Some people thrive in a cluttered and chaotic environment.

Other people like to keep everything neat and organized in order to focus.

In today’s story, one employee has a system to keep things organized, but that backfires when their boss thinks that means they don’t have enough work.

Let’s see how the story plays out…

It doesn’t look like you have enough to do

Got my first career job in a local government, keeping tabs on it’s real estate and the legal documents relating to said real estate.

I’m wet behind the ears, my first 40 hour per week career job.

This was a time when “multitasking” was a huge buzz word in business and it seemed every single job I applied for required someone with good “multi-tasking skills”.

I thought it was bull.

I worked best when only working on one task at a time and managing my workload via a daily time allotment schedule.

That is, I’d schedule my work in 15 minute lumps when I got in in the morning and work on those tasks.

That way, I never missed a deadline, or had a project fall between the cracks.

For example, some tasks got slotted 2 hours.

Some whole days.

Some just 15 minutes.

He had a system to keep the desk organized.

I loved to keep my desk clean.

All tasks that appeared in my physical inbox were sorted and prioritized.

The paperwork was then filed, and the task scheduled, for later that day, or later in the week depending on how urgent it was.

Consequently, my desk was always empty, save one folder, and a few maps related to the folder.

Once one task was done, that folder and it’s maps were filed, a new folder and it’s maps were retrieved.

The almost empty desk confused the boss.

One afternoon my direct boss walks in, looks at my desk with it’s one folder and two maps, looks at my clean topped filing cabinets, looks at my empty in-box (physical one you actually put paper/folders in).

Grunts. Walks out.

20 minutes later, my boss strides back into my office, drops 18 inches of folders and papers onto my inbox.

States proudly and firmly, “it doesn’t look like you have enough to do. THIS should keep you busy.”

He smiled and strutted back to his cluttered office.

It was busy work. 3 weeks of mind numbing, paper work.

Nothing outside of my work description, just more like duplicate files, old contracts, unorganized paperwork, and/or outdated maps.

He decided to make the office look chaotic.

In dealing with the Dump’s aftermath, I learned my lesson.

While doing my actual job was important, it was equally important that hard work appear to be happening, so I could do my actual job.

I started saving old files, old maps, and old legal documents.

I rebound up papers, that normally would have been recycled, into legitimate looking folders.

I transformed my office into a duplicate of my boss’ chaotic, file & paper, nightmare.

My inbox always had papers and folders in it. Height and number would vary, daily.

Never empty.

I had folders piled on top of the file cabinets, folders in stacks on the floor.

24 of those white office boxes packed with ‘files’ towering around my work area.

I even had a map rack with old maps rolled up in it.

My office looked utterly cluttered.

He also tried to look busy when away from the desk.

I even took to walking everywhere with a steno pad, a file folder, and sometimes a map under my arm.

Didn’t matter where.

Getting coffee? Pad and file.

Pooping? Pad and file.

Pointless meeting? Pad. Two files.

Actual necessary and productive meeting. Pad, relevant file, relevant map.

His boss tried to enter the office.

Every morning, right after scheduling my real work, I would shuffle the fake folders and paper around my desk and work area.

Move the boxes about every two weeks.

But in all that visual chaos I kept one area of my desk clean, where the real work happened.

One day, my boss peeked into my office, the door bumping into a stack of 3 full, white boxes placed behind it preventing it from fully opening.

A single file fell off the top spilling its guts all over the floor.

He knew just how to respond to the boss.

He looked around, paused at the mess he just made, then, “Uh, sorry ’bout that. What you working on?”

I rattled off 3 of the highest priority property’s on the current weeks schedule and the tasks for each.

“Alright, um, I’ll give this to someone else” and walked on down the hall.

I’d already completed those tasks.

It’s too bad he has to live in chaos at work, but at least it prevented the boss from giving him even more junk.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…

This person can relate to the technique.

Another person has a messy desk for the same reason.

Here’s a tip from Human Resources…

This reader shares the truth about multitasking…

Another reader believes efficiency doesn’t work at work.

Even an electrician has to learn to look busy.

It’s too bad looking busy is respected more than actually being busy.

George Costanza was onto something.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.