Appearances and administration! Plus, NEW SHINIES.

That's a heck of a way to quit. Wondering if it's a hoax, still very funny.

Brings up something that bugs me considerably about how the workforce tends to operate. Higher ups grumble that minions spend all their time goofing up. Higher ups tend to spend...a rather lot of time goofing off. I noticed this since I made the successful jump from "minion type" to "higher up type" (sort of anyway) and I noticed the person in the office who spent the most time grumbling that the secretaries wasted time with solitare and therefore had it uninstalled from their computers spent much of his time goofing off with Bejeweled Blitz.

The part that gets me is that from what I understand of how productivity and brain function tend to work, a few minutes of "down time" isn't usually unproductive. I pace when I'm thinking. Nobody seems to much mind this, except for the one boss I had during one of my internships who decided literally EVERYTHING ABOUT ME was obnoxious (he actually once called me into his office and screamed at me for twenty minutes because my general disposition is cheerful and my habitual good spirits were grating on him. I assure you, my general amiability was no longer a problem at that particular internship. It actually took me two jobs to get my general good mood back and I still clam up when I see that particular boss at functions.)

Anyway, I don't see why me getting up to walk around for a moment--which only one boss of mine ever found at ALL objectionable--is that different than playing solitaire for a moment. I'm usually thinking about work when I do it, but for all they know I could be thinking about what color I want to repaint the bathroom or something. Whereas feeling like you're under a microscope and your every sneeze will subject you to analysis and criticism (Did you ENJOY the sneeze?...Was the sneeze productive for the company?) WILL negatively affect office performance.

Definitely is the way a lot of people's brains (braaaiiinnnsss!!) work. Every so often I get stuck, and if I try to force myself on I'll end up spending five minutes repeating "2 plus 2 is..." with no answer (and no energy to even recode it into binary). Whereas if I take 5 minutes and read LJ or The Register or browse wikipedia I'll free the jam and be able to continue. Heck, a lot of people have that long for smoking breaks or tea/coffee breaks every hour. Especially managers.

Plus I don't charge them for my times at oh-dark-hundred when I actually realise what the problem is and recode half the software in my head before getting back to sleep...

I have a friend of mine (a solo practitioner attorney, and no snickering, the single most honest woman I've ever known) who grumbles that if she could just figure out how to successfully bill for the bouts of inspiration she gets while killing time in court waiting for a hearing on another case or while driving her kids around, she'd be more honest about her billing than she is when she's supposed to be thinking about client matters and is instead going "Yep. Drawing a blank. Hey. That guy out the window looks kind of like the dude who plays Norman Osborne. I shall now engage in a five minute mental meditation on the failings and triumphs of the Spider Man movies."

I totally understand that someone whose work is slipping because he goofs around on company time ALL THE TIME needs to be disciplined. I just don't get why professionals who totally understand the fifteen minutes they need now and then to clear their heads is not unproductive time don't realize that their support staff feel the same way and for the same reasons.