*the following strategies also work at school in most cases. Also good ideas if you intend to get fired*

 

 

So, what do you do when your bored at work? Heres some suggestions:

 

1. Play with office supplies - you'd be surprised at what you can with the basic things in every office: paper, rubber bands, paper clips, staplers, pencils, and the like. Use your imagination, weather you want to pretend to be MacGyver or just get some target practice, you have everything you need. Im not gonna list all the things you can do, but classics like the paper airplane or paper football can keep you busy for a while, or try bending a paper clip into a triangular shape, then pushing down on it with you finger; if done correctly, it will spring several feet in the air.

 

2. Computer Games - Not much beats a good old game of solitaire. Every office/cubicle/desk has a computer: your gateway to entertainment. You can find some online games, read celebrity gossip, email your friends, play hearts, and so much more.  Just 1 problem, getting caught. It happens to the best of us, chances are your not gonna get fired for it,  so just act like you wont do it again. A good way to avoid getting caught is to open another Internet Explorer window and leave it. When somebody pops in, instead of suspiciously closing everything you were doing, just pop open the other window with your homepage, MSN, or a company page, and act like you were just getting ready to do something.

 

3. Take a walk - Just stroll around the office for a while. You can wander aimlessly for a very long time, just remember to hit certain points so it looks like your going somewhere. Some must stop places include the bathroom, watercooler, copy machine, vending machine, and break room. Stop and chat with everyone you run into and can stand talking to, anything from a simple "hi, how are you" , a more detailed "what did you do last weekend?" or even some business related talk. In an average sized office, you can waste at least 20 minutes doing this. Important advice tho: dont avoid your boss, if you do they will think that is your objective and want to know what you've been up to. If your reading this guide, chances are your day has been slightly less productive than could be expected.

 

4. Fake Work - If you've been doing 1 - 3 too much and are now being scrutinized or just want to look like your hard at work to impress your boss or say... an auditor?  Put a spreadsheet up on your computer, grab a pen and some paperwork, and proceed to daydream. It will be almost impossible to tell weather your hard at work, or about to doze off. Some pen motion helps too, just wiggle it around, no need to write anything. Want the whole office to know your working(when your not), heres what you do: ask questions, ask where things are, ask people in the office, ask other associates on the phone, email or Instant Messenger. You already know the answers to most of the questions you will ask, and probably dont care less, and I bet it just annoys coworkers, but they will all know your working hard(even if your an idiot who must be told the same things over and over)

 

5. Disturb Coworkers - Trying to be annoying can be fun. So, grab your phone, set the ringer to high and put the speakerphone on. Turn the volume on your computer up so the whole office can hear the ping of every email you receive or error in Windows. Stand over peoples shoulders while they work. Throw stuff over the cubicle walls. Tap your pencil on the desk. Have an radio on or alarmclock ready to go off. Email the person sitting right next to you. Interrupt coworkers on the phone. Steal someones lunch from the fridge. By the end of they day, you will be thoroughly entertained and significantly less popular around the office.

 

6. Snack Time - This one is best pulled off during lunch hours or coffee breaks. Spend the lunch/break doing whatever you feel like, until it is almost over. At the time your lunch/break should be over, go get something to eat or a cup of coffee. Return to your office a few minutes late, and enjoy your lunch. Congratulations, you just managed to cut your lunch out of company time. Its ok, everybody knows the least productive hours are between noon and 2PM.

 

7. Office Pranks - Classic office gags are usually apreciated and a great way to waste time. Some of my favorites include glueing a quarter to the floor near the soda machine, leaning a cup of coffee against the bathroom door, re-aranging a coworkers desk, or telling someone that somebody wanted to talk to them when they didnt really.

 

8. Causing Chaos - Warning: these following tricks can seriously disrupt office functions. Office Printers sure are unreliable, eh? Heres a way to put one out of commission for the rest of the day. Open Microsoft Excel and go to cell IV65536, type a period in the cell. Push print. What this does is tell the printer basically to print almost 40,000 sheets of blank paper. Your not wasting ink or paper, but this will inevitably overload the printers cue, making it impossible to cancel the print job. Dont want to completely suspend office printing? You can also turn the printer into a virtual timebomb. Open the paper tray and slightly crumple or fold a sheet and stick it somewhere in the middle. When this page is pulled into the printer, it will become jammed. Ok, not a serious problem, but it can be frustrating and depending on how much printing your office usually does, it can cause a bit of a backup. Same thing with a stapler, stick something in that doesnt belong and the staples will become jammed creating an inconvinience for an unsuspecting coworker. Its pretty funny when something goes wrong, so if you see an oportunity and are bored enough, make an 'honest mistake' that will require someone else to fix