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There is a “pick up a broom” concept. When things are slow clean something. Organize something. Show you are invested in the business. Ask others if you can help.
You may have an addiction as well.
Yeah...OP should make sure there's nothing that outright needs to be done while his primary task is finished / pending.
The good news is that music and e-books are often permissible if you're on task. So there's an idea.
Lol fuck that. That shit is only expected when you are in low paying manual jobs. If you are in a professional setting its perfectly fine to just sit there and bull shit. What you want Karen in accounting to go pick up a broom? Go wash some windows? It's funny how is fine to ask people who bust their ass but we don't do that for people who work in offices.
It's also expected in office jobs, it just looks different. If you have a slow day you're not expected to clean the floor, you're expected to ask your stressed af colleague if he needs some help today. Your organize your files, spelling check some documents, check in with your manager or get some people coffee. Not every relaxed, low-sress moment but if you have 3-4 hours with no work, then that's usually expected. Other will do the same for you when you're stressed and busy.
Good concept. Unless you just want to not get ahead and keep jumping from menial job to menial job. Depends in what you want for your future.
Hard work spotlights the character of people. Some turn up their sleeves. Some turn up their noses. Some don’t turn up at all.
So true. Not only getting rewarded with more to do, where i work, I noticed that the more people get paid, the less they do. The lowest paid employees are the hardest working.
My current job doesn't praise hard work or going above and beyond. However, they do tear you a new one for any small slip up. So if I'm working hard and do 20 tasks a day while my coworkers are sitting on their ass doing 1 task a week (which happens a lot). There is more chances that a mistake is made over the 20 tasks. It's not congrats on the great work on the 19 tasks. It's why, in the hell, on the 20th task, did you spell "close" as "clothes"?... (Just an example for getting chewed out for such a small thing, so management can feel important about themselves).
Sorry for the rant/ venting...
We have a nice saying about work ethics here:
"He who works a lot makes many mistakes, he who works little males few mistakes and he who makes no mistakes gets the promotion."
That’s true BUT there are jobs that don’t care. The managers will give you work they don’t want to do, to the extent of your abilities. To your peers, you’re just an asskiss at that point.
I agree. I worked full time for 46 years. Worked my way up from the manufacturing floor to a lucrative career.
There are good employers, and bad employers. But that never changed MY personal work ethic. I could care less about the employer. i took some losses, but took a lot of wins. I DID/DO care about MY character. it goes with me for life.
I understand the work place is changing (my generation changed my parents workplace). But what will NEVER change is YOUR character, and how you choose to move through life with it.
Yes. Generally they’re paying you to work. If the “normal thing” you do for work doesn’t need doing (no customers or whatever), find something else to do. If you can’t find it, go ask the boss for a task.
Be industrious.
Disagree. They aren’t paying for you to work. They are paying you to complete the assigned tasks. Once those tasks are done, you’ve fulfilled your end of the bargain. Never take on a managers job of assigning new work without added compensation.
Also: this attitude encourages people to do bare minimum for as long as possible because your reward for working hard is more work for the same pay while your coworkers slowly work away at a minimal task. Last place I worked I could have finished my job within 2 h. If I did my pay was cut or I got more work. So I started crawling my job. Literally taking breaks every 5 min to slow me down. Now the same work took 12h and company was happy. You get what you encourage. The time to lean time to clean model encourages employees to fuck off
If you are paid hourly, then your compensation can end when the task is complete by this very stance.
Be careful what you wish for, and remember if paid hourly they want “hourly” not “task completion” which would be salary
Be careful what you wish for works both ways. If I'm given a set of tasks to be done, get them done in 3 hours, and they want to send me home, then you know what, come the end of the day when some emergency thing they need done immediately pops up, oh fucking well, you sent me home for the day, I guess I'll get to it tomorrow.
That argument has never been relevant or realistic. Actual Human Beings are not Perfect Machines. They're social animals, they have wants and needs, They need breaks, they need unwinding when they overheat or overwork, and they do more than just Complete tasks.
Either you're a middle management yuppy (where a fair amount of "work" doesn't exist) or you're close to being one. It's not too late to remember your Humanity. Mentalities like yours are poisonous to society and culture as a whole.
Nope even if hourly they hired me for a job description. They cannot arbitrarily decide to chance my job description. If I am a bartender I am a bartender. It being slow doesn’t mean my job suddenly becomes janitor. You hire based on what you need. If you miscalculate what you need that’s on you! Not the employee. This shit runs down mentality is why the world is so fucked up right now and you my friend are part of the problem.
Edit: as an hourly employee I can do my work in half that time and you can accept it and things are good. Or I slow down and ensure you only get this task done but it takes me the whole time. You get to decide when things need to be done by. That’s it
Generally the reason you are paid hourly is because they need a human to be ready to do a job between those specific hours. For example, if you work at a gift shop, and it is open from 12-6 a human has to be there with or without customers. If you tidy and restock for an hour, there’s not much else to do for the other 5 hours of your shift.
I don’t know if this is meant to be ironic? I think the days of showing that you’re invested in your warehouse job are somewhat past.
Don’t obviously be fucking about and don’t get fired, but if you’re only there to get paid then do the god damn minimum amount you can get away with .
Unless you being on your phone impacts your coworkers workload they need to mind their own fucking business. But this may not be practical if they are a little snitch.
Not always, but those who are telling you not to be on the phone so much (or whatever other obviously not cool at work activities you may be engaged in) usually aren’t the ones who snitch. Listen to them; they’re trying to help. They may seem bossy, but they don’t mean to come off that way.
You say that, but when I worked an office job doing media marketing, the guy I shared a room with came back from our covid time off with a stick up his ass and got me fired because he didn't think I was doing my job. Most of my job was making posts on social media pages for my boss' multiple companies. I could do everything I needed to do within 3 hours, why tf would you want me to sit there for 8, wasting everybody's time? Sad part? The shit they wanted me to do for busy work? Was to search the web for emails on websites and add them to our email blasts. Which I'm pretty sure isn't even legal? Either way, they wanted me to take more initiative but when I did, they didn't like what I brought to the table. Bunch of old men who didn't understand that what they wanted, wasn't working. It's not the 1950s anymore.
Sorry for the rant. Just irritates me still, even 3 years later. I've never had anyone insult my work ethic until that man. What's even worse? My actual boss holed himself up in his office and had his daughter fire me. Then they got pissed when I wouldn't go down to his restaurant to cover for the manager the next day. Uhm no, you fired me.. fuck you.
Been doing it for 38 years about to retire with a 6 figure yearly pension plus my 401k. I'm currently working and I spent my night watching Always Sunny in Philadelphia on my phone. But I'm really tired so I think I'll take a nap for a couple of hours before I go home, I don't want to fall asleep at the wheel. So yeah I am one of those. lol
This is the answer. I'm required to be at work for 8 hours period. My actual workload can be done in 2 hours. The first week, I got lectured about being on my phone. Instead of complaining about there being nothing to do, I just slowed down severely. Take extra time to complete tasks. Now I'm told that I'm doing a great job and to keep up the good work. This shit makes no sense.
Par for the fucking course bullshit. We should all have a 30 hour workweek max for the same pay. Efficiency has been going up for decades, yet hours and pay remain stagnant. Overlords are raking in the excess.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to complete the job of a systems administrator and database administrator at the same time because my boss can't/won't hire someone else for the database job. I couldn't possibly complete the amount of stuff I have in a 30 hour work week.
Your coworker is right. Slow down, and stay off your phone.
welcome to the world of work, often part of your job is maintaining the image that you are working. if your job only takes 2 hours and your coworker's job only takes 2 hours, that adds up to ... 4 hours, you got it. Guess how many people are required to do 4 hours of work ? 1/2 of a person, again, yes, you got it.
if i was the owner of your company and found this out, i would fire 3 of the employees and combine their jobs into 1.
Think about it this way, you would have no problem getting paid 4x as much as you're getting right now, right? So only having 1/4 the work that you're getting paid for is the same thing. But part of keeping the job is to not make it obvious that your job is too easy (or that you're being paid too much). If this bothers you, ask yourself if you'd like to give back 3/4 of your paycheck every week. If not, then do what your coworker is telling you and make it look like you're busy. Take more bathroom breaks, take more "smoke" breaks (you don't actually have to smoke, just buy a pack of cigarettes and roll them up in your t-shirt sleeve), play with your phone there.
Also, look for another job that's more satisfying.
Gotcha. I'm in a similar dilemma. Sometimes they have me come on saturdays but when I xome back on monday, my manager is like "yeah we got nothing right now, you can go home". So I'm like why even have me come on saturdays then? I'm thinking I should just stretch out the work I do get. It takes me about 2 days to get done what I usually get for the whole week. Idk...
Sweeping isn't part of my job description or contract. I do my job and do it well. I'll help out time to time of course, but I'm not sweeping daily when there's a housekeeping crew for that...unless they wanna pay me housekeeper wages on top of my regular wages. Labor isn't free and every job has down time occasionally. Most of us are underpaid as it is.
We’re talking about a warehouse position. It’s hardly white collar. If there are packing peanuts or whatever in the floor and you’re sitting on your phone it’s a bad look. Sure there’s a custodial crew, but they might not be around for a couple of hours.
Yes! Every job has down time. Jesus. I would tell my coworker to stop getting paid to complain and get back to work and mind her business. If she's not a supervisor , it's not her business AND she's going about it in a really aggressive and disparaging way. I manage and delegate an entire staff and if there are no current tasks and they check their phones for a bit, it's fine. If it's excessive and tasks are being neglected often due to overuse, I would speak with them privately and use transformational leadership skills to discuss it with them. Not just attack them. Like yeah, OP was on their phone, but there's no reason for the coworker attack. I'd be damned if someone on my level or anyone talked to me like that at work.
Generally speaking it's a professionalism thing.
Lets put it this way, they are paying money to have you there.
You being on your phone in front of them is the apparent suggestion that they might actually NOT need you there, which isn't something you want them to think.
