I have been working at a new job for a little over a month now, and each day brings an 8 hour shift doing general labor. Job aside, I don't really talk to anyone when I work and headphones aren't allowed, so I find my mind wanders wherever it pleases as my body is on work time autopilot. I find myself re-watching films and shows from memory, thinking of story ideas, humming theme songs and other music, and I've even gone as far as to start creating a musical in my head. (Now if only I knew how to write/compose music...) So I was curious as to what others think about when they're on the clock when not interacting with others. How do you pass the time?
I have to arrange boxes in an efficient manner so I have to retain some level of focus, but I catch myself listening to the radio at times, and more often humming my own favourite soungs. An attractive blonde who also works there sometimes distracts me, but I'm careful not to stare. Ideas for writing don't bless me often, unfortunately, nor do other random ponderings that could take up a good chunk of my time. Maybe I should try to actively think about stuff to get me going, but like I said, those damn boxes demnand my attention too. Good luck with that job by the way!
Well I'm a waitress, so when it's busy I have to pay attention to everything. But if it's quiet we'll all just settle around the coffee bar and sing/dance along to the radio. If I'm walking around making sure all is good, I catch myself singing along to the radio. I think that's about it actualy
Most of the time, I think about what my plans are for the weekend, or something funny I watched/read, sometimes in my darkest moments, I think about what I'm going to do when I finally quit or lose it at my job. My job is pretty rough, I have a bully who constantly harasses me. :/
I used to work in an office and we weren't allowed to listen to the radio. I used to think about what would happen if a group of terrorists suddenly barged through the door, including who, of my colleagues, would try to be a hero, who would curl up into a foetal position and cry, and how I would save the day with my amazing kung fu skills that don't actually exist.
I used to work at a restaurant as a host, so I had to pay attention the whole time. Luckily, I would get breaks every now and then for half an hour, which I'd spend playing video games on either my GBA, PSP, or DS.
If I'm not teaching classes I'm usually lesson planning or doing something in my classroom. We're allowed to use Pandora for music, so there's always that. Otherwise sometimes I write, other times I'm working on my Chinese. My boss is a nut so she'll sometimes come in unannounced and go "Oh my God, I just HAVE to show you this thing right now!" yesterday it was how she could doodle all over our SMART board and the window would change size as she drew. Sure helps the time fly.
These days I mostly just internally mock my customers. When I was younger/nicer I would do math problems in my head... that probably sounds weird. I challenge myself to add up the prices of various items and see if I'm right about the results--it's handy to be able to do during a rush. Talking to coworkers is an option you may want to revisit, it's helped many a boring shift for me. Also Words With Friends.
I help exterminate bugs, there's hardly ever time that I'm not busy. But even when you aren't busy, there's really not much you so much as can do except stand there, and maybe look around the room you're in. EDIT: Oh, except when we kill termites. I set traps, I don't spray chemicals, so I usually do get at least a few minutes of down time then. At those times, I usually just sit around. Again, there's not much you really can do.
Really it depends on what is happening at work for me. I work at San Diego State University in the Lock Shop so we are in charge of making keys for all the classrooms, cabinets, doors, vehicles, etc on campus. One problem is that since I'm a student worker and not a locksmith I have to wait for tasks that I'm able to do. Usually to pass the time I think about what I have to record or edit when I get home, or I daydream from time to time. I also need to think about scheduling for my projects since I have multiple Let's Plays running on two sites so I guess what I'm mainly thinking about at work is just "what is it that I need to do for my LPs later?"
I don't have a job but when I have to stand around and all I have as entertainment is my mind then I just think. I think about life questions and normally go quite philosophical with myself or think about what I'll do later or picture scenarios in my head about potential conversations with people or situations I wish would happen. I have to have a lot of self control over my thoughts though as I try not to get my hopes up over something that may not happen. I may sometimes do a narrative in my head as if I'm writing a story of my life xD or I pray which tends to relax me and makes me feel peaceful.
Hm. What floats through my head when I'm in school is approx. 75% story related things (scenes, thinking about character development, imagining being interviewed by people, imagining people ask me about it, etc etc) and 25% about this one kid. I honestly don't really think about much else. There's rarely a time where i'm not thinking, and not totally engrossed in my thoughts. I daydream quite a lot, and I've always been good at coming up with new ideas or scenarios to imagine if I get bored due to school or something similar.
Most of my work is done either maintaining/separating/ identifying flies or at some computer (reading articles, writting stuff). So when I am at a computer is easy to pass time (the dificult thing is to have your job done). When I am with my flies I just have to focus so I don't screw up.. But I also like to re imagine my previous conversations "I should have said that, not this" or think about by next conversation, or even think "ohh.. how cool it would be if I had super powers , then I would be much more interesting." At my lab we are allowed to listen to the radio while working (as long it is at a low volume), and we have another room where we can study or use computers, in this secondary room we also can use headphones.
Pretty much. Outwardly, I indulge them and stuff. Inwardly, I am either mocking the crap out of them or I am imagining myself just flipping the register in a fit of rage because they're returning a half eaten box of donuts and claiming they're not fit for human consumption. [Okay, I'm going to give some context. A customer bough a t-bone steak, a box of donuts, and some other stuff. But the steak and the donuts are the important bits. Later in the day same customer brings back the empty packaging from the steak and the box of donuts, half of them missing mind you. They claimed the steak was 'all gristle and cord' and the donuts were 'all grease' and 'fit for no human to eat'. Outwardly, I am paging the manager to authorize the refund the customer is demanding of me. Inwardly, I am giving this customer a 'the reason you suck' speech. Because I have eaten steaks from the store I work at, none of them tough to the point I can't eat it. And if the donuts aren't fit for human consumption, why are half of the donuts missing? They got their refund.] I could go on for hours. But I'm either mocking costumers, trying to find menial things to keep me occupied(which I get done in like...2-3 hours and I still have 5 or 6 hours left. I also do word finds or crossword puzzles just to keep my brain occupied between customers.
