used to happen at my internship all of the time. But they wanted us to do 'make-believe' projects to fill the downtime, and the three interns looked at this woman who suggested it like she'd grown an additional head. At least at my current job reading a fashion magazine to pass the time is considered a valuable use of my energies. ;)

it's not *all* of corporate America. Many people at companies (and from what I've noticed, largely female ones) get all in a tither if someone is sitting still, like every second of the day MUST be accounted for or else, yadda yadda. (This generally applies outside of the office as well, but I digress.) Pay attention: if these people are the sort that have to have every second of their weekend mapped out, then generally the sight of someone finishing their work quickly and taking a break will make them break into hives.