Wasting away

According to the recently released Wasting Time Survey by Salary.com, employees waste about 1.7 hours of an 8.5-hour work day (down from 1.86 hours last year and 2.09 hours the year before). Those surveyed said their top time wasters were using the Internet, talking to coworkers and taking care of personal business. "The main reason for goofing off: not enough work to do," Salary.com reported.

Ah, the joys of a time clock. When I worked at a newspaper the year after graduation I routinely finished my sections in a couple of hours and spent the rest of the day killing time. I was supposed to spend every afternoon working on the next day's paper, but that would have left me with nothing to do the next morning. I tried to persuade the publisher to put me on salary and let me leave when my work was done. He refused.

I considered requesting that my position officially be reduced to part time, which would cut my paycheck in half but allow me to pursue freelance opportunities or whatever else I might want. I decided not to do that because I knew I was going to be leaving the newspaper in six months, once Matt and I got married (we were moving to Wilmington), and I didn't want to put my successor in a bad position if he or she needed all 40 hours to finish the job.

So I coped as well as I could. I volunteered to make bank deposits, go on coffee runs -- anything that involved getting out of the office. I clocked in early then worked through lunch so I could leave while part of the afternoon was still salvageable. I redesigned the business section.

I discussed Nostradamus with the curmudgeony sports editor in the cubicle behind me. I entered radio contests. I called friends. I planned my wedding. It was torture. Too bad I didn't know about Blogger at the time, right?