How do you feel about telecommuting?

[joober jones]

From the very first time I heard of it, it was something I always thought would be the greatest thing in the world. Going to work with all the comforts of home - how could that not be ideal? 4 weeks in and I'm finding I absolutely hate it. It was nice for maybe 3 days, but now I can't wait to get back to the office. Don't get me wrong, I love the extra time with my wife, kids, niece, nephew, and pets, but the work side of it has serious drawbacks. Everything is far more stressful, it's tougher to concentrate, and you never really feel like the work day is over.

Is working from home losing its luster for anyone else?

 

[andy34]

You guys have one hell of a challenge. I really feel for you.

My wife teaches 3rd and 4th grade behaviorally challenged kids. It's hopeless. Hell, it's nearly impossible to teach these kids in a normal classroom setting; there is virtually no hope for remote learning. She's so frustrated. Some of her students come from such poor backgrounds that they don't have internet access at home or a device to use. Others have absentee parents, even mid-pandemic. Two of her students have been completely off the radar since the quarantine started. Even the emergency contact on file isn't answering their phone. Sad stuff.

I feel for your wife. She's tremendously important, even if the situation seems dire at the moment. I just started an online teaching position (long term high school sub) and its been alright - while the platform we use works pretty well (Microsoft Teams) it is hard to know when kids are present and we have to give graded assignments every single class, which serve as a proxy for attendance. As a result, grading piles up twice as quickly as normal, and its very easy to get into an untenable situation.

 

[Waquoit]

My commute was over an hour each way, I loved working at home. Getting up at 7:15 instead of 5:30? No brainer. You can make this work for you, joober. Maybe augment your workspace with music. Telework is what got me into ambient. And I'm still pushing the candles. I have Bahama Breeze going now.

 

[superjohn]

I wouldn't say my family is annoying, but it's large. Counting myself, there are 8 people, 7 cats, and 2 dogs about the house. Needless to say there are many noise distractions/situations around the house to handle as I'm trying to work.

Sorry, that sounds rough.

 

[HCCForever]

I enjoy working from home and started this back in October. This arrangement allowed me to move from Connecticut to Florida. I work in IT so most of the people I work with are remote anyway. I work with people in India, Tennessee, Utah, Colorado and other places. It is only me and the wife and I have an office that I use so I have no real distractions unless she gets in one of her moods. I do miss the old days when I actually worked in the office with people who were friends but those days are long gone. I often start working at 4 or 5 and take breaks throughout the days as I attend meetings. I wanted to telecommute since we were going to the open floor plan with dog bone seating and shared workspaces.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

You guys have one hell of a challenge. I really feel for you.

My wife teaches 3rd and 4th grade behaviorally challenged kids. It's hopeless. Hell, it's nearly impossible to teach these kids in a normal classroom setting; there is virtually no hope for remote learning. She's so frustrated. Some of her students come from such poor backgrounds that they don't have internet access at home or a device to use. Others have absentee parents, even mid-pandemic. Two of her students have been completely off the radar since the quarantine started. Even the emergency contact on file isn't answering their phone. Sad stuff.

They are doing packets that can be picked up for kids that don’t have internet/tech at home. What about the families that don’t also have a car to go pick it up?

 

[District-Husky]

I miss my 10 minute bike commute to work and my office. Home with 2 little kids and my wife is extremely difficult. But I'm happy to be employed and getting paid. I feel for everyone in the service industry that is completely screwed right now.

 

[UConnRock]

I also eat too much when working from home

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I generally have the option to do it whenever I want anyways. In the pre-COVID world it was a great option when I had a light day and didn’t need to be particularly productive, but I don’t like being forced to because I know I’m not as productive. I also live in a 700 square foot one bedroom in NYC with a wife that is also working from home, so there’s that...

 

[uconnfan68]

Heck I'm not even golfing in CT not worth the chances.

This has to be killing you... good luck.

 

[Lefty2one]

They are doing packets that can be picked up for kids that don’t have internet/tech at home. What about the families that don’t also have a car to go pick it up?

Her school offered that too. I played delivery man and drove my wife around to eight student's homes about two weeks back. Unfortunately those eight students are only a drop in the bucket. Hopefully other teachers offered to step up and drop off some packets.

 

[kobe]

im getting like nothing done boys.

this is bad.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Her school offered that too. I played delivery man and drove my wife around to eight student's homes about two weeks back. Unfortunately those eight students are only a drop in the bucket. Hopefully other teachers offered to step up and drop off some packets.

My school forbade such stuff. These kids are already so far behind won’t get any schooling for 6 months.

 

[sledog]

They’re kind of stupid to mention, but the two things I find myself missing is getting a haircut and taking my shirts to the cleaners. I typically keep my hair pretty short but for whatever reason I hadn’t had a chance to go for a haircut before the travel moratorium. So though it’s not that bad, I’m feeling a little bit like Billy Ray Cyrus. Business in the front, party in the back.

I’m still going into work, but there are far less meetings.

Me too.

I forsee a thread on hair about to chrystalize. Got to dig out a few pix of me in the day w LONG hair.

