Originally Posted by Lisnaholic

Music on the job: much better to have zero music than having to listen to someone else's choices imo. My poor son once worked in a shopping mall over Christmas, which severely reduced his enjoyment of Jingle Bells.

Downtime on the job: for me the attraction of this depends entirely on what you can do in the downtime. Sometimes I've been able to read, which is fine, but sometimes I've been obliged to chat for hours with workmates, in which case, as per Frownland, I'd rather be working.

Mindless vs stimulating: I've done both and find that I can endure stimulating longer than mindless, though when I was a teenager mindless was fine: I didn't have to prostitute my head to the man and could roam freely around my own skull instead.

To me one essential element of the day is to have the time and energy for some quality, restorative "me" time. If your working hours, plus commute, leave you too burned out to enjoy what's left of the day, then you should try to change things if you can.