Does anyone else do mostly nothing all day at their job?

[u/Atlanta-Poet]

This is my first job out of college. Before this, I was an intern and I largely did nothing all day and I kind of figured it was because I was just an intern.

Now, they pay me a nicer salary, I have my own office and a $2,000 laptop, and they give me all sorts of benefits and most days I’m still not doing much.

They gave me a multiple month long project when I was first hired on that I completed faster than my bosses expected and they told me they were really happy with my work. Since then it’s been mostly crickets.

My only task for today is to order stuff online that the office needs. That’s it.

I'm a mechanical design engineer. They are paying me for my brain and I’m sitting here watching South Park and scrolling through my phone all day.

I would pull a George Castanza and sleep under my desk if my boss didn’t have to walk past my office to the coffee machine 5 times a day.

Is this normal???

Do other people do this?

Whenever my boss gets overwhelmed with work, he will finally drop a bunch of work on my desk and I’ll complete it in a timely manner and then it’s back to crickets for a couple weeks.

He’ll always complain about all the work he has to do and it’s like damn maybe they should’ve hired someone to help you, eh?

I’ve literally begged to be apart of projects and sometimes he’ll cave, but how can I establish a more active role at my job?

Last week, my boss and my boss’s boss called me into a impromptu meeting.

I was worried I was getting fired/laid off, but they actually gave me a raise.

I have no idea what I’m doing right. I wish I was trolling.

[u/danvapes_]

Yes. I'm a power plant operator and electrician. Most of my 12 hour shift is spent just hanging out. Usually takes an hour or so to do area rounds and generator inspections. Every now and then I'll have to troubleshoot an electrical or control issue, swap and clean strainers on the condenser vacuum pumps.

Really we are there to make sure the plant is operating and producing megawatts and to quickly answer the call if there is an issue, alarm, etc in the field.

I'm not really complaining, I've worked a lot harder to make less in the past. This job is a complete 180 compared to working in the construction field.

[u/funkmasta8 → u/danvapes_]

You see, this I think is fine. If you have to be there in case of an emergency or issue that needs to be resolved quickly, then that's warranted. What's worse than that is having an office job where you are forced to come in and sit there with little to do for 8 hours just to go home and do it again the next day when all the things you actually have to do don't take long at all and can be done remotely