You look bored!

[smileyeagle1021]

If it's a friend of mine working in the cage, or really any position for that matter, I'll jokingly tell them to "quit standing around and get to work." If they're a dealer, I'll tell them to "quit playing games." All of this is said quite facetiously, rich in sarcasm, and usually contains the word "slacker" at least once or twice. While I usually get the Glare o' Death from them , it's almost always followed up with a smile. I would NEVER do this to someone I didn't know though.

CH

I've actually done that to my TLS before... we were dead slow and I knew he was next up to be "floor" (the TLS who is in charge of monitoring call flow and staffing levels) in about 15 minutes, and I was on break, and I really wanted an early out because it was so fracking slow, so as I walked past "hey slacker, I see your blue light still on, slow call flow isn't an excuse, get on a call "
Needless to say, as soon as he took over floor he started allowing early outs

[Jay 2K Winger]

The thing about the "You look bored!" phrase is the customers always have the same misconception.

Busy != Not Bored

I work in retail hell, yes, but I find it boring. Even when I'm scrambling around, doing the following:
1. Watch the self-checkout registers
2. Answer the phone
3. Help out my CWs with look-ups
4. Assist customers in locating an item they want
5. Fend off Manager JA's attempts to co-opt any front-line worker for non-essential floor work

...All while the lines are getting at least three deep at every available register, I am, surprisingly, generally still very much bored. Busy, yes, but bored.

And if we happen to not be busy, and I'm standing there at my post apparently doing nothing, my brain is usually occupied with creative thinking. Heck, even when I'm dealing with the eighty-bajillion things that demand my attention simultaneously, some part of my brain is probably still on creative processing.

TL;DR - Busy-ness does not equate to a relief from boredom for some.