painting the deck furniture 

phrase used to express discontent with business policy, usually due to lack of response and change to current business environment.

employee1: "We need to increase production capacity to keep up with current demand. Too bad our company won't invest in system upgrades."
employee2: "Yea, we're just painting the deck furniture, waiting for the Titanic to sink."

painting the deck furniture by h-dub July 28, 2004