I'd go with that! LOL.

Uh....nooooooooooo. Your job is a filler position. meaning there are lots of positions above yours? Positions that pay more? Positions that need higher qualifications?

I'd be taking online classes working towards the goal of earning a larger income. Why earn $24K a year when you could double your income with the spare time you have? Right? Doubling your income could mean going on an exotic trip, buying a nicer car, possibly early retirement.

I've never understood people that want to just "get through the day", instead of living each day to it's fullest. Your life should be filled with excitement and adventure, meeting interesting people...not filling in idle time and just getting through to another day.

nicole - this is not a filler position, not sure where you got that from...anyway, I understand what you are suggesting, thank you

No don't feel quilty as long as you get everything done. I am at work right now. I had a grand total of 11 people yesterday. So I visit here, read & am learning to crochet. I even help out next door when I can.

Everything is done :) I ask the teachers everyday if there is anything I can assist with. Sometimes there is but when there isn't....(sigh) I enjoy chatting with all you nice ladies, what can I say?

No, that is not the right thing to do - you are stealing from your employer. They pay you to WORK, not play on the computer. Ask them to assign you tasks to help your company. Yes, you should feel guilty. If they cannot find tasks for you, at least ask your boss if it's o.k. for you to play on the computer. If they are willing to pay you for what you're doing with your 'spare' time, then you shouldn't feel guilty.

oh my goodness, guess I struck a nerve ...sorry!

I honestly don't feel like I am "stealing" from my employer. I am an elementary school secretary and due to the doors being locked all the time now, I can't leave my desk during regular school hours. Obviously, I use the restroom when needed but other than that, I am glued to this desk. I know I am not being challenged and I honest to God do look for things to keep me busy. I guess I shouldn't have said "on here ALL day" , I do have responsiblities to attend to throughout my work day. I feel that this forum is the "lesser of the many evils". ie Facebook, shopping, etc.

However, I opened myself up to the critisism when I asked if I should feel guilty, so I accept it and thank you for your responses :)

Yes, brand new :) Thanks so much for the kind words chi83, I really appreciate it!

Welcome! I just read your little introduction on the other thread. It looks like this job was a much-needed stress reliever! I left a lucrative job in the corporate world after feeling burned out so I totally understand.

Welcome lisaw2015! Nice to meet you. I'm Kathy for south central PA, currently snowed, iced and fogged in!! In my own opinion, no, you don't need to feel guilty.

Thanks for the warm welcome ladies :)

katlan - we are up to 45 F today, loving it for sure! Back to low teens tomorrow, so a short lived respite but I will take it!

As long as your work is getting done do not feel guilty. You offer to help teachers when you are free, which is great, but that's about all you can do. It's your supervisor's job to know your workflow and have a plan in place for tasks you can do when you are free. You shouldn't have to go to teachers or your supervisor every day when you have finished your work asking for things to do.

I worked for the government once during an election year and manned an information desk, that I could not leave except for washroom breaks, like you. My boss could see that I always took the initiative and was a self starter, but sometimes during the day I had completed every task and simply had to wait for someone to approach the desk. He actually advised me to bring a book to read (there was no computer at the time) to keep me from getting sleepy, saying that since my tasks were all caught up, it's better to be doing something that keeps your brain active, rather than to just sit there staring at the walls, lol!

PickyShopper, that's us when we work the elections. You can't leave your desk, or need to have a replacement, so washroom breaks are very quick. We all have books to read or puzzles, etc for the lag times.

Lisa, in your case, visiting the KT is acceptable. You need to be near the desk, the phones at all times. I'm glad that you found us.

Try harder to solicit work. Talk to your boss about other responsibilities that could be assigned from them to you. There must be enough administrative or clerical tasks that can be done for the principal and teachers to fill your day. Teachers are always complaining about the admin baloney they have to spend time doing. Posting test scores, copying lessons and worksheets, lots to do.

Spending time on the internet is spending time on the internet, I don't think what sites are visited matters. You know that most employers monitor employee internet activity. I wouldn't want to be the one whose name appears high on the list of internet connection time.

Better to read a book discretely, it's not trackable and only visible to people who walk by.

