Tuesday, March 01, 2005

The "Art" Of Looking Busy

I love the people who walk around the office who try to give the impression that they are "swamped" with work. Their acting skills are so poor it's almost comical. When I get shit to do, I do it, end of story. I don't drag it out to try to make myself look busy. The minute I get something I do it. Some people have mastered the art of taking 2 hours worth of work and making it 8. Here are some of their tricks to looking busy:

1) They always pretend to look annoyed or stressed. This gives the average person they pass the impression they are grinding it out and are overwhelmed.
2) They always carry papers everywhere they go. They always have to seem like they are on a mission, like those papers are urgent. A person with no documents looks like they are heading to the cafeteria, a newspaper means the bathroom.
3) Wiping the brow. That's one of my favorites. they wipe their brow or their head like they are just so exhausted or drained from the "onslaught" of work.
4) Deep breaths or sighs. They breathe in deep to emphasize the physical an emotional toll that "ton of work" is having on them.
5) They seem glued to their computers. They are really playing video games, doing their banking, or some other personal stuff, but it gives the impression they are busy.
6) The messy desk. A clean desk is a sign of not having enough work. They spread papers all over the desk and guest chairs to make it look like they are overwhelmed.
7) They bring binders and papers home. Those binders could be lunch menus, but it gives the impression they are slaving at home too and that they are just too busy here to finish it all.
8) They always let their voice mail pick up. This gives the impression they are swamped and can't even take a call. They then call back 20 minutes later explaining how busy they are and they say sorry for missing the call.
9) They appear to work late. They stay until the minute the boss leaves and fly the coop. They probably just read magazines or surf the net to look busy and kill time until the boss leaves.
10) They stack books, manuals, and catalogs all over their office to give that busy effect.

3 comments:

supplymadam said...

Talk about never picking up the phone!

Bridget Unnel said...

Hey, great tips! Thanks for the advice... ;)

Unknown said...

I agree with ya. There is this guy who sits in an office across from my cubicle with tons of “sports paraphernalia” that always pretends to do work. It wouldn’t be so bad if he didn’t play this archaic radio station all day long.