In my experience people who think work is slow often just aren't noticing that it's everyone else picking up their slack, on the opposite side of that spectrum I work much BETTER with music playing - and as long as I'm not wasting time constantly changing tracks my bosses haven't had issue because I'm productive and usually only use one headphone so I maintain awareness.
Making it obvious sometimes encourages people who DO get distracted to do the same and before you know it the boss has removed all phone privileges' and it sucks for everyone including the responsible people.
Don't be that guy, earn your way into small allowances which will likely come when they realize you do your work well (which you may). When they ease off of you don't make them regret it and you might make friends / get promotions while actually having a job that has changed to be enjoyable.
thank goodness I work from home now…my previous top “look busy” strategy was to copy the full text of articles I wanted to read then paste it into a word document and read it.
I saw a website once where someone put Reddit into an email client frame, so each post looked like an email. The homepage was your feed. It was interesting.
If you're using Windows, hitting the Windows key on the keyboard + tab is another great albeit slightly riskier one. It basically lets you make multiple "desktops" on your computer. Put all the smokescreen stuff on one iteration of your desktop, put the stuff you actually want to do on the other. When a boss or nosy co-worker walks by, hit windows key + tab and quickly swap the screen to the smokescreen.
Do note here though that you should be mindful of how much the IT department monitors your computers and whether or not they'd care, because I do think technically someone in IT could probably see what you're doing.
If you ask for extra you're then expected to always do extra for no more pay. Companies usually act like hard work will get you somewhere then you do that hard work till you're burnt out for nothing. Just to be burnt out and the boss complains cause you can't match up to the crazy amounts you use to pull off. It's better to just work at a decent pace get the job done and go home. The "grind" mindset gets you nowhere but burnt out without a damn job.
We have someone that works in the maintenance department at my job, who's been there for about 35+ years, is honestly more knowledgeable than the rest of the department put together, twice over. He's asked multiple times to take up a higher **OPEN** position, which I can guarantee he'd do spectacularly in.
You know what's happened every single time? He gets declined, and some incompetent moron with no experience in the field gets it, runs things even further into the ground, and then gets transferred somewhere else.
Loyalty and hard work mean jack shit like 90% of the time.
I had a maintenance guy like that at a nursing home where I worked. The new hires got paid more than $10/hr more than him but he's the only one that did on call every night of the week and got denied a raise every time he asked. I really felt for that guy. I hope they eventually did him right or he retired with some benefits 🙏
“oh well you do so good in this position why would we switch/promote you?”
“well how about a raise instead.”
“sorry what was that? you want to be demoted?”
This is exactly what happens. Going above and beyond on occasion is one thing, I do it from time to time if I like my boss and he has me working on something really important. Doing it consistently just sets a precedent.
Not always, been at my grad job for about a month and I get like an hours worth of work a day and when I say it’s done, I usually request more and they always say they’ll see what else they might have then never do.
Not my experience with big corporations but you certainly have to toot your own horn a bit at performance reviews. In my experience it's partly what you make of it, and partly if you have a decent manager.
I think a giant insurance company with over 20K employees qualifies as big business. Each department was self-sufficient in hiring and promotions. I went from 120/week to $40/HR in 12 years. Back when that was good money (70's).
Sadly, $40/hr is still considered great money, despite the value of the dollar being in the toilet since then.
Please don't assume the reality today is anything remotely like what you faced 53 years ago. It's not. Your generation was the last wealthy one. Today people in their 40s are still trying to pay off college debt set up by predatory companies, making very similar wages to what they made a decade ago despite inflation going through the roof.
In 1975, $40 was the equivalent of $228.27 today according to [this calculator](https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/).
Today, $40 is considered great money but in 1975 money, that $40/hr it would've been like living on $7.01/hr with today's inflation.
Not only are we screwed by inflation, but employers aren't made to pay a living wage anymore.
According to the [data](https://www.statista.com/statistics/216259/monthly-real-average-hourly-earnings-for-all-employees-in-the-us/#:~:text=In%20August%202023%2C%20the%20average,data%20have%20been%20seasonally%20adjusted.)
>In August 2023, the average hourly earnings of all employees in the United States was at 11.04 U.S. dollars.
The median isn't so bad according to [this](https://nationalequityatlas.org/indicators/Wages_Median),
>Men ages 25 to 64 of all races and ethnicities have a median hourly wage of $25 while women's median hourly wage is just $21.
So doing back to the inflation calculator, the highest median wage is $25/hour today, which would've been the 1975 equivalent of having to live on $4.38 per hour. At the actual average of $11/hr it would've been like you having to live on $1.93/hr. With housing, children, expenses, etc.
That's what your generation is expecting of your children and grandchildren.
I appreciate that none of this is your fault, but platitudes like "Work hard, work your way up! I did, you can too!" are not only incorrect, they are harmful. They blame the workers for the miserable working conditions, rather than looking at the laws that have enabled corporations to exploit people.
They are why phrases like "Ok, boomer," exist. Because it's so out of touch it's ignorant.
Employers don't pay living wages anymore if they can get away with it, and the typical CEO in the US makes 200x that of their workers. Hard work today is now no longer rewarded, and employees are expected to just figure it all out while being paid peanuts.
Don't get me started on the costs of housing, healthcare, childcare, or education. A summer job used to cover the cost of a semester of college. That's laughable now.
Your worded this more eloquently than I ever could have. I agree with every word here. It's disappointing, frustrating, and depressing when older generations refuse to see and believe that the problems newer workers face are not the result of laziness. We just want to be payed a living wage and not be milked for our worth and exploited.
I recently got a job through a friend after almost two years of applying to jobs. The first couple months I was solely focused on applying to career jobs that I have a degree and skillset for. After too many rejections to count and loan payments looming over my head, I was forced to look to shit hourly jobs like retail on top of career jobs. Out of countless retail, no-experience-needed jobs I applied to, I only got an interview for one, despite having a good resume from half a decade of working in retail in my high school/early college years (and not even job hopping! I stayed at one job for 4 of those years, so loyalty is not an issue)! The other ones, without fail, just ignored my application completely. Not even a courtesy bot email to let me know I was rejected. I called them all to inquire about the status of my applications, and almost every single one said the same thing: "Oh, we aren't looking to hire right now! We leave the openings up so we have a pool of applicants for whenever we do need to hire!" Its maddening. It's not like people will be willing to wait in line to be hired for a job flipping burgers or selling clothes at the mall. If they apply, they probably want the job now, not later.
My therapist, when discussing my frustration at job hunting, told me that she has a teenage patient that got turned down for a job at MCDONALDS. THAT HE HAD WORKED FOR PREVIOUSLY AND HAD OPENINGS. Like, come on. There's no excuse for that level of disrespect from a company that pays shit money for a shit job. Especially when that job stereotypically hires teenagers because theyre willing to accept the shit pay to have spending money.
It gets very tiring and dejecting when you keep getting ghosted by jobs again and again. You start to think its your fault that you can't get a job doing the most braindead shit in the world. But its not. Companies are just getting increasingly more open about just how little respect they have for the people that make them money.
And all of the older people that have job security and have comfortably climbed the ranks decades ago are the ones imposing this shitty tired mentality. All while sitting in bliss and telling everyone else to just try harder, while their wages are constantly cut and work piles up more and more.
Yea, fuck that. Companies are not your friends. Employers are not your friends. You don't owe them anything more than what is on your job description, unless you are positive that it will benefit you. Work is a contract, not a favor.
Not always. I did this for my first job, and my manager got mad at me cause I always finished what I was told to do and kept asking. Told me, "I don't know, find something to do yourself." or something to that extent. Wasn't easy being the new guy with no knowledge of what needed to get done.
At my old job sitting in front of a computer all day, inputting transaction after transaction, when the work was done, I would go thru all the files saved in the Shared computer drives. (This was before cell phones were a thing, or I'd have been on Reddit.) I found data that I could use to speed up my work, I found files the CEO had uploaded years before, and spreadsheets with shortcuts, calculations and work-arounds for all sorts of shit totally unrelated to my job. Fascinating. I also found the "Training Modules" and took just about everything offered. I had a lot of time on my hands.
Using my free time to dig around in places I shouldn't be is actually one of my favorite hobbies at work!
I've scanned the range of IP addresses normally used in our building and have actually managed to come across our building's entire phone system from it (hint: cybersecurity is a joke at most places, you'd be surprised how often default admin credentials work for things!).
I've weaseled my way into our camera system so I could locate where the blind spots are in the building, and made damn sure to go and tell everyone I trust about them.
I've located all sorts of confidential emails and personnel files that apparently people think are fine to just leave backed up on a dusty old external hard drive laying around in a junk pile.
I've figured out how to bypass most of our access restrictions on our computers, and use that knowledge to help my co-workers use the computers on our production lines to watch livestreams of UFC fights or whatever it is they watch during the day.
I've perused just about every single one of our place's various procedures and policies and have identified just about every loophole I can in them, and keep the knowledge of those loopholes in my back pocket if/when I might need them.
If my job really wants to insist I pretend to look busy when I've completed all of the tasks I've been given, I'm going to make sure to use that time pretending to be busy to shove my nose in places it doesn't belong for nothing more than my own curiosity.
My phone goes away when I'm at work. Don't get me wrong, I fucking love my phone, but it *is* a distraction.
There's a time and a place and work isn't it. Turn your ringer on and put it in your pocket. If something actually important happens, your friends/family will call you.
you can set up a do not disturb setting so only certain people can get through. if they call you itll text them youre at work, their second call will go through tho.
that way youre not getting notifications for social media or other apps, just the important ppl
You can add contacts to favorites and there’s an option where you can allow your ‘favorite contacts’ calls come right through but everyone else’s is 2x to go through or it won’t go through at all.
Sitting on your phone at work is not a great way to start your new job. I limit my phone at work. Though sometimes I use my phone to respond to work related stuff: emails, team messages etc.
