ShivaX
1726
Most people who’ve had success with it treat it like they’re not there is my understanding.
As is “I’m gonna shut this door and when I do, I’m at work. Don’t ask me to do stuff or come in unless it’s something you’d call me at work for.”
House on fire? Let me know. Need me to do X, would you have me leave work to do it? If not, don’t ask.
Of course that requires everyone else to do their part, which is usually where things go off the rails, especially with kids.
fire
1727
I got an all new wardrobe. Now that I’m spending all this extra time in the yard and with my birds, I got cheap cotton shirts that the birds can poop on and chew up. I don’t mind spilling coffee down my front or getting dirt all over my knees in the fifteen minutes I spend weeding between tasks. I also got a couple shirts that look nice on webcam but I’d never wear outdoors. I put those on for meetings, and then change back into the Hanes before I get them dirty. My mother is aghast but what are you gonna do?
Exactly my experience.
When I started working from home, my daughter was of an age (4-5) that made this challenging for sure. We ended up with a sign on my door made of construction paper, green on one side and red on the other. Which mostly worked, though she did take to slipping notes under my door asking me to flip the sign to green, lol. Of course, it helps enormously to have a dedicated work space, preferably one away from the normal house traffic.
CraigM
1729
This is my problem. The wife and kids.
But I shower and get dressed every day, even if I wear more t-shirts than polis these days.
Which is actually more common at the office, being Portland. Me wearing polos and khakis almost every day I am a definite outlier.
I have… the kitchen table. #renterproblems
I’ve been working remote for 3 years and agree that structure is necessary. Waking up consistently, a workout routine, walk around the neighborhood breaks every day, making sure to schedule a couple lunch and coffee breaks with friends in the neighborhood each week, a clear time when I’d like to switchoff. Dress code at home isn’t as critical for me, if I’m doing these other points.
Sometimes there is an issue of personal space with the spouse - interruptions for little things. She works at home mostly too, in the early days there was occasionally friction around our different need for boundaries, but we’ve reached a good balance. And I enjoy having the company for breaks when I’m not out meeting others on said breaks.
I have serious doubts about how possible it would be in an apartment with kids of any age. Peace and quiet is the big one for me. I have a few friends that work from home at houses and a dedicated basement, or better yet mother-in-law unit works wonders for getting the separation, although obvious requires resources. I have thought of how fun it would be to design my own WFH “shed” unit in a backyard. On that point, big windows are a must to add to that list above.
Totally agree with @Grunden and @AK_Icebear. I worked from home for years at my previous company up to 6 years ago and have been getting back in the habit since March .
To me, it’s very important to keep a routine that separates weekends and work days. I get up early, I shower, shave and dress every weekday. I wear t-shirts and jeans or shorts, but then again, that’s acceptable at my current office too.
I sit in the “office” (a tiny, closet like room) , close the door and limit the interactions to when I go get some coffee or water and then chat for a bit like I might with colleagues at work.
But no way I’m working scruffy or in my PJs.
I’m quite happy to jump into comfy pants or PJs the minute I’m done though. :)
The routine and the separation of work and home were very good for me when doing it long term before and are again now.
I have been using my beard trimmer to cut my hair, too. Which means I have now learned that beard trimmer guide numbers are not the same scale as hair clipper guide numbers.
RichVR
1733
Sounds like heaven to me. :)
We did the senior hour at our local Costco this morning. The lineup before the store opens is gone and there were relatively few shoppers there the entire time. Also, the paper isle was fully stocked: TP, paper towels, kleenex. Shopping in a nearly empty Costco was kind of a surreal experience.
I have been working from home in various flavors for the last 5 years. I tried really hard to maintain a routine, personal hygiene, and clothing. I started slipping some with the quarantine though. I worked in my kids’ schoolhouse - we homeschool - until recently. They needed the space with ~10 kids for a co-op we were doing. I ended up renting a one room office 15 minutes away.
For me that’s almost the ideal. I can go heads down and concentrate with minimal fear of disruption. I have a short commute which gives me time to listen to podcasts and switch mentally between home/work modes. I am close enough to home if there’s an emergency to be of assistance.
Not going to work for everyone I realize. The cost wasn’t outrageous though.
Isn’t it though? As is going straight to a checkout lane without waiting for 10 minutes. Seeing the central area with the clothing & books all arranged in full, neat, undisturbed piles was a somehow unsettling image.
Yes, it had an eerie, almost post-apocalypse movie feel to it.
Went out to get gas and drive the car around a bit today. Roads are full of people, gas station was full of people, lots of folks wandering around, no one but me masked.
Fucking idiots.
The Honeywell executives are posting photos of their (unmasked) employees in the workplace, as part of their announcement that they’re going to make more masks.
Finally got napkins today, 4 packs of 500 napkins! I had run out last week and was resorting to cloth and paper towels.
Supplies in the home are back to the levels I normally had before the pandemic hit.
My local grocery store (Renders Warehouse Market) had everything back in stock at almost normal levels. Price of meats are obviously higher, but I saw everything in stock.
There probably wouldn’t have been any shortages if reasonable quantity limits were in place before the pandemic hit.
Also weird, I went to the bank a Santander branch, and they closed temporarily as of April 6th, with no return date according to the note on the drive thru window.
None
1742
That’s the sweetest thing ever! Thanks for sharing that.
I have taken to showering at lunchtime instead of before work starts. It’s just procrastination to increase my morning dawdle time. If I were finished with Skyrim I might not do it.
I now forget to shave more often than I used to forget.
I have given myself two pretty good haircuts! I have two pairs of pro clippers, so I just trim upwards to the crown and then snip off bits up there that seem like too much. The next day post wash and comb any really extraneous bits will stick out, and I snip 'em.
That’s worked so far!
What an underappreciated pleasure it was to sit down IN a restaurant for lunch today…
Good luck with that. I don’t foresee setting foot in a restaurant for at least a year.
