It seems like the perfect time to balance your checkbook, or to catch up on a little light reading, or to call your best bud and have a chat.

But you dont dare do any of these happy things, because, no matter how you cut it, youre still at work!

How can you justify making your personal vacation plans at Travelocity.com or at Orbitz.com, when youre being paid to do something else?

Customarily, this isnt a concern, because theres enough work to keep you busy.

But every business has its lulls

And this puts you in a bind. If youre obviously goofing-off, you can be reprimanded and punished, and who wants that?

But how can you even stay awake unless youre doing something more stimulating than waiting for the phone to ring or for the next, obviously lost and disoriented soul, to stumble into your retail establishment?

Like a warrior without a war, whats a highly trained, ultra-disciplined trooper, like you, to do?

What DO you do at work when theres nothing to do?

Vegetating is not the answer, so here are some possibilities:

(1) Communicate with the higher-ups and ask them flat-out, what can I do when theres nothing to do? If they give you a deer in the headlights look, continue to number (2), below.

(2) Ask them, specifically, if you can catch up on some personal things, like scheduling your daughters next soccer practice, or calling the contractor to find out exactly when hes going to install those replacement windows.

(3) Also, try to get a sense of the cultural boundaries in which youre silently operating. Ask, Would I get in trouble, or seem like a flake or a bad worker if I went ahead and did these personal things, during the doldrums, at 4:45 on Friday afternoon--the last working day before Christmas?"

(4) You may be lucky enough to be in a hang-loose place, where everybody tries to beat the traffic on Fridays. If theyre all taking off at 2:30, never to be seen again, ask if you can, too.

Even if you can take off, you have to use your political savvy and sixth sense to determine if youre going to lose points by not hanging in there until official quitting time.

If they say one thing, verbally, like, go ahead and leave; but you get the feeling that theyre nonverbally saying another, like youd better not, then youd better stick around until someone, who has power says:

Are you still here? Go home!