Ethical to "work" two jobs at once?

[infromsea]

I took a part time gig with the city, managing events at one of my favorite buildings in the area.

I get out of the house, get some mental stimulation, lots of exercise, meet new folks, attend events like comic con for free and get to roam all over a HUGE building with lots of sneaky sneaks and interesting aspects.

There will be LOTS of "hurry up and wait" time where I'm simply manning a station and keeping my ears on the radio and responding if issues arise.

Supervisor told me that on the really slow times (Say a prom is running upstairs and doesn't need anything as they have folks running it for the school and PD on station) that I am welcome to surf the net, watch netflix, do as I will.

I actually plan to use some of those hours to do another side gig (this gig knows I have that one), working on their website and social media etc. I bill that one by the hour and would only do it because I'm not good at being "at work" and not "working"....

I don't know that it matters but this income isn't really needed BUT, if I'm out of the house and "at work" I think it's easier to do the online gig while I'm "meat in the seat" at the gig that requires a physical presence. I use the income to buy beer, go out to eat more than I otherwise would, upgrade our vacations/airbnbs, and still have some left to stuff into VTSAX and VMRXX.

So, is this ethical? Any reason I shouldn't do this (get paid hourly for job x, doing job y "at same time")

[Freedomin5]

I don’t see why not. You’re not shirking one job for the sake of the other. I’m sure if an emergency arose in the event managing job, you’d put down your computer and deal with the issue. It’s no different than using the free time at work to answer tenant emails if you own rentals, or check your bank accounts if you manage your own investments. If they told you that you could use your downtime however you wanted as long as you stayed in your office, then what’s it to them if you choose to use it for money-generating activities?

[getsorted]

There are situations where I don't think this would be ethical, but your situation sounds fine. If you're welcome to watch Netflix, I don't think anyone could quibble with you doing something productive.

[zolotiyeruki]

Is there anything in your employment contract against it?
Is it anything illegal?
Does it interfere with your ability to do your job for the city?
Is there a conflict of interest?  (I'm imagining things like someone paying your half the ticket price for you to sneak them into an event)

If no to all the above, then I don't think there's any problem with it.  My last job had a lot of down time, which I (sometimes) used to work on a side gig I was starting.  It didn't interfere with my 'real' job, so I don't feel any guilt about it.

[seattlecyclone]

If you are fulfilling all the expectations for your job and you have extra time to kill while on the job, I don't see anything unethical about using that time to make more money.

[blue_green_sparks]

I worked the counter at a public golf course while I was going to college and taking calculus and physics classes. I asked the boss if I could study in-between customers. He said 'go ahead, sure'. I think the frequency of stop and starts actually helped me learn because I had to think about where I was in the material and how I got there over and over.