r/office

I just started a new job that’s fully on site. Not exactly the dream setup, but the money made the decision for me and I desperately need it. The past year I’ve been freelancing, working from home, managing my own time. Before that, I was at companies that cared more about output than clock watching. Show up, do the work, go home. Simple.

This place runs differently. Strict hours. 08:30 to 17:00, no wiggle room. I can respect structure, that’s not the issue. What I’m trying to figure out is what I’m supposed to do when there’s nothing to actually work on.

I’m in week two and today I spent six hours doing absolutely nothing. No briefs, no direction. When something finally came through, it depended on another department, so I sat waiting until 16:45 for what I needed. By then the day was basically done.

I can’t use my work desktop for anything unrelated, and sitting on my phone feels like a bad look, even if there’s genuinely nothing to do. So I end up refreshing emails, digging through servers to undertand the system, trying to look engaged while achieving exactly zero. I've even asked if there is anything that someone needs help with and it's just replied with "wait for the briefs."

I’ve got a list of personal admin I could easily knock out, but I’m expected to stay glued to my desk in case something comes in. It’s a strange kind of limbo. Available, but not useful.

I’m not used to this kind of environment. I don’t mind working hard, but killing time for the sake of appearances is something else entirely.

So what’s the move here. Am I overthinking what I do to kill time? Most importantly, how do you make a day like this feel like one day instead of three.

This may sound like a popular opinion but every office job I work at, without fail, some person will clip their nails for all the hear. It’s gross to do in an office.

Ive seen ladies, men, and all ages do it. Do you see this where you work?

Is anyone else getting a little tired of simple work messages from colleagues suddenly turning into polished AI paragraphs?

I get using AI to organize your thoughts or clean up something important. I use it too. But sometimes a normal Teams DM turns into bullet points, filler words, and three paragraphs where one normal sentence would have worked.

Not every message needs to sound like a quarterly update. Sometimes “yeah, I checked and this should be good” is enough. It has turned almost all conversation to an "AcTuaLlY" with nothing but AI dribble. Sales really loves to use it when messaging IT.

My first boss years ago you to say, always have a stylish pen when you enter a buis Ess meeting - they won’t forget you, ams you’ll close the sale.

He also so also, never trust a man wearing a digital watch. It was the 80s, but probably still rings true.

Whats your equivalent of this?

Where I am living is having a lot of fire nearby and air quality is horrible and I am struggling to breathe outside of my home. I am debating whether to bring in an air purifier to my desk to help out with the smoke levels.

[FL] This happened to me shortly after I had been hired for a C level position in a F500 corporation, preface to say that the senior management group had not been advised of my hiring and that my (newly created) position significantly impaired the freedom that many in senior management had had in managing their areas.

So immediately after being hired I sensed incredible hostility from the three highest level financial executives who were a tight knit group. I maintain civility and politeness in dealing with these people but they were highly immature, insulting, and just nasty to deal with.

I went on a business trip overseas that took over a month. I had made certain recommendations during my time on the business trip that this group of people didn’t appreciate. But thankfully the COO agreed with me and implemented everything that I had recommended and told him so. But like everything in life, one makes mistakes. I made a mistake when I got back. It wasn’t anything huge and it could be fixed but nevertheless I made a mistake. I hadn’t realize how high it had gotten up until one of these three executives came into my office, literally laughing and smiling as if it was the best thing in the world and informed me that the COO was looking for me and that I had to go see him immediately. I looked at her and the hate just radiated from her eyes.

I went up, got my shellacking from the COO. And went back to my desk and office swearing to myself to do better. I lasted in the company for many many years, but that scene in that moment will be forever etched in my mind. How a person could be so incredibly happy to see someone else be in trouble.

Morning back pain used to scare me more than the pain itself.

I'd wake up stiff, barely able to bend over, sitting on the toilet was awful, putting socks on felt like a workout, and I'd immediately think:

"Great… my back is getting worse."

But the weird thing was that after walking around and moving for a while, I'd usually loosen up and feel noticeably better later in the day.

For the longest time I thought I needed to stretch aggressively first thing in the morning, but honestly that usually just irritated things more.

What helped me most was accepting that my back sometimes just needed time to "warm up". A short walk, gentle movement and not panicking over every bad morning ended up helping way more than trying to force myself loose.

It also took me a while to realize that horrible mornings didn't necessarily mean I was getting worse. Some days were terrible, some were surprisingly good, and progress wasn't nearly as linear as I expected.

Anyone else have mornings as their worst time?

Also, I put together a short free guide around things that helped me navigate morning stiffness, flare-ups and sitting pain. Nothing for sale or anything like that, just stuff I wish someone had explained to me earlier. Happy to send it over if anyone wants it 😄

For years, I thought my problem at work was focus.

I'd make to do lists, color code things, block my calendar, watch productivity videos.

By 3 PM I'd still be bouncing between emails, Slack messages, meetings, and random tasks that felt urgent for about 10 minutes.

The weird part was that I was always busy.