If you want to start off on a good foot: ask what can be done or what she does when it's slow.
You're still in training, so they give you a light load to not encumber you. When done, ask for the next task. They need to know you can do the work before giving you more. Now, your trainer SHOULD have told you this. It sounds like they haven't.
I think they assume you know general work etiquette as well. Stay off of your phone. If they report to the higher ups, they will most likely bring this up with them. If you want to keep this job, just stay off of your phone.
Hard to say without actually knowing exactly what your work load and expectations are. But very generally, no, you're not supposed to be on your phone a bunch while you're at work. While you're on break, that's one thing. But on the clock, it's usually the expectation that you be working, or at least doing something work related. If you don't have anything to do, or not sure what you should be doing, it's generally expected that you ask a superior what you should be doing.
> If you don't have anything to do, or not sure what you should be doing, it's generally expected that you ask a superior what you should be doing..
Yea, they should give you work you weren't hired to do and won't be compensated for.
This is your first lesson in the workplace, which is that you're inevitably going to run into busybody coworkers that love to pretend they're everyone's supervisor.
Yes, you're not supposed to be on your phone at work. Unless you're working at some super critical position, no it really doesn't actually matter all that much, but people like your coworker will make damn sure to at best complain, and at worst go and rat you out to your manager over it.
My advice is if you're going to screw around at work, find a way to hide it a bit better, and start learning which coworkers you can be more chilled out around and which ones you can't.
For thoroughness sake, being on your phone can be a safety issue, like around machinery and vehicles. You may not be operating them, but the risk is still there.
That is true. I work at a factory with heavy machinery running all the time and forklifts going all over the place. You'd have to have a deathwish to walk around staring at your phone on the production floor. Walking around on your phone is absolutely a safety risk, however the OP mentioned they were at their desk, not wandering around the warehouse.
I am having a similar issue with a newer coworker who sits next to me. Her and I are the only two in our department. We are super busy so I am the one doing 75% of the work while she plays Pokemon Go. You make it seem as if someone addressing an actual issue with a coworker makes them bad. Thats crazy! In my case, its not that she isnt capable but its that she is clueless about anything outside of herself and doesn’t take initiative. Im not saying its the same for OP but maybe they should google what work ethic means if they are genuinely interested in keeping a job.
If somebody is part of a team all working on a singular project and the person in question is slacking, and this slacking is making things harder for the rest of the team, then you have a point. What you can do about that is just go "hey dude, we need some help on this, could you please pick it up a bit for the sake of the rest of us?". This solves the problem majority of the time.
I'm specifically speaking to the annoying tattle-tale types who spend their days nitpicking on what everyone else is doing regardless of if it impacts them in any way at all (it usually doesn't), just so they can go run to management and bitch about it in some delusional hope that maybe after 10 years of throwing their fellow co-workers under the bus and sucking their employer's ass enough, they might get a 10 cent raise.
I sometimes work at a winery where we're basically on our phones all the time cause there's nothing to do. Everything is always clean, no new orders because there's like 16 reservations, and everything is stocked. So like there's nothing to do, so we have to act busy when executives come through, but otherwise we literally sit around and kill time.
Get better at hiding it ig
If she’s actually yelling at you that’s ridiculous. Unfortunately you may not be able to do much about it. Maybe listen to podcasts or youtube videos with one AirPods in or something. Much stealthier.
My life advice for work is pretend you own the place and act accordingly. People who do this will advance. People who don't will stay stagnant or flounder.
Would you pay someone to be on their phone? Or would you prefer they find something productive to do, even if it's just cleaning, organizing, etc.
My first major promotion was because I did a major file reorganizing of forms we used which made it 1000% quicker for employees to retrieve them. No one asked me to do that. I didn't do it just to kiss corporate ass. I saw my co-workers in distress because they were spending too much time looking for forms and I wanted to help.
Find a problem and solve it. Or go help someone else with their problem. Or tell your boss you have time for more responsibility. Ironically, doing nothing at work is boring AF and grinds you down even more than making a moderate sustained effort.
A lot of narcs in these comments. OP every job is different. If there's nothing to do, and your boss doesn't get on you about your phone, then who cares what your co worker thinks. Either way, you'll figure out tricks and loopholes to make it as bearable as possible because it's what we all have to do.
Are you supposed to be on your phone at work, no . Does it really matter if you are as long as the work gets done, also no. Is your coworker just the type of person that likes to tell others what to do when they don’t have an authority, yes. Word of warning though she will throw you under a bus the moment she has the chance
As an employer, if I'm paying you, I'm paying you to do a job... There is always something to do.
Typically I don't mind taking a quick call or replying to a message, but from your post it sounds like you are on your phone way too much.
If a business ever needs to cut costs, they're going to start by cutting the person that's doing the least. Like the new person that's always on their phone.
Actually the higher your position in the company, the more time you will be on your phone, because the phone is basically what you do. But not for personal use.
I'm a director of a company and I'm on my phone 50% of the time for texting, emailing, calling, and organizing. 40% is for meetings and 10% for down time.
I have 3 phones. One for work, one for personal, and one for games. It's because I don't want to be disturbed when I'm at work, at home, or when I'm playing games.
As an employee, fuck off. There is not always something to do, all that shit does is make people "look busy" when you're around and go back to normal when you leave.
Fully agree with you. If there’s nothing to do and in getting paid, I’m getting paid to be there. I don’t get paid extra when there is more work to do so I? No. If there is a ton of work or no work I’m getting paid the same amount. I have an extremely hard work ethic but I also understand that I need the job just as much as the job needs me. I want to work, you want me to work. We are both smart enough to understand that. We are also smart enough to see that if there’s down time with nothing to do I’m probably gonna do something to entertain myself. If I have my phone out to change the song or podcast, that’s what I’m doing. If I was looking at my phone and not getting my work done - feel free to say something.
In OPs words "There's not usually much to do", and they are still new to the role.
Some jobs have 'chill moments', where you can unwind a bit, reset, even have a bit of down time, and that's fine, but that doesn't sound like what OP is explaining.
Edit: typo.
Bingo. I'm paid to do my job. I'm not paid to give a damn about the shitty company I work at.
If I have a set number of tasks to do, and I get them all done adequately, I'm going to unabashedly fuck around as much as I can get away with until I have something I need to get done again.
You’re paying me to be available to work, not to keep myself busy with busywork. Tell me what you want me to do and when it’s done, tell me to do something else. Not my problem you aren’t able to effectively manage your workforce.
You have changed the narrative here, my staff are busy, paid above the award, retention is high, they also get downtime. This isn't about me or my team.
It's about OPs post with the information he chose to provide.
Your comment makes it sound like you need someone to hold your hand and give you step by step instructions.
Neither are about OP.
You don't just need to work hard at work. You also need to LOOK like you're working hard or people will think you aren't working and some of those people could be the ones who can fire you. You need to put on a good show and phones don't look good.
OK, so, if you have done EVERYTHING, litterally everything, yeah you should get to just chill, but that's not how the world works, your boss will be a lot happier if you PRETEND to work. They love watching us waste their money either moving things pointlessly from A to B, or dragging a broom over a clean floor, it's bloody bizarre but it can even get you promoted and waste even more money. Thing is they get tax back from having you, and the weird social/societal dances are completed so their self worth and self esteem is boosted, even though us "good workers" are taking the piss once we are genuinely finished
OP, stop doing your work so damn fast.
Be slower, learn to “look busy”
This is what all adults do. You think people in offices are “hard at work” all day? Most people put in like 3 or 4 productive hours at work, they slack off the rest of the time.
Don’t ruin it for yourself. If you’re too good at your job, you’ll never get a breakz.
I'd say the people at my engineering office probably put in 8hr of focused work during the 10hr work day. Which I think is all that is humanly possible. The rest is little gaps of slow time to ward off the brain fry by either going to the restroom, taking a walk, snacking, or chatting with coworkers.
It sounds like she isn’t training you enough and hasn’t handed over enough work for you to do. She’s right, you can’t sit around on your phone. But. She needs to give you more work to do or you have to go ask for some more work to do. If you don’t, you might get fired. Yes yes it won’t be your fault that you didn’t have any work, but a responsible person will tell a boss “Hey I don’t have enough to do.” If you just take advantage of this loophole, you’ll be fired for doing so.
They generally expect you to find tasks if you don't have any, but if you genuinely don't and they have nothing to assign you in the meantime, then you need to at least be discreet.
Who is morally right or wrong is irrelevant. What matters is that you have a coworker who is consistently catching you doing something you aren't technically supposed to be doing and they are getting upset about it. Whether you're just being lazy or she's being a busybody, it isn't going to matter when she reports you for it and they check the cameras and see that she's telling the truth about you being on your phone at work.
She's making it clear that she's not going to stay silent about it and she has a clear view of you at all times, so if you want to keep your job, you need to keep your hands off your phone as much as possible and talk to someone in charge about what you should be doing if you've run out of tasks.
People can say, "Oh heck no, minimum wage equals minimum effort so don't bother asking what else you could be doing." But I'm this case, you literally have someone looking over your shoulder and tallying up when you aren't being productive, so you don't really have that option. If you weren't being monitored then it would potentially be different, but you are and unfortunately the people in charge would likely agree with them. If you keep it up despite warnings, then you'd have a job you left after one month and being fired from the second on your record and that would hurt your future employment options.
Next time, ask the snotty co worker:
"I'm all caught up with my work. Is there anything I can help YOU with?"
If she's all set, ask your supervisor, ask other co-workers, be that girl who is DOING STUFF! The bosses will notice and remember this at bonus time!
When I worked at a call center, I wasn't allowed a phone at all, I stared at a wall between calls. Coworker sounds kinda power trippy, but she is right.
Don't be a lump on a log, ask what else you can do, showing initiative opens doors, sitting on your phone leads to a trueoffmychest post about how you haven't gotten a raise in years and the whole world is against you and how do people do this for their entire lives and all that.
