I had this happen to me. I was hired as a contractor for a big company and was shown to a cubicle I was to share with another developer. Only, I had nothing

I had this happen to me. I was hired as a contractor for a big company and was shown to a cubicle I was to share with another developer. Only, I had nothing to do. I was told what I'd be doing when I interviewed but that project got put on hold by the time I started. After about a week of not being assigned anything I started to kind-of freak out. My cube-mate assured me that everything was fine and he explained that the department head was given the OK to hire someone and he took advantage of that opportunity so that he had me available when he needed me. I was a contractor there for almost a year and was never really given anything of importance (that I could see, anyway) to work on. But, I guess I was still providing value somehow... I hope?