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What do you do to kill time at work?
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solitaire404 lemmy.zip solitaire404@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-10-04
Quote

Other than going on Lemmy lol.

What I have done throughout the years (as an office worker) is the following:

  • reddit/lemmy
  • chess
  • selfhosting/homelab
  • chores/planning
  • writing

Getting tired of all these, looking for something to do when I have nothing to do but still looks like I am active on Teams/online.

35   Original
yaroto98 lemmy.world yaroto98@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-08-10
#2 · Quote Reply

I read a lot of KU ebooks. When I work from home my steam deck helps me get through tough 2hr " daily standups".

2
proudblond lemmy.world proudblond@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-22
#3 · Quote Reply

I don’t have an office job in the traditional sense anymore, but when I did, I would do a lot of trip planning. My boomer mother always books tours or uses a travel agent, but I stay away from the first because they seem to be filled with mostly boomers, and the second because I’m cheap. I’m not really confident enough to do it for a place where English isn’t easily understood or used, but we’ve gone some cool places based entirely on my own planning and research.

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FUCKING_CUNO lemmy.dbzer0.com FUCKING_CUNO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-04-30
#4 · (edited) Quote Reply

Crosswords on my phone. I can take a glance at the clue and chew on it without staring at the screen

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Boomer Humor Doomergod lemmy.world Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-03-15
#5 · Quote Reply

Remote into my other machine and play video games

Lay in my hammock and talk to the birds and squirrels.

5
iceberg314 slrpnk.net iceberg314@slrpnk.net
Joined: 2026-03-10
#6 · Quote Reply

You guys have free time at work? Kinda curious what you all do?

I am and Electrical Engineer and am usually busy all day. Sometimes I'll head home a few hours early if i hit my hours for for the week or if I have to "hurry up and wait"

17
mastertigurius lemmy.world mastertigurius@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-04-17
#7 · Quote Reply

Wikipedia rabbit holes. Start on one subject that randomly popped up in my brain, and off we go.

3
ohshit604 lemmy.halstead.host ohshit604@lemmy.halstead.host
Joined: 2026-07-18
#8 · (edited) Quote Reply

Wild how I never thought of chess during my free time, looks like the bathroom breaks just got longer.

2
solrize lemmy.ml solrize@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2023-06-22
#9 · Quote Reply

"You cannot kill time without injuring eternity".

2
HobbitFoot thelemmy.club HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club
Joined: 2023-06-16
#10 · Quote Reply

Go down a hyperfocus rabbit hole.

3
dektep lemmy.world dektep@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-05-13
#11 · Quote Reply

I don’t have an office job in the traditional sense anymore, but when I did, I would do a lot of trip planning. My boomer mother always books tours or uses a travel agent, but I stay away from the first because they seem to be filled with mostly boomers, and the second because I’m cheap. I’m not really confident enough to do it for a place where English isn’t easily understood or used, but we’v...

hummingbirds

1
solitaire404 lemmy.zip solitaire404@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-10-04
#12 · Quote Reply

You guys have free time at work? Kinda curious what you all do? I am and Electrical Engineer and am usually busy all day. Sometimes I'll head home a few hours early if i hit my hours for for the week or if I have to "hurry up and wait"

Office worker in government. Everyone around me is either an idiot/incompetent or doing all the work. Will get 'rewarded' with more work if I start asking for more.

At least you get to go home early if you want. I guarantee that 80% of office workers pretend to work all day because if we don't then we are given more work/responsibilities without a pay increase, job title, any reward.

A lot of office work is 'be ready to answer a question at anytime when someone walks up to your cube'. And to be fair, you are probably the only person who can answer that question since most people's role is niche/specialized.

But honestly, pretty sure office workers/management want people in the office all hours of the days because they hate their home life, and use work as their only socialization.

18
solitaire404 lemmy.zip solitaire404@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-10-04
#13 · Quote Reply

Crosswords on my phone. I can take a glance at the clue and chew on it without staring at the screen

Got a favorite app? Been trying to get into crosswords, but I do find them difficult.

