Employee is only given 2 hours of tasks per day, boss chews them out for spending the rest of it on their phone: 'Okay, then give me more stuff to do?'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Feb 15, 2026 10:00 AM EST

Everyone knows you're supposed to look busy at work.

It's one of the unspoken rules of having a job. Sure, you're actually busy most of the time, but some days, nothing comes across your desk, and you still have to be there. This is when your summers spent doing community theater will come in. You open multiple tabs, click back and forth between them to make it seem like you're doing something really important, when actually you're just biding time. Is it the best use of your time and your company's time? Definitely not. Is it a reality of some office jobs? Definitely. 

But issues can arise when you're doing this too much. You don't want to take advantage of the system and make everyone else look bad. Plus, when you're starting out in a career, there is a learning curve to figuring out what you're supposed to do in an office. It might take you a while to figure out what the culture in your office is, and how you might best fit into it. When you're new to that kind of job, you might not understand all the unspoken rules that go into it. But you'll find out eventually. You just hope you don't find out the hard way. That's what happened to this employee when they found themselves with very little to do when they were at the office. But instead of faking it and looking busy anyway, they let their boredom show on their face. 

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement
  • A bored employee checks his watch at his work desk
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • As it turned out, this was a big mistake. One that ended up jeopardizing their career. Their boss noticed all of their apparent boredom and wanted to address it before it became a bigger issue. But the employee in question had a lot to say. He didn't quite understand what was wrong with doing what he was told to do and using his time as his own otherwise. Scroll on to read what happened here and see what you would have done in his shoes. Plus, read commenters' ideas about how to best use his downtime at the office. You might learn a thing or two.

  • Might lose my job because I don't look busy when I'm not.

    Right before leaving work, my manager told me he wanted to speak to me for 5 minutes. We found somewhere to talk in private, and he told me he noticed I was spending a lot of time on my phone. Which is not a bad observation, I do do that. Then why am I complaining? Because what he said next was
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • "When you have tasks, you're not on your phone, you're doing them." okay, what's the issue then? Well, I arrived here a month ago, and until now, I've had 2hrs of task a day maximum. So, I said
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • "Okay, then give me more stuff to do?" and his answer was tiptoeing around before saying "Maybe you should keep your phone in your pocket? It gives us a bad look if you look like you're doing nothing you know..."
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • And like... If you wanted to hire someone to "look busy", you should have hired a freaking actor, not a deployer. So now, I have a fucking Damocles sword over my head because when I don't have work for 5hrs, I don't just stare really hard at my e mails...
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • Edit : • For those who tell me to look at reddit, play games, or do anything else just not on my phone, not my computer this is an open space made in such a way that people can see my screen just by walking by, precisely to avoid that kind of thing. Also, I'm on company network so they can easily monitor which sites I'm accessing.
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • . • For those who say I complain for nothing: the problem is not that I'm at 80% charge and I want 100. It's that I'm not even at 20%, and the 80% remaining I have literally nothing to do. "Read an e book", "Read a PDF", "Listen to radio", etc.
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • Well, sure, except for the fact that, again, my PC is visible to everyone, and so they'll still see what I'm reading and still notice I'm not working. As for radio, not allowed to have my headset on unless I'm on a call...
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • • For advice like "sweep . dust", "walk around with a clipboard", and things like that... That doesn't exactly fit my job, so it wouldn't work either.
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • Sorry if I sound angry in my edit and such, I don't mean to be, I know you're all well meaning, but I'm just annoyed that my job is on the line because apparently, what I thought was gonna be an interesting job is more about acting than doing the things I'm actually hired for...
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • Edit 2: Okay, this got a lot more traction than expected, and I definitely wrote this more in the heat of the moment than would be reasonable. I'm removing notifications, and I'm gonna take a long time to think, because it sounds like maybe a job like this one is just not for me, with everyone talking about how "it's how the game is supposed to be played" and such, I just can't imagine myself in this situation for the rest of my life.
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • Still, even to those that were maybe a bit mean in their answers and such, thanks for taking time to at least answer, it will definitely help me with taking decisions for my future to see all the different POVS !
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • A man in glasses uses his phone at his desk
    via Vitaly Gariev

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Commenters gave their takes on this situation.

