At your job how many hours are you doing “real work” in your shift?

[CyberCubed]

Out of my regular 8 hour day I have maybe 20-30 minutes of actual real work sprinkled throughout the day. The other 7 or so hours I’m just browsing my phone searching the internet or making threads like this one. I basically get paid to surf the web at this point.

Been working here for over a year now and it has never changed. As someone who has no desire to climb the corporate ladder and has no real career aspirations, I am content where I am. Sure beats where I was working before for 4 years at the airport at any rate.

So out of my shift I basically work about 30 minutes a day, maybe 40 minutes max if the work piles up. How about you? I feel like I am living the high life.

[AquaParade]

I got a chuckle out of this, thanks.

What are your worries? What if someone asks where all your time goes? On to the next job? Do you have excuses loaded? What do they think you do?

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Out of my regular 8 hour day I have maybe 20-30 minutes of actual real work sprinkled throughout the day. The other 7 or so hours I’m just browsing my phone searching the internet or making threads like this one. I basically get paid to surf the web at this point.

Been working here for over a year now and it has never changed. As someone who has no desire to climb the corporate ladder and has no real career aspirations, I am content where I am. Sure beats where I was working before for 4 years at the airport at any rate.

So out of my shift I basically work about 30 minutes a day, maybe 40 minutes max if the work piles up. How about you? I feel like I am living the high life.

God what do you do for a living? Are you a receptionist in a slow office or something? That's the first thing that comes to mind given what you've said....

[IndigoErth]

Uh, all of it. As a vendor/rep for a company who is responsible for our department in several stores I typically work alone other than the rare occasion my supervisor stops by and gives me a hand. Each stop also has a limited allotted amount of time, so there is no leisure time.

On the plus side, working independently has the benefit of having no one breathing down your neck.

[Candy Kappa]

Hours well spent

I work in a grocery store where we are mostly alone at work, and have to manage the cash register, stocking shelves, coolers and freezers, stock soft drinks and beer, manage the bank and post section, lottery and horse racing tickets and baked goods as well as keeping it clean and tidy.

So unless it’s a slow day (like today with a snowstorm) it’s not a whole lot of time to goof off on-hours

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Out of my regular 8 hour day I have maybe 20-30 minutes of actual real work sprinkled throughout the day. The other 7 or so hours I’m just browsing my phone searching the internet or making threads like this one. I basically get paid to surf the web at this point.

Been working here for over a year now and it has never changed. As someone who has no desire to climb the corporate ladder and has no real career aspirations, I am content where I am. Sure beats where I was working before for 4 years at the airport at any rate.

So out of my shift I basically work about 30 minutes a day, maybe 40 minutes max if the work piles up. How about you? I feel like I am living the high life.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

I got a chuckle out of this, thanks.

What are your worries? What if someone asks where all your time goes? On to the next job? Do you have excuses loaded? What do they think you do?

For those wondering I work for the NYC Department of Buildings which issues permits, construction violations, floor plans, etc for the Manhattan area. I am low on the totem pole so I just do the data entry work, the appointment scheduling for plan examiners to meet with architects and filing reps, and open PAA’s which are post approval amendments for docs for permits and floor plans and construction codes.

There are usually around 100 e-mails a day to handle this stuff and me and about 5 other people all work together. My actual “work” takes me less than a minute to handle each request, so if there are say 40 requests it would take me roughly 40 minutes if I did it all back to back. But I am lazy so I usually don’t do it all together and sprinkle it through the day.

As for if this job ends or I move on? Who knows, but it’s not like it affects me now. For the record mostly everyone else I work with has the same thing, but it just doesn’t take me long to do what I do. I literally worked for about a half hour today. I’ve been at this job since January of 2019 over a year so if I was doing something wrong I would have been long gone by now.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Candy Kappa

Hours well spent

I work in a grocery store where we are mostly alone at work, and have to manage the cash register, stocking shelves, coolers and freezers, stock soft drinks and beer, manage the bank and post section, lottery and horse racing tickets and baked goods as well as keeping it clean and tidy.

