How do you feel about telecommuting? | Page 3 | The Boneyard

How do you feel about telecommuting?

joober jones

joober jones

Finally Non-Fat Guy
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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?
 
Sadly out of work though we did have a meeting last week to talk about when I might be back. My guess is not until May from what I gathered.
 
Turns everyday into an endless work session for me. Groundhog Day every day. No boundaries at all. People calling until 10 at night.
 
joober jones said:
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?
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I worked in various contract and at home jobs for 3 of last 4 years. Absolutely hated it.

You lose routine and balance. Your home can’t be your work, especially with family around. Journalists is a little easier since you are just calling peole and writing stories. Now that I am in corporate world?

It can suck. Webex to Webex to Webex. Email then slack then Skype ping.

my suggestion is keep routine and shower before you turn on the computer. And, move around to different spaces. Don’t turn on the tv in the background either. Dedicate that as work time. And when that is done, shut it off.
 
superjohn said:
Love it, hated going to an office and open-plan offices are the worst thing ever created.

I could see people not liking it if they have annoying wives/big families.
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Lol. Open plans are awful. Really makes you feel small.i think it hurts morale.
 
Robertelamin said:
They disabled our cameras since it was using too much bandwidth lol. Not complaining though.
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Our company did the same which was good news for me. They want everybody to use their cameras. The policy is so that we get to know each other but in reality it is to prevent people from doing other things and not paying attention during a meeting. Most people claim to be multi-tasking which is a fallacy. We are big users of Skype as well which most people use way too much since most people are impatient and can't wait for an email answer. It is not unusual to receive multiple instant messages on the same subject from multiple people during a meeting.
 
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Chin Diesel said:
I just figured every laptop had a camera. With my previous job we had an unofficial put a post it note over it if you aren't using the camera policy.
Really odd was me being almost positive I had done video chats in my current job.
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Most do. I bought a nice Logitech 92C anyway. 1080p and much better than the built in ones. Cost me $65. I keep my laptop closed and have a dual monitor setup home and the office. I have a usb headset but bought AirPods to use as they as much more comfortable and less visible. Struggling to get the AirPods to work with Zoom or Skype.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Most do. I bought a nice Logitech 92C anyway. 1080p and much better than the built in ones. Cost me $65. I keep my laptop closed and have a dual monitor setup home and the office. I have a usb headset but bought AirPods to use as they as much more comfortable and less visible. Struggling to get the AirPods to work with Zoom or Skype.
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Husky - I just use the alt dial in and mute the speaker/mic on the session. The AirPods don’t keep flipping in and out of mode. Plus, it’s a better audio connection.
 
Obviously works better for some jobs than others. I’m doing IT work from home for last 5 yrs. some things I do to make it feel more like an office?

At lunchtime, I go to the “cafeteria”. I take my walks around the block in the “fitness center”. And when I have a really important B.usiness M.eeting, I go to my “conference room”
 
jleves said:
This is my first time ever telecommuting and I have a pretty easy environment. It's just my wife and I in the house and I already had my dedicated office/man cave, so I don't have to deal with the distractions some of you have. So far, I like it, but definitely find myself working more hours. I work in IT and my teams are responsible for providing a lot of the work from home technologies so we've been really taxed with extra work to get the systems upgraded to support thousands of users. Hopefully once we settle in, it will get easier and I can get back to regular work hours.

One thing I can suggest: I have a really close friend who has telecommuted for years and she shared with me really great tips about not getting stuck in a funk. Get up every morning like you are going to work, shower, dress, get coffee - whatever you would normally do to go into the office before you sit down and start your work day. Leave your work area and eat lunch like a normal person. Try to actually sign out and leave your work area again at the end of the day. Those things make a huge difference and you won't find yourself in three day old clothes, unshowered with dishes and glasses spread around your work area.
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I roll out of bed at 7:20, brush my teeth and log on at 7:30.

I'll "usually" shower at some point in the day. I haven't shaved in 3 weeks.

I've worn the same ratty pair of jeans and I will change my t-shirt every couple days.

I've recently been contemplating cutting my own hair. Maybe even shaving my head.
 
I hate it. I like home being home and work being work. I don’t like to co-mingle the two. I need somewhere to go, human interaction, etc. I hate this and can’t wait to get back to a normal routine.
 
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BlueDogs said:
Husky - I just use the alt dial in and mute the speaker/mic on the session. The AirPods don’t keep flipping in and out of mode. Plus, it’s a better audio connection.
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Yeah, I have tried that. My challenge there is that I use bluetooth hearing aids, and my phone overrides my choice to use the airpods and routes the audio to my hearing aids. I'm still at a loss for why the sound does not come through them on the PC. It's complete silence, yet my microphone works fine.
 
24 hours notice for any meeting.

None of this "we're meeting in 10 minutes and everyone has to be there." I hear that, and I don't care if your daddy founded the company, your @$$ is getting chewed out.
 
