Working from home!

Forums:

The silver lining, if you will, of the whole 'Rona thing for me has been blowing out of the office last March and coming to the realization that working from home is very doable. It took me literally 2 hours to figure out there was no way I was ever going back, which I explained to my boss, who get's it and agreed. It's a pinch of semi-retirement... I'm a homebody anyway, so it's just been blissful.

 

Anyone else around here is in this boat?

I got laid off of my job in July which before Covid was part time work from home and then went to full time work from home. I'm working again. I got a new job and have been working since October. 100% form home. I still have yet to meet anybody and the company I work for has 24,000 employees, and even after we go back my position will be WFH. 

My wife is a therapist and loves it. If it were up to her she would never go back.

I worked from home exclusively from March - August, and since then I've been going into the office 3 days a week. Although I love the freedom of working from home, it was getting harder and harder to motivate myself. Interestingly, my productivity didn't slip at all. I'm enjoying the hybrid model.

My SO will be working from home until at least March 31. She has a laptop, 2 monitors, and a business phone set up at the kitchen table. I'm kind of getting sick of looking at it, and having to tiptoe around when I'm home.

I wish her employer, the State, would cover some of the added costs. For instance, over the Summer I had to get an AC for the kitchen because it was too hot otherwise. That jacked up electric costs. All the extra shit being plugged in is also costing more. We have to leave the heat higher during the day now, too. Water usage has almost doubled. Seeing as how she would otherwise walk to work, there's no trade-off on commuting costs.

Play me very small violins...

I have the option to work from home.  I tried.  To many distractions.  Not enough to stay motivated, and I need a reason to leave the house!  
Now I go to the office everyday.  75%. of office is working from home, so I have the place to myself.  Play tunes louder at office, no distractions like pre covid, and I leave the house.  I'm also more productive without a full office so I'm working less hours but keeping same salary.  I don't care if anyone comes back ever again.  I like the office empty.

I've been able to work from home for years. COVID changed things, and for a while a few folks were "assigned" to the office and others were invited to stay away except for short visits. Which I did. I'll go in tomorrow cause I have to be on camera for a stupid ass meeting. Camera's are now mandatory for meetings. Can't just go to the chat room. We have daily morning "check-ins" via e-mail (What do you have going today?) and a weekly time tracker sheet to turn in on Friday. It's obnoxious, I hate it, but they're trying to figure out how to manage so many home workers.   

 I don't HAVE to go in, but I enjoy seeing people other than my wife. It's healthy for me to communicate with other folks and get out of the house. Plus it helps to remember what "normal" felt like. Social distancing and masks at work always.   

I've been working from home teaching on Zoom since March 13th. Shifting from face-to-face classes to fully online over a weekend wasn't much fun, and I didn't have a webcam for my desktop PC early on, so I had to use my Pixelbook, and a lot of Zoom's features, like screen-sharing, aren't supported by that platform, which made things more difficult. But by the time my summer classes started in June, I was much more accustomed to teaching online, and I'm seeing its benefits now, although student engagement is definitely an issue. Empty black squares on a Zoom grid. Icons for mics muted. Hello? Is there anybody out there?

While I miss the more personal interactions of face-to-face classes (my courses were always discussion, rather than lecture-based), if I was given the opportunity to keep teaching online, I'd take it without hesitation because motivated students still participate in discussions in Zoom classes and one-on-one video meetings, and in discussions through email. There's still a lot of individual learning going on, although maybe not so much in the aggregate.

Also, like Earl, I'm pretty much a homebody and live simply these days, and pandemic-style hasn't disrupted my daily rhythms all that much.

I've been working from home since returning from DNB Hawaii run last March! 
Our office is supportive and sent around a survey where we could choose how many days a week we'd like to be in the office when we do return.
I chose only 1 or 2 days. 

I too, enjoy a bit of socializing in person with someone else besides my cat. 
It makes so much sense, reduces commuting, and therefore, good for the climate.

However, I'm really tired of Zoom meetings, hate going on camera and am annoyed how our bureau's file management system is like the wild west -- some teams use Sharepoint / One Drive, some use Google Drive, and I interact with multiple teams, so all the different platforms are a bother. Whine.

