Isn't it annoying having sullen colleagues snapping and sniping, looking miserable and bringing the mood of the whole office down? The fact is that employees who are unhappy at work can have a detrimental effect on the whole business, whether they communicate that boredom to the public or restrict its expression to their co-workers.

Therefore, it would be in the long-term interests of businesses if staff who were particularly bored by their jobs could take a few days off to cheer themselves up and relieve the pressure on the work-place. This would also act as a stimulus to companies to make work more interesting and creative (although one sure-fire method of decreasing boredom is by increasing the workload).

So, forward-thinking businesspeople, give me the right to phone in bored every now and then. You know it makes sense. You give me time off for illness. And most people take the time off anyway, they just lie about the reason.
-- pottedstu, Nov 07 2001

//(although one sure-fire method of decreasing boredom is by increasing the workload).//

Sure, but then everyone just gets stressed and miserable because there's no way they can reach their deadlines without spending every waking and several sleeping hours at the office.

But seeing as that's not your idea (I hope), and the rest of it makes sense as someone who's held down many a boring temping job, have a not so boring croissant (there's icing and almonds on it).
-- CoolerKing, Nov 07 2001


Ha! ha! This is baked.

Clearly not everyone has the same level of understanding and mutual appreciation as me and my boss so you probably can't all follow my example. I do, in fact, fritter most of my annual leave away, by phoning in at unpredictable times and taking, at short notice, what have now been dubbed 'Duvet days'. Normally it's because I've either got a massive hangover or because I simply can't be arsed or because I'm fed up with hanging around waiting for the bus in the morning. Obviously there's a bit of give & take in this game & I'm sure that he feels that he gets his money's worth out of me otherwise I'd have been shown the door a long time ago.
-- DrBob, Nov 07 2001


[waugs] That's easier said than done in the current climate.
-- stupop, Nov 07 2001


Baked. My company does not have sick days, we have "personal" days. No questions asked, no reason needs to be given.
-- mwburden, Nov 07 2001


Hey, waugs, want to try an experiment with me? I'll take your job, you take my resume (plenty to work with there, what with the Master's degree and the decade of experience and all), and get me a job! Until you succeed in doing this, I'll keep doing your job, and you'll keep getting up in the morning, searching job boards, calling recruiters and hiring managers, networking, doing informational interviews, and figuring out how much more of my savings we can afford to lose!

Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Think you could do it for the next six months? Come on! Let's go!
-- 1percent, Nov 07 2001


Perhaps anyone can get a job is they really want one (or perhaps not) --- that's irrelevant to this idea, though. The question is whether anyone can get a job that doesn't bore them if they really want one. I have a large enough number of unemployed friends to think that this can't be guaranteed.
-- wiml, Nov 08 2001


I was, five years ago, in north-east England (unemployment black-spot).
-- angel, Nov 08 2001


Thank you for your concern, those that are concerned. I guess I shouldn't moan, but I will anyway: my problem is that I'm qualified for well-paid and boring work in which I have a skill-set that's greatly in demand. I started a new job about 3 months ago. It's much more boring than my old one, which did use the "extreme stress" method of boredom removal. But even if I wanted to quit and retrain for something else/bum around, I still have to give *3 months* notice, so I better be pretty sure there isn't anything here I can do to make my job more interesting. Sigh, it's hard being a white middle class male.
-- pottedstu, Nov 08 2001


[waugsqueke] I think that at the moment it's tougher for us at the younger end of the employment market. As a relatively recent graduate, both myself and a number of friends have been made redundant (I was due to start with BA's IT graduate scheme on 1st October - needless to say it went tits up). I was lucky enough not to have given up my existing job (which is boring). PWC's planned intake of 400 graduates to IT consulting was also slashed by 90% when I was halfway through the application process. If you have a area of interest and are skilled in that area - fine. If you have hardly any experience and are not sure what you are interested in because of that lack of experience then it's trickier. I don't mean to moan - just validate my earlier point.
-- stupop, Nov 08 2001


waugsqueke, I think the most astute thing you've said so far in this topic is to allow that you may personally be more fortunate than others. Given the generally intelligent tenor of your postings, it may have something to do with your robust employability. But I can tell you that here in sunny CA, things have changed dramatically of late and your generalizations to the contrary would not only raise violent disagreement from many skilled and ardent jobseekers out here, they also aren't up to the standard I've come to associate with your submissions. Admittedly I am biased in this regard, so read me with a grain of salt.
-- daruma, Nov 09 2001



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