I just wasn't finishing much.

The shift happened after a week where I spent every day "working hard" and still pushed the same project deadline twice.

When I looked back, the problem wasn't effort.

It was context switching.

I was treating every interruption like it deserved an answer.

Now I follow a simple rule:

If I'm working on something important, I protect the next 30 minutes like it already belongs to someone else.

A few things changed:

1. Email gets checked at set times, not whenever it appears

2. Slack notifications stay off during focused work

3. Meetings don't automatically get first priority

4. I write down new tasks instead of switching to them

5. I finish the current step before deciding what comes next

None of this is revolutionary.

The difference is that I stopped seeing it as a productivity trick.

I started seeing it as part of my role.

A person whose job is to solve problems can't spend the whole day reacting to other people's priorities.

The effect was noticeable within a couple of weeks.

My days felt quieter.

Not physically quieter - the office was still the office - but mentally quieter.

I stopped carrying ten unfinished tasks around in my head at once.

Projects started moving again.

People actually got faster responses from me because I wasn't constantly half reading messages while doing three other things.

The funny thing is that nobody complained.

I used to think I needed to be available all the time to look engaged.

Turns out most people care a lot more about getting good work than getting an instant reply.

Now whenever I feel overwhelmed, I don't ask, "How do I get more productive?"

I ask, "What am I allowing to interrupt me?"

That question has been way more useful.

Protecting your attention beats managing your time. Every single time.

I've been working at this organization for about a year and a half, and my office-mate and I, who share a small office, started at the same time. I deferred to her and let her pick the desk closest to the window, which is also closest to the AC/heating unit. Like, immediately next to her.

I noticed last summer that she would purposely put her sweater and bag on top of the AC to block it from blowing cool air. It's 94% humidity today. She has admittedly said she's a freeze baby, and it can get chilly in here, so I sort of get it, but sometimes it makes it noticeably stuffier in our office than in the common areas. The AC in the building as a whole is decently strong so it doesn't get crazy hot in our office but I definitely notice the stuffiness.

This summer, I'm pregnant, and my patience is a little thinner, lol. I will move her stuff off of the vents while she's at lunch and put it back before I think she's about to come back sometimes.

What do I do? I fear if I ask her to move it off, it's going to start a temperature battle and make her secretly start to resent me. She's also ten years older than me, which makes me feel like she has the upper hand for some reason too. I'm admittedly bad at any sort of confrontation. I feel like I could start saying "wow it feels stuffy in here" and alluding to the fact that it's warm.

Still have to get through July and August 🥵

Are they having a party and celebration? If so how do you feel about it. Our CEO is pushing it here with a huge party and we’re required to wear patriotic shirts. The whole thing feels wrong. What’s everyone else’s opinion?

I have never smelled anything like it.

It's a chemical smell that takes over everything. It is so extremely astringent - sort of like turpentine refined to a perfume without the sweetness. It smells like chewing an ibuprofen tastes.

HR isn't doing anything. They say tell her ourselves.

I work in a small office and we all work in our own departments with other staff not located here. There is a worker in the office that won't even acknowledge me. I get it - we don't come over every morning and exchange hellos but I'd think when you pass by you'd smile or say hello once instead of looking down at the floor. I'm a 50s year old guy and she is a 20s year old girl.

Very odd?

Most days i am an individual contributor but sometime i have to manage people and it is mentally exhausting to do that especially when nobody takes ownership of their own work and highly incompetent. Even after multiple round of checking I wouldn’t know if they would send the correct files at the end of the day. Some people just disappear without any information in the middle of the day. The whole day i am just an anxious mess

working from home fixed my commute and somehow made me worse at time. i'll be locked into something, tell myself i'll wrap up in five, and then i'm joining the next call flustered or heading out for an errand way later than i meant to.

the focus is great until it's a trap. last time i looked up it was 25 minutes past when i meant to stop.

for the folks who switch tasks or get out the door cleanly, how do you do it? an alarm to start wrapping up, or something else? and what's the thing that usually sucks you past your stop time?

I just graduated this Feb and Im currently positioned as a research assistant intern in a prestigious university in my country, and today is my third week here. I dont have many experiences in working whether in academia or corporate. I am aware that I am at the lowest level in the structure, but every day is like a humiliation factory, which I also understand that the path to a successful career is not easy. the thing is, I nearly cried every day at work, whether in the toilet, cafes, canteen. is it normal or i should be more tough?

today, I was being humiliated by one of the lecturers because i didnt know how to connect the computer to the speaker, and I didnt know who she was (she is not my direct boss) and my supervisor also did not introduce her to me, so I called her with "miss" which apparrently wrong, then she shouted loudly in front of the seminar (with a professor from abroad as the speaker) that I have to addressed her appropriately. I held my tears until the seminar is over, as i rolled the cables, thinking that I am a failure and any efforts that I make seems to always go south. even the speaker seems to emphatize with me as he said thank you repeatedly, I am embarassed and ashamed. am I weak?