why is telecommuting frowned upon?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

offices suck!

― the petronas towers (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:04 (nineteen years ago)

if you can do it and it works -- great

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

from my own company: "working from home will be allowed. but be aware that any time spent working from home will be taken out of your vacation time". UH FUCK YOU. to their credit they actually didn't follow through with enforcing this.

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

No one believes you're really working at home.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

Also, people are jealous and spiteful if they have to go into the office and you don't.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:08 (nineteen years ago)

(people like me)

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:14 (nineteen years ago)

I have no interest in sitting at home... I like leaving in the a.m., seeing the people, civic society, all that. I don't think I would get shit done, except masturbation and Montel Williams.

― andy ---, Friday, 3 February 2006 00:32 (nineteen years ago)

word

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:34 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, and not all offices suck

I think the only plus of t-commuting is avoiding a massive, stupid commute, if you have one

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:37 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I'm with Andy, too. Sometimes I wish I had an office to go to on the weekends when I need to FEEL PRODUCTIVE. But a nicer one than this.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:39 (nineteen years ago)

Sometimes I think I'd like to work from home but I suspect I'd be even more easily distracted than I am now. That said, I work best at work when most of the others have gone home and its quiet. Maybe I just need my own little hidden away cubbyhole.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:40 (nineteen years ago)

Well, you could fake a pregnancy and they might not frown. But you'll have to find a baby eventually... somewhere.

― andy --, Friday, 3 February 2006 00:40 (nineteen years ago)

It is very hard to do Win32 developmnent if you telecommute. Web development on UNIX is easy to do telecommmuting.

― A BOLD QUAHOG (ex machina), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:42 (nineteen years ago)

I think the only plus of t-commuting is avoiding a massive, stupid commute, if you have one

That and wearing pajamas to work.

Seriously, for your centers of urban sprawl (like metro DC where I live), it benefits the region as a whole by cutting down on man-hours lost to sitting in traffic, pollution, congestion, etc. I believe both Virginia and Maryland offer limited tax incentives to companies that encourage telecommuting for exactly this reason.

I don't have the option, but my wife often works from home. She loves it.

― phil d. (Phil D.), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:44 (nineteen years ago)

But what about Chevy's? It's no good to them, they need office workers.

― andy --, Friday, 3 February 2006 00:47 (nineteen years ago)

That and wearing pajamas to work.

and not having to answer annoying phone calls (unless they're annoying phone calls that you're actually expecting)

and not having to make small talk

and being able to get work done in relative quiet (if you have a home that's relatively quiet during the day)

― the petronas towers (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:48 (nineteen years ago)

I'm getting kind of bored out of my mind working from home. In bigger cities, are there ever freelancers' cooperatives that get together to rent shared office space? It would be great for social aspects, to be able to bounce ideas off each other, and to be able to have a nice workspace for not too much money.

― truck-patch pixel farmer (my crop froze in the field) (Rock Hardy), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:50 (nineteen years ago)

(nb: a coworker made me read her POETRY today)

― the petronas towers (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:51 (nineteen years ago)

I do think it's cool and kind of futuristic in theory, but I haven't seen it work out too well in practice. One dude here started "working from home" more and more often, and then he clearly stopped doing his job, and then he quit.

Another friend got a job, moved an hour away and asked to telecommute three days, a week, then got pregnant and got fired.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:51 (nineteen years ago)

In bigger cities, are there ever freelancers' cooperatives that get together to rent shared office space?

yeah, i've heard of this happening. having an office space is good if the people around you are freelancers too.

― the petronas towers (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:54 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, but for those of use that enjoy three martini lunches and chasing coworkers around the desk, home is no fun. ("Jesus, honey, not now... please... you're drunk.")

― andy --, Friday, 3 February 2006 00:54 (nineteen years ago)

I sometimes kinda wish that I had a longer commute. I'd have more time to learn Spanish, listen to albums, drink coffee, etc.

(Current commute time: 12 minutes.)

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 3 February 2006 00:56 (nineteen years ago)

My commute via BART and on foot is a little less than a half-hour, I'm not complaining. People are commuting to San Francisco from places like Stockton, Tracy and Modesto, fuck that royally.

― andy --, Friday, 3 February 2006 01:00 (nineteen years ago)

I walk 35 mins or get the underground 10 mins

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 3 February 2006 01:02 (nineteen years ago)

couldn't do my job from home v easily

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 3 February 2006 01:02 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, but for those of use that enjoy three martini lunches and chasing coworkers around the desk

do those days still exist?

― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Friday, 3 February 2006 01:04 (nineteen years ago)

Oh yes I've done everything I can to preserve the office experience circa 1953 for future generations to enjoy, sort of a living museum... cornering interns in the supply closet is a favorite. I even have an ashtray on my desk!

― andy --, Friday, 3 February 2006 01:08 (nineteen years ago)

Do you have a Full Metal Office?

― tokyo nursery school: afternoon session (rosemary), Friday, 3 February 2006 01:15 (nineteen years ago)

is doris day your secretary?

― the petronas towers (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 3 February 2006 01:16 (nineteen years ago)

I can and do work from home often. Web design, ya know. But too many days in your PJs can be depressing, and when I do go into the office, I feel something like relief. People who have never worked from home can't understand.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Friday, 3 February 2006 01:19 (nineteen years ago)

Upside to working at home: I have some of my best ideas at four in the afternoon after a beer.

Downside: I have some of my worst ideas after three.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Friday, 3 February 2006 01:20 (nineteen years ago)

at the big tech company that i'm a subcontractor for, telecommuting is encouraged, and most folks do it one day a week.

― kingfish has gene rayburn's mic (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 3 February 2006 01:27 (nineteen years ago)

i'm unemployed but spend my days at home on the computer looking for work and doing research. i hate it. i don't ever want to work from home and i pray that an opportunity arises to take me out of this life sucking vacuum of space, time and identity.
for a while the highlight of my day was going for coffee because i actually had to clean myself and leave the house. now i just say "FUCK IT". because it's too easy to sit here and do nothing more.

i could see "working" from home one day a week though. (day time drinking in the park).

― nein Socken (nein Socken), Friday, 3 February 2006 01:33 (nineteen years ago)

i'm working from home right now

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 3 February 2006 03:50 (nineteen years ago)

it's great!

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 3 February 2006 03:50 (nineteen years ago)

well.. freelancing. so i guess this is my "office"

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 3 February 2006 03:50 (nineteen years ago)

I wish I had a 2 hour commute, and my company paid my gas. I just want some alone time.

― T/S: Pinks/Oki Dog/Scoobys/Tail o' the Pup (Bent Over at the Arclight), Friday, 3 February 2006 03:58 (nineteen years ago)

All my work is either done from courthouses (of which I am not an employee) or from home, and honestly it's a little depressing because it makes me feel like I don't REALLY have a job.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 3 February 2006 04:15 (nineteen years ago)

I work from home and as far as I can tell everything said in this thread so far has been completely accurate. Which is kind of weird.

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Friday, 3 February 2006 04:39 (nineteen years ago)

What happened when I tried telecommuting for one day at Christmas, when the office was supposed to be closed anyway:

Beforehand: warn everyone: all day on (whenever it was), when most of you won't be here anyway, the main network shares will be offline for a bit whilst I commission the new server.

7am: Get up, connect in from home. Take old shares offline, start copying contents to new shares.
8am: Have breakfast
9am: Check that the copy completed; head to the office to start the stuff I can't do remotely.
9.30am: Get shouted at by boss. "You're supposed to WARN US before you take things offline! X came in to do some work before you took the servers down, and she couldn't do anything! We've just wasted half an hour trying to find the files she needs!!!"

I tried to politely point out that a) we hadn't agreed on a start time other than "first thing in the morning" b) I had been working since 7am because I knew that X wanted to do some work later that day, and I wanted to make sure everything would be done as quickly as possible. He backed down a bit, but it's certainly put me off the idea of trying to do things more efficiently in future.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Friday, 3 February 2006 08:31 (nineteen years ago)

I manage a shop, and sometimes I need to work from home so that I don't get bothered with every stupid thing that comes up while I'm trying to get some documents written, important emails done, things like that. Also I am one of those people with a stupid long commute (an hour and a half each way) so it's a treat to get up, eat a leisurely breakfast, and still manage to be in work at 8am.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Friday, 3 February 2006 08:49 (nineteen years ago)

[ Hang on a sec – Jody do you mean a coworker asked you to read poetry to her (if so, what?)? or that she asked you to read poetry she had written (if so, samples please)? ]

I'm a bit less productive if I'm at home cos I'm too easily distracted. This is one of the main reasons why I don't like freelancing. I think it would be ok if I could have my own office at home but that's not really an option. I'd call it my study or my library and it would look like an Edwardian gentlemen's club with bookcase ladders on rails and a huge environmentally unsound desk made of mahogany and leather with a blotting pad on it and a powerbook.

