What's the most pointless task you were ever given just to keep people busy?
Mine happened during a week where absolutely nothing was going on. We had finished all our scheduled maintenance early, equipment was squared away, the motor pool looked good, and everyone was basically waiting for COB.
Apparently that was unacceptable.
Our NCO walked in, looked around at about thirty people sitting quietly, and said, "Nobody's leaving until I can't find a single piece of dust."
Cue the next three hours.
We wiped down already clean desks. Then lockers. Then the tops of door frames. Someone was handed a toothbrush to clean around the bolts on a floor drain. Another guy was told to reorganize a storage cage that had literally been inventoried that morning.
Every time someone said, "We're done," leadership magically discovered another mission.
The best part was that around 30 minutes before release, the First Sergeant walked through, looked around, nodded approvingly... then tracked dirt across the hallway with his boots after coming in from outside. We all just stared at the footprints because we knew exactly what was about to happen.
"Looks like we missed a spot."
Another forty-five minutes disappeared.
Nobody got in trouble. Nothing was accomplished. The building looked exactly the same as it had at lunch. We were just making sure nobody accidentally experienced free time.
So what's the most obvious "we need to keep you occupied until COB" task you've ever been given?