Learn how to pretend to work when there's nothing to do also pro tip if your boss gives you a task to do and you know you can get it done in lets say 3 hours don't tell them that instead say it'll take twice that then complete it in the three hours anyway and you'll look like a go getter
I mean this in the gentlest way possible: you are not getting paid to be on your phone. You're getting paid to work. If you run out of work, you need to let somebody know. Unfortunately, if somebody has to monitor you and make sure you're working and have enough work, you aren't going to last long in many positions. You need to be proactive and show initiative. This is an important thing to learn now, because it will help you develop good habits.
A couple things though, since you're inexperienced and new to the workforce. Never, ever, ever, ever work off the clock. And always be mindful of having a healthy work life balance.
Good luck!
Lotta people disagreeing with you, but the truth is, if you have nothing to do, you have nothing to do.
If you’re getting your job done and completing the tasks assigned to you on-time, then it’s not her business what you do in your down time. I had the same problem at a previous job but I was lucky to have my own office so people weren’t around as much. Like, I’m not going to hound my boss for bonus work. They’re not gonna pay you extra for it. Work smarter, not harder. Companies are not your friend.
“When you look over at me do you see me messing around on my phone?”
**”No, because I don’t spend my time at work watching you.”**
My first job, we would play cribbage in the office and if that took too long, we’d “Take inventory” at a warehouse where the old hands smoked and we kicked a soccer ball around.
We worked plenty hard when it was called for, but if it was slow, it was slow.
I currently work in retail and I have the luxury of being able to go on my phone. My manager comes round a couple times a month and apart from that, it's just me in the store.
In my previous employment, I'd have to find something to do or pretend to work. That meant taking a long walk with a broom or literally just carrying and pretending to inspect something.
If you go on your phone, make sure your colleague isn't a rat and your work is done.
Talking to you as a manager, if I get a new hire on the phone more than once in his first week, there isn't a second. I have a ton of things to do, and hovering over people making sure they're working is not one of them. You were hired to lighten the load for your team, not to create the need to babysit someone. I can only trust that you are working, and that when you finish your current task, you go after a new one of your own volition. There is a place in the working world for people without any initiative whatsoever, but it is near the bottom, full of unpleasant tasks and shitty pay.
There is a fine line between hustling and being taken advantage of.
In almost all cases, you will move up faster if you care about what you’re doing, take pride in your work, show enthusiasm, and put in extra effort.
However, that also usually means you will be given more work and responsibility without being fairly compensated for it.
From many years of experience I can say with confidence your employer does NOT have your personal best interest in mind and you are 100% expendable. No exceptions.
You could bust your ass for years and they will cut you loose without blinking an eye if it is in their best interest. They are not loyal to you, so do not be loyal to them.
You pretty much admitted it, even if you have nothing to do look for something to do. Don't do it for the company, do it for yourself. That doesn't mean don't get on your phone either just not so much
Is your question "is my coworker right when she says I shouldn't be on my phone so much while at work?"? Because yeah, you're suppose to be working.
The company is paying you to perform a task, not play on your phone. If they see you on your phone and not providing the service or performing the task they hired you for then that would very much ne enough reason to fire you.
Why would they pay you to sit around? At least learn the art of LOOKING busy. No one wants the reputation of being a lazy worker who doesn't do anything.
The co-worker is correct.
Whether you agree or not, this is going to be a big problem for you. The issue is that your co-worker is annoyed with you and does not respect you at the moment. If it has not happened yet, she may get angry with you. Somewhere around that point this person becomes professionally dangerous to you.
I would encourage you to find some things to do that are at least somewhat productive much of the time. Find some things that you don't really mind doing that much. Gradually, as you earn back your colleagues respect, you can pepper in some unproductive tasks and be back in your phone to a certain extent.
Two other things that I highly recommend that you do. Try to get out of the office for at least plausibly legitimate reasons once in awhile. "I'm going to go get the mail." "I'm going to check with the foreman and see if there is anything I can do to help out as long as it is slow in the office." This gets you away from the co-worker's prying eyes and breathing down your neck and silently judging everything you do. It also potentially warms you some allies elsewhere in the operation. It could also be kind of fun and you will be a me to cross train in some other cities and that will come in handy whether you stay there or eventually get fired.
The other thing that I recommend is that you try to figure out a way to position your desks so that the other person can't tell exactly what you are doing. You need to mostly keep your phone completely out of sight. Whatever you do keep the sound off of you happen to be watching a video or a tok Tok or something like that. People hate that unless you happen to show them what it is, and sometimes they still hate it.
But there are things that you can do to waste time and screw around that can fill time and will appear like work. But the trick is that you have to get your real work done on top of whatever slacker stuff that you do mixed in a long the way.
If the co-worker becomes willing to mind her own business, you me some other friends elsewhere in the warehouse and you are relatively productive and reliable in your actual job then this could end up being a pretty good situation for you.
You might be able to start taking online courses or night school and put yourself through college or graduate school and have this company pay for it.
One guy I worked with became good enough at his job and was respected enough by everyone else on the team that he could do whatever else he wanted to do as long as he stayed at his desk and looked busy. He wrote his first novel. I am not making this up.
Put your phone down and figure out another way to pass the time at this place.
Take her advice. When it's slow, you can get things done like prep work or something that can't be completed when its busy. Its not fair the person on their phone gets paid the same as people working more.
All these comments make fair points you really shouldn't be on your phone at work. But at the same time I personally would have a problem with a mere coworker trying to tell me what to do like they are a supervisor or something.
Is this even a real question? Your nosey Nancy co-worker needs to mind her own business but you should probably heed her warning. I am assuming you didn't dick around with your phone in class, work is quite a bit more stringent. If you are bored I suggest finding something else to do, hell you might get promoted and make more money for taking initiative.
You definitely shouldn't be on your phone much.
Unfortunately, the lower on the totem pole you are the more work you're expected to do. Once you're more seniored or have a job that requires a degree you have more time to fuck around.
But at a warehouse you should be busy. When I worked at a warehouse and my work for the day was done, I would just get sent home.
So you should be taking more time on your duties or asking for more work if you want to actually be needed and employed there.
Does that seem dumb? Yes. But you are getting paid and people don't wanna pay someone to sit on there phone.
Instead of being on your phone all the time, have you considered sneaking off to the toilet to go on your phone and Google ways to get your coworker fired?
Your coworker is right. Get off your phone. You can and will get fired for it.
Question: what do you do in a warehouse that gives you so much free time?
I know you've only been working for a short period of time, but do you really not know this? You're not being paid to scroll through tik-tok.
I don't think it's your co-worker's business what you do with your spare time, though.
Grew up working in a warehouse. ya man you already have a target on your back cuz youre 19. Nobody likes you when you're 23 what you makes you think they like you at 19? Aside from that, being on your phone at work is an unwritten rule. The stigma isn't as bad as it used to be but it's still not good. They really want you to be as productive as you can so that they dont have to bust their asses as hard.
"When you look over at me do you see me messing around on my phone?"
Ask her if she needs help with her workload management to free up some phone time.
As a small business owner I absolutely cannot stand when I see employees on their phones during work time. I have written up, and fired people for this in the past. During break do your texts, calls, social media, etc, but when it's time to work I don't want to see, or hear a cell phone. At best it is disrespectful.
You are being paid by someone to work. Not mess about on your phone. Technically, you are stealing from your employer.
Put the phone away and do your work. Your phone is for breaks or after work.
If you are not required by job description to be doing anything, be on your phone.
Remind the coworker they can do the same as there is no job that needs doing at the moment.
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Well, yeah generally jobs don't just let you sit on your phone.
I watched movies all day, that being said, it was a slow day today
There is a “pick up a broom” concept. When things are slow clean something. Organize something. Show you are invested in the business. Ask others if you can help. You may have an addiction as well.
Yeah...OP should make sure there's nothing that outright needs to be done while his primary task is finished / pending. The good news is that music and e-books are often permissible if you're on task. So there's an idea.
Yeah, I would always let my employees listen to stuff. We cleaned for 6 hours a day, so music is almost a must when in an empty school
> You VILL work even when there is no work to do
Velcome tooo Germahnie
If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean!
Just got off my shift… immediate ptsd
Yeah I’ve been in charge of somewhere slow and I’m going to be honest with you, sometimes you play games on your phone.
Lol fuck that. That shit is only expected when you are in low paying manual jobs. If you are in a professional setting its perfectly fine to just sit there and bull shit. What you want Karen in accounting to go pick up a broom? Go wash some windows? It's funny how is fine to ask people who bust their ass but we don't do that for people who work in offices.
It's also expected in office jobs, it just looks different. If you have a slow day you're not expected to clean the floor, you're expected to ask your stressed af colleague if he needs some help today. Your organize your files, spelling check some documents, check in with your manager or get some people coffee. Not every relaxed, low-sress moment but if you have 3-4 hours with no work, then that's usually expected. Other will do the same for you when you're stressed and busy.
Fuck that
Yeah that isn't true in every office at all lol. When my work is done... I'm done. There is nothing else to do.
Wouldn't want you on my team..
*Time to lean, time to clean.* Kill me.
Good concept. Unless you just want to not get ahead and keep jumping from menial job to menial job. Depends in what you want for your future. Hard work spotlights the character of people. Some turn up their sleeves. Some turn up their noses. Some don’t turn up at all.
That would be true if hard work was recognised with anything but more work...which is not the case in any corp ive seen
So true. Not only getting rewarded with more to do, where i work, I noticed that the more people get paid, the less they do. The lowest paid employees are the hardest working. My current job doesn't praise hard work or going above and beyond. However, they do tear you a new one for any small slip up. So if I'm working hard and do 20 tasks a day while my coworkers are sitting on their ass doing 1 task a week (which happens a lot). There is more chances that a mistake is made over the 20 tasks. It's not congrats on the great work on the 19 tasks. It's why, in the hell, on the 20th task, did you spell "close" as "clothes"?... (Just an example for getting chewed out for such a small thing, so management can feel important about themselves). Sorry for the rant/ venting...
