally disguised as a white knight that would slowly take control of the company while stripping its assets at a profit until it burns to the ground then get my 30 pieces of silver a part of which I will use to hire a PR team that will paint my reign as a Golden Age in order to burnish my ‘credentials’ even further then become a rich established pillar of the community who through my proven track record can provide valuable expertise as a blue chip consultant and also serve in the board of diverse corporations. All in a slow day’s work for after all, an idle mind is the Devil’s playground and this one in particular is Disneyland” (Source).
This Works If Your Employer Doesn’t Use Key Tracking
“Clicking ‘random article’ on Wikipedia is actually pretty awesome. Time flies when you start getting into a topic thats really new and interesting” (Source).
It’s Like a Vacation on Your Computer Screen
“I choose a random touristic city and simulate a travel by Google Streetview. Taking the cab route from airport to hotel, the hotel to nearest points, like I was really visiting every place. Sums everything on Evernote, so if I really get to travel there I just have my tour route script” (Source).
But What Does the Cute Girl Do to Kill Time?
“I play poker or read a book on my phone, or I search Spotify for new and interesting artists and tracks. Sometimes I walk around the office and find random people to talk to, mainly this cute girl over in marketing” (Source).
This Is Actually a Thing?
“Forklift jousting” (Source).
Could She Please Come to Work at My House?
“I’m a little obsessed with organization, so back when I worked in a 9 – 5 office I’d empty entire cupboards and filing cabinets to put the chaos in order and throw away junk, shred stuff, recycle etc. Boring answer, I know, but man, I would rather have done that for 8 hours than my actual job (selling holidays and currency)” (Source).
This Makes a Very Sad Statement
“This is actually how I started smoking. ‘Can I have a smoke break, boss?’ ‘Sure’ ‘Can I have a fresh air break, boss?’ ‘What?'” (Source).
Would You Want to Work With This Guy?
“I try to f–k with people at the office. For example at my office we have a doorbell because we don’t have a receptionist, but what people don’t know is that I have a second doorbell hidden inside a cabinet and when I get bored, I press it, wait for someone to go to the door, and after they turn around to come back after finding nobody there, press it again. Also taping everyone’s mouses, slowing down their mouse speed, flipping their screen upside down, you know, the classics” (Source).
Seriously, This Should Count as Work Time
“Binge watch ‘The Office'” (Source).
This Worker Is Going to Go Far
“I just invent projects for myself. Filing, documenting processes, learning new excel skills. Thinking about work I’ll need to do in the future and trying to do some of it now. And I listen to podcasts or audiobooks to make the time fly by faster” (Source).
How to Web Surf Without Your Boss Knowing
“I have a 128 gig solid state drive with CypherShed full volume encryption running a fully mobile version of Windows 8.1, all in a USB 3.0 enclosure. In a separate, non-encrypted partition, I have Virtualbox Portable and a small bootloader that lets VB boot from USB. So essentially, I have a secure personal computer with me at all times, and can tether my phone via USB to the OS so I can get out to the internet. All so I can browse without going through our web gateway” (Source).
Now This Is How You Kill Time at Work
“Shamelessly play video games. I spend a lot of time in a cubicle doing CAD for a small consultancy. The nice thing about my screens is that no-one can see them from anywhere in the office. While working on one screen, I spend some of my attention playing browser games on the other, which kills time remarkably quick. I used to be into Miniclip kind of stuff, as well as some RPG titles, but the real-time aspect was a real problem (no pun intended). Some games Initium, Kingdom of Loathing are actually really nice for this kind of time wasting, as you can close them at a moment’s notice. Kingdom of Loathing is super funny, but has a time-based energy level to do stuff… Both also come as phone apps, so I can take them with me when down in the workshop. On days where there are lots of people in, or clients around, I have also killed time with: Podcasts, comedy skits, learning how to program (cause you look busy doing it), and taking extra long breaks (if my boss is not all over me and provided I get my work done)” (Source).
This Guy Is Literally Killing Time
“I work as a security for special events like wedding receptions and quinceñeras. We’re not allowed to sit, be on our phones, or walk around, just stand in one spot for 6 hours. Usually I’ll zone out and count, my record is 15,678” (Source).
The Wonders of the Internet
“Coursera. learning while working if the day is slow. Since I’m mostly in classes that are relevant to my job, my boss knows about it and encourages it” (Source).
This Guy Must Work in a Cubicle.
“Start questioning every aspect of my life, crumble into a ball of existential despair, pause, then start making a list of docs/music/places/things I wanna check out so I give myself something to look forward to, feel better, repeat” (Source).
That Explains All These Long Comment Threads
“Used to work at Lowe’s. If I had nothing to do and it was a slow day, Reddit on the toilet” (Source).
Turning Boredom Into a Competition
“Try a Wikipedia race with someone. Choose an article, then you both hit random and using only links from the body of the article, find your way to the original article” (Source).
The Most Meta Answer in the Universe
“Answer random questions on AskReddit in hopes of one of them reaching the front page which will lead to massive karma distributions” (Source).