We do what we gotta do

On any given day, you can stroll around my firm. What you will see is not the frantic activity of worker bees and the flurry of fingers at keyboards. Well, except for those who are IMing.

For the most part, with the exception of tyros or toadies, you will see people working as hard as they can to do as little work as possible. Peek at the screens of the secretaries. 90% of the time, they are all playing Zuma, the other 10% of the time they are IMing or on the phone.

Everyone else? Mindlessly browsing the internet, reading the New York Times online or ESPN.com for the tenth time or rabidly clicking the "refresh" button on their gmail. (nobody's sent you an email, so you can stop now)

I suspect that this behavior is being repeated ad infinitum across the globe (except, perhaps, in China, where you only have access to the state news website). No wonder Americans work longer hours than any other nation for a marginal increase in productivity. We spend those extra hours on the internet, wasting time, and our lives, away.