Other than going on Lemmy lol.
What I have done throughout the years (as an office worker) is the following:
- reddit/lemmy
- chess
- selfhosting/homelab
- chores/planning
- writing
Getting tired of all these, looking for something to do when I have nothing to do but still looks like I am active on Teams/online.
OpenStreetMap contributions.
I rarely have free time at work. I like what I do so it doesn’t feel like a soul sucking grind, I just finish something and start working on the next thing.
I’ll troubleshoot or enhance my home lab when I take a break. Be productive around the house like laundry or empty dishwasher, let the dogs out, organize digital files or mail/bills. How very “over 40” of me, right?
Make maps for the government. I watch YouTube all day.
Skribbl.io play draw&guess with Indian kids
physical labourer - music and working on maths problems are great. Notgibg melts the day away better than liquid dnb and PDE topology
Investing, learning commodities and markets, planning life financials, planning outside work schedules, meals, activities, dates, home or vehicle maintenance. Couponing. Health based care and ideas.
Check in on family/older people always is worth doing often you never know when it’ll be the last time you could ever hear or see them.
Basically being productive in your life outside work while on company time, its actually the highest tier achievement in an employee role.
Thank you for reminding me to schedule my hair appointment on the clock today.
contribute to openstreetmap
"My job consists of basically masking my contempt for the assholes in charge, and, at least once a day, retiring to the men’s room so I can jerk off while I fantasize about a life that doesn’t so closely resemble Hell.”
I rarely have time to kill at work. I don’t get paid by the hour, so I need to work to make money. And if there’s no work to do I go home. In the very rare times when I’m waiting on someone else I usually eat, hydrate, or take a smoke break.
You guys have free time at work? Kinda curious what you all do?
I am and Electrical Engineer and am usually busy all day. Sometimes I’ll head home a few hours early if i hit my hours for for the week or if I have to “hurry up and wait”
Office worker in government. Everyone around me is either an idiot/incompetent or doing all the work. Will get ‘rewarded’ with more work if I start asking for more.
At least you get to go home early if you want. I guarantee that 80% of office workers pretend to work all day because if we don’t then we are given more work/responsibilities without a pay increase, job title, any reward.
A lot of office work is ‘be ready to answer a question at anytime when someone walks up to your cube’. And to be fair, you are probably the only person who can answer that question since most people’s role is niche/specialized.
But honestly, pretty sure office workers/management want people in the office all hours of the days because they hate their home life, and use work as their only socialization.
Not trying to be sarcastic, but do you not find joy in your work? I’ll ask for more work too when I run out of things to do as well.
I just like electronics and stuff though. And the boring/tedious parts of my job I think it is at least fun to try to automate or streamline them with python or other tools
Not sure if you can find joy in anything if you do it 8 hours+ every single working day of your life, if you still get excited enough to ask for new work without having to I’m jealous of how much you like what you do
I suppose it is a mixture, of both work and coworkers.
I like trying to “perfect my craft”. But also, I like spending time with my coworkers and getting to brainstorm and chat with them.
That being said I am also very fortunate to only have to work 36hrs per week. Pay is less than full time, but it can also just eat out less
I began putting objects on my keyboard with notepad open within three weeks at my new government work. Teams chills out. Can be very very boring
Briefly daydream about having time to kill, log my overtime, and get back to my giant never ending pile of tasks
Gen-X represent … if you want.
Read https://linmob.net/
YouTube or emulating something on my retro handheld I stash behind my monitors at work.
Remote into my other machine and play video games
Lay in my hammock and talk to the birds and squirrels.
Back when I still had the time, I played Universal Paperclips. That was fun.






