Is surfing the internet at work a form of theft?

[Elgama]

If the person who pays your wages, pays for the building you are sitting in and pays for the Internet says you can its not stealing you are doing it with the permission of the person who owns it. If they do not feel it is OK for you to do then it is stealing as you are using their equipment without permission

[Mahone]

<snip>They could do personal things, they could take a nap<snip>

Well, I keep on suggesting to my boss a hammock for the server room. There are two cabinets at either end that it could use. No luck so far though

[Justice]

Not really. There are some jobs where there literally is NOTHING to do, and the boss will come right out and say its alright to surf the web or watch a movie. I haven't worked one of these jobs myself, but I've had friends that did. Jobs like this usually aren't your typical 8 to 5 workdays though. These are usually night shifts where you're just sitting at a desk in case someone comes to you with a question, wants to check something out, needs help, or there's an emergency.

I agree. I don't have internet at work, but I do have e-mail. When I worked on 3rd shift I would frequently clear all motors for shipment in about 1/2 the night. So, after lunch I tried to find things to do. I found it was running in circles. I asked my boss 3 different times for things to do. He said there wasn't anything he could give me since 3rd shift was very limited on staffing. He said to just be at my desk in case anyone who was there had a quality issue they needed resolved. He said reading something would make the time pass.

I read the scriptures like crazy. I made myself Word files of the entire Book of Mormon in 15 chapter sections. I read it 4 times in 64 days.

Maybe that's better than surfing the web?

Not trying to be negative because if I had the web I probably would have used it during those times also. I'm sure glad I don't.