Yep, WFH since early March. My commute to Philly is an hour and 45 mins each way. I love my home set up. Just found out my boss is going on maternity leave in May and I'll need to carry some of her work load so I'm going to try to sell the "I can't waste 3 and half hours commuting" line. Plus I'm in the running for a role at another Company and that would be 30 mins each way. But of course my last toke was Dec 1 since I'll be per employment testing if I get the job. Just about the time I retire in a handful of years Companies will stop testing. But you gotta play by the current rules of the game.

After continuous, non-virtual 70hr weeks w/ no overtime and daily pointless meetings, I took a chance, quit my job of 5 yrs in Oct., moved two states away and started a small medical grow with a friend in a shop at home. I've been extremely fortunate during what has been a year of life-altering change and heart break for so many people. I'm a homebody too and hoping this also is a pinch of semi-retirement. It's been wonderful not to be on someone else's schedule.....first time in 33 yrs

I really am enjoying not driving 1000 miles a month. And sleeping an extra hr. a day.

I go in on an as-needed basis and needs to be approved. It's a weird experience/ghost town. Dead plants....twilight zone.

 

 

Why would you waste that extra hour sleeping, Turts? Carpe diem...

I'm good with 6 hours.

because being sleep deprived for 25 yrs has sucked?

it's made a difference. that early morning is when i am in rem...

was just told to expect at home until sept.

the garage/office is pretty cold so have moved inside....but hey, its frickin' cold in here too.

 

 

was just told to expect at home until sept.<<

Wow. My place is only up to March 15 so far.

But there's a new Covid case every three weeks among the tenants (bank offices and another Big-Ass Law Firm) using the other elevator bank, so I imagine WFH will be extended.

Turtle, you should donate that hour daily, and earn money for slacker's housing problem.

I just took a 30 minute shit and 2 bong rips.  That doesn't occur when in the office. 

My old boss at one of the 3 big radio chains that runs at least six stations in SF told me they are never going back. Their lease is about to end. Two floors of prime SF office real estate. Doubt those savings will be passed on to the employees who save on commute but now have to heat and cool their homes 24/7/365, clean their own office, pay for a place big enough to work from home, and buy their own coffee and in some cases food and snacks.

Riding my bike most mornings and crankin' around 60 pleasure miles a week in a bicycle-friendly town has been a dream, as our weather this time of year is specfuckintacular.

Not commuting to work on a schedule (even though fairly short)= priceless. 

My bowels move way faster than JR's= extremely grateful.

yeah home court w/o the industrial soviet-style tp is nice.

>>>  industrial soviet-style tp

 

That is friggin' funny. Never thought about how that might be for the poor peep's back in the U.S.S.R.

I've worked from home (or travel around PAC NW) for two decades. But with COVID there has been no traveling. Gotta admit, it's nice laying in bed and doing some emails from my phone and calling "work". 

TP? Get a fucking bidet, you barbarian!

I started 100% from home the last week of Feb. I was already working remote 2-3 days a week so the biggest adjustment was lack of in person socializing, which I do miss. I am more productive at home, but my office space at home is nicer than my office, so that might have something to do with productivity.  Our office is not going to renew the lease at the end of this month, so that is going to be an adjustment. It was always nice knowing we had a place to go back to, although I have only gone in one time for less than an hour since going fully remote. Once it is safer to gather in indoor public spaces we will gather once or twice a week for an extended lunch meeting.  I have put less than 2500 miles on my car this year. I was in the typical 12-15k mile a year range prior. I am happy about that. I have not seen my family in 11 months, (in person), I am ready for that to happen. Hopefully by summer time.  

I miss street food.  And the Orange Beef from the dumpy place on 8th Ave.  And a particular vending-machine cookie.

I don't miss the bus through the Lincoln Tunnel (daily) or the subway (rarely; like . . . raining, no umbrella).  I do miss walking in NYC, and the weird snippets of conversation one hears ("I mean...is this love or is this just sailing around the world naked?").

About 3-4 hours into a shift, I miss my office chair.

I don't miss wearing headphones for six hours a night.

I miss the eye-rolls of other competent people in reference to the "How the fuck does this person have a job?" people (now shirk-from-homers).

I miss the irregular funk band that plays on 6th Ave.  And the good sax player on Seventh.  Not the poor bastard who only (kinda) knows My Favorite Things.