Been using sporcle.

2
solitaire404 lemmy.zip solitaire404@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-10-04
#14 · Quote Reply

I read a lot of KU ebooks. When I work from home my steam deck helps me get through tough 2hr " daily standups".

2hr daily meeting.

Fuck man, sorry.

I work from home once a week, and yeah the steam deck is nice in this regards.

btw, did you know that the steam docking station also works on laptops? Found that to be very useful, now I don't have to unplug and plug in a bunch of hdmi when I need to use the monitor for work/gaming.

3
FUCKING_CUNO lemmy.dbzer0.com FUCKING_CUNO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-04-30
#15 · (edited) Quote Reply

Got a favorite app? Been trying to get into crosswords, but I do find them difficult. Been using sporcle.

There's one on the Play Store (eww, I know) by Redstone games that ive been using for years. No third party data sharing and minor data collection. No login required and it runs fine with network disabled, you'll just need to allow it on network if you want new puzzles, though it comes with MANY.

2
CrocodilloBombardino piefed.social the_abecedarian@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-04-07
#16 · Quote Reply

contribute to openstreetmap

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toomanypancakes crazypeople.online toomanypancakes@crazypeople.online
Joined: 2026-05-14
#17 · Quote Reply

I basically do what you do except replace homelab with make music. As such I don't have much advice lol, it's a good question.

2
Slowy lemmy.world Slowy@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-20
#18 · Quote Reply

Briefly daydream about having time to kill, log my overtime, and get back to my giant never ending pile of tasks

10
FUCKING_CUNO lemmy.dbzer0.com FUCKING_CUNO@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-04-30
#19 · Quote Reply

Got a favorite app? Been trying to get into crosswords, but I do find them difficult. Been using sporcle.

Also, on the difficulty note, I find people around me tend to enjoy helping. Its become a bit of a ritual in the evening for my partner to help me with tough clues. Great for car rides too (passenger on the phone, obviously)

2
SqueakySpider lemmy.dbzer0.com SqueakySpider@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-12-14
#20 · Quote Reply

Office worker in government. Everyone around me is either an idiot/incompetent or doing all the work. Will get 'rewarded' with more work if I start asking for more. At least you get to go home early if you want. I guarantee that 80% of office workers pretend to work all day because if we don't then we are given more work/responsibilities without a pay increase, job title, any reward. A lot of o...

I began putting objects on my keyboard with notepad open within three weeks at my new government work. Teams chills out. Can be very very boring

2
thesohoriots lemmy.world thesohoriots@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-21
#21 · Quote Reply

"My job consists of basically masking my
contempt for the assholes in charge, and, at least once a day, retiring to the men's room so I can jerk off while I fantasize about a life that doesn't so closely resemble Hell.”

13
Ibuthyr feddit.org Ibuthyr@feddit.org
Joined: 2025-07-08
#22 · Quote Reply

Back when I still had the time, I played Universal Paperclips. That was fun.

3
kibiz0r midwest.social kibiz0r@midwest.social
Joined: 2023-07-14
#23 · Quote Reply

"You cannot kill time without injuring eternity".

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time”

5
corsicanguppy lemmy.ca corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-12
#24 · Quote Reply

Briefly daydream about having time to kill, log my overtime, and get back to my giant never ending pile of tasks

Gen-X represent ... if you want.

5
corsicanguppy lemmy.ca corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-12
#25 · Quote Reply

still looks like I am active on Teams/online.

Dude, do we have to have the ethics speech again?

-2
Helix 🧬 feddit.org helix@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-07-27
#26 · Quote Reply

still looks like I am active on Teams/online. Dude, do we have to have the ethics speech again?

Do we have to have the corporate bootlicking prevention speech again?

8
solitaire404 lemmy.zip solitaire404@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-10-04
#27 · Quote Reply

still looks like I am active on Teams/online. Dude, do we have to have the ethics speech again?

Yeah go ahead, copy and paste exists.

