Geocaching at Work

[hoosier guy]

How many of y'all have grabbed a cache while on the job? Yesterday as I was driving to an appointment I happened to remember seeing a cache listed in an area along my route. So I stopped found the cache and went on about my business. Lucky for me my job is pretty flexible so I can do things like that.

 

Who else has cached on the clock?

[+godavid]

i did it last week

[knowschad]

Nice try, boss, but your sock puppet account can't fool ME into confessing!

[hoosier guy]

Nice try, boss, but your sock puppet account can't fool ME into confessing!

 

[+TinmanJones]

(glances around the room quickly, doesn't see his boss over his shoulder)

 

As a truck driver, I cache almost daily while on the clock!

[+Sierra Rat]

Since I retired 13 years ago, the only clock I'm ever on is my own.... Oops, just got a nudge from the wife; I guess sometimes I'm on "her" clock, so my answer would be yes

[+Too Tall John]

As I work at a camp and conference center that has geocaches on the property, I've brought guests caching as part of my job. . .

[+gravechaser]

I drive a large dumptruck for a township and from late April thru November I am frequently stopped near bridges and other interesting places. I've "bagged" several caches while working, especially if I'm killing time waiting on my truck to be filled or if I'm waiting to drop the load. As a result I've gotten a couple of the county employees interested in caching. Oh, no, I've not confessed this to my boss.

[+J the Goat]

I cache at work all the time. I work on an ambulance, so on our down time I get to cruise around and knock out whichever caches are close.

[+SgtMikal]

I've cached on my lunch breaks. I work in an office, so there really isn't much opportunity to be out of the office while on the clock, though.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I can't imagine why an employer would care if you found caches on the clock, after all, they let you spend hours at your desk cruising internet forums, right?

[+HawkLawless1]

Coupla weeks ago, came back from lunch extremely late due to a pesky multi-cache, so technically, I guess that counts. It was #100 for me and it wouldn't have been right to stop right in the middle just to go back to work. Right? Fortunately there were no repercussions.

[+YooperSnowman]

I've cached on my lunch breaks. I work in an office, so there really isn't much opportunity to be out of the office while on the clock, though.

 

Same here. I work in an office and have grabbed some nearby caches on lunch breaks. I have found most of them that are within walking distance of work, so I will have to adjust my lunch break strategy soon.

[+goosefraba1]

I find caches while on the clock if it's warm outside. But frankly, I've ran out of caches within a 10-15 minute drive from work. Also, with cell signal being awful in the area... I hate to get too far away from work... lol. Normally I just say that I went to the pharmacy or something along those lines (I pass medication at a rehab unit). I know.... I'm a baa'aaad boy

[+Knight2000]

Nope. I'm retired!

[+wimseyguy]

I'm self-employed. I'm almost never off the clock.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

That depends on where I am working.

 

I found a few caches during lunch breaks a couple of years ago but there haven't been any new caches within a reasonable distance placed in a long time. To get to closest unfound (for me) cache from where I work then return to my office would likely take over an hour, probably more like an hour and a half.

 

However, as I travel to other places as part of the work I do, I do occasionally get the chance to go caching while attending a conference or business meeting. Still, that typically means cacheing before or after "work". Sometimes the travel to/from where I am working provides the best opportunities. I'm hoping that my next work related trip (in three weeks) will allow me to finds caches in Paris, South Africa, and Tanzania.

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

How many of y'all have grabbed a cache while on the job? Yesterday as I was driving to an appointment I happened to remember seeing a cache listed in an area along my route. So I stopped found the cache and went on about my business. Lucky for me my job is pretty flexible so I can do things like that.

 

Who else has cached on the clock?

 

My squad leader: "Our squad will be escorting [insert element here] to [insert base here] tomorrow night."

Me: "Sweet! That base is loaded with geocaches!"

[+secretagentbill]

On a couple of occasions, I've grabbed caches on my lunch hour. Also, one time I was at a training session at a local college campus and grabbed a virtual (on campus) when class let out, before driving back to work.

[+Chrysalides]

What I'd like to know is, do Groundspeak employees geocache while on the clock?

[+powerlineguy]

I work for a utility company and I've found most of my caches while on the clock. I just turn on the strobe light on my work truck and 'act' like I'm doing something work related. I've never been bothered by anyone. A company truck is a great cover. I feel a little uncomfortable in my personal vehicle when I'm trying to grab a cache in a public area. I think everyone is looking at me.

