Modern work culture teaches people to equate busyness with value, even when the job doesn’t actually require it.

One IT Systems Administrator spent his days bored at work, growing increasingly anxious that he didn’t have enough to do.

Before long, he began to question whether true productivity in IT meant consistent tasks, or simply being ready when something breaks.

Keep reading for the full story.

Twiddling My Thumbs

When I was oh so much younger, I worked as a Systems Administrator for an obsolescent network operating system in a Fortune 500 company.

They were in the process of deploying Windows NT instead of the Banyan Vines system I took care of.

This gig didn’t end up giving him much to do.

I was employed to manage the old system until they shut it down.

Because the Banyan Vines servers had long ago been stabilized, and because their usage was decreasing, I basically sat around twiddling my thumbs all day.

But this associate really beat himself up about this.

I was a young go-getter, so I had a real psychological problem with this.

I kept thinking I needed to be productive and busy, but there just wasn’t anything to do.

I browsed the web all day and read books, but I always felt stressed about it like I was going to get in trouble.

So finally, he came clean to his boss who reassured him.

I finally had a conversation with my boss one day and expressed concerns about this.

He said, “Don’t worry about it. We’re not paying you to keep busy when things are going well. We’re paying you to fix problems when/if they come up.”

Now, he realizes how lucky he’d been the whole time.

After that I felt a little better about getting paid to browse the web and read books, but I still didn’t feel 100% comfortable with it.

Man, now I would totally eat that **** up.

I wish I could have fully enjoyed what I had when I had it.

Oh well, so it goes…

Funny how you never seem to recognize the good ol’ days until they’ve passed.

What did Reddit think?

For IT workers, complaints come in two main categories.

There are other ways to stay occupied during less busy periods.

Even with inconsistent work, it all balances out in the end.

One particular phrase in this story makes this commenter shudder.

Looking back, he’s come to realize those slow days were a gift he didn’t appreciate at the time.

Funny how the jobs we complain about in our twenties become the ones we daydream about decades later.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.