I was a teacher for many years (elementary school) in NYC, and I know that school secretaries have many responsibilities, but there are slower periods. Nothing wrong with spending some slow time with TKT.

I think you are doing all you can. At the same time, I wouldn't want to be a supervisor who has to "find" work for my employee. Your position has a job description. You are doing the job description, plus you are asking if anything else needs to be done. In my opinion, you are being a team player. As already stated, part of your job is to man the desk. you are doing that.

I also agree that if you keep asking for more work, they might reevaluate your hours.

Although Snidely has a good point, Lisa took this job because of the job description that was presented. Does she want to add other types of work that might be more stressful or time consuming?

I think being on the computer would look like Lisa was working. Reading a book, not so much.

I worked in an office where there wasn't enough for me to do. It was part-time and I certainly wasn't going to ask for less hours. There really wasn't anything else I could be doing, as everyone had their specific positions. The most difficult part was when everyone else had things to do and I had to pretend I was busy.

So, as long as you are doing your work, being helpful and accommodating to co workers etc. A few minutes on TKT could be considered your break time.

Hi Lisa, welcome to the kitchen table. Yes, I am at work & at the KT again. Only had 4 people this morning. The office manager came in with her granddog, so I got to go outside & walk her.

Must be a pretty small school! I can only wish for some down time at my job...I can't fathom having time to surf the net.

ellendi, as someone who spent a career as an employer and a boss, I find little in your comment to agree with.

Employees are valued for their work and their contributions, not for their presence. Positions get eliminated when the boss or the organization has to scratch a head to answer the questions "what value does X bring to us? Do we need her, can we do without her, or can we reduce her hours"?

Good team players help other team members to be successful. It's a manager's job to keep people busy and the work fairly distributed. If she has nothing to do, you're suggesting she doesn't have the capacity to take on something that's "time consuming"? Yikes.

I read an article recently how about 20% of workers are late to work about 20% of the time. The article mentioned that it was not as frowned upon now that workers do more from home or after work hours. I imagine a little internet surfing during work time is more acceptable too. I can say the school secretaries I have worked with (as well as the teachers) all work way beyond their paid hours.

Lisa, I think you're right...at least you're learning something! :)

What I don't understand is why the OP only asks the teachers if they have anything for her to do. As the school secretary, I would think she would have a bigger responsibility to support the Principal, Vice Principal, and anyone else in administration before doing tasks for the teachers.

An employee doesn't prove their worth by waiting for other people to bring work projects to them. They prove their worth by seeking out work when they have nothing else to do; by asking to learn new duties ( that could lead to promotions/ increases in pay).

And unless the OP works for a private school that is privately funded, it means she is being paid out of taxpayer dollars. Accepting full- time pay for spending most of the day on the Internet is theft of public funds.

I work in a very small rural school, 96 students, 8 teachers & our principle oversee's 2 other elementary schools, just as small. She is here 3 days per week for a few hours. I only ask the teachers if I can help them because there is no one else here to ask, other than the cook & I can't go out to the kitchen because I have to man the desk / door / phone.

*An employee doesn't prove their worth by waiting for other people to bring work projects to them. They prove their worth by seeking out work when they have nothing else to do; by asking to learn new duties ( that could lead to promotions/ increases in pay).* I don't wait...I ask the teachers if I can assist with anything everyday. I often receive praise from them for "going above & beyond", so I must be doing something right. There are no opportunites for advancement here (at this school) & I am perfectly fine with that. This is the position that I wanted, still want. As far as increases in pay are concerned, I made arrangments prior to accepting this position so that my DH and I would still live comfortably. Besides, there are yearly increases. I made a very nice salary for many years but the travel & stress eventually wore me down. I should probably add that I am fairly new to this position, just started this past August, I am slowly learning to not "work myself out of work", lol! I am just use to do everything at an extremely fast pace.

And no, I am not concerned about my hours being cut or my position being eliminated, simply not do-able. There has to be someone sitting here to push the buzzer for the door throughout the entire school day. I eat breakfast & lunch at my desk, as I mentioned before, the only time I step away is to use the restroom (then I pray that nobody is standing outside freezing to death waiting for me to buzz them in).

