2w ago

what can I do at my workplace during downtime?

my future job involves taking labor samples from point a to point b in a huge university campus involving several buildings and there is a ton of downtime: I often see my future coworkers playing on their phones, buying coffee several times a day, talking or smoking out of boredom.

There are moments when every laboratory wants you at once but even then they take it easy and a person cannot be at two places at the same time.

I don't know if it's really going to be this relaxed but it really looks so.

I was thinking loading my smartphone with books, find a quiet place and read, learn something.

Instead of smoking I could stretch and do some easy pilates and yoga.

there's always going several times to the toilet to have a seat and relax with nobody pestering you.

I don't reckon I could study something for college, write a book or poetry or learn a foreign language, as I couldn't concentrate.

what do you do in your downtime when you're lucky enough not to have a supervisor micromanaging you?

48 comments

Reading is always good, and waay better than scrolling. Audiobooks/podcasts are also cool and if you can't fully commit yourself to writing maybe just jot down an outline to flesh out later

Sometimes I play sudoku rather than doomscrolling.
- I play different kinds of solitaire instead of doomscrolling

Learn to program. Worked fantastic for me and my career. Shout out to the people paid fat checks who don’t give a fuck what their employees are doing.
- Learn to program.
  you probably missed this part:
  I don’t reckon I could study something for college, write a book or poetry or learn a foreign language, as I couldn’t concentrate.
  
  That’s fair. Oh well.

Gutenberg.org and go to browse / random Do mundane things like make shopping lists... Look up recipes to cook for the weekend. Get a note taking app and organize lists of things you need to get to or want to get to. I use Google keep but there are a bunch. Research things you always wanted to.

yeah, eBooks. I keep a few on my phone and just work my way through them during downtime. I use the ReadEra app on Android, and mostly read copyright free classics at the moment.

buy an emulator (miyoo mini plus, if I could suggest one) and have fun!
- got hubs one because I couldn't afford a steam deck for his birthday. he loves it. I never see him play it at home (I think because the actual computer is here) but every once in a while he'll mention having played x or y retro game and he has covered the ENTIRE thing in Simpsons stickers.

I like podcasts at work
- I’m a fan of audiobooks, but it’s the same basic concept. I host an Audiobookshelf instance, so I always have something fresh to listen to if I finish my current book.
  It’s nice because you can listen while doing menial tasks. It keeps you entertained, even while being productive. As long as you don’t actually need to interact with anyone, you’re fine.

I was going to suggest reading but you already said it yourself. So just go with that. I think it's one of the best uses of free time a human has.

Chess on your phone. That's what I do. Podcasts or audio books while on the move
- Lichess is the best out there, and it is completely free.
  
  I use both lichess and chess.com

How many times a day are you capable of beating off?
- 4
  
  Man that's perfect, that's one at each break and a wild card for discretionary use.

Practice juggling. Buy 3 juggling balls (you know those bean bag types that don’t roll away), and keep them with you. Don’t use tennis balls, because they have a tendency to bounce and roll. When you have some downtime, start practicing. Watch a few video tutorials to get the hang of it.
If you can have a backpack with you, consider bringing a tablet with you. If you have one with a pen, you can draw. Watch a few more tutorials, and learn to draw something you like. Landscapes, portraits, fantasy dragons, pokemons whatever.
Tablets are also fine for reading ebooks. Check what your local library has to offer. Maybe you can borrow library books and read them on your tablet.

so you can study stuff and do coursework but you gotta make it really easy to do accidentally. when I got a paper to write I would make a google drive folder with the project outline and a template for the paper including a reference sheet. I would lazily look up sources occasionally and add the pdfs to the folder and easybib / citation machine them into the reference section by doi. at that point it would be a matter of when the paper would get written, not if. the dopamine would just hit suddenly when I'm having an IBS shit at 2am and "oops. I wrote a research paper." I accidentally wrote so many papers while shitting. one time I set all of it up and went to bed and turned out one of the group members was also ADHD because when I woke up she'd accidentally done the whole thing while I was asleep. 10/10 method.

I listen to educational YouTube videos during work. We don't have down time but we have no supervisors on my shift. I can get my work done while listening to videos.

I once had a data entry job where I got through a couple of audiobooks a week.

Get some audio books / tts books / podcasts and craft away. You could even start etsy.
Easy to put away and clean crafts: crochet (amigurumi), knitting, needle felting, tatting, embroidery (cross stitch), hand sewing (English paper pieceing), sketching... There has to be more that I can't recall... Macrame needs too much space.

I read an ebook. Mostly fantasy but I am reading some cosmic horror at the moment.
- I've been through all of Brandon sanderson several times on my night shifts. Stormlight archive and mistborn eat up a lot of time without it being noticeable.

Buy a Steam Deck and get into Skyrim or something?

I can’t recommend getting an e-reader more. It’s so much nicer than staring at a backlit screen for extended periods of time.
- Are they all alike, I mean can I go for a cheap one or what do you recommend?
  
  Boox is best because it runs full android, dont lock yourself in to Amazon. Some folks prefer Supernote if writing us your focus, but if reading is your jam get Boox as you can read any format, download off of any site or app, sideboard and run f-droid, read the web, even use the fediverse. The screens are as good as you can get, and the software stays updated.
  
  As long as it's got an e-ink screen, it's already an upgrade vs reading on a phone or tablet.
  
  I have a Kindle and love it, but if you don’t want to go with Amazon, I think Kobos are a solid option! The current best models are the Kindle Colorsoft and the Kobo Libra Colour, but they both have cheaper models as well.