# Running out of things to do at work



## pianofire (Jan 9, 2015)

I run out of things to do at work every single day by around 1PM. 

I am a sales/marketing assistant for a food distribution company that supplies cafes and grocery stores. 

Here is an example of a typical day - when there are no major projects I am working on etc. 

9-11.30: Completing my call list with existing customers. I can't call anyone after this as they are too busy at lunch rush and most cafes close at 3 or 4pm. 
11.30-12pm: Check emails and respond
12-12.30: Lunch sitting at desk
12.30-1.30: Do some admin tasks or social media/website management 
1.30-2.30: Hit refresh on Outlook about 1000 times while answering the occasional incoming call. 
2.30-5: Surf the web, try to refrain banging my head against the desk, etc. 

As I said, these nothing-y days aren't such a problem when I have a major project to work on, but those projects are really few and far between. 

Any advice on what I should do?


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## elixare (Aug 26, 2010)

Tell whoever assigns you tasks that you generally run out of shit to do at 1? They'd probably be happy to give you more tasks...


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## Alles_Paletti (May 15, 2013)

Time for a job change or a promotion.


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## pianofire (Jan 9, 2015)

Alles_Paletti said:


> Time for a job change or a promotion.


I've got to finish university this year, then I will definitely move on. The hours/pay suit me pretty well at the moment, I just wish I could be more productive!


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## pianofire (Jan 9, 2015)

childofprodigy said:


> Tell whoever assigns you tasks that you generally run out of shit to do at 1? They'd probably be happy to give you more tasks...


I probably could do this... I've just had bad experiences of doing this before at previous workplaces.


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## dragthewaters (Feb 9, 2013)

I have a similar problem at my job (research technician in a biology lab). Some days I am very busy, but on most days I am not really doing anything for half the time. It's unavoidable; long periods of downtime while waiting for samples to incubate or machines to run are just part of the job. I do try to find as many things to do as possible.

As to how I deal with it, well, there's a reason I have so many posts on PerC....I bring my Chromebook to work since I don't have a computer at my desk. My boss really doesn't care as long as I get all my work done.


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## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

pianofire said:


> I run out of things to do at work every single day by around 1PM.
> 
> I am a sales/marketing assistant for a food distribution company that supplies cafes and grocery stores.
> 
> ...


How about cold calling to help try to get some new sales? Surely there are other people who are not your existing customers you could call, go through the yellow pages. I'd address it directly with your supervisor, let them know that you want to do whatever you can to help out but with your current load you are getting caught up by 1. 

The people that get ahead in their careers are those that aren't content to sit back and twiddle their thumbs but actively start making things happen. Develop some pet projects that you think will help your company complete more sales and let the results speak for themselves.


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## pianofire (Jan 9, 2015)

Wow, I almost feel like my boss read my mind today because suddenly I'm drowning in tasks. Now I'm not sure which is better ahhhhh.


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## bluekitdon (Dec 19, 2012)

pianofire said:


> Wow, I almost feel like my boss read my mind today because suddenly I'm drowning in tasks. Now I'm not sure which is better ahhhhh.


That's the way it is at most places I've worked, feast or famine and not much in between. Or maybe your boss read this thread lol.


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## Peter (Feb 27, 2010)

pianofire said:


> I run out of things to do at work every single day by around 1PM.
> 
> I am a sales/marketing assistant for a food distribution company that supplies cafes and grocery stores.
> 
> ...


Perfect situation to show off. Create your own projects. Depending on what your boss is like, you can start these by yourself or you first ask his aproval. But since he doesn't seem to care about you not having all that much to do in the afternoons, you should be fine just starting by yourself.

What projects should these be you wonder,... It's not easy to make these kinds of decisions by yourself..... but think of what the goal is of your job and department. Any project you choose has to have a goal that suports the goal of your job/department.

You work in sales and marketing.... Your company moves food around. Who are your customers? Why do they use your company's services? Why do companies that aren't customers use the competition and not your services?

You could do a continuous project of market research where you just call companies and tell them you´re doing a market research and ask if you can ask 3 question (or 4 or 5, but make sure it takes no more than 5 minutes of their time and you tell them that upfront.) These need to be real questions for your market research. These can not be open questions where the person you´re calling has to invent an answer. Make answering as easy as possible. (no multiple choice though.)

Some ideas for questions (I'm not an expert in your field so if one of these questions makes you laugh, just ignore it.): 
What would be your ideal pick up time / delivery time?
Do you consider the costs of the transportation fair?
How important are status updates about the transport?
Do you want to get informed upon delivery / pickup?
etc.
etc.
etc.

You could call your own customers too, but then you really need to get aproval first.

Or decide on another project. Improving search engine positioning for example is also a good idea. There's a lot of technical stuff involved that you can ignore. But you can do keyword research (find out what potential customers actually search for in Google. (use google trends)) and create new content based on these keywords. (and then promote it in the social networks, etc.)


Well, 2 ideas,... I'm sure you can come up with some other ideas as well.

Good luck!


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## Death Persuades (Feb 17, 2012)

I somehow think you'd also complain if you always had something to do at work


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## pianofire (Jan 9, 2015)

Peter said:


> Improving search engine positioning for example is also a good idea. There's a lot of technical stuff involved that you can ignore. But you can do keyword research (find out what potential customers actually search for in Google. (use google trends)) and create new content based on these keywords. (and then promote it in the social networks, etc.)


Improving SEO is definitely something I've been thinking about doing. Two of my current projects are updating the websites to bring them into the 21st century. I think once that has been done, I am going to read up on SEO and do just as you suggested!


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## pianofire (Jan 9, 2015)

Haha I was actually a bit worried that he had but I HIGHLY doubt it. I definitely did sign out from my work computer hehe. xD


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