How to look busy when u're not

This is not something from me, I saw it over the internet, so I just share it here:

The office can be a place for high productivity, job satisfaction and personal validation. However even the brightest, most hardworking among us face those sluggish days when work is the last thing on our minds.

Since we cannot afford to be seen lounging around like a sloth, many of us have through the years devised ingenuous ways to deceive our bosses and colleagues into thinking we are hard at work when in reality we are absolutely not. Here are just a few that even you may be guilty of….

Business calls: Pick-up the phone and engage in a make-believe call the moment you see your boss approaching. Remember to look intense, open some drawers like you are looking for a document or furiously tap on your keyboard as if you are looking up some important figures. Work the mouse – it’s very convincing.

Untidy desk: Always, always keep your work area in a mess – it provides a wonderful opportunity to ruffle through papers on the pretext of looking for that all-important document buried under that dastardly heap of other assignments. Your boss will be impressed at your intensity and dedication to the work at hand.

Onscreen work documents: Always have a ready application document like word or excel open on your screen preferably with some work in progress already charted on it. When this is in place, feel free to open a new window so you can log-on to facebook, or yahoo! messenger or even catch up on the latest celebrity news. All it would take is a quick click on your work document window to block out the video game or personal email site that you’re currently on when someone walks in. No one will be the wiser.

Lunch time: When sneaking out for an early lunch, walk purposely and hurriedly with a stack of files in your hand and your wallet and car keys stashed away discreetly in your pockets. Then when the coast is clear, duck out of the side exit and into your car. Then you’re off!

Group lunches: If you’re having an early lunch with a group of colleagues from the same floor as you, more detailed planning is required. Once the designated driver is selected (through phone calls only, never be seen physically chatting at someone’s work station), then decide who leaves at what time and through which exit. It is crucial to leave at separate times so your boss (or his nosy secretary) does not catch on. Carry files, papers or just walk briskly with a determined look on your face. Be confident.

Reading: If you like reading while sitting on your ‘throne’, slip a magazine under your jacket or cardigan (or down the front of your shirt) and once you are safely in the confines of the toilet cubicle, take out the said reading material and have yourself a good read. Works like a charm.

Chit chat: If you are chatting with your colleague about your latest relationship or where to go for lunch, be sure you have one eye on her and the other on your boss. If you hear your boss’ chair creaking, her heels on the tiled floor or her bracelets jangling, deftly change the conversation to one that is work related. Use words like “So do you think that strategy would work?” As she walks past, look up bright-eyed, flash your widest smile and tell her you’re so pumped by the latest work assignment, you’re bouncing-off ideas with your colleagues. Your boss will be suitably impressed.

Personal calls: Need to make a personal call but don’t want to be seen as a slacker? Then zip out a notepad and scribble things down every now and then. Sit up straight with your neck craned sideways to support the phone and look like you’re really focusing on the notes you are taking. Anyone passing by will just assume you’re talking to a client or a colleague regarding a job or some urgent office matter. Either way, you get off scot-free.

Now that you have got all these tips down pat, do remember that the deception of ‘looking’ busy when you’re not only applies to those you are sharp, productive and quick workers who despite occasionally lazing around, still meet their deadlines and turn in high quality work. If you suck at your job, you will never succeed in pulling off these tricks because you would have already earned yourself the unfortunate label of one who just ‘looks’ busy but is just lousy!

Here's the link where this passage came from, feel free to click on it:

---> How to look busy when u're not