I think that with the wide variety of experience, the honest feedback, and the 'real life' subjects, time spent at the kt can in my opinion actually make you a better person and a better employee. I know that through the years, posts I have read have included useful perspectives I had not considered.

Time spent here is different than time spent looking at grocery store ads and the like.

There are commercial sites where discussion seems to be fake and geared toward sales, here there are real situations, real people, real answers. If these conversations are approached with thought, you may learn information or see new perspectives which will help you in your job; and your employer and those around you will benefit.

Snidely, I don't think you have a clue as to what Lisa's job and her environment is like. As a sub I occasionally have a little time when the kids are elsewhere and the teacher has left me nothing to do. I once asked the principal if I could do anything for her and it made everyone rather flustered and opened a can of worms. It's not a sin not to be working like a beaver every minute. Schools are not businesses, and this is a very small school. I have a friend who is a secretary at a large elementary school and she's worked off her feet. Perspective. Welcome, Lisa!

A few years ago we won $1300 on a lottery and had to travel into the Lottery office in Toronto.

It was downtown Toronto, in an atrium style building. There was a lineup of people waiting to collect their winnings, and the top of atrium surrounded by glass windows and government offices were completely visible.

The whole time we were there, approximately 2 hours, one woman whose monitor faced us, was playing solitaire the whole damned time. It was widely commented on, by the people observing her. We the taxpayers are paying a nice salary to some government minion to play cards. This was not over her lunch hour, this was in early afternoon. Grrrrrrrrr.

Welcome here, Lisa ... and thanks for your inquiry: it must have taken some self-confidence, plus questioning whether one was doing as well as one could, and some courage to come to ask, especially when you're so new here.

Sometimes in life many of us may be inclined to express our opinions, early on, based on general principles or opinions, before listening to find out what a situation is ... to shoot off our mouths, prematurely.

You'll find that many of the people here are willing to listen and to offer a number of opinions viewing situations from differing viewpoints, and I'm sure that you'll learn a lot.

And get some criticism, from time to time ... and a number of us have developed common sense and wisdom enough to know when to listen and when to pay less attention to some of the ideas expressed.

One hopes that one is never too old (or set in one's ways?) to be able to learn useful things and act on them when so indicated.

ole joyful ... who's been over quite a few hills and around a number of corners in life

" It's not a sin not to be working like a beaver every minute." That's true. Reread the OP's first comment, she said she's on the internet all day.

Several members of my family work in public elementary schools. I was an active board member for many years involved in the running of a good sized private school. But otherwise, no, I must not have a clue.

Lisa, I hope you still feel welcome here, because you are.

There are jobs, and there are jobs. When I was a newspaper reporter, my only "play time" was bantering with my co-workers in the newsroom before we all buckled down to meet our deadlines. But when I worked evenings in a university library, I had long stretches of downtime. I hung out a lot at the Digital Photography Review website. I addressed my Christmas cards. I read lots of magazine's from the library's collection, and the New York Times most days. I chatted with the security guards who visited me. And yes, I dropped in at the KT.

I suppose if I had asked my boss for more work, he could have cut an hour off the work-study student's time and given me more books to put on the shelves, but it never occurred to me to do that (thank heavens!).

Don't let Snidely bother you. He almost never agrees with me, and I'm still here. :-)

Welcome, Lisa, I am glad that you are here. I hope that you will stay in spite of some of the things that have been said to you--a newcomer.

Welcome, Lisa ! I hope you stick around and give us a chance to get to know you.

If you indeed don't have enough to do at work and have the freedom and approval to surf the web and spend time at this forum during your work day, why not spend time on the Internet taking some on-line training? Actually learn a skill or improve ones you may already have. That would drive me crazy to not have enough to do and to have to pretend to look busy. I would consider that stealing from my employer. You were hired to do certain tasks, and surfing the Internet probably wasn't in the job description.

I worked in the administrative offices of a large school system. I serviced 200 schools and all of the curriculum supervisors. I was highly regarded by all I was called upon to assist. My boss, however, took no interest in me or my job or her own secretary. Instead, she doted on the most lazy, incompetent person I ever worked with and treated her like the 8th wonder of the world and the president of Mensa. Needless to say, Mensa girl never kept up with anything. She did just enough to snow the boss. And yes, almost every time I walked by her desk she was playing computer solitaire or looking at pictures, even though she always had enough work to do. She was a total waste of taxpayer's $.

