As you know, I really like working from home — most of the time. This week, though there have been some very specific challenges:
- Looooong conference calls where I dare not skip to the loo (even with the blessed MUTE button) because I’m afraid I’ll be called on to participate.
- In said looooong conference calls, everyone talks at once. Excruciating. Particularly with the 52 hour headache I enjoyed this week.
- Also in said conference calls (and I love this one) people sitting nearest the conference call device decide to have a whispery side conversation TOTALLY distracting from the person whose turn it is to be addressing the room. Oy.
- Once again — in conference calls. Wrappers. Or paper shuffling. Or oragami. What are you DOING with the PAPERS?
- I was sick this week (see 52 hour headache) and seriously, how do you take a sick day when you work at home? I have done it before — not very well I might add, since I’m addicted to the Internet and all — but anytime I’m sick I just work anyway. Maybe I’m not dressed nicely and don’t have makeup on, maybe I’m not at my desk, rather snuggled with my laptop on the couch, but I work. I have five sick days remaining, untaken, for the year.
- It was my turn to share on the conference call and I GOT CUT OFF. For the third time during the call. Buzzkill.
- I am pretty excited about a new tool I developed and it was time to share it with the rest of the staff. I couldn’t see their faces and it was at the end of a very looooong meeting so the reaction, on my end of the phone sounded like, “Meh.” That was a big ego booster. (Thankfully I received two VERY encouraging e-mails from colleagues afterwards which lifted my spirits immensely.)
- Faxes. I freaking hate faxes. My office line and my fax line are one so I have to be present to receive a fax. As a result, several days (over some vacation time and a weekend) went by before an “urgent” fax could be sent and when it arrived? Crap. Utter crap. Photos in the content that were giant black squares. Terrible quality newsprint that didn’t transmit well and was illegible. And what did the cover note say? “Let me know if you would prefer the URLs for these stories.” OMG — are you kidding me?
Sorry. Had to rant. Feel much better now. It’s been a rough week. Onward!
Hey but at least you’re doing those conference calls at HOME and not sitting in the office at a desk where you don’t even have the option to skip to the loo because the loo is freaking 1 minute walk away. And not to mention, how much you save on gas money because you don’t have to commute. But, working from home means you’re never truly “turned off.” And you don’t really get sick days. It’s hard to separate work and home. Still, I would gladly trade you places any day.
I can only imagine how brutal yesterday was for you— I was actually in the room and was overwhelmed with the amount of info! : ) And I’m totally walking my parents through the workshop when they are here next week!!
ugh. Conference calls are truly awful, enough to start a 52-hour headache if you don’t already have one.
so far as the fax, try efax. I use it, and it’s great (and free if you don’t receive a lot of faxes). Not only do I not have to babysit the dumb thing, I can check it from anywhere because it goes to my email.
Bummer — I can’t do efax here. Apparently my ZIP code isn’t cool enough, yet.
Totally agree with efax suggestion from Lisa, that’s what I came here to comment. Don’t worry about Zip code, that is just to get a local phone number. That shouldn’t matter, right? (use a St Louis number anyway if/since most of your faxes come from here…)
Second, even if you work from home, you HAVE to take a sick day when you’re sick. Not doing so is detrimental to your health and it’s a rookie work-from-home mistake (I know, I did it for the first couple years). Don’t fall into the trap! :0)
Third, my kids say “buzzkill” — you crack me up.