Every job I’ve ever held has included down times that get incredibly boring. Whether it’s between rushes at a restaurant, filling out the same paper again and again and again at the office, or sitting in an empty retail store, I’ve been bored. Once I was so bored I tried to use a ball point pin, a push pin, two sticky notes, and a cork board to start a game of darts. (It didn’t work.)

I know that these down times are a necessary part of reality. They’re a part of school. They’re a part of summer break. TV shows have them. Movies have them. Work is bound to, too. But just because something is inevitable doesn’t mean one should do as much as possible to avoid it. Especially if you’re interested in retaining promising Gen Whys.

There are a number of reasons behind this:

First and foremost: Boredom sucks. When work is boring, it sucks. When work sucks, your Gen Whys start writing their resumes.

Second: Idle hands are the devil’s playthings. Most of the strange, upsetting, stupid and unproductive things I’ve done at work have been the result of boredom.

Third: Inevitably, someone who is bored will get yelled at for not working. Whether he’s talking with co-workers or simply staring at the ceiling, someone who is bored is just asking a manager to come ream him for not working. “Get back to work!” can seem insulting when the place is clean and there are no customers.

So, make sure your Gen Whys have work to do. Real work. Meaningful, challenging work. Please don’t ask me to organize and reorganize the toothpick display. Please, please, please don’t ask me to clean things that are already clean. Much better to just let me chat with a co-worker for a few minutes if you know you’ll need me later. If you won’t need me later, let me go home.

Or better yet, develop me a bit. Train me to work in a new area of your business so that next time I’m bored I can help out there and make your day a bit easier. If you notice that I am a creative and energetic enough individual to build a castle using catering boxes (walls), cups (towers), hotel pans (moat), and frill picks with stickers on them (flags), odds are good that those energies can be directed toward something more productive.