People frequently point out annoying things that I do. It doesn’t upset me as I know they are annoying and that everyone has a bad habit or two.

Just yesterday, I received a tongue lashing for chewing on my pen(s) at work. I figured chewing on my own pen was my business but had to agree that it might be a little irritating when it’s their pen that I’ve chewed on :)

So in honour of my “pen chewing” habit, I would love to hear about your experiences with peoples annoying habits.

1. Email – this one’s a beauty as you need to have your email program open to receive important business emails so no one knows when you are emailing your friends. It just looks like your working on the latest sales figures.
2. Web Surfing – a little trickier to get away with when you have http://www.prettyladies.com open but you can always Alt-Tab when you hear someone coming up behind you.
3. Coffee Break – Hmmm. Coffee. Someone brews a pot and you can’t resist. Off to the kitchen and to waste even more time you can always offer to get a cup for everyone in your cubicle.
4. Pop Quiz – although related to email, it’s in a category of it’s own. You know the “Discover things about your friends that you didn’t know” kind of quizzes. How many of these have you done in the duller moments of your working day.
5. Icon Shuffling – when all else fails or you have a killer hangover, moving the icons around on your desktop kind of looks like you are working. At least you are at your desk and computers make you look smart.

I’d love to find out how you pass time at work. Leave us a comment.