feedback for "Around the Clock"
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I think it's miraculous that you can pull it off ... the separation of the office is my sanity's primary ballast. But as you say its a huge techno-cultural trend that is only going to get larger. The one upside, as you say, is that kids are a crash course in efficiency.
posted by : chattydaddy on 9/10/2007 at 12:29 PM Flag For Abuse
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This is why I don't work from home even though I am allowed to. When it comes to baby-related work, physical presence is 90% of the law. If my wife can see me or knows I'm
Working from home is hard even when you don't have a kid. There are many more distractions at home than in an office (not to say the internet hasn't levelled that playing field somewhat). Even before we had a kid I knew that I wouldn't be good at working from home.
posted by : k1 on 9/10/2007 at 3:45 PM Flag For Abuse
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Perfect!
I am continually dealing with men and women who can't seem
to fathom why I'm so uptight about pinning down when I'll get an edited
manuscript back, or a travel itinerary.
The thing that drives me nuts is when they really could give this information, but just don't bother and don't see why it matters.
The crazy part is, I'm embarrassed to bring this stuff up,
like I'm somehow "letting my personal life" interfere with work.
You all know what I'm talking about: the office pool, the
wheel-spinning meetings, the CYA memos, the dozens of emails sent and received
to facilitate a single (pointless) two-minute conference call.
I feel ya! If my work is good and on time, it shouldn't matter. And this stuff just takes away from my ability to get my work done on time, too!
I am a freelance writer and I have a project director at one place that was great--but he left and the new guy wants to constantly schedule conference calls during the day. I was able to do my work before with no problem, so why are these necessary? They aren't. He just wants to control the situation and I guess does not understand why I just cannot put the baby in a playard or something while I wait for his pointless phone conference. I work at night because I am the primary caretaker for my baby during the day. If he wants to call at 10pm, fine, otherwise...I found a different contract and all they care about is the work.
posted by : Cali on 9/10/2007 at 5:21 PM Flag For Abuse
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From a Mommy who works from home.... Bravo! Thanks for this, Steve. Well said.
Indeed, what would happen if child-free employees had to take the baby home for a week and work from there? Hmmm. Sounds like a great novel.
Rachel
http://www.singlemomseeking.com
posted by : SingleMomSeeking on 9/10/2007 at 5:43 PM Flag For Abuse
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I totally and completely agree. I really don't like working from home and I think everyone who says how wonderful it is is lying! Thanks for being so honest.
posted by : selfmademom on 9/10/2007 at 7:10 PM Flag For Abuse
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On one hand, I do feel lucky that I do something for a living that can be done from home, so I can stay home with the kids, but trying to cram it all into naptimes and then finishing it up at night is really, really hard. I'm just trying to keep it together until they're both in school, and then it really will be an ideal situation because I'll have a lot more free hours to get my work done. But when someone hears what I do and says, "Oh, that's so niiiice..." in that patronizing way that implies that I just do a little work here and there to fill up my free time, I want to punch them in the face.
posted by : chyna823 on 9/10/2007 at 10:00 PM Flag For Abuse
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It's a classic case study of how wildly divergent perception and reality can be. Before I worked from home for a few years (and this was without a child!) it struck me as ideal. I pictured my mornings at home before work, sun streaming in the window, coffee, good music, focused work, reading the paper ... in practice it sabotages your experience of your home environment, or at least it did mine.
Restaurants are similar -- before you have worked as a waiter you think waiters enjoy the same pleasant ambiance the customers do; in fact its a radically different experience.
The economics are good though -- it's nice to be able to write off a portion of your living costs.
posted by : chattydaddy on 9/11/2007 at 10:06 AM Flag For Abuse
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"The bigger the office, the more time gets sucked into bureaucratic
wrangling, neurotic miscommunication, and good old proletarian
bullshitting. You all know what I'm talking about: the office pool, the
wheel-spinning meetings, the CYA memos, the dozens of emails sent and
received to facilitate a single (pointless) two-minute conference call."
This is exactly why I can't wait to leave my job and become one of you, the work-at-home freelancer. My daughter is now in daycare, which she loves, and so do I. I highly recommend it to you if you are struggling to find time to write.
posted by : zellmer on 9/11/2007 at 2:45 PM Flag For Abuse
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Well done, Steve!
As a stay-at-home mom and freelance writer, I'm with ya. My youngest just started kindergarten, and, wow, has my life changed. In fact, I wrote a column about it! And hit deadline!
posted by : EdgyMama on 9/11/2007 at 7:16 PM Flag For Abuse
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Very nice piece, thank you. As a grad student mom and not exactly an earner, but with as much work as anybody, I get regularly frustrated at the impossible goals I set for myself to try and finish a bazillion things during naps and in the evening. I also find myself pretty resentful on occasion because husband gets to go to an office and forget about home for 7-8 hours a day; I know he works very hard, but I envy the small stuff like lunch without baby (and with adults!), coffee break, etc. When people tell me that academic life is so perfect for raising a family, I want to slap them.
posted by : outdoormom on 9/12/2007 at 3:51 PM Flag For Abuse
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As my wife said to me the other day, rather wistfully, "Remember when I worked in an office? I had so much free time."
That's how I am when I'm at the office. I have a chance to catch up on email, drink 2 cups of coffee, chat with co-workers and still bust out all my work. When my husband gets home on days that I work at home, I'm still in my pajamas, and all I had to eat that day was a handful of croutons and a mug of cold coffee from yesterday's pot.
One day a week I work at the office and my husband works from home - on those days he starts calling and messaging me an hour before I leave, saying, "When are you coming home? We miss you and I need a nap!"
I can't imagine taking my daughter to day care, though. Mostly because there's no way we can afford it. So I wander through my days, feeling like a mediocre employee and a lousy mom, because the alternatives are worse.
posted by : hippygoth on 3/11/2008 at 12:50 PM Flag For Abuse
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We can definitely relate. Both my husband and I work from home, and though we're fortunate enough to have some family help, there are many days when we're "robbing Peter to pay Paul," as my husband says. Every minute that he's not working so I can be, he isn't making money. And vice versa. The flexibility is certainly a double-edged sword, and in many ways, the days I go in to the office for meetings feel like breaks.
posted by : TheRedQueen on 4/1/2009 at 2:30 PM Flag For Abuse
