To read a book or study when I am not busy at work?

[riverla]

I have handed my notice in a while ago at work and finish at the end of the week.

I am leaving for various reasons but mainly because there isn't enough work to do there and I am bored out of my mind!

Today I finished the work I had to do in about 2 hours. I then had 6 hours to kill. I have tried everything, asking (begging!) my team for more work and going to other random teams to ask if they need anything doing but even so it does not fill the time .

My boss won't let me do anything else during this time (e.g. study, read a book, surf the internet). He wants me to just sit there staring at a blank screen. I think there is about half an hours work for me to do tomorrow and I am dreading doing nothing for the remaining hours. It is in complete contrast to my last job where there was so much to do that everyone needed to work late. That wasn't ideal but I would much prefer that situation to this!

Since I am already leaving, would it be unreasonable of me to bring something else to do into work? It feels so wrong but there is genuinely nothing else for me to do . If there really is not a scrap of work to do tomorrow is it unreasonable to insist that I will not just sit there for 7 ish hours with nothing to do!?

Dh thinks it is his dream job... to get paid for doing nothing! But really it is no fun at all!

Can he see your screen?

I was in that situation and it's awful. I would much rather be busy than bored.

I used to read books on screen as PDFs. From a distance, it looks like work.

Oh god that sounds like hell! Your boss is totally unreasonable. I’d suck it up for the last day though!

Kindle app on your phone? Bit more discreet than a book.

He can't see my screen but frequently wanders the office to attend to attend to important business check up on people.
I have tried pdf on the screen and he came up behind me and said 'what is that!!'

I don't know if anyone remembers the thread from a while ago about 'Paula' types. This place has an office full of Paula's. Everyone believes they are busy but they are really not.

Do the pdf or blatantly bring in a book If you are leaving anyway (only if you won’t rely on them for references)? Being bored and just sitting aimlessly for the next bit of distraction is hell on earth, much worse than being busy.

Have you been through your emails? There must be an awful lot of them to delete, or to move somewhere random. Like a huge folder called 'Customers'.
You could spend a happy few hours forwarding hundreds of old emails to all and sundry, so they can deal with things once you are gone. Don't make it too easy for them though.
All the files and folders on your desktop. They need to be re-named and stored somewhere else, preferably somewhere logical but definitely not obvious. Shortcuts won't be needed either, I'm sure.
And your desk drawers? All those handy notes of contacts, phone numbers, accounts procedures, expense claim forms, holiday request slips, you name it, that you have collected. They could do with shredding, couldn't they?

@whichwayisitnow already done those things. It's surprising what you think of when you're so bored.

I did exactly this at my last job. My manager went on leave for 2 weeks when I was 6 months in and I had literally no work. I studied for my next accountancy exam after I got through everything.

It’s soul destroying to work somewhere like that. Everyone kept saying how busy they were but they never needed any help interestingly enough.

It was an over-staffed local government finance department and I always felt disgusted that the front line services were stretched so thinly when we were bloated at the back-end.

I lasted 8 months and told my manager she shouldn’t replace me but they did anyway - poor fucker. Such a waste of time job.

My son works for an insurance company dealing with queries, not sales. SO he can only deal with calls that come in. Some days he has had 3-4 calls and that's it! He is allowed to read, colour ( he's into mindfulness colouring!) or anything else that doesn't involve disturbing others or ignoring any calls that do come in! Much more relaxed attitude!

If you've exhausted all the "filing" "jobs" then you could always go on to put in helpful short cuts to help the next person. Like setting up a few auto corrects ... for eg we all have someone we deal with who can be quite difficult - why not as an aide memoire set the computer so that every time their name is typed it gets changed to "Bastard"?

Also there are very often emails sent round that don't give a full flavour as to what is going on - eg so and so is on annual leave etc. You can edit these to give vital information again - eg so and so is a massive skiving bellend.

Etc.

When I graduated, I went abroad to teach English for a while. During school holidays, I was made to sit in the Board of Education office with literally nothing to do. I’d sit and read books all day and when my eyes got tired of that, I’d open up my laptop and watch a film. No-one ever said a word!

@spanieleyes mindfulness colouring sounds lovely but not sure I could get away with it!

It is so awful today!

I'm in exactly the same situation. Response-based office job so I can be really busy, but if no queries come in I have nothing to do. Again, I offer to help other departments but when they have nothing they can pass over I'm sat here opening and closing excel documents for hours at a time. Personal phones and internet use not allowed. It's excruciatingly dull so you have my sympathy, but at least you're getting out!

Start writing your novel on the work computer.

Based around someone who has HAD ENOUGH after staring at a blank screen for hours on end, so they start finding new and imaginative ways to murder the boss.

If he sees it and asks what it is, ask for a review

Sounds like my job so I really sympathise! Yesterday I spent 2 hours MNing on my phone as I had nothing to do and this is a regular occurrence. I have name changed for this

He wants me to just sit there staring at a blank screen

Is this his way of punishing you? What justification is there for making you sit there. Can you invent an excuse to leave the office like emergency dentist apppointment requiring lots of follow ups. What can he do if you just serving out your notice?

I suggest you order this

Bluetooth Earbud, VicTsing Mini Bluetooth Earpiece Wireless Invisible Bluetooth Headset, In Ear Earphone Handsfree Noise Cancelling with Mic for iPhone, Samsung and other Android Smartphones www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01N42TTBF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_0O6UAbVAAE51F?tag=mumsnetforum-21

And then sit and stare at the blank screen while discreetly listening to podcasts.

Just read a book anyway. If he has a go, say, with a sweet smile, that there is absolutely nothing else for you to do, and it's read a book or go home.
This prick is simply trying to wield power - treat him like a silly child you are humouring.

(I have always read at work when nothing else to do. I don't know why employers hate it. Reading disturbs no one else.)