[knowschad]

I work for a utility company and I've found most of my caches while on the clock. I just turn on the strobe light on my work truck and 'act' like I'm doing something work related. I've never been bothered by anyone. A company truck is a great cover. I feel a little uncomfortable in my personal vehicle when I'm trying to grab a cache in a public area. I think everyone is looking at me.

About once a year, our local TV news folks do a story on people like you .

[+Scubasonic]

How many of y'all have grabbed a cache while on the job? Yesterday as I was driving to an appointment I happened to remember seeing a cache listed in an area along my route. So I stopped found the cache and went on about my business. Lucky for me my job is pretty flexible so I can do things like that.

 

Who else has cached on the clock?

 

Yah my buddy thought the same thing till the Boss called him into the office and fired him after being on the job for 12 years for Geocaching with the company vehicle on company time. Poor guy had a wife and 2 kids to support.

 

Scubasonic

[+hallycat]

At lunch time sure. Sometimes on the way from one site to the other.

A few weeks ago I saw a cache come up and realized it was 250 feet away from my desk. I grabbed a pen and a paperclip and ran out the door for the FTF

 

Geez the smokers take a bunch of breaks all day, I can surely take a little caching break.

[+Scubasonic]

Since I am in sales and am Self Employed I do cache while working, cause I am my own boss, heck sometimes I take the day off of work and cache all day.

 

Scubasonic

[+deranja]

I work in an office, but as my boss is a cacher ill get the "nod" every so often which means "meet me at the car quick because an FTF is on the line"

[+Ducky]

Nope I never do that ha ha

 

Memramcook Sports Series (Hockey)

 

Wreckhouse

[hoosier guy]

Nope I never do that ha ha

 

Memramcook Sports Series (Hockey)

 

Wreckhouse

 

That looks cool. How do they get that signage on the busses?

[chadmart]

I'm an engineer and as such we are out in the field a fair amount of the time, or go to meetings outside of our office. If I'm on my own then I'll try to squeeze in a cache or 2.

 

I have also been caching on my lunch breaks.

[+Firefly911]

Never done it on the clock but I quite often go at lunch. It REALLY gets me mad though when I start looking and run out of time..GEEZ!

[+NYPaddleCacher]

At lunch time sure. Sometimes on the way from one site to the other.

A few weeks ago I saw a cache come up and realized it was 250 feet away from my desk. I grabbed a pen and a paperclip and ran out the door for the FTF

 

Geez the smokers take a bunch of breaks all day, I can surely take a little caching break.

 

Okay, I'll bite. What's the paperclip for?

 

I was in a meeting a couple of years ago when I got an email notification of a cache that was just published. When I went back to my desk 10 minutes later I saw that it was about 500 feet from my office. I went out the door figuring I would get a FTF, but not only did I discover that I was second to find, the FTF had logged it online before I got back to my office.

 

You'd be surprise how productive one can be while out on a smoke break. There have been many times when I was working on a particular troublesome programming problem, went out for a smoke, and just after I lit up, the solution popped into my head, so I extinguished the smoke, and went back to my office to solve the problem.

[+SgtSue]

I travel often for work and after the mission is accomplished everyone knows I have to find at least 1 per trip. Just last week I was able to add to new states to my list of states cached in (California and Nevada).

[+popokiiti]

A friend's husband is in the military, and as part of the fitness regime he has introduced his hobby of geocaching. Crafty beggar - but as XO, he can do that and get more smilies while on the clock!

[+BCSasquatch]

I work online both in my "day job" and my evening freelance work so I will often have this forum and the GC site open in the background. Though I have no time to actually cache during the day, I frequently will take a 5 minute break and read the forums or download GPX files, so I guess that is sorta similar.

 

The thought has definitely crossed my mind though, but I know myself, and once I start caching it's usually a 3-4 hours before I can even think about prying myself away from it

[+apyro]

Nope. I'm a school teacher... do you think I could convince my principal taking a weekly field trip to cache was a good idea?

Edited March 3, 2010 by apyro

[+ngrrfan]

The only day I'm off the clock is Monday. Being self employed means you are constantly on the go for one reason or another.

 

Monday is the day I intentionally set aside for ME time, even then, my other part-time job occupies some Monday mornings.