    kounterfett Notice you didn't get in trouble for whatever it was you were doing on your phone. Your boss basically told you they don't care what else you're doing as long as your tasks get done and you look busy during the day. If you want to doom scroll reddit just do it on your computer. How hard is that?
    via u/kounterfett
  • Nei-Chan- Original Poster's Reply I added an edit for this, but I guess answering here won't hurt. My activity on my PC is monitored (for security reasons), and I'm in an open space, very close to the central alley, so people would see what's on my screen. So scrolling Reddit on my screen wouldn't change anything.
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • NatureAware2190 Play your games and doomscroll on your monitor instead
    via u/NatureAware2190
  • Nei-Chan- Original Poster's Reply I added an edit for this, but I guess answering here won't hurt. My activity on my PC is monitored (for security reasons), and I'm in an open space, very close to the central alley, so people would see what's on my screen. So scrolling Reddit on my screen wouldn't change anything.
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • Tarnpanzer If you got nothing to do just do some training regarding your field of work. No one will get mad at you for educating yourself to be better at your job.
    via u/Tarnpanzer
  • Nei-Chan- Original Poster's Reply 80% of the tools I'm using are internal to the company, and I've already spent time reading the documentation on all of them (because I didn't want to be on my phone, that's the thing). I just can't practice shit, because I have no tasks that would allow me to, and no simulated environment that would allow me to do so, and at some point, it just becomes incomprehensible without being able to see the things it's actually about...
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • Gertrudethecurious Do some on line courses in some things vaguely related to your job. Better if you can get certified. Also ask your supervisor if you can ask to help others in the office.
    via u/Gertrudethecurious
  • Nei-Chan- Original Poster's Reply I'm constantly asking to help others. Because I'll be honest, I don't know how to look busy when I'm not, and I just want to be able to become better at my job so they trust me with harder stuff so I can at least fill my day.
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • chaosisapony OP, I understand what you're dealing with. I had the same conversation several years ago. Couldn't read my Kindle, couldn't use my phone, couldn't use my work PC due to monitoring and being in an open location. I was told to stare at the wall. Literally, if I had nothing to do just face forward and stare blankly waiting for someone to need me. I never got fired or laid off, I wound up being promoted.
    via u/chaosisapony
  • Nei-Chan- Original Poster's Reply I mean, I just hope it's gonna change soon. I don't know if I have some kind of mental trouble or if it's normal or what, but if I have to spend one more month going to work everyday just to stare blankly at a monitor, I'm gonna go fucking insane.
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • chaosisapony I felt the same way. I literally started wandering around. Went to other offices, talked to people, went to the bathroom more than I needed to... I couldn't handle just sitting at my desk for most of the day with nothing to do. It's a special kind of torture.
    via u/chaosisapony
  • Nei-Chan- Original Poster's Reply Honestly, feels good to be understood \^\^' I mean, I'm not asking to be a workaholic, just... Have something to do.
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • Andrusela My daughter is like you, and she did indeed lose MANY jobs for exactly this. She's single and had no safety net, and was close to becoming "unhoused" at times, but she can't tolerate not being busy with real tasks, so I get where you are coming from. Eventually she found a fit and has been at the same job now for years, but it was a bumpy road, and the economy has only gotten worse. Good luck.
    via u/Andrusela
  • Nei-Chan- Original Poster's Reply Thank you. I hope this will work out. After all, it's only been a month, and onboarding processes in big companies tend to be like that. My colleague who does the same job does seem actually busy, so I think I'll be, I just need to tank a few months! I made my post right when I came back home, without the ability to think on it, so maybe I'm catastrophizing too early.
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • ApprehensiveBee2821 Start making bullshit spreadsheets. Make the font small or cursive and just make spreadsheets and pimp them out. Power points too! I once made a PowerPoint about my cat and her favorite human foods. I worked on it for months it was exquisite!
    via u/ApprehensiveBee2821
  • Nei-Chan- Original Poster's Reply I'm not expected to do spreadsheets or PowerPoints at my job unfortunately \^\^'
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • Mehdals_ Nah but just keep the email small with others up, shuffle them around constantly and people wont pay too close attention. its less noticeable then having a phone in your hand.
    via u/Mehdals_
  • Nei-Chan- Original Poster's Reply Yeah you're probably right
    via u/Nei-Chan-
  • Mehdals_ Email yourself a book then read it via outlook.
    via u/Mehdals_
  • Nei-Chan- Original Poster's Reply That... Might actually work? Although a book ain't exactly formatted like official documentation for IT products...
    via u/Nei-Chan-

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

antiwork work office life bored at work workplace bored cubicle boredom
Scroll Down For The Next Article