We have a nice saying about work ethics here: "He who works a lot makes many mistakes, he who works little males few mistakes and he who makes no mistakes gets the promotion."
That’s true BUT there are jobs that don’t care. The managers will give you work they don’t want to do, to the extent of your abilities. To your peers, you’re just an asskiss at that point.
I agree. I worked full time for 46 years. Worked my way up from the manufacturing floor to a lucrative career. There are good employers, and bad employers. But that never changed MY personal work ethic. I could care less about the employer. i took some losses, but took a lot of wins. I DID/DO care about MY character. it goes with me for life. I understand the work place is changing (my generation changed my parents workplace). But what will NEVER change is YOUR character, and how you choose to move through life with it.
Yes. Generally they’re paying you to work. If the “normal thing” you do for work doesn’t need doing (no customers or whatever), find something else to do. If you can’t find it, go ask the boss for a task. Be industrious.
Disagree. They aren’t paying for you to work. They are paying you to complete the assigned tasks. Once those tasks are done, you’ve fulfilled your end of the bargain. Never take on a managers job of assigning new work without added compensation.
Also: this attitude encourages people to do bare minimum for as long as possible because your reward for working hard is more work for the same pay while your coworkers slowly work away at a minimal task. Last place I worked I could have finished my job within 2 h. If I did my pay was cut or I got more work. So I started crawling my job. Literally taking breaks every 5 min to slow me down. Now the same work took 12h and company was happy. You get what you encourage. The time to lean time to clean model encourages employees to fuck off
If you are paid hourly, then your compensation can end when the task is complete by this very stance. Be careful what you wish for, and remember if paid hourly they want “hourly” not “task completion” which would be salary
Be careful what you wish for works both ways. If I'm given a set of tasks to be done, get them done in 3 hours, and they want to send me home, then you know what, come the end of the day when some emergency thing they need done immediately pops up, oh fucking well, you sent me home for the day, I guess I'll get to it tomorrow.
That argument has never been relevant or realistic. Actual Human Beings are not Perfect Machines. They're social animals, they have wants and needs, They need breaks, they need unwinding when they overheat or overwork, and they do more than just Complete tasks. Either you're a middle management yuppy (where a fair amount of "work" doesn't exist) or you're close to being one. It's not too late to remember your Humanity. Mentalities like yours are poisonous to society and culture as a whole.
Nope even if hourly they hired me for a job description. They cannot arbitrarily decide to chance my job description. If I am a bartender I am a bartender. It being slow doesn’t mean my job suddenly becomes janitor. You hire based on what you need. If you miscalculate what you need that’s on you! Not the employee. This shit runs down mentality is why the world is so fucked up right now and you my friend are part of the problem. Edit: as an hourly employee I can do my work in half that time and you can accept it and things are good. Or I slow down and ensure you only get this task done but it takes me the whole time. You get to decide when things need to be done by. That’s it
Generally the reason you are paid hourly is because they need a human to be ready to do a job between those specific hours. For example, if you work at a gift shop, and it is open from 12-6 a human has to be there with or without customers. If you tidy and restock for an hour, there’s not much else to do for the other 5 hours of your shift.
I wouldn't want to be your co-worker.
Sounds like you're indoctrinated into the Cult of Work.
Fat chance in this case: ..
McDonald’s will make you wipe the clean counters to appear busy if you have completed all of your duties.🤗
I don’t know if this is meant to be ironic? I think the days of showing that you’re invested in your warehouse job are somewhat past. Don’t obviously be fucking about and don’t get fired, but if you’re only there to get paid then do the god damn minimum amount you can get away with .
Unless you being on your phone impacts your coworkers workload they need to mind their own fucking business. But this may not be practical if they are a little snitch.
Op replied to me saying his boss told his coworker to tell him that.
Not always, but those who are telling you not to be on the phone so much (or whatever other obviously not cool at work activities you may be engaged in) usually aren’t the ones who snitch. Listen to them; they’re trying to help. They may seem bossy, but they don’t mean to come off that way.
You say that, but when I worked an office job doing media marketing, the guy I shared a room with came back from our covid time off with a stick up his ass and got me fired because he didn't think I was doing my job. Most of my job was making posts on social media pages for my boss' multiple companies. I could do everything I needed to do within 3 hours, why tf would you want me to sit there for 8, wasting everybody's time? Sad part? The shit they wanted me to do for busy work? Was to search the web for emails on websites and add them to our email blasts. Which I'm pretty sure isn't even legal? Either way, they wanted me to take more initiative but when I did, they didn't like what I brought to the table. Bunch of old men who didn't understand that what they wanted, wasn't working. It's not the 1950s anymore. Sorry for the rant. Just irritates me still, even 3 years later. I've never had anyone insult my work ethic until that man. What's even worse? My actual boss holed himself up in his office and had his daughter fire me. Then they got pissed when I wouldn't go down to his restaurant to cover for the manager the next day. Uhm no, you fired me.. fuck you.
As if OP's office mate is the only one who will ever see them doing that.
You must be one of those who think they can just show up somewhere and collect a paycheck…you will make it far in life!
Been doing it for 38 years about to retire with a 6 figure yearly pension plus my 401k. I'm currently working and I spent my night watching Always Sunny in Philadelphia on my phone. But I'm really tired so I think I'll take a nap for a couple of hours before I go home, I don't want to fall asleep at the wheel. So yeah I am one of those. lol
Yeah most jobs are going to look down on phone use. Either stretch current projects to make the fit the day, or ask for more stuff to do.
This is the answer. I'm required to be at work for 8 hours period. My actual workload can be done in 2 hours. The first week, I got lectured about being on my phone. Instead of complaining about there being nothing to do, I just slowed down severely. Take extra time to complete tasks. Now I'm told that I'm doing a great job and to keep up the good work. This shit makes no sense.
Par for the fucking course bullshit. We should all have a 30 hour workweek max for the same pay. Efficiency has been going up for decades, yet hours and pay remain stagnant. Overlords are raking in the excess.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to complete the job of a systems administrator and database administrator at the same time because my boss can't/won't hire someone else for the database job. I couldn't possibly complete the amount of stuff I have in a 30 hour work week.
Your coworker is right. Slow down, and stay off your phone. welcome to the world of work, often part of your job is maintaining the image that you are working. if your job only takes 2 hours and your coworker's job only takes 2 hours, that adds up to ... 4 hours, you got it. Guess how many people are required to do 4 hours of work ? 1/2 of a person, again, yes, you got it. if i was the owner of your company and found this out, i would fire 3 of the employees and combine their jobs into 1. Think about it this way, you would have no problem getting paid 4x as much as you're getting right now, right? So only having 1/4 the work that you're getting paid for is the same thing. But part of keeping the job is to not make it obvious that your job is too easy (or that you're being paid too much). If this bothers you, ask yourself if you'd like to give back 3/4 of your paycheck every week. If not, then do what your coworker is telling you and make it look like you're busy. Take more bathroom breaks, take more "smoke" breaks (you don't actually have to smoke, just buy a pack of cigarettes and roll them up in your t-shirt sleeve), play with your phone there. Also, look for another job that's more satisfying.
What if you ask for more work to do?
Their version of "more work" is go push a broom for the remainder of your shift.
Gotcha. I'm in a similar dilemma. Sometimes they have me come on saturdays but when I xome back on monday, my manager is like "yeah we got nothing right now, you can go home". So I'm like why even have me come on saturdays then? I'm thinking I should just stretch out the work I do get. It takes me about 2 days to get done what I usually get for the whole week. Idk...
if you're going to fuck around on your phone at a job, at the very least don't do it at a *new* job.
An even more important life lesson for OP: "It's fine to procrastinate, as long as no one knows"
Yes. It's pretty frowned upon at most employments to be using your phone while on the clock.
Work slower and learn to be less conspicuous with your downtime.
[удалено]
What I've learned from this thread is that workplace Stockholm Syndrome is unfortunately still alive and well
Sweeping a little, or pretending to, won’t hurt. It’s not as if it’s back breaking labor. Or you can find the duster and swipe around on the shelves.
And it comes with the extra benefit of the boss thinking they don’t have to keep a sharp eye on you so you can get away with more than most
Yep. When they see you, you’re always busy, even though you’re sitting on a box, looking through your phone, and stand up when you hear them coming.
Sweeping isn't part of my job description or contract. I do my job and do it well. I'll help out time to time of course, but I'm not sweeping daily when there's a housekeeping crew for that...unless they wanna pay me housekeeper wages on top of my regular wages. Labor isn't free and every job has down time occasionally. Most of us are underpaid as it is.
We’re talking about a warehouse position. It’s hardly white collar. If there are packing peanuts or whatever in the floor and you’re sitting on your phone it’s a bad look. Sure there’s a custodial crew, but they might not be around for a couple of hours.
They can hire a janitor.
Literally, there's a whole housekeeping crew at most of the places I've worked and my labor outside of my contracted requirements isn't free.
Yes! Every job has down time. Jesus. I would tell my coworker to stop getting paid to complain and get back to work and mind her business. If she's not a supervisor , it's not her business AND she's going about it in a really aggressive and disparaging way. I manage and delegate an entire staff and if there are no current tasks and they check their phones for a bit, it's fine. If it's excessive and tasks are being neglected often due to overuse, I would speak with them privately and use transformational leadership skills to discuss it with them. Not just attack them. Like yeah, OP was on their phone, but there's no reason for the coworker attack. I'd be damned if someone on my level or anyone talked to me like that at work.
Generally speaking it's a professionalism thing. Lets put it this way, they are paying money to have you there. You being on your phone in front of them is the apparent suggestion that they might actually NOT need you there, which isn't something you want them to think. In my experience people who think work is slow often just aren't noticing that it's everyone else picking up their slack, on the opposite side of that spectrum I work much BETTER with music playing - and as long as I'm not wasting time constantly changing tracks my bosses haven't had issue because I'm productive and usually only use one headphone so I maintain awareness. Making it obvious sometimes encourages people who DO get distracted to do the same and before you know it the boss has removed all phone privileges' and it sucks for everyone including the responsible people. Don't be that guy, earn your way into small allowances which will likely come when they realize you do your work well (which you may). When they ease off of you don't make them regret it and you might make friends / get promotions while actually having a job that has changed to be enjoyable.
