The alarm rings and we crawl out of bed with the mindset that yes, we will be spending another day desperately trying to think things that we can do to make those eight or nine hours fly by as quickly as possible. We talk on the phone, pay bills online, surf the net and chit chat with our co-workers as much as possible. Who’s watching us though? Is winning a bid on e-bay or hooking up for a blind date this weekend really worth taking the chance of getting caught goofing off at work?

To some people it must be. According to a survey that was conducted by Vault.com over 25% of people use the internet at work to handle personal business or to “pass time” by playing games. There are even sites that specifically cater to people who are bored at work and need something to do. Amazingly enough, bored.com is the name of one site that can and will entertain workless workers for hours and hours a day. They have everything on the site from silly and scary video’s to arcade games and practical jokes. There is even a section that has random funny messages that can be used on ones answering machine!

Recently a study showed that more and more employers are purchasing and using monitoring software or even monitoring companies to keep and eye out for those people who spend just a little to much time online. Most companies have internet policies set in place. Some employers even go so far as to block certain sites in order to reduce the temptation that employees with a less that full workload may have to surf the net.

Even if there is no policy set in stone chances are big brother is still watching and you are still expected to handle the privilege like a responsible adult whom does not take advantage of a little leeway.

You should always surf wisely. There are certain sites that there is simply no justification for being on. To take a peek at your e-mail once or twice is okay. Maybe even checking out the local paper or sports scores may pass as not a big deal. However, adult sites and social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are sites you should always steer clear of at work. Those are the types of sites that implies to your superiors that you are either a) not doing what you are supposed to do or b) not needed as much as they think they need you. After all, if you have time to play at work, you must not have all that much work to do.

For goodness sake PLEASE watch who you send those jokes and email too. On more than one occasion someone has typed in the first two letters of their best buds name and it just so happened to be the first of the bosses name as well. Click send and before you know it you have sent your boss details of last nights escapade with the girls! NOT what your boss wants or needs to here.

The moral of the story is use things in moderation and with a little common sense. It’s not that hard to be sneaky but it’s far to east to look stupid if you get even the slightest bit careless!