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What's the most excruciatingly boring prolonged period you've endured?

Started by Nice Relaxing Poo, March 17, 2019, 10:18:03 PM

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Back in my forces days I was posted to a new base with 2 others and moved into a 4 man room in an accommodation block with them on a Friday. We had no TV, no radio, no reading materials, no money to get a taxi anywhere (the base was 6 miles from the nearest town: Yeovil) and this was 22 years ago so no smartphones. It was the most incredibly taxing 48+ hours of my life and even with the company it was maddeningly dull.


Someone from Milton Keynes will be posting the entirety of their life in this thread no doubt.

Mr_Simnock

Sometimes during the summer break from school years ago before the internet and smart phones etc if the weather was bad that could get very very boring for days at a time.

Icehaven

Every Sunday any time before the mid 90s, if you were still too young to drink. Everything was shut, there were only 4 TV channels and obviously the internet didn't exist. No wonder the singles charts were so fucking important back then, they were on from 4 -7pm and listening to them was literally the only thing there was to do. Have some fond memories of skateboarding through deserted Coventry city centre before Sunday opening really took off, but once I'd grown out of that it was the charts and homework procrastination every week for what felt like decades (but was actually about 4 years.)

kittens

i have made a decision to spend the better part of almost every single day of my entire life sitting in a small boring room doing things i care very very little about, leaving me too mentally exhausted to do any of the things i used to enjoy in the few remaining hours left in the day once i allow myself to leave.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth



Mr Banlon


The Culture Bunker

Quote from: kittens on March 17, 2019, 10:50:21 PM
i have made a decision to spend the better part of almost every single day of my entire life sitting in a small boring room doing things i care very very little about, leaving me too mentally exhausted to do any of the things i used to enjoy in the few remaining hours left in the day once i allow myself to leave.
Sounds familiar, that.

Though I made it worse recently by deciding to apply for a promotion of sorts. In exchange for a couple of grand extra a year, I know work surrounded by people who have zero interest in the things I like (music, video games, football). At least previously I had some decent craic to get through the mind-numbing tedium of the work - all gone now.

I had a moment on the first of this month where I realised I've being doing this shit for 11 years now. It was only supposed to be a temp job to cover the rent and rehearsal space fees - take your eye off the ball for a moment, next thing you've landed yourself in some kind of career in data management, of all things. My teenage self would be so proud - at least he could engage in 24 hour sessions on Champ Manager to get through the weekend.


Small Man Big Horse

Two weeks on a job centre course about creating the perfect cv and how to apply for jobs. It could have been covered in the space of an afternoon but they dragged it out for ten days presumably to get more money from the government, and it was beyond tedious, as was this skinny chap also doing the course who went on and on about his time in the army, he was easily the most boring man I've ever met. And I've met Richard Herring.

Also: 10 days temping at Esure in 2001, they'd previously not had a filing system so they hired a bunch of us to put the paperwork in numerical order. When I started having dreams about doing the same thing every night I did start to lose my sanity.

And: Might not sound bad but once I was a bbq where everyone was talking about their mortgages and interest rates for an entire hour, while I sat there thinking about all the ways I'd like to kill myself.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on March 17, 2019, 11:13:02 PM
Two weeks on a job centre course about creating the perfect cv and how to apply for jobs. It could have been covered in the space of an afternoon but they dragged it out for ten days presumably to get more money from the government, and it was beyond tedious, as was this skinny chap also doing the course who went on and on about his time in the army, he was easily the most boring man I've ever met. And I've met Richard Herring.
Again, sounds familiar - in my case, on that New Deal shit back in 2003. Had to get the train 10 miles up to the next town to sit in a sweltering room with 11 other lads around my age (early 20s) being told the stuff you described. The people doing the course were fair enough folk, I would say, almost aware of the absurdity of it, especially as about four of the 12 were illiterate. I remember helping one with his CV and he only remembered when he left school as it was the same time as the World Cup (which he remembered more by Michael Owen's goal vs Argentina than the actual year).