2
iceberg314 slrpnk.net iceberg314@slrpnk.net
Joined: 2026-03-10
#28 · Quote Reply

Office worker in government. Everyone around me is either an idiot/incompetent or doing all the work. Will get 'rewarded' with more work if I start asking for more. At least you get to go home early if you want. I guarantee that 80% of office workers pretend to work all day because if we don't then we are given more work/responsibilities without a pay increase, job title, any reward. A lot of o...

Not trying to be sarcastic, but do you not find joy in your work? I'll ask for more work too when I run out of things to do as well.

I just like electronics and stuff though. And the boring/tedious parts of my job I think it is at least fun to try to automate or streamline them with python or other tools

4
ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠 slrpnk.net Nemo@slrpnk.net
Joined: 2023-07-01
#29 · Quote Reply

I rarely have time to kill at work. I don't get paid by the hour, so I need to work to make money. And if there's no work to do I go home. In the very rare times when I'm waiting on someone else I usually eat, hydrate, or take a smoke break.

3
Solrac lemmy.world Solrac@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-03
#30 · Quote Reply

Read https://linmob.net/

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OhVenus_Baby lemmy.ml OhVenus_Baby@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2023-11-14
#31 · Quote Reply

Investing, learning commodities and markets, planning life financials, planning outside work schedules, meals, activities, dates, home or vehicle maintenance. Couponing. Health based care and ideas.

Check in on family/older people always is worth doing often you never know when it'll be the last time you could ever hear or see them.

Basically being productive in your life outside work while on company time, its actually the highest tier achievement in an employee role.

3
hexagonwin lemmy.today hexagonwin@lemmy.today
Joined: 2026-02-07
#32 · Quote Reply

play phone games (bejeweled/parking lot..) or read books/manga/wikipedia

0
Techlos lemmy.dbzer0.com Techlos@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-06-19
#33 · Quote Reply

physical labourer - music and working on maths problems are great. Notgibg melts the day away better than liquid dnb and PDE topology

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iByteABit lemmy.ml iByteABit@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2025-11-08
#34 · Quote Reply

Not trying to be sarcastic, but do you not find joy in your work? I'll ask for more work too when I run out of things to do as well. I just like electronics and stuff though. And the boring/tedious parts of my job I think it is at least fun to try to automate or streamline them with python or other tools

Not sure if you can find joy in anything if you do it 8 hours+ every single working day of your life, if you still get excited enough to ask for new work without having to I'm jealous of how much you like what you do

5
iceberg314 slrpnk.net iceberg314@slrpnk.net
Joined: 2026-03-10
#35 · Quote Reply

Not sure if you can find joy in anything if you do it 8 hours+ every single working day of your life, if you still get excited enough to ask for new work without having to I'm jealous of how much you like what you do

I suppose it is a mixture, of both work and coworkers.

I like trying to "perfect my craft". But also, I like spending time with my coworkers and getting to brainstorm and chat with them.

That being said I am also very fortunate to only have to work 36hrs per week. Pay is less than full time, but it can also just eat out less

1
Q piefed.social q@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-07-25
#36 · Quote Reply

I rarely have free time at work. I like what I do so it doesn’t feel like a soul sucking grind, I just finish something and start working on the next thing.

I’ll troubleshoot or enhance my home lab when I take a break. Be productive around the house like laundry or empty dishwasher, let the dogs out, organize digital files or mail/bills. How very “over 40” of me, right?

3
murmelade lemmy.ml murmelade@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2023-03-04
#37 · Quote Reply

Skribbl.io play draw&guess with Indian kids

1
redditmodssucks lemmy.world redditmodssucks@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-08-05
#38 · Quote Reply

Make maps for the government. I watch YouTube all day.

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selokichtli lemmy.ml selokichtli@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2021-03-20
#39 · Quote Reply

OpenStreetMap contributions.

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tigermountain lemmy.world tigermountain@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-06-15
#40 · Quote Reply

I work from home and I take naps. I can justify being offline for a few hours or more.

1
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