Friday, August 04, 2006

Top 10 Things to Do During a Boring Conf Call

10) Chew the end of your pen, trying to appear thoughtful

9) Play tic-tac-toe against yourself (Sometimes it can be oddly riveting)

8) Try to flip your pen across your index finger and thumb (Some people do it so effortlessly! I've been trying this unsuccessfully for several years now :-( )

7) Look at people's shoes and judge them (You could notice other things like clothes or hairdo and judge them based on that too, but I have observed that it is easier to look down than up)

6) Observe your reflection on the glass wall and fix your hair (I do this a lot as my hair is generally wavy and is cut in such a way as to fall all over my face. The challenge is do it such a way that people (read smart guys) don't see you do it and think your hair is naturally unwavy and sits quietly on your head)

5) Give missed calls to all and sundry (You might think that you can rather send smses than missed calls, but there is a two fold reason to avoid smses a) To send a sms, you will have to actually look at your mobile and type out the msg. This will take a minimum of 30 secs and doesn't show you in good light if you twiddle with your mobile for so long a time. But sending a missed call requires just a few seconds and can be done without looking at your mobile and the mobile can even be inside your pocket/bag b) Smses cost money)

4) Take your id card apart and put it back together (But remember, id cards cost money. So take care not to break the access card into two)

3) Locate new marker pens in the conference room to flick to your cube (This is a never ending cycle - I flick the pens from the conference room and bring it to my cube and someone flicks it from my cube :-( )

2) Doodle and sign your name all over your scribble pad (If my paintings are ever exhibited sometime in the future, I will publicly acknowledge my company's part in bringing out my sketching abilities)

1) Well, I guess you could try to listen to what is happening in the call and try to chip in with a few ideas. Or you could think of blogging ideas too :-)

** New look, same blogger :-) **