Telling how dull it was that I was actually doing the course instructors' job for them to relieve my own boredom. Last time I went home to visit the folks, I noticed that the building and the whole area (previously Workington steel works, trivia fans) had been demolished. Combined with my school also being knocked down and the university I attended going out of business a few years back, I do wonder if fate is basically eradicating all evidence of my boring life.

gib

Waiting an hour for someone else to quip 'reading this thread lol'.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on March 17, 2019, 11:13:02 PM
Also: 10 days temping at Esure in 2001
I initially misread that as "Erasure". I was going to say "Give a little respect".

Gregory Torso

Spent a day in 2006 watching my fat, shiny boss play mahjong with a bunch of small time gangsters as his nephew squatted over a gutter and tried to shit.

Z

For several months as kids we had to visit an old spinster aunt after her cohabiting spinster sister died every Saturday.  She was very Father Stone (well, more a little anti noise/fun than a total void) and somehow managed to keep us there for 10+ hours every time. Nothing to say, not allowed play, not allowed leave the room, not allowed put on the television or radio, just sit and wait until my parents could wrangle their way out.


BlodwynPig

My first 2 months in a German hospital after my eye operations. Couldn't see, schwarzbrot for breakfast, old nazi in the bed next to me, farting (see earlier story about the violent conclusion to that sorry tale). The highlight of the day would be the 3pm coffee break. The coffee was rank, but it meant some activity, some stirring. One day they were late with the coffee and I nearly hurled myself out of the window.

Ferris

Occasionally, transatlantic flights will hit me with the complete fucking mundanity of it all around the 5.5hr mark and I'll sit there rocking back and forth for the last 2 hours (and counting every minute).

Mrs Ferris went to Singapore for work - I said goodbye to her in the evening, made myself dinner, watched telly, went to bed, woke up and ate breakfast, commuted to the office, worked a full day, came home and made tea... and she was still on a plane. I'd have gone fucking barmy.

popcorn

I'm enduring it right now. Laptop is under repair and I won't get it back for a few days. Fuck me, there's nowt to do. Gf out of town (which also means no video games as she's forbidden me from continuing without her). No writing, no Ableton, typing this on my phone is a fucking chore. What did people do all day before computers?

Ferris


Pingers

Driving tractors all day these days is fucking luxury, the cabs are like cars. In my day there was virtually no sound proofing, which made listening to music problematic. Up and down all day for days on end. I resorted to smoking 20 B&H a day just for something to do, and trying to get it bowling green smooth with the power harrows.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on March 17, 2019, 11:58:45 PM
Occasionally, transatlantic flights will hit me with the complete fucking mundanity of it all around the 5.5hr mark and I'll sit there rocking back and forth for the last 2 hours (and counting every minute).

Then, just to pile on the fun, a long torturous wait at customs.


Jockice

I may have mentioned this before (as I'm sure I've mentioned most things before) but when I did my degree (a politics one through lifelong learning over six years) one of my fellow students was a councillor. He wasn't even a city councillor, it was for a town on the outskirts but he was immensely proud of this and would mention it at every possible opportunity.

Even though we weren't covering councils in the syllabus he managed to convince the course heads to let him give a speech on his council work. It was astonishingly dull, especially when he'd show lengthy passages (from a book I presume) on the screen, stand there silently for a minute or so - then start reading it out word for word. Er, we're not five mate. We are quite capable of reading ourselves you know.

I don't know how long it went on but I'd guess at several years. One fellow student actually fell asleep while another stood up halfway through and just walked out. I never saw her again. Probably gave up her degree just to avoid him.

The councillor chap later became the mayor or the town he was from and I also discovered that  he was related to a friend of mine. Who couldn't stand him.

Paul Calf


Ferris

Quote from: Jockice on March 18, 2019, 07:45:11 AM
I may have mentioned this before (as I'm sure I've mentioned most things before) but when I did my degree (a politics one through lifelong learning over six years) one of my fellow students was a councillor. He wasn't even a city councillor, it was for a town on the outskirts but he was immensely proud of this and would mention it at every possible opportunity.

Even though we weren't covering councils in the syllabus he managed to convince the course heads to let him give a speech on his council work. It was astonishingly dull, especially when he'd show lengthy passages (from a book I presume) on the screen, stand there silently for a minute or so - then start reading it out word for word. Er, we're not five mate. We are quite capable of reading ourselves you know.

I don't know how long it went on but I'd guess at several years. One fellow student actually fell asleep while another stood up halfway through and just walked out. I never saw her again. Probably gave up her degree just to avoid him.

