Yeah, I had to move everything from my desk to the floor beside it on Monday, and I haven't had a lick to do since. It's truly amazing.

I have a painful enough time with my piles when they're on my chair, thank you very much!

Brilliant! *shifts piles*

Yeah, I figured this out a year ago or so. I usually set aside a minute before I leave to move things around a bit, pull a random file and leave it open, etc. And my boss is none the wiser, I'm sure...

You just figured that out? I've been doing that for three years (which is of course when I first acquired a desk). This of course may be among the reasons I'm being laid off.

I have developed a similar system - I let things pile up on my desk then, every month or so, throw almost all of it in the bin. I figure that, if it is really important, someone will come asking if it has been done and, if that doesn't happen, it obviously wasn't that important in the first place.

Actually, that's not completely true as, since starting work with the government, I haven't been overworked enough to have things pile up on me, except for a few occasions. I do have a few things on my desk that I have decided are not very important and am leaving undone just for old time's sake, though.