Deepster said:
I roll out of bed at 7:20, brush my teeth and log on at 7:30.

I'll "usually" shower at some point in the day. I haven't shaved in 3 weeks.

I've worn the same ratty pair of jeans and I will change my t-shirt every couple days.

I've recently been contemplating cutting my own hair. Maybe even shaving my head.
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So you're telling me if I do this all the time I'll be smelly, hygiene challenged and not care at all what I look like? Give me back my office!
 
HooperScooper said:
So you're telling me if I do this all the time I'll be smelly, hygiene challenged and not care at all what I look like? Give me back my office!
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One of the upsides of this experience is that I've grown an absolutely unreal 70s era mustache. My wife has stopped trying to hide her revulsion at this point and has simply started begging me to shave.
 
Deepster said:
I roll out of bed at 7:20, brush my teeth and log on at 7:30.

I'll "usually" shower at some point in the day. I haven't shaved in 3 weeks.

I've worn the same ratty pair of jeans and I will change my t-shirt every couple days.

I've recently been contemplating cutting my own hair. Maybe even shaving my head.
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Don't, I like your Michael Bolton clone look.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Yeah, I have tried that. My challenge there is that I use bluetooth hearing aids, and my phone overrides my choice to use the airpods and routes the audio to my hearing aids. I'm still at a loss for why the sound does not come through them on the PC. It's complete silence, yet my microphone works fine.
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Yeah, that’s a problem. One option is go to the Bluetooth settings on your computer and remove the hearing aids as a paired device. I suppose you tried that already, but just in case, that’s one option.
 
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BlueDogs said:
Yeah, that’s a problem. One option is go to the Bluetooth settings on your computer and remove the hearing aids as a paired device. I suppose you tried that already, but just in case, that’s one option.
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They are only paired to my phone, but on calls it switches back to them and not the airpods and I can't seem to stop it. Just wish I could get them to work via the PC.
 
Oh it's a blast! I make pretty pictures all day!
HREM_SID8657_Shh_SP7_E14_5_Z4Mut_No_Ext_voxels_colored.jpg


The only problem... Appears as if the frau is Covid positive. Got a big place, and a separate zone for her, but it's ugly and moving into oh dark hundred. (Irony - she complained endlessly that I'd give it to her but it appears she caught all by herself from a post doc in the lab.)
 
BigErnMcCracken said:
One of the upsides of this experience is that I've grown an absolutely unreal 70s era mustache. My wife has stopped trying to hide her revulsion at this point and has simply started begging me to shave.
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pics or it aint so
 
Deepster said:
I roll out of bed at 7:20, brush my teeth and log on at 7:30.

I'll "usually" shower at some point in the day. I haven't shaved in 3 weeks.

I've worn the same ratty pair of jeans and I will change my t-shirt every couple days.

I've recently been contemplating cutting my own hair. Maybe even shaving my head.
Expand ...

I woke up a bit early this morning and felt refreshed. Hopped in shower, put on some clean clothes and poured a cup of coffee. It was 6:30 and I felt like I was already 3 hours ahead of the day.
 
Just finished my first week teaching middle school math. Most of the time is teaching on Zoom while I'm screen sharing notes and worked examples. After that, students work on stuff and then video chat if they have questions, etc.

I'm a curriculum leader and I'm trying to get others on board with relaxing assessments unless they are something like project-based or partner work.

Probably because I'm processing things differently, but I've found these days much more taxing than a typical day at school. Also, I'm so used to moving around at work, so that's a weird adjustment but all I can do is make the best of it.

For you working parents out there, major applause for y'all. I can't imagine what it's like working from home while having someone's existence solely dependent on you.

One of my co-workers is a first-time mom and has a six-month old at home. She's having a really difficult time with managing being a mom with the expectations of providing synchronistic work with the kids.

Anyways, it's the weekend, and you've all earned it. Stay well!
 
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Chin Diesel said:
I woke up a bit early this morning and felt refreshed. Hopped in shower, put on some clean clothes and poured a cup of coffee. It was 6:30 and I felt like I was already 3 hours ahead of the day.
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It's just another day, du du du du du
 
We’ve been super busy - I’ve been on Zoom meetings from start of business to close. Yes, Zoom stinks. I work for a start up and what was interesting prior to this is that we had a terrible conference call culture - if someone was on the phone, we would ignore them. So it’s been good that we’ve had to evolve.

It’s just me, a 14 YO, 2 dogs, and a cat. So it’s pretty peaceful.

My only issue is my next door neighbor who has like 6 kids. He has been obsessively mowing his lawn for the last 2 weeks because he can’t leave his house really and inside there are 6 kids (and they all seem to be under 10). If he’s mowing the lawn, they all seem to be inside, so it’s the only time he seems to get peace. So he’s mowing every day. It’s starting to get annoying because it’s April 3 and no one has that much grass yet.

He also does it in the rain.
 
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