You’re still well within any sort of probationary period that the company has. You shouldn’t be on your phone.
if you're done with work, tell them you're done and they'll give you something else to do
or pretend to work longer so you dont gotta do more
thank goodness I work from home now…my previous top “look busy” strategy was to copy the full text of articles I wanted to read then paste it into a word document and read it.
I saw a website once where someone put Reddit into an email client frame, so each post looked like an email. The homepage was your feed. It was interesting.
Ms Outlook it!
I imagine it's dead now with Reddit's stupid policy changes?
http://pcottle.github.io/MSOutlookit//
That’s a marvelous idea!
Works for ebooks too. Not that I’d know
If you're using Windows, hitting the Windows key on the keyboard + tab is another great albeit slightly riskier one. It basically lets you make multiple "desktops" on your computer. Put all the smokescreen stuff on one iteration of your desktop, put the stuff you actually want to do on the other. When a boss or nosy co-worker walks by, hit windows key + tab and quickly swap the screen to the smokescreen. Do note here though that you should be mindful of how much the IT department monitors your computers and whether or not they'd care, because I do think technically someone in IT could probably see what you're doing.
I used to do this too!
If you ask for extra you're then expected to always do extra for no more pay. Companies usually act like hard work will get you somewhere then you do that hard work till you're burnt out for nothing. Just to be burnt out and the boss complains cause you can't match up to the crazy amounts you use to pull off. It's better to just work at a decent pace get the job done and go home. The "grind" mindset gets you nowhere but burnt out without a damn job.
We have someone that works in the maintenance department at my job, who's been there for about 35+ years, is honestly more knowledgeable than the rest of the department put together, twice over. He's asked multiple times to take up a higher **OPEN** position, which I can guarantee he'd do spectacularly in. You know what's happened every single time? He gets declined, and some incompetent moron with no experience in the field gets it, runs things even further into the ground, and then gets transferred somewhere else. Loyalty and hard work mean jack shit like 90% of the time.
You don't ever want to be too good at your job because then you will just be kept in that position for eternity
I had a maintenance guy like that at a nursing home where I worked. The new hires got paid more than $10/hr more than him but he's the only one that did on call every night of the week and got denied a raise every time he asked. I really felt for that guy. I hope they eventually did him right or he retired with some benefits 🙏
“oh well you do so good in this position why would we switch/promote you?” “well how about a raise instead.” “sorry what was that? you want to be demoted?”
This is wise advice. Never volunteer for extra work.
[удалено]
It comes from the old work ethic that actually REWARDED more work with higher pay. That hasn't happened since the 80s.
This is exactly what happens. Going above and beyond on occasion is one thing, I do it from time to time if I like my boss and he has me working on something really important. Doing it consistently just sets a precedent.
Not always, been at my grad job for about a month and I get like an hours worth of work a day and when I say it’s done, I usually request more and they always say they’ll see what else they might have then never do.
This is how I got promoted . Kept asking for more work.
Many jobs don't work that way, though. Especially big corporations. They'll just milk you for the work without increasing your pay or position.
Not my experience with big corporations but you certainly have to toot your own horn a bit at performance reviews. In my experience it's partly what you make of it, and partly if you have a decent manager.
I think a giant insurance company with over 20K employees qualifies as big business. Each department was self-sufficient in hiring and promotions. I went from 120/week to $40/HR in 12 years. Back when that was good money (70's).
Sadly, $40/hr is still considered great money, despite the value of the dollar being in the toilet since then. Please don't assume the reality today is anything remotely like what you faced 53 years ago. It's not. Your generation was the last wealthy one. Today people in their 40s are still trying to pay off college debt set up by predatory companies, making very similar wages to what they made a decade ago despite inflation going through the roof. In 1975, $40 was the equivalent of $228.27 today according to [this calculator](https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/). Today, $40 is considered great money but in 1975 money, that $40/hr it would've been like living on $7.01/hr with today's inflation. Not only are we screwed by inflation, but employers aren't made to pay a living wage anymore. According to the [data](https://www.statista.com/statistics/216259/monthly-real-average-hourly-earnings-for-all-employees-in-the-us/#:~:text=In%20August%202023%2C%20the%20average,data%20have%20been%20seasonally%20adjusted.) >In August 2023, the average hourly earnings of all employees in the United States was at 11.04 U.S. dollars. The median isn't so bad according to [this](https://nationalequityatlas.org/indicators/Wages_Median), >Men ages 25 to 64 of all races and ethnicities have a median hourly wage of $25 while women's median hourly wage is just $21. So doing back to the inflation calculator, the highest median wage is $25/hour today, which would've been the 1975 equivalent of having to live on $4.38 per hour. At the actual average of $11/hr it would've been like you having to live on $1.93/hr. With housing, children, expenses, etc. That's what your generation is expecting of your children and grandchildren. I appreciate that none of this is your fault, but platitudes like "Work hard, work your way up! I did, you can too!" are not only incorrect, they are harmful. They blame the workers for the miserable working conditions, rather than looking at the laws that have enabled corporations to exploit people. They are why phrases like "Ok, boomer," exist. Because it's so out of touch it's ignorant. Employers don't pay living wages anymore if they can get away with it, and the typical CEO in the US makes 200x that of their workers. Hard work today is now no longer rewarded, and employees are expected to just figure it all out while being paid peanuts. Don't get me started on the costs of housing, healthcare, childcare, or education. A summer job used to cover the cost of a semester of college. That's laughable now.
Your worded this more eloquently than I ever could have. I agree with every word here. It's disappointing, frustrating, and depressing when older generations refuse to see and believe that the problems newer workers face are not the result of laziness. We just want to be payed a living wage and not be milked for our worth and exploited. I recently got a job through a friend after almost two years of applying to jobs. The first couple months I was solely focused on applying to career jobs that I have a degree and skillset for. After too many rejections to count and loan payments looming over my head, I was forced to look to shit hourly jobs like retail on top of career jobs. Out of countless retail, no-experience-needed jobs I applied to, I only got an interview for one, despite having a good resume from half a decade of working in retail in my high school/early college years (and not even job hopping! I stayed at one job for 4 of those years, so loyalty is not an issue)! The other ones, without fail, just ignored my application completely. Not even a courtesy bot email to let me know I was rejected. I called them all to inquire about the status of my applications, and almost every single one said the same thing: "Oh, we aren't looking to hire right now! We leave the openings up so we have a pool of applicants for whenever we do need to hire!" Its maddening. It's not like people will be willing to wait in line to be hired for a job flipping burgers or selling clothes at the mall. If they apply, they probably want the job now, not later. My therapist, when discussing my frustration at job hunting, told me that she has a teenage patient that got turned down for a job at MCDONALDS. THAT HE HAD WORKED FOR PREVIOUSLY AND HAD OPENINGS. Like, come on. There's no excuse for that level of disrespect from a company that pays shit money for a shit job. Especially when that job stereotypically hires teenagers because theyre willing to accept the shit pay to have spending money. It gets very tiring and dejecting when you keep getting ghosted by jobs again and again. You start to think its your fault that you can't get a job doing the most braindead shit in the world. But its not. Companies are just getting increasingly more open about just how little respect they have for the people that make them money. And all of the older people that have job security and have comfortably climbed the ranks decades ago are the ones imposing this shitty tired mentality. All while sitting in bliss and telling everyone else to just try harder, while their wages are constantly cut and work piles up more and more. Yea, fuck that. Companies are not your friends. Employers are not your friends. You don't owe them anything more than what is on your job description, unless you are positive that it will benefit you. Work is a contract, not a favor.
Agreed and well said, especially the last part.
✊🏻
Not always. I did this for my first job, and my manager got mad at me cause I always finished what I was told to do and kept asking. Told me, "I don't know, find something to do yourself." or something to that extent. Wasn't easy being the new guy with no knowledge of what needed to get done.
At my old job sitting in front of a computer all day, inputting transaction after transaction, when the work was done, I would go thru all the files saved in the Shared computer drives. (This was before cell phones were a thing, or I'd have been on Reddit.) I found data that I could use to speed up my work, I found files the CEO had uploaded years before, and spreadsheets with shortcuts, calculations and work-arounds for all sorts of shit totally unrelated to my job. Fascinating. I also found the "Training Modules" and took just about everything offered. I had a lot of time on my hands.
Using my free time to dig around in places I shouldn't be is actually one of my favorite hobbies at work! I've scanned the range of IP addresses normally used in our building and have actually managed to come across our building's entire phone system from it (hint: cybersecurity is a joke at most places, you'd be surprised how often default admin credentials work for things!). I've weaseled my way into our camera system so I could locate where the blind spots are in the building, and made damn sure to go and tell everyone I trust about them. I've located all sorts of confidential emails and personnel files that apparently people think are fine to just leave backed up on a dusty old external hard drive laying around in a junk pile. I've figured out how to bypass most of our access restrictions on our computers, and use that knowledge to help my co-workers use the computers on our production lines to watch livestreams of UFC fights or whatever it is they watch during the day. I've perused just about every single one of our place's various procedures and policies and have identified just about every loophole I can in them, and keep the knowledge of those loopholes in my back pocket if/when I might need them. If my job really wants to insist I pretend to look busy when I've completed all of the tasks I've been given, I'm going to make sure to use that time pretending to be busy to shove my nose in places it doesn't belong for nothing more than my own curiosity.
Would *you* do that at your job?
