Your Employer Checking Your Work: Does your boss drop by your office a few times throughout the day to check your progress? This is an example of a variable-interval schedule. These check-ins occur at unpredictable times, so you never know when they might happen. The chances are good that you work at a fairly steady pace throughout the day since you are never quite sure when your boss is going to pop in, and you want to appear busy and productive when she does happen to stop by. Immediately after one of these check-ins, you might briefly pause and take a short break before resuming your steady work pace.