The councillor chap later became the mayor or the town he was from and I also discovered that  he was related to a friend of mine. Who couldn't stand him.

The "get up and wordlessly walk out" is always funny and very under-utilized. Must try and use it more.

Paul Calf

Quote from: icehaven on March 17, 2019, 10:48:43 PM
Every Sunday any time before the mid 90s, if you were still too young to drink. Everything was shut, there were only 4 TV channels and obviously the internet didn't exist. No wonder the singles charts were so fucking important back then, they were on from 4 -7pm and listening to them was literally the only thing there was to do. Have some fond memories of skateboarding through deserted Coventry city centre before Sunday opening really took off, but once I'd grown out of that it was the charts and homework procrastination every week for what felt like decades (but was actually about 4 years.)

To be far though, we did have high quality, easily-available ecstasy from about 1990 onwards.

And John Barnes

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Sunday and Monday are still pretty grim days on the continent (capital cities, aside*), barely anything is open, what is closes early. I was in a town last night, population 60,000: one bar open.


*Though whole areas of those cities can virtually close down on a Sunday

I was working in a women's prison in a South American country. Officially, I was there as a administration assistant. But I was actually working for an organized crime syndicate.

It was one of those places where the inmates ran the asylum. The prison guards were just there to stop them scaling the walls. Everything inside was run by the prisoners, and the economy was thriving.

They wanted me to work as a kind of "consultant" for a gambling operation in there. I'd worked in the legitimate gaming industry before, and the local mob wanted me to go in there and help the ladies work a little more professionally. I thought I'd introduce a few casino games and teach the women the mathematics behind them to ensure the house always wins. Easy work, and I'd be paying off a debt to the local boss "El Hambriento" (the "Hungry Boy"). I don't want to get into why I owed him a favour. Let's just say it was related to a private jet, an American congressman, and one of the world's largest gumballs.

I went into the prison and I couldn't believe how sophisticated the gambling operation was. It was like walking into a shabby, home made version of a Las Vegas casino. The women already knew everything I planned to teach them, and more. This was going to be a challenge.

The first person I worked with was Lucia, one of the croupiers. She was about 25 and stunningly, alarmingly beautiful. Smooth olive skin, sleek black hair down to her waist. I'm not the best looking guy in the world. Some have compared my face to a microwaved traffic cone. But obviously menfolk were a rare commodity in there, and she seemed quite taken with me. After a night on the prison moonshine we kissed, and as she walked away I saw her almost jump with excitement. I couldn't believe it.

I was so incredibly bored. Absolutely mind numbing. Anyway, to cut a long story short, after 18 months the whole thing was over and I was relieved to get respite from the dullness back in Kilsyth, Scotland where I finally felt excited about life again.


MidnightShambler

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on March 18, 2019, 08:06:37 AM
Sunday and Monday are still pretty grim days on the continent (capital cities, aside*), barely anything is open, what is closes early. I was in a town last night, population 60,000: one bar open.


*Though whole areas of those cities can virtually close down on a Sunday

Where are you?

MidnightShambler

Quote from: icehaven on March 17, 2019, 10:48:43 PM
Every Sunday any time before the mid 90s, if you were still too young to drink. Everything was shut, there were only 4 TV channels and obviously the internet didn't exist. No wonder the singles charts were so fucking important back then, they were on from 4 -7pm and listening to them was literally the only thing there was to do. Have some fond memories of skateboarding through deserted Coventry city centre before Sunday opening really took off, but once I'd grown out of that it was the charts and homework procrastination every week for what felt like decades (but was actually about 4 years.)

I used to play football on a Sunday morning and be back home for about 1pm. The only things on the 4 channels were omnibuses, politics, God-bothering and Little House On The Fucking Prairie, which was kind of a mix of the other three I suppose. Honestly, until the Italian football came along a few years later there was just fuck all to do and nowhere to go, as you say with the Sunday openings being what they were you couldn't even go to the pictures.

Christ, what a backward fucking country we were. Thing is, nobody was happy being like that, so why did it take so long to change? Typical British procrastination I suppose but even so it took fucking ages. I hate sounding all old fashioned but people who have never known the world without the internet don't know how lucky they are, it was absolutely shit.