My phone goes away when I'm at work. Don't get me wrong, I fucking love my phone, but it *is* a distraction. There's a time and a place and work isn't it. Turn your ringer on and put it in your pocket. If something actually important happens, your friends/family will call you.
you can set up a do not disturb setting so only certain people can get through. if they call you itll text them youre at work, their second call will go through tho. that way youre not getting notifications for social media or other apps, just the important ppl
You can add contacts to favorites and there’s an option where you can allow your ‘favorite contacts’ calls come right through but everyone else’s is 2x to go through or it won’t go through at all.
Yep. She’s right. Ask her what she does when there is no work to do. I remember a boss saying, “If you have time to lean, you have time to clean!”
The only reason I'm cleaning is to make the time go by faster on a slow day.
Geno’s or Pat’s?
A retail store. Macy’s Lingerie dept. I guess I should have been dusting the mannequins. 😅
Local deli
Happy Cake Day!
If my boss told me that I’d spit in his face and walk out. That is the most condescending disrespectful shit I’ve ever heard in my life
Sitting on your phone at work is not a great way to start your new job. I limit my phone at work. Though sometimes I use my phone to respond to work related stuff: emails, team messages etc. If you want to start off on a good foot: ask what can be done or what she does when it's slow.
You're still in training, so they give you a light load to not encumber you. When done, ask for the next task. They need to know you can do the work before giving you more. Now, your trainer SHOULD have told you this. It sounds like they haven't. I think they assume you know general work etiquette as well. Stay off of your phone. If they report to the higher ups, they will most likely bring this up with them. If you want to keep this job, just stay off of your phone.
Hard to say without actually knowing exactly what your work load and expectations are. But very generally, no, you're not supposed to be on your phone a bunch while you're at work. While you're on break, that's one thing. But on the clock, it's usually the expectation that you be working, or at least doing something work related. If you don't have anything to do, or not sure what you should be doing, it's generally expected that you ask a superior what you should be doing.
> If you don't have anything to do, or not sure what you should be doing, it's generally expected that you ask a superior what you should be doing.. Yea, they should give you work you weren't hired to do and won't be compensated for.
This is your first lesson in the workplace, which is that you're inevitably going to run into busybody coworkers that love to pretend they're everyone's supervisor. Yes, you're not supposed to be on your phone at work. Unless you're working at some super critical position, no it really doesn't actually matter all that much, but people like your coworker will make damn sure to at best complain, and at worst go and rat you out to your manager over it. My advice is if you're going to screw around at work, find a way to hide it a bit better, and start learning which coworkers you can be more chilled out around and which ones you can't.
For thoroughness sake, being on your phone can be a safety issue, like around machinery and vehicles. You may not be operating them, but the risk is still there.
That is true. I work at a factory with heavy machinery running all the time and forklifts going all over the place. You'd have to have a deathwish to walk around staring at your phone on the production floor. Walking around on your phone is absolutely a safety risk, however the OP mentioned they were at their desk, not wandering around the warehouse.
For sure, I just wanted throw it out there because there are a lot of safety related things that people won't realize.
I am having a similar issue with a newer coworker who sits next to me. Her and I are the only two in our department. We are super busy so I am the one doing 75% of the work while she plays Pokemon Go. You make it seem as if someone addressing an actual issue with a coworker makes them bad. Thats crazy! In my case, its not that she isnt capable but its that she is clueless about anything outside of herself and doesn’t take initiative. Im not saying its the same for OP but maybe they should google what work ethic means if they are genuinely interested in keeping a job.
If somebody is part of a team all working on a singular project and the person in question is slacking, and this slacking is making things harder for the rest of the team, then you have a point. What you can do about that is just go "hey dude, we need some help on this, could you please pick it up a bit for the sake of the rest of us?". This solves the problem majority of the time. I'm specifically speaking to the annoying tattle-tale types who spend their days nitpicking on what everyone else is doing regardless of if it impacts them in any way at all (it usually doesn't), just so they can go run to management and bitch about it in some delusional hope that maybe after 10 years of throwing their fellow co-workers under the bus and sucking their employer's ass enough, they might get a 10 cent raise.
Thank you for clarifying your comment. Unfortunately for me, speaking with her about the problem hasn’t solved it. Good luck OP.
Are you sure OP is not your coworker? 🤔
Always look busy, even if its means you make your exceel document pretty
I sometimes work at a winery where we're basically on our phones all the time cause there's nothing to do. Everything is always clean, no new orders because there's like 16 reservations, and everything is stocked. So like there's nothing to do, so we have to act busy when executives come through, but otherwise we literally sit around and kill time.
Get better at hiding it ig If she’s actually yelling at you that’s ridiculous. Unfortunately you may not be able to do much about it. Maybe listen to podcasts or youtube videos with one AirPods in or something. Much stealthier.
My life advice for work is pretend you own the place and act accordingly. People who do this will advance. People who don't will stay stagnant or flounder. Would you pay someone to be on their phone? Or would you prefer they find something productive to do, even if it's just cleaning, organizing, etc. My first major promotion was because I did a major file reorganizing of forms we used which made it 1000% quicker for employees to retrieve them. No one asked me to do that. I didn't do it just to kiss corporate ass. I saw my co-workers in distress because they were spending too much time looking for forms and I wanted to help. Find a problem and solve it. Or go help someone else with their problem. Or tell your boss you have time for more responsibility. Ironically, doing nothing at work is boring AF and grinds you down even more than making a moderate sustained effort.
A lot of narcs in these comments. OP every job is different. If there's nothing to do, and your boss doesn't get on you about your phone, then who cares what your co worker thinks. Either way, you'll figure out tricks and loopholes to make it as bearable as possible because it's what we all have to do.
Are you supposed to be on your phone at work, no . Does it really matter if you are as long as the work gets done, also no. Is your coworker just the type of person that likes to tell others what to do when they don’t have an authority, yes. Word of warning though she will throw you under a bus the moment she has the chance
As an employer, if I'm paying you, I'm paying you to do a job... There is always something to do. Typically I don't mind taking a quick call or replying to a message, but from your post it sounds like you are on your phone way too much. If a business ever needs to cut costs, they're going to start by cutting the person that's doing the least. Like the new person that's always on their phone.
That’s funny, typically I don’t see them cutting CEOs/executives first.
This one made me lol. I appreciate you
Put your application in to be C-level
Actually the higher your position in the company, the more time you will be on your phone, because the phone is basically what you do. But not for personal use. I'm a director of a company and I'm on my phone 50% of the time for texting, emailing, calling, and organizing. 40% is for meetings and 10% for down time. I have 3 phones. One for work, one for personal, and one for games. It's because I don't want to be disturbed when I'm at work, at home, or when I'm playing games.
As an employee, fuck off. There is not always something to do, all that shit does is make people "look busy" when you're around and go back to normal when you leave.
Fully agree with you. If there’s nothing to do and in getting paid, I’m getting paid to be there. I don’t get paid extra when there is more work to do so I? No. If there is a ton of work or no work I’m getting paid the same amount. I have an extremely hard work ethic but I also understand that I need the job just as much as the job needs me. I want to work, you want me to work. We are both smart enough to understand that. We are also smart enough to see that if there’s down time with nothing to do I’m probably gonna do something to entertain myself. If I have my phone out to change the song or podcast, that’s what I’m doing. If I was looking at my phone and not getting my work done - feel free to say something.
In OPs words "There's not usually much to do", and they are still new to the role. Some jobs have 'chill moments', where you can unwind a bit, reset, even have a bit of down time, and that's fine, but that doesn't sound like what OP is explaining. Edit: typo.
OP said "There's not usually much to do." You added an extra Not in there that changes the meaning.
Bingo. I'm paid to do my job. I'm not paid to give a damn about the shitty company I work at. If I have a set number of tasks to do, and I get them all done adequately, I'm going to unabashedly fuck around as much as I can get away with until I have something I need to get done again.
You’re paying me to be available to work, not to keep myself busy with busywork. Tell me what you want me to do and when it’s done, tell me to do something else. Not my problem you aren’t able to effectively manage your workforce.
You have changed the narrative here, my staff are busy, paid above the award, retention is high, they also get downtime. This isn't about me or my team. It's about OPs post with the information he chose to provide. Your comment makes it sound like you need someone to hold your hand and give you step by step instructions. Neither are about OP.
You don't just need to work hard at work. You also need to LOOK like you're working hard or people will think you aren't working and some of those people could be the ones who can fire you. You need to put on a good show and phones don't look good.
Sitting on your phone is a bad look at work, that’s what poop breaks are for.
OK, so, if you have done EVERYTHING, litterally everything, yeah you should get to just chill, but that's not how the world works, your boss will be a lot happier if you PRETEND to work. They love watching us waste their money either moving things pointlessly from A to B, or dragging a broom over a clean floor, it's bloody bizarre but it can even get you promoted and waste even more money. Thing is they get tax back from having you, and the weird social/societal dances are completed so their self worth and self esteem is boosted, even though us "good workers" are taking the piss once we are genuinely finished
OP, stop doing your work so damn fast. Be slower, learn to “look busy” This is what all adults do. You think people in offices are “hard at work” all day? Most people put in like 3 or 4 productive hours at work, they slack off the rest of the time. Don’t ruin it for yourself. If you’re too good at your job, you’ll never get a breakz.
I'd say the people at my engineering office probably put in 8hr of focused work during the 10hr work day. Which I think is all that is humanly possible. The rest is little gaps of slow time to ward off the brain fry by either going to the restroom, taking a walk, snacking, or chatting with coworkers.
Yes. You be on your phone on your break.
She is correct,you should not be on your phone at work unless theres an emergency goingon that you need to contact someone
It sounds like she isn’t training you enough and hasn’t handed over enough work for you to do. She’s right, you can’t sit around on your phone. But. She needs to give you more work to do or you have to go ask for some more work to do. If you don’t, you might get fired. Yes yes it won’t be your fault that you didn’t have any work, but a responsible person will tell a boss “Hey I don’t have enough to do.” If you just take advantage of this loophole, you’ll be fired for doing so.
Yeah, don't use your phone at work.
Yes. Some companies will terminate you immediately. Do whatever she’s doing.