[+scarhill]

I'm a visiting nurse (hospice), and don't usually take the lunch break they don't pay me for...so if there is a nearby cache, I go for it. This afternoon I was in a different area seeing another nurse's patient and it was still light, so did a cache before heading back to the office, worked later but don't punch a clock, so it works. I got a coworker addicted, who said to me the other day "I did two quickies at lunch", I told him that was WAY too much information. Unfortunately I have most of my area cached, so need a new work territory for my patients!

[ad5smith]

every one of my found caches was on the clock, i travel weekdays aso i can get a few here and there

[+Bubbles&Bonkers]

Don't the burs stuck in your hair and scratches on your arms kinda give it away when you get back to the office? []

[+hallycat]

At lunch time sure. Sometimes on the way from one site to the other.

A few weeks ago I saw a cache come up and realized it was 250 feet away from my desk. I grabbed a pen and a paperclip and ran out the door for the FTF

 

Geez the smokers take a bunch of breaks all day, I can surely take a little caching break.

 

Okay, I'll bite. What's the paperclip for?

 

 

 

It was a nano, didn't want to get out there and not be able to extract it.

[+c&s 143]

I have found two caches while on the clock. One was placed just outside my building so was less than 100 yards from my office. I was FTF on that one.

 

The other was a co-FTF. It was placed about a mile down the road. Notice I said co-FTF. Who shared the FTF with me? MY BOSS! He was brand new to geocaching. I told him I just got an alert about a new cache just down the road and did he want to go get it. He said sure. We didn't have a GPS but based on the maps, we found it pretty easily.

 

Craig

C&S 143

[+powerlineguy]

I work for a utility company and I've found most of my caches while on the clock. I just turn on the strobe light on my work truck and 'act' like I'm doing something work related. I've never been bothered by anyone. A company truck is a great cover. I feel a little uncomfortable in my personal vehicle when I'm trying to grab a cache in a public area. I think everyone is looking at me.

About once a year, our local TV news folks do a story on people like you .

 

Haha, this thread is based on "people like me"

 

That's the best way to practice stealth though...hiding from a news crew

[+Wooden Cyclist]

Umm, I plead the 5th.

[+maggi101]

I have NEVER looked for a cache on company time.

 

Mostly because I've been unemployed since I started caching.

[+Ducky]

Nope I never do that ha ha

 

Memramcook Sports Series (Hockey)

 

Wreckhouse

 

That looks cool. How do they get that signage on the busses?

 

basically they are really big stickers! each panel is about 6 feet wide. Once all the panels have been applied to the bus (lots of cutting, fitting and reapplying), they take a heat gun and shrink it tight to the bus. It should last about 8 years. I watched the guy take the stuff off the old bus and that was far worse than putting it on ha ha

If you look closely at the picture of the sub, you'll notice they look a little different. That's because there are windows there, I can see out but you can't see it.

Edited March 3, 2010 by Ducky

[+slukster]

One cache was placed in a mini-park that is part of the office building my company manages in NYC. The park is only open 7am - 7pm and the cache was published at 9pm so it was closed to the public. Now I am the security manager for the building and I was working at the time so I was the only geocacher in the world that had access to the cache at the time of publication (unless one of my security staff was a cacher). I laughed the whole time as I casually took my time searching for the cache knowing that none of the usual FTF hounds could have reached the cache before me.

 

I also placed all of my midtown Manhattan caches while on the clock. You can probably tell the area where I work based on my cache placements since they are within a 7 block radius of my work.

[namiboy]

my job keeps me out in the field with a company issued laptop and verizon broadband card, but since i'm typing on that laptop right now and they could see what i'm typing if they so desire, i'm not gonna be able to answer that question.

[+Shop99er]

I'd have to explain why I was off the base during working hours. So, no.

[+Too Tall John]

Nope. I'm a school teacher... do you think I could convince my principal taking a weekly field trip to cache was a good idea?

I know a teacher who takes students caching. She's a prolific hider in the area, owns some of my very favorite caches. In fact, it was a group of her students that caught my wife's eye one day while she was at work. She started asking questions, and that's how we found out about caching.

 

I can supply contact info if you want. PM me.

[+Odie442]

Yes, but it was during my lunch break. I've grabbed 2 caches and even popped in on an event. Thankfully none of my coworkers bother with geocaching, their to busy hiding their noses elsewhere thats plenty warm.

 

Odie