Most employees spend around 40 hours per week at their workplace. It’s a long period to do many things in the office that are not related to work. From procrastination to lifting things, employees secretly do many things at work but won’t say it in the open.
We have compiled a list of 25 things people secretly do at work but don’t say. Read on.
Call In Sick When It’s A Hangover
While about one million Americans miss work each day due to stress, not all sick leaves are genuine illnesses. Alcohol abuse is a growing concern in America. People call in sick when they have had too much to drink the previous evening and are nursing a hangover.
Keep Unflattering Nicknames For Colleagues
Names can be tedious, but employees have the perfect solution to keep things exciting. They rename colleagues and bosses according to their physical attributes or behavior, for example, the tallest colleague, Burj Khalifa, or a short co-worker, Liliput. It’s not kind, but in their defense, they don’t call them out loud with these names; it’s only for personal reference and to jazz up things in the boring office.
Borrow Office Stationery
Employees borrow office stationery like pens, pencils, erasers, and notepads. Borrowing means returning the items, but these office supplies have yet to be returned.
Gossip
Who doesn’t indulge in a bit of gossip at work? It’s quite common to gossip between cigarette breaks or in the restroom, but no employee would admit that they gossip.
Spend Time On Social Media
Social media is an integral part of today’s life. Eight hours is a long time to stay away from Facebook, Instagram, X, or Snapchat. No wonder many employees squander their work hours watching reels, tweeting, and posting on their social media accounts.
Stretch Lunch Breaks
Lunch breaks are usually 30 minutes, but employees stretch them as much as they can to avoid work. If there is no supervisor, they go for a post-lunch smoke or stroll, knowing they exceed their lunchtime.
Go Through Colleague’s Desk Drawers
Many employees have a habit of snooping around. They open and snoop through personal items in their colleagues’ desk drawers.
Look For Other Jobs
Good workers constantly seek validation for their experience and skills, and when they don’t find it in their current workplace, they seek it elsewhere. The problem isn’t job hunting. However, some cheeky employees look and apply for jobs at the office, running the risk of being caught.
Read Books
Employees download e-books and read them when no one’s looking. From afar, no one can tell whether they are reading a work-related document or an erotica.
Procrastinate
Instead of finishing work at hand, employees push back work, sometimes even when it’s urgent, and affect other colleagues’ work.
Break The Rules
Employees take pleasure in bending and breaking the rules. For example, they may arrive late for work, take frequent breaks, call in sick when not in the mood, leave early, or not finish work on time.
Running Personal Errands During Office Hours
In the work-from-home scenario, employees take undue advantage of the situation and step out during office hours to run personal errands like visiting the doctor, working in the gym, picking up and dropping children, or doing groceries.
Take Advantage Of New Hires
If a colleague is new or helpful, some employees take advantage of it and delegate unnecessary work to them.
Allow Shoplifting
Sometimes, supermarket employees pay no heed to shoplifting if the items stolen are tampons, band-aids, or sandwiches.
Leave Early Without Informing
Some people leave early without informing or without finishing the day’s tasks, especially if the work environment is relaxed and no supervisor is breathing down the neck at all times.
Help Colleagues To Avoid Work
People help colleagues or even the copy printer guy as long as they can avoid work themselves.
Work Less But Show More
What does someone do if they are efficient but get undeserving assignments? Employees finish their assignments quickly but still show that it took them hours or days to finish the work.
Attend Meetings In Pajama Bottoms
Work-from-home has led to indiscipline. Employees must come dressed primly and properly for work, but they sometimes take advantage while working from home. People have attended midday meetings with a presentable shirt but still wearing pajama bottoms.
Let Out A Silent, Stinky Fart
Let out a silent stinker and let everyone believe it was the introverted colleague beside them.
Play Games During Training Sessions
Employees have gone through boring training sessions sitting in the back playing games on their phones.
Start Rumors To Take Revenge
Some colleagues can be nasty, rude, and unhelpful. People stoke the fire to malicious gossip around drug addiction or office affairs to take revenge on them.
Pick A Favorite Bathroom To Poop In
Employees pick their favorite bathrooms and toilet stalls at the workplace.
Lie To Have An Office Romance
Employees sometimes lie about their marital status (or that they already have a partner) to make themselves look eligible and available. They are not opposed to kindling an office romance.
Take A Fork Of Pasta From Co-Worker’s Stash In The Fridge
When employees get food from home and keep it in the communal fridge, their food is often eaten. Employees have complained about their missing sandwiches or juice bottles half drunk.
Be The Office Informer
There’s always one person or the other in a team who rats out their colleagues (if they come late or leave early) to the manager or boss. Such informers mingle nicely in the team and try to extract information about every team member.