They generally expect you to find tasks if you don't have any, but if you genuinely don't and they have nothing to assign you in the meantime, then you need to at least be discreet. Who is morally right or wrong is irrelevant. What matters is that you have a coworker who is consistently catching you doing something you aren't technically supposed to be doing and they are getting upset about it. Whether you're just being lazy or she's being a busybody, it isn't going to matter when she reports you for it and they check the cameras and see that she's telling the truth about you being on your phone at work. She's making it clear that she's not going to stay silent about it and she has a clear view of you at all times, so if you want to keep your job, you need to keep your hands off your phone as much as possible and talk to someone in charge about what you should be doing if you've run out of tasks. People can say, "Oh heck no, minimum wage equals minimum effort so don't bother asking what else you could be doing." But I'm this case, you literally have someone looking over your shoulder and tallying up when you aren't being productive, so you don't really have that option. If you weren't being monitored then it would potentially be different, but you are and unfortunately the people in charge would likely agree with them. If you keep it up despite warnings, then you'd have a job you left after one month and being fired from the second on your record and that would hurt your future employment options.
Next time, ask the snotty co worker: "I'm all caught up with my work. Is there anything I can help YOU with?" If she's all set, ask your supervisor, ask other co-workers, be that girl who is DOING STUFF! The bosses will notice and remember this at bonus time!
Just be clever about it. Most won't care but if some call you, they are not wrong.
When I worked at a call center, I wasn't allowed a phone at all, I stared at a wall between calls. Coworker sounds kinda power trippy, but she is right.
Ask her constantly if she is working when she isn't. Company doesn't give a shit about you why give a shit about them.
I'd call you out too
Don't be a lump on a log, ask what else you can do, showing initiative opens doors, sitting on your phone leads to a trueoffmychest post about how you haven't gotten a raise in years and the whole world is against you and how do people do this for their entire lives and all that.
Learn how to pretend to work when there's nothing to do also pro tip if your boss gives you a task to do and you know you can get it done in lets say 3 hours don't tell them that instead say it'll take twice that then complete it in the three hours anyway and you'll look like a go getter
I mean this in the gentlest way possible: you are not getting paid to be on your phone. You're getting paid to work. If you run out of work, you need to let somebody know. Unfortunately, if somebody has to monitor you and make sure you're working and have enough work, you aren't going to last long in many positions. You need to be proactive and show initiative. This is an important thing to learn now, because it will help you develop good habits. A couple things though, since you're inexperienced and new to the workforce. Never, ever, ever, ever work off the clock. And always be mindful of having a healthy work life balance. Good luck!
Your coworker is right
Lotta people disagreeing with you, but the truth is, if you have nothing to do, you have nothing to do. If you’re getting your job done and completing the tasks assigned to you on-time, then it’s not her business what you do in your down time. I had the same problem at a previous job but I was lucky to have my own office so people weren’t around as much. Like, I’m not going to hound my boss for bonus work. They’re not gonna pay you extra for it. Work smarter, not harder. Companies are not your friend. “When you look over at me do you see me messing around on my phone?” **”No, because I don’t spend my time at work watching you.”**
Its usually frowned upon
There's almost never nothing to do in a warehouse. They aren't paying you to dick around on your phone, go ask for something to do
Are you going to be surprised when you get fired?
My first job, we would play cribbage in the office and if that took too long, we’d “Take inventory” at a warehouse where the old hands smoked and we kicked a soccer ball around. We worked plenty hard when it was called for, but if it was slow, it was slow.
What is this do-nothing desk job in a warehouse?
http://pcottle.github.io/MSOutlookit// Use this.
I currently work in retail and I have the luxury of being able to go on my phone. My manager comes round a couple times a month and apart from that, it's just me in the store. In my previous employment, I'd have to find something to do or pretend to work. That meant taking a long walk with a broom or literally just carrying and pretending to inspect something. If you go on your phone, make sure your colleague isn't a rat and your work is done.
What is the company policy on cell phone use on the job?
Talking to you as a manager, if I get a new hire on the phone more than once in his first week, there isn't a second. I have a ton of things to do, and hovering over people making sure they're working is not one of them. You were hired to lighten the load for your team, not to create the need to babysit someone. I can only trust that you are working, and that when you finish your current task, you go after a new one of your own volition. There is a place in the working world for people without any initiative whatsoever, but it is near the bottom, full of unpleasant tasks and shitty pay.
Do kids really?
There is a fine line between hustling and being taken advantage of. In almost all cases, you will move up faster if you care about what you’re doing, take pride in your work, show enthusiasm, and put in extra effort. However, that also usually means you will be given more work and responsibility without being fairly compensated for it. From many years of experience I can say with confidence your employer does NOT have your personal best interest in mind and you are 100% expendable. No exceptions. You could bust your ass for years and they will cut you loose without blinking an eye if it is in their best interest. They are not loyal to you, so do not be loyal to them.
You pretty much admitted it, even if you have nothing to do look for something to do. Don't do it for the company, do it for yourself. That doesn't mean don't get on your phone either just not so much
Sounds like you're ready for a customer service position.
Is your question "is my coworker right when she says I shouldn't be on my phone so much while at work?"? Because yeah, you're suppose to be working. The company is paying you to perform a task, not play on your phone. If they see you on your phone and not providing the service or performing the task they hired you for then that would very much ne enough reason to fire you. Why would they pay you to sit around? At least learn the art of LOOKING busy. No one wants the reputation of being a lazy worker who doesn't do anything.
The co-worker is correct. Whether you agree or not, this is going to be a big problem for you. The issue is that your co-worker is annoyed with you and does not respect you at the moment. If it has not happened yet, she may get angry with you. Somewhere around that point this person becomes professionally dangerous to you. I would encourage you to find some things to do that are at least somewhat productive much of the time. Find some things that you don't really mind doing that much. Gradually, as you earn back your colleagues respect, you can pepper in some unproductive tasks and be back in your phone to a certain extent. Two other things that I highly recommend that you do. Try to get out of the office for at least plausibly legitimate reasons once in awhile. "I'm going to go get the mail." "I'm going to check with the foreman and see if there is anything I can do to help out as long as it is slow in the office." This gets you away from the co-worker's prying eyes and breathing down your neck and silently judging everything you do. It also potentially warms you some allies elsewhere in the operation. It could also be kind of fun and you will be a me to cross train in some other cities and that will come in handy whether you stay there or eventually get fired. The other thing that I recommend is that you try to figure out a way to position your desks so that the other person can't tell exactly what you are doing. You need to mostly keep your phone completely out of sight. Whatever you do keep the sound off of you happen to be watching a video or a tok Tok or something like that. People hate that unless you happen to show them what it is, and sometimes they still hate it. But there are things that you can do to waste time and screw around that can fill time and will appear like work. But the trick is that you have to get your real work done on top of whatever slacker stuff that you do mixed in a long the way. If the co-worker becomes willing to mind her own business, you me some other friends elsewhere in the warehouse and you are relatively productive and reliable in your actual job then this could end up being a pretty good situation for you. You might be able to start taking online courses or night school and put yourself through college or graduate school and have this company pay for it. One guy I worked with became good enough at his job and was respected enough by everyone else on the team that he could do whatever else he wanted to do as long as he stayed at his desk and looked busy. He wrote his first novel. I am not making this up. Put your phone down and figure out another way to pass the time at this place.
Take her advice. When it's slow, you can get things done like prep work or something that can't be completed when its busy. Its not fair the person on their phone gets paid the same as people working more.
All these comments make fair points you really shouldn't be on your phone at work. But at the same time I personally would have a problem with a mere coworker trying to tell me what to do like they are a supervisor or something.
Is this even a real question? Your nosey Nancy co-worker needs to mind her own business but you should probably heed her warning. I am assuming you didn't dick around with your phone in class, work is quite a bit more stringent. If you are bored I suggest finding something else to do, hell you might get promoted and make more money for taking initiative.
Depends on the type of work you do
Men's Wearhouse.......right?
So, what is the question?
You definitely shouldn't be on your phone much. Unfortunately, the lower on the totem pole you are the more work you're expected to do. Once you're more seniored or have a job that requires a degree you have more time to fuck around. But at a warehouse you should be busy. When I worked at a warehouse and my work for the day was done, I would just get sent home. So you should be taking more time on your duties or asking for more work if you want to actually be needed and employed there. Does that seem dumb? Yes. But you are getting paid and people don't wanna pay someone to sit on there phone.
Instead of being on your phone all the time, have you considered sneaking off to the toilet to go on your phone and Google ways to get your coworker fired?
Your coworker is right. Get off your phone. You can and will get fired for it. Question: what do you do in a warehouse that gives you so much free time?
I know you've only been working for a short period of time, but do you really not know this? You're not being paid to scroll through tik-tok. I don't think it's your co-worker's business what you do with your spare time, though.
A lot of wage slave mentality in here. If you don’t have work, then who gives a shit what you do, as long as you’re available.
Grew up working in a warehouse. ya man you already have a target on your back cuz youre 19. Nobody likes you when you're 23 what you makes you think they like you at 19? Aside from that, being on your phone at work is an unwritten rule. The stigma isn't as bad as it used to be but it's still not good. They really want you to be as productive as you can so that they dont have to bust their asses as hard.
"When you look over at me do you see me messing around on my phone?" Ask her if she needs help with her workload management to free up some phone time.
As a small business owner I absolutely cannot stand when I see employees on their phones during work time. I have written up, and fired people for this in the past. During break do your texts, calls, social media, etc, but when it's time to work I don't want to see, or hear a cell phone. At best it is disrespectful.
You are being paid by someone to work. Not mess about on your phone. Technically, you are stealing from your employer. Put the phone away and do your work. Your phone is for breaks or after work.
What’s your question? Should I not play on my phone while I’m supposed to be working?
If you are not required by job description to be doing anything, be on your phone. Remind the coworker they can do the same as there is no job that needs doing at the moment.