With the accommodation and hardware situation not resolved at work, I’ve been working at home most of this week. Haven’t done this since last year when I sprained my ankle. It’s got its bad and good points.
Bad:
- Less interaction with my fellow deskless sufferers and others. It’s probable that if I were locked in a room with a computer and no means of real time communication for the rest of my working life, I would go stark raving mad. But there’s always the email and phone.
- No hot chocolate from the bistro. Okay, it’s a good way to blow $1.20 in a hurry, but to miss out on regular chocolate drinks is wrong.
- Have to fit in with the surrounding family chaos. Even a door can only block out so much noise.
- It’s costing me extra in electricity and net connection fees! And a 14.4Kbps modem seems just a tad pathetic compared to your average corporate high-bandwidth something-bloody-impressive-Kbps "our staff can surf at any cost" connection.
Good:
- Can dress any way I want. Hey, if I want to sit at the computer in my underwear, I can. (Not that I do, but I could if I wanted to.)
- Can work any hours I want. As it happens, I’ve been working reasonably "normal" hours. I haven’t yet got into the habit of waking up late, working until past midnight. I can have long lunches, read the paper, watch some TV…
- No commuting. Saves me about an hour a day, and it’d save me money too, if I hadn’t just bought that monthly ticket.
- If you’re facing a deadline and being grilled by your boss over the phone, you can use all those excuses that off-site graphic designers always seem to use (not that I would, of course)…
| What they say | What they mean |
|---|---|
| there was a power failure | I haven’t done it yet |
| my hard disk crashed | I haven’t done it yet |
| I’ll email it to you first thing tomorrow morning | I’ll email it to you some time tomorrow afternoon |
| I’ll email it to you before close of business | That’s my close of business – around 4am. |
| I’m working on a number of things right now | You’re the lowest priority |
- I can swear as much as I want when I make a mistake.
- I can safely go into one of my "thinking sessions" without members of senior management walking past and thinking I’m not doing any work.
- It’s not a ten minute walk to the Coke supply.
Might as well enjoy it while it lasts. Hopefully they’ll have got us all desks and PCs by… well, hopefully sometime this century.
