Keeping Up Appearances

Lazy coworkers are the worst. There are several forms of slacking but the form I’m seeing more frequently is “working hard to look busy”. This person would rather give the APPEARANCE of being busy than actually be productive (i.e. George Costanza).
Now, we’ve all had slow days at work and not had enough to do. This is not the situation that I’m talking about. I’m talking about when there’s plenty of work to do but this person would rather spend their day working to look like they’re working than actually doing their job.
My diagnosis, which is only based on my opinions and observations: immaturity (regardless of age). Maybe this person wants to look busy so they don’t get assigned the tough project, maybe they have a fear of failure, maybe they can’t do the job but there are other solutions to each of those situations. Grow as a worker, be willing to take risks OR find a different job that you CAN do.