I would very often finish my work early in the day and then surf the net, etc. Did I feel guilty? Heck no! The way the boss treated/ignored me and the secretary, I wasn't about to report to her every time I was free. And I wasn't about to offer Mensa help. I could have done her job and my job effortlessly, but it would not have made a difference....boss would have still thought Mensa hung the moon. I even caught her in two lies the boss found out about and it didn't make a difference. Besides, I figured if I helped Mensa, she'd slow down even more and really do absolutely nothing. I had always been a team player willing to help anyone with anything until she was hired and the boss turned the office into a complete joke,

BTW, when Mensa retired her replacement got totally caught up in three months, something Mensa didn't even come close to in 4 years!

Oh, and boss organized a huge retirement party for her, collected $ for expensive gifts, etc. When I retired I got a houseplant....nope, no guilt here at all!

Welcome Lisa - glad to have you join in.

When I worked in the library we had a clerk who was assigned to the front desk to answer questions and direct patrons to the proper department. There were many times during the day when the lobby was empty or the patrons didn't help - but she still had to be there. There were a few clerical jobs that she worked on while manning the desk but when they were done I told her she could read a book or a magazine.

I think you've done the right thing by asking the teachers if you can help them so please don't feel guilty. It reminds me of a line from Milton - "They also serve who only stand and wait."

Some people don't want to continue climbing the corporate ladder or
learn new job-related skills. And that's totally fine - it's not a
crime to just want to do your job and go home.

And she is doing
her job. She has her duties that she performs, and she also has to man
the desk to let people into the building. She's also being proactive
in finding other things to do by asking the teachers.

She's not
wasting the tax-payers money. The school district decided they needed a
secretary who would do x, y and z duties. Lisa interviewed, heard what
duties were required and accepted exchanging those duties for the set
amount they were willing to pay. If they wanted to pay her to help the
teachers, or help the principal, or learn more skills, that would have
been negotiated. She's now doing the duties and fulfilling her end of
the employment contract. If they aren't giving her enough to do, that's
their problem, not hers.

There's a big, big difference between
someone not doing their job and playing on the internet, and someone
who has downtime between job duties and playing on the internet during those times.

"Some people don't want to continue climbing the corporate ladder or learn new job-related skills"

Chi83 - I didn't specify what kind of on-line training the OP could take.

I said "Actually learn a skill or improve ones you may already have."

Never said it had to be work-related. It's apparent the OP doesn't want to climb the corporate ladder or acquire new job-related skills. There are all kinds of things in the world to learn about. Might be more useful than just surfing the KT.

That's true, Sephia. There are plenty of skills out there. I wasn't referring specifically to you as several people have made suggestions that OP utilizes the time to further her career.

I think that some of you are unnecessarily critical. On the "Let's get to know each other" thread, Lisa said that she had taken this job after years in a high stress job, welcoming the fun side of this job.

Just saying, some of you come off as kind of mean.

I greatly appreciate the support and warm welcomes. I am also thankful for the not so warm comments, I asked for opinions & I got them. And yes, I will be hanging aroung, I like it here :)

A comment isn't mean simply because it disagrees. I am sometimes too direct but the comments were intended to give my views of what was discussed and to respond to what others had said. Thanks for taking them that way lisaw.

Well said, Chi. Snidely, there's a BIG difference between being on a school board and working in a school office where, again, she cannot leave the desk.

There are various ways of saying pretty well the same thing ...

... some more considerate of the feelings of others/diplomatic than others.

Also ... sometimes it's well to listen well, even seek clarification or further info, before one speaks.

Or, often, put one's self at risk of being misconstrued ... or, possibly, out to lunch?

Maybe use a measuring stick on others ... more or less as we'd like to have applied to us?

ole joyful

Boredom ! Ugh ! I remember a desk job-when there was nothing to do, I asked for something, and when that was finished even the boss knew there was nothing left but to sit there until clocking out. I volunteered to clean the break room, ANYTHING for something to do ! This was before the internet. Literally staring at the wall was all there was some afternoons. I was lucky if the phone rang !