Through a weird sequence of events, a group of us ended up working through a consulting company re-billing arrangement for a large financial services company that was closing our office. The “suits” needed us on payroll to feel secure that our code would keep working, so we got promised our annual bonus (substantial) if we worked until X date. The tech leaders at HQ hated that we existed at all and so gave us no work. We might have worked 40 hours in 4.5 months (total, not per week).

Bonuses eventually hit our account and we all resigned serially; literally a line outside the manager’s door waiting to resign.

It sucked; was so bad that one colleague didn’t want to Google something one evening “because he needed something to do tomorrow at work”.

I had a coworker who ended up in a similar situation. At one point they were almost literally being paid to do nothing. They eventually stopped even going in to the office all while collecting a pay check. As nice as that sounds, it was still not a great situation because they didn't know how long it would last and figured eventually, without warning, they'd be dropped. They ended up leaving on their own to actually do something and have a more stable job.

If you thing about what limited time we have on this earth, it seems like to better choice to find something you enjoy in the shortest amount of time.

I've been in this situation. Not knowing is the hard part. Don't waste this time, start a project and work like crazy on it because it never lasts.

Ended up in a similar situation. Gave me time to start up my own company. Was 10 years ago. Company still running. Lucky I was.