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They very nicely informed our team that they just didn't seem to have enough work for all the contractors, and I was one of the contractors they just didn't see

by regal 13y ago

They very nicely informed our team that they just didn't seem to have enough work for all the contractors, and I was one of the contractors they just didn't seem to have enough work for, so I was off the project, one year + 7 or 8 months after I'd stopped doing any real work. Lucky thing, too... my teammate on our initial assignment there is still on that same contract, 6 years later... getting annual raises and the odd promotion here and there.. still doing nothing. He still gets that panicky look in his eyes and starts rambling on nonsensically when you ask him what exactly he does there. He was a lot better at pretending to be busy than I was, and wasn't as gung-ho about wanting to be let go if they couldn't find anything useful or challenging for him to do than I was. Took a year for my productivity levels to bounce back after leaving that project. Was just really hard to do any work for a while... 2 years of nothing makes you quite lethargic being used to napping and web-surfing all day. Took me all day to answer the 1 email or so I'd get in the morning. Most productive things I did then were read classic literature and hone my chess skills against the computer. I play a mean game of chess vs. computer these days because of my time with the DoD.

GrinningFool 13y ago
That really is the problem with that kind of situation - I've been there, though not to that extreme. I'd work maybe an hour or two a day, and folks thought I was doing great. When something was really broken they'd call me in and I'd fix it. The down side is that it really damaged my ability to work productively when I finally left there. I had to re-learn how to actually work (as opposed to 6 hours of surfing and noodling about). I got it back, but not before I almost came into trouble at my next job. It did indeed take close to a year to recover.
vidarh 13y ago
> I play a mean game of chess vs. computer these days because of my time with the DoD. That goes on the CV as "researched military strategy at the DoD".

by regal 13y ago

GrinningFool 13y ago

That really is the problem with that kind of situation - I've been there, though not to that extreme. I'd work maybe an hour or two a day, and folks thought I was doing great. When something was really broken they'd call me in and I'd fix it. The down side is that it really damaged my ability to work productively when I finally left there. I had to re-learn how to actually work (as opposed to 6 hours of surfing and noodling about). I got it back, but not before I almost came into trouble at my next job. It did indeed take close to a year to recover.

vidarh 13y ago

> I play a mean game of chess vs. computer these days because of my time with the DoD. That goes on the CV as "researched military strategy at the DoD".