The last job I had consisted of entertaining myself. I remained at this job for a total of six and a half months. You might think this was a dream job. I was a receptionist for a pharmaceutical company that was closing down that office, so all I had to do all day was answer the phone when it rang, perhaps once an hour.

This was not a dream job. This was boredom.

I was told about halfway through this job that the people who undergo the most stress at work are those who are bored. Well, said I, the next job I get will be one where I have plenty of work to do.

I now work for the state.

You laugh. I laugh too. I have plenty of work to do, but I have to beg for it. I'm not allowed to go find work to do on my own, but I have to wait to be assigned tasks. This office has the biggest backlog in the state of NJ, and I'm sitting at my desk writing this instead of doing work.

Excellent, you say, enjoy it! I wish I could do that.

Nay, say I, nay.

It isn't that I mind having nothing to do every once in a while, but it seems absurd to me that the procedure wouldn't allow me to get as much work done as possible. It seems a little silly that people, in their jobs, either are overwhelmed with too much work to do, or they're bored, like me. It would be nice to find a happy medium.