― beanz (beanz), Friday, 3 February 2006 09:46 (nineteen years ago)

So? I freelance and that's xackly what I got. Oh, but I added one of those RCA Victor '50s-era 45-rpm-only players. And one record: "Hot Rod Lincoln" by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Send me seven-inches, everyone.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 3 February 2006 10:18 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, and MORE RED WINE.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 3 February 2006 10:19 (nineteen years ago)

I LOVED working from home and very, very nearly got my ideal job, which would have been 2 days at home and three in the office (or vice versa).

I am just as efficient working from home IF I know exactly what I need to get done. If it's stuff where I have to use initiative, or is some vague, tenuous research job, I get too easily distracted.

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 3 February 2006 10:31 (nineteen years ago)

some vague, tenuous research job

Well I'm a journalist, so...

― beanz (beanz), Friday, 3 February 2006 12:22 (nineteen years ago)

Also, part of my job is thinking of Big Ideas for the shop to make more money. I find it better for me to be thinking of my Big Ideas while out walking the dog than while trying to pretend I'm not reading ILX in a store room or dealing with bloody customers.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Friday, 3 February 2006 12:38 (nineteen years ago)

It occurred to me this morning that in about 4 months, I could conceivably be done with alarm clocks for the rest of my life.

― truck-patch pixel farmer (my crop froze in the field) (Rock Hardy), Friday, 3 February 2006 16:48 (nineteen years ago)

My wife works from home at least one day a week and she's usually still working when I come in at 5:30. I think she's a bit unusual though.

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Friday, 3 February 2006 16:50 (nineteen years ago)

I'll be working at home for probably at least a month or so after my surgery. My office is getting me a laptop and everything.

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Friday, 3 February 2006 16:52 (nineteen years ago)

Yes Adam, but she's probably been boozing and watching dvds until 5:00.

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 3 February 2006 16:55 (nineteen years ago)

She watches Oprah, I know that. And she listens to woman music on my laptop and fucks up my Audioscrobbler.

― adamrl (nordicskilla), Friday, 3 February 2006 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

I love telecommuting, my only wish is that I had enough freelance work to reach enough of a critical mass where I didn't have to stop and take some full-time work. When the jobs line up though, I have a great schedule down with a mix of on-site and off-site work. I do need to keep a schedule though. I still wake up early and keep to some sort of work schedule, but it's nice to be able to duck out for an airport cafe breakfast, a used book store, or a taco truck. Since my workplace is basically wherever I set my laptop down, I've got a pretty encyclopedic knowledge of every free Wi-Fi site in Southern California.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 3 February 2006 18:00 (nineteen years ago)

Paunchy otm! I do graphic design and it's the same for me. I find 2am to be my peak productivity period.

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 3 February 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

If I work at home, I'll just end up getting stoned instead.

― shookout (shookout), Saturday, 11 March 2006 00:57 (nineteen years ago)

six years pass...

Is telecommuting still frowned upon? I am wondering because for the past two years I have been telecommuting and it seems to be more acceptable now.

There were transportation cuts in our area, so my boss said that if I want to work from home because I missed the bus, that is okay. Which is really cool.

Only problem is that you get solicitors, the landscaper coming when you didn't expect him. Also you get into the bad habit of forgetting when natural work hours are. Like I farted around too much Thursday and yesterday, so I have to work today.

― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Please You Fag Punk Rockers (Mount Cleaners), Saturday, 14 July 2012 19:00 (thirteen years ago)

At two jobs where I switched to telecommuting, I was treated far more harshly by my bosses while telecommuting than I had ever been treated in person. Mean, threatening emails from people who had never acted this way in person. Both jobs ended with the bosses cutting off my access first and explaining why only after I, figuring there was some technical glitch, waited to speak to their highnesses on the phone. I think it is a lot easier not to treat employees as human if they aren't there breathing in your office.

― Vic Perry, Saturday, 14 July 2012 19:09 (thirteen years ago)

that might be true. i've telecommuted about 90% of the time at my current job for the past 4 1/2 years, and have often gotten into weird passive aggressive email exchanges that probably would not have happened had I been in the office. at the same time, i float way above a ton of office politics and am eternally grateful for this. really, i think telecommuting has ruined me for other jobs. i turned down a job last year that paid better because i would have had to go in 5 days a week, 9 to 5. sounds awful.

― tylerw, Saturday, 14 July 2012 19:57 (thirteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.