So unless it’s a slow day (like today with a snowstorm) it’s not a whole lot of time to goof off on-hours

It sounds like you work overnights at a White-Hen! LOL!

Remember those or were they only a Chicago area business? I'm not even sure if there are any left. Think 7-11 but not as scummy. White Hen was to 7-11 as Target is to Wal-Mart...

[CyberCubed]

Yeah the only thing is our work computers block any internet sites outside of the established work websites, so I can't browse the internet on my work computer. Thank god the mobile cellular phone exists with high speed internet. If this was the 90's I couldn't browse the internet on my phone all day. And since I sit at a desk with an outlet, I bring my charger with me and just leave my phone plugged in all day as I use it.

In the modern age we have a computer in our pockets at all times, you couldn't say this in 1997!

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Yeah the only thing is our work computers block any internet sites outside of the established work websites, so I can't browse the internet on my work computer. Thank god the mobile cellular phone exists with high speed internet. If this was the 90's I couldn't browse the internet on my phone all day. And since I sit at a desk with an outlet, I bring my charger with me and just leave my phone plugged in all day as I use it.

In the modern age we have a computer in our pockets at all times, you couldn't say this in 1997!

Back then if you had a computer for use at work you played Minesweeper on it hahaahahaha

[IndigoErth]

lol And solitaire if you were lucky.

[Leo656]

Just about all of it, honestly. I'm generally quite lucky if I even get a food or bathroom break. Thankfully I don't work solid 8-hour shifts and have a fairly flexible schedule to begin with, but if I'm at work I'm generally working.

My job comes in two parts: Gym membership sales/desk duties, and actual personal training. Some days I do one, some days the other, and some days both. Gym Staff days consist of at least one hour of cleaning the place, and after that it's a combination of stocking supplies, inspecting the equipment, managing customer questions/complaints, various marketing tasks, and making dozens of phone calls trying to either get new members in the door or entice former members to come back. These days are the least "fun" part of my job, but they're effective insofar as it helps me pick up new clients, which is where I make the most of my money. I don't get paid a lot for the Staff duties; the point is basically to maintain a "presence" at the gym and establish contacts with the members, which in turn leads to obtaining new training clients. The majority of what I earn is based on commission, either from membership sales or PT sales. So working at the gym is kind of a necessary evil in order to meet more people and earn more commissions. Other trainers who didn't also do regular Staff stuff inevitably picked up far fewer clients and earned a lot less money. Which kind of makes sense; If I signed your membership, by the time we sit down a couple days later for your physical evaluation and I pitch you a PT package, you're going to trust me a little bit more than if it were some other random person sitting next to you asking you to drop a car payment every month on your health and wellness.

If I take breaks at all it's generally on one of the Staff days, but it's very hard to get any time to not be "On." For one thing, like clockwork, I can make twenty calls in a row and get nothing but answering machines, but the second my ass hits the toilet seat that phone is gonna ring, and it's always someone leaving an annoyed message about how "I thought you guys were open but nobody's answering the phone!" I also don't get to eat much, because as my boss loves to point out, "Some of these people have eating disorders so we can't have food in here, as even the smell can be 'triggering'." Which I understand, but am not entirely sympathetic towards, because A. I am not my brother's keeper, and B. Even if I'm "only" working a 5 or 6-hour shift, that's STILL a long time to be actively working without any fuel, especially if you're like me and also try to get a workout in before or after the shift. Since I never get a chance to take a real break and run across the street for something, and nobody can subsist on protein bars from the vending machine alone, I do try and sneak a quick meal most of the time, but even then I'm almost always sitting at the desk, taking quick sips of soup in between phone calls.

