Cleaning up while waiting shows you get it. A lot of guys just stand there on their phones. But organizing tools, sweeping the area, it all adds up. Bosses always notice who makes use of dead time, even if they don’t say it. That’s the kind of thing that gets remembered come review time. Good move.
Seriously? Bosses actually notice stuff like sweeping? I've cleaned up tons of dead time and never got a mention. Hard to believe it changes any review.
Did I used to agree with @charles48? For sure. But then my manager mentioned how I sorted tools during a slow afternoon in my yearly talk. He said it proved I was paying attention to the little things. Now I see that dead time stuff really does add up.