 

[sledog]

My wife is set up in the office. I am in the dining room. We extracted our son from college and he is finishing up the semester remotely. Daughter is finishing up her junior year in HS remotely also. Having all 4 working from home is a challenge. There was a novelty the first week or so, but that has worn off. I truly enjoy the separation of work and home and like the transition time of the 20-30 minute ride home. I find weekends less relaxing as it is just another day at home. Going from 5 days in the office to 5 days at home has been tough, especially from a management standpoint. That being said, I think a 3 days in office and 2 at home is something I will consider when things calm down

We have an office, but it's loaded w crap. So when we had to work at home, I set up shop in the dining room. My wife thought that was cool, so she moved in. She set the dining room table up as a partners' desk (arrggg!!!). However, she must make confidential tel calls, so I was booted out. Of course, this escalated, and this point, I've landed on my butt from being pushed off the end of the bench. (boom!). So I'm cleaning out the office so I can 'isolate' myself.

 

[Northbound]

I like it, but have really always had the luxury to work from home if and when I wanted to.

I just started a new gig and it was a bit odd meeting with the President for the first time post interview over zoom, but it's fine.

I'd like to have a cable internet connection - we live in a very rural area and only have wifi via verizon and while it's actually pretty good it can lag a bit if my wife and I happen to hop on the same wifi device.

She's a freelance creative director who has worked from home for years and has her own office with a stand-up or sit down desk which is actually pretty sweet. I thought I was going to be in an on-site office which puts me at the dining room table and that's not ideal, but there is absolutely no way I'm converting my fly tying bench into an office.

I feel very fortunate that I"m in a position to be doing it, others are not so lucky

 

[HobokenHusky]

Just had a team happy hour (1/2 hour) on zoom with 17 ppl - wasn’t nearly as weird as I thought it would be. I think the need to socialize outweighs the awkwardness.

 

[Robertelamin]

They disabled our cameras since it was using too much bandwidth lol. Not complaining though.

 

[millertime7774]

They disabled our cameras since it was using too much bandwidth lol. Not complaining though.

Gamechanger.

I was always envious of what seemed like everyone in town working from home, making their own schedule. Definite benefits, but right now since everyone is, the pressure to respond to someone immediately is high. Not to mention the wife and kids.

 

[mauconnfan]

This has to be killing you... good luck.

Not you 68? Yes it is admit it. But not worth it ya know!

Hope you're well pal stay safe!

 

[HuskyHawk]

They’re kind of stupid to mention, but the two things I find myself missing is getting a haircut and taking my shirts to the cleaners. I typically keep my hair pretty short but for whatever reason I hadn’t had a chance to go for a haircut before the travel moratorium. So though it’s not that bad, I’m feeling a little bit like Billy Ray Cyrus. Business in the front, party in the back.

I’m still going into work, but there are far less meetings.

I got a haircut yesterday. Neighbors’ daughter is a hairdresser. Cut it on my deck.

As for working from home, I already did it every Friday. But I find there is less closure to being home vs being at work when home is work. So I end up starting earlier and working longer. I took a random day off yesterday just to reset then concept that I can stop working when home. The other change for me is video calls on Zoom. That’s now the norm and it challenges my ability to multitask.

 

[navery12]

I love it. Only one in my apartment all day and I get so much more work done

 

[HooperScooper]

I don't like it. I've never done it before besides a few days here and there for snow days and 7 years ago after the Boston Marathon bombings when they closed down most of the Back Bay for a few days. Most of my day at work is interaction with other people in the office. So that's been tough to keep that up. Talking on the phone and things like Zoom just aren't the same. I miss the interaction.

It's hard to keep a good schedule at home but part of that problem right now is my sons are home from school now so almost everyday they want to do something in the afternoon. Which is great but it's tough juggling trying to do work and trying to pay attention to your family.

I don't miss the commute! Although I will say I miss the ride home listening to sports radio because it's a good wind down from work.

 

[Edward Sargent]

From the very first time I heard of it, it was something I always thought would be the greatest thing in the world. Going to work with all the comforts of home - how could that not be ideal? 4 weeks in and I'm finding I absolutely hate it. It was nice for maybe 3 days, but now I can't wait to get back to the office. Don't get me wrong, I love the extra time with my wife, kids, niece, nephew, and pets, but the work side of it has serious drawbacks. Everything is far more stressful, it's tougher to concentrate, and you never really feel like the work day is over.

Is working from home losing its luster for anyone else?

I have been working from home for 12 years and love it. You are right that the work day is extended but like in the office you must be disciplined about picking your time to work. I average 20 hours a week and that is pretty steady. I have always been an early riser so am up at 530 and will work either until my 7 pm tee time (takes me 5 minutes to get to the course of until my wife gets up at 9 . When I am not playing golf ( I play Tuesday, Thursday Saturday) I have breakfast with my wife then work until 10-11 when I either go for a run or a bike. I come home and work from 2-4 or 5 and then either cocktail hour or spin class.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

As a special ed teacher, this is a goshdarn nightmare. Kids don’t have tech, parents are non responsive and district/department/school can not give us a common vision and the expectations are all over the place. On top of that, we have to deal with gen ed teachers and related service who are just as confused as us. I can assure you I am not on vacation by any stretch.

My daughter is a special Ed. teacher in Ct and she has been working 8AM to 8PM
That job is a challenge under normal conditions remotely it’s a nightmare.
Hopefully your efforts are appreciated.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

I work in manufacturing so haven't really ever been able to work remote until recently, but I still never do. Never feel like I'm as productive so this has been rough for me...but my company is considered essential for our bacteria/virus reducing product line so we've stayed open with a skeleton crew.

Always been a little put off by people who spend a large portion of time working remote. If I see they're crushing it and getting stuff done I'm more ok with it, but rarely is that the case in my experience