Sitting around eating bonbons

I have come to conclusion over the last month or so that working from home is not all it’s cracked up to be, I find it exhausting. I know that part of that is because I’m still not 100% mentally as well as physically, but even so.  I'd be interested to hear others' experiences of working remotely.

Here is my take on how it works with my job:

In the office, as long as I am there within the four walls, I am officially At Work.

At home, I feel as though I’m not At Work when I step away from my computer for 10 minutes to make a cup of tea or get some air.

In the office, I just nip into the boss’s office to ask a question about something, discuss work issues with colleagues, read the yachting magazines if there is time, and have girlie chats in the kitchen over the kettle.

At home, everything comes by e-mail, or Skype chat, or a Skype call with the boss occasionally. No face to face interaction other than the odd time the boss suggests a meeting with me to talk about a list of various things. I suddenly find that I have been sitting in the same position for 2 hours, staring at the same computer screen.

In the office, the software works at lightning speed.

At home, the remote connection sometimes has to catch up with my typing (which drives me nuts), and seconds waiting for it to react feel like hours.

In the office, everyone knows you are there (or not).

At home, I wonder whether the people in head office realise that I am working as hard as I am, because I am Working From Home, and everyone knows what a doss that is, right?

Now before you all start lecturing me, I'm not saying I'm right; all I'm saying is that this is how I feel about it.

At around 4pm today, when I’d got to the point where I might actually cry if I got another e-mail, I called it a day. I should have stopped at 3pm, before I got to that point, but I hate leaving unread mails in my inbox... but I did, 20 of them; what a rebel.


Working from home? Pull the other one