Internet @ Work

winneythepooh7 · #1 08-03-2004, 01:17 PM

OK I know most of us have downtime at work where we play on the internet (I'm actually doing it right now). I've noticed however that some people comment that that is ALL they do all day. I am just curious then what their job description is, how and why they get away with this all the time? So many companies complain that they have no money but if most of your employees are online playing all day that seems to be problematic to me. Just an observation

#2 08-03-2004, 01:20 PM

I am a Loan Officer at a very small credit union. Though I have the normal duties of loan officer, I am not busy like a Loan Officer at a larger financial institution. I am also a very good multi-tasker!!!!

I do have days that are busier than others when I'm have absolutely no down time.

Lady Pi Phi · #3 08-03-2004, 01:22 PM

Hahahaha, that's very interesting. While I don't really have down time. I'm not super busy with work. I do the same thing over and over again. All I do all day is data entry. I can surf on the net for a bit and the do some work, then surf the net, then do some work. I can play on the net and get all my work done.
Now, if I was super busy all day, had to deal with people or was on the phones, I wouldn't be able to do this.

winneythepooh7 · #4 08-03-2004, 01:31 PM

Just curious how many people you know ABUSE the privilige of using the internet at work? I currently am in my office and have no clients here. However, the program I work in on the weekends, the clients live right there. I've seen co-workers in the past up in the counselor's office their whole shift on-line while the clients are sitting around by themselves. I think that staff can use their time more productively in a case such as that one. It's one thing during downtime, or between clients, but out and out neglecting your responsibilities is a completely different situation.

Lady Pi Phi · #5 08-03-2004, 01:41 PM

I don't know of any people that I work with that will spend their whole day online, negecting their work. The nature of my job and several others around me often have days of all down time, where they have to come to work but often have nothing to do. They have to be here "just in case".

I often keep my internet open, and will browse occasionally.

jharb · #6 08-03-2004, 03:36 PM

I personally work at a family-owned mattress store. People don't buy mattresses that often, and it can get kinda slow during the days, but we stay open because you never know when someone will come in. Also the location I work at 90% of the time just opened, so we're waiting for stuff to take off. We have a computer here to keep ourselves entertained. I also read a lot to keep myself busy. There's not much I can do when there's no customers or things that need to be designed (signage and advertising) so I entertain myself on GC.

Also all we need to stay open is around one or two sales a day, so if I'm here open to close (10.5 hours) I may only be with a customer for a total of two hours.

#7 08-03-2004, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lady Pi Phi
I don't know of any people that I work with that will spend their whole day online, negecting their work. The nature of my job and several others around me often have days of all down time, where they have to come to work but often have nothing to do. They have to be here "just in case".

That's me!

Basically, my job is to wait for the phone to ring. I schedule conference rooms for the 1000 employees in my building and in a few others, take complaints about maintenance issues, and do a little bit of accounting. Other than that, though, I'm pretty much here "just in case" some sort of building issue comes up or one of the space planners needs help with blueprints, etc. Taking phone calls for conference rooms is the bulk of my job, but even though they're very frequent, they generally take a minute or less. So I can easily start a post (like this one), get interrupted 2 or 3 times (2 in the case of this post) and get back to it without losing my train of thought

(make that 3 times I was interrupted!)

CASIGKAP · #8 08-03-2004, 04:42 PM

I work at a school so I don't get much time to use the computer. Especially b/c I work in Special Education. If I turn my back on my kids for a minute

!!!

When I do get to use the computer, I limit it to minor stuff b/c the school moniters everything we look at.

aephi alum · #9 08-03-2004, 07:33 PM

It's feast or famine at my job. Some days I don't have time to breathe; other days I have very little on my plate. When I'm hosed, I won't surf the net (except inasmuch as it relates to work - I am a web designer). But when I don't have a lot of work to do, I'm usually studying for certification exams, and it helps me concentrate and absorb the material if I take a break once in a while.

Speechpath · #10 08-03-2004, 10:01 PM

Just depends on how busy the day is, if I'm with patients of course I would never be on the computer but in my down time I do check email etc. I can say I probably don't spend more than 30 min a day on the computer and not more than about 5 minutes each time. Some days I don't check it at all at work. We do have a fairly strict policy about computer use though and they supposedly "monitor" your activities but everyone I know uses the internet at work even if just for brief periods of time.

winnieb · #11 08-03-2004, 10:46 PM

I don't have internet at work!

I do have email-- which I probably abuse. I have email conversations all day long... it gets me thru my slow days.
My company's policy is only senior management gets internet access. I am friends with the computer guy (only one in our office) --- he hooked me up with the secret internet access. It was great-- the company supposedly observes our usage-but why would he tell on me.
BUT-- I had one coworker who knew the big secret. I was out one afternoon-- the unsaavy internet coworker got on my computer-- did not hear the boss walk up, tried to minimize the screen, locked up the computer, and got busted. The computer guy was called in, he made up some story about it being on there (i inherited the computer), he had to remove it. He caught me on the way in the next day, told me the story--when I was asked I said "its always been on there" The boss said she knew I had it, but since someone else in the office found out, she had to take it away. I think she was clueless until saw it with her own eyes.
I miss the internet-- I they took email away--I would have to find a new job.

chideltjen · #12 08-04-2004, 11:03 AM

I'm a designer. It's really slow right now (actually it has been all year so far.) I don't have a lot of design work to do and if I do, it doesn't take all day to do it. So I spend most of my time online for lack of better things to do.

kateshort · #13 08-04-2004, 01:15 PM

I only use email and mapquest when I'm at work. I figure I have too many other things that need my attention, and as a teacher, I think it's kind of tacky to surf the internet and just read email in your downtime-- we have *so* much to do, it isn't worth it to waste the time!

I'm on here from work now since I'm in on my own time-- I'm updating 900 records by hand, so I'm reading a page of GC, doing 50 updates, reading a page of GC...