When we join the working world, we tend to want to learn and grow our network and find other ways to get ahead.
But not every job works like that, especially if your boss gives you instructions that are based on optics instead of productivity.
That’s what happened in this story. Keep reading to see if you think it’s a sweet gig.
I need to work slower and look busy for the Boss? You got it!
As a freshman in college I got my first job at an automotive supplier.
The company began a merger and they decided they were going to move everything at my site to the other company’s HQ in another nearby city.
The first thing that moved was vast majority of the equipment my new department used.
The upper management made the brilliant decision to leave the 4 members of my department (1 Supervisor, 1 tech, and 2 students) at the old site until the move was complete.
Their short-sighted decision put OP on easy street.
This meant we had essentially nothing we could work on.
After about 2 weeks of sitting around, my Supervisor (60F) finally came up with a small task for me.
I completed this in about 4 hours which I thought was pretty good for something I had never done and had little training on, so I went to let her know.
Me: “Hey Super, I’m done!”
Super (Angry and in a panic): “Done? This was supposed to take you all week! I don’t have anything else for you to do now!
I need you to look busy in case Boss walks by.
Next time I give you something to do you need to drag it out longer so that you look busy!”
A week or so later I was given another task.
I was to take thousands of these tiny explosive devices we use and dispose of them by detonating them in a concrete box.
Super: “ And remember take your time and don’t go through them too fast!”
So OP turns dawdling into an art form.
To look busy, I set off about 5-10 of these once an hour.
I spent the rest of the time on my phone playing games, watching Netflix, listening to music, etc. while getting paid over double minimum wage at the time.
I managed to stretch that project for the remaining 2.5 months I was there finishing just in time for the end of the semester.
Any time someone asked me for help on something else I politely told them i would when I was done but it might be awhile because Super told me not to go through these too fast.
The company ended up paying me over $10,000 (a lot of money for a student at the time) just to sit on my phone all day for 3 months.
Here’s what the commenters are saying.
This one makes the manager seem smart.
Haha I hope so, but I doubt it would have mattered.
I second this. There comes a time when you need to move on to something more stimulating.
And now I’M laughing at this guy. Yikes.
Maybe! But I think a lot of people are so incompetent that they don’t realize what an efficient operation looks like.
I want to know what he was watching on Netflix.
If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.