For another thing, it's a 24/7 gym so the place is covered in security cameras, which the boss has a remote access to on his cell phone, so taking any kind of break at all is ill-advised. Lots of times I AM working, but not doing what he specifically wants me to be doing in that moment, and I'll hear about it. Common example: I'll get a phone call from a customer about a billing issue, then sit and log into their Member Portal, play detective, checking past emails about this situation, etc., and then I'll get a text from the boss out of nowhere saying, "Quit playing on the computer and start mopping the gym." I've been there for 10 years, so I have a little bit of room to push back, so I'm never shy about letting him know that I'm actually handling a customer and that he shouldn't make assumptions about me not working. But point being, I'm always being watched, therefore I don't have time to goof off. If I'm at work, I'm working.

I DO check in here, on FB, and skim the recent news while I'm at work, as most people do, but only in between making phone calls and only if I'm ahead of my daily task checklist. Like if I'm calling someone I've called 10 times in the past and I know for a fact they're not going to answer, I'll hop on here while the phone is ringing, since the call is gonna take about two minutes altogether including my leaving a voicemail. So I'm still working at the same time, just trying not to pass out from boredom at having to recite the exact same voicemail script for the hundredth time.

If I'm training clients I generally don't have a chance to do anything else. I don't like gaps in my schedule, so on most training days I'll schedule everyone back-to-back and will only get a break if someone calls out. And I already don't ever have enough time to work out the way I want to, so if someone no-shows, I just work out to fill that hour until the next client shows up. On those days someone else is usually using the work computer, so there's nothing else to really do except work out to fill time.

So yeah, if I'm "at work" I'm generally working, and even if I go online to "goof off" it's when I'm on hold. I'd say that my job is physically not very difficult but mentally very draining because I really don't get any "down time" whatsoever.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by IMJ

It sounds like you work overnights at a White-Hen! LOL!

Remember those or were they only a Chicago area business? I'm not even sure if there are any left. Think 7-11 but not as scummy. White Hen was to 7-11 as Target is to Wal-Mart...

Had to google what a White-Hen store is.

I work in a "local grocer on the corner" type convenience store, small enough to legally be open on Sundays, but we don't have open to late at night, we close 2100.

[CyberCubed]

Today I worked for about 35 minutes with 6-7 different minute intervals. So for example I worked from 9:00am to 9:07 am, took a break, worked again around 10:40-10:47am, took a break, etc. By the end of the day I think I only worked for 35 minutes.

Granted it does get boring at times, I can only stare at my phone for so long. Nearly fell asleep at my desk today. But then I get reminded that I'm being paid to sit in a heated office and air conditioner in the summer, so who am I to complain. I feel like I hit my dream job, slacking off and doing the bare minimum of work but still getting paid. I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Out of my regular 8 hour day I have maybe 20-30 minutes of actual real work sprinkled throughout the day. The other 7 or so hours I’m just browsing my phone searching the internet or making threads like this one. I basically get paid to surf the web at this point.

Been working here for over a year now and it has never changed. As someone who has no desire to climb the corporate ladder and has no real career aspirations, I am content where I am. Sure beats where I was working before for 4 years at the airport at any rate.

So out of my shift I basically work about 30 minutes a day, maybe 40 minutes max if the work piles up. How about you? I feel like I am living the high life.

You..... you have a job?


YOU ACTUALLY LEAVE THE HOUSE?

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

You..... you have a job?


YOU ACTUALLY LEAVE THE HOUSE?

[TigerClaw]

I work 40 hours a week Monday through Fridays. and have Saturdays and Sundays off. I get Holidays Off as well.

[CyberCubed]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

I work 40 hours a week Monday through Fridays. and have Saturdays and Sundays off. I get Holidays Off as well.

I think most people work around 8 hour days besides a few, but the point of this thread is many hours are you doing "actual, real work." Like not just sitting there or just talking with co-workers or whatever.

The trick is to put in as minimal effort as possible and reap maximum benefits, and that's the best way to get the most out of your job. When your supervisor walks by, pretend you're busy or look like you're shuffling papers or looking through e-mail or reading something important, when he walks off, go back to doing nothing. Words to live by.

[Sage Ninja]

...all of it...

[Andrew NDB]

In a few days, maybe 0 hours.