Thursday, March 4, 2010

A note on telecommuting

On days that I telecommute (work from home), I am most definitely working. In fact, I always get more work done at home than I do in the office. Nevertheless, it is apparent that some view these days as less than working days.

Case in point, I arrived at work Wednesday morning to the following e-mail,

"This morning the fire alarm system triggered the fire suppression system in the data center, causing an immediate power shut down.
At this time, we are working with all of the emergency responders and the fire department to restore power to the data center.
We will provide an update when we have more information."

One of my supervisors advised me to go home, as I would be able to connect to the internet and my e-mail from there. I then advised my assistant to do the same.

But as I was leaving and saying my goodbyes, more than one person said, "See ya! Have a nice..."
I can only assume the words on their lips were "day off."

Such assumptions are incorrect and extremely infuriating. I can only describe those who believe that "working" has everything to do with location (sitting at a desk in a cubicle in a suite in a building) as ignorant and behind the times.

Seriously, I might get to wear my pajamas, work from my bed or with a dog under my feet, but that doesn't mean I'm not working!!! Not to mention that I'm doing my part to reduce my carbon footprint by driving less.

Maybe it would help if I started using my supervisor's terminology: teleWORKING.

2 comments:

Stephanie B. said...

Nahh, you know we're just sitting around eating fudge and watching The Price is Right (that show just isn't the same without Bob Barker!). I tease, I tease. I often feel the same way, I usually am hyper-responsive at home in the hopes that people in the office know that I'm truly working.

LA and BD said...

Oh, teleWORKING -- I like that one! Luckily at my office, it is not too big a deal if we work from home occassionally. I, like you, get way more done at home than I do in the office where I'm interrupted eleventy kajillion times a day. But I also like the social interaction at the office, so I don't think I could work from home full-time.