Working From Home

JF I am also (recently) 100% WFH and I am loving it

Chinaski, I am totally down with launching an artisanal metaphor store.

Metaphors from my working world that I am pretty tired of:

- "Big rocks" to mean "problems we need to solve"

- "The long pole in the tent" to mean "the thing we need to figure out before anything else can get figured out"

- "Shark in the water" to mean "unsolved problem"

- There's another one that I sometimes hear that's like "the wolf that's closest to the wagon" that means "the most urgent problem we have right now."

This business-speak is interesting because it's all about a fantasy of wilderness survival (which makes exactly zero sense for suburban IT workers). It's a little bit better than war or sports metaphors, but not by much.

In my ideal world, businesspeople would have a wider range and could draw from less macho realms. Like, "this reminds me of the My Little Pony episode where Twilight Sparkle needed to use the power of friendship." "Folks, we need to have a solution meeting about this - let's go into the Barbie Dreamhouse conference room."

Just once I'd like to hear "I think this executive summary needs more smize." Or "can this proposal get more pizazz?"

THE MERCHANDISE IS PIZZLED

(sorry)

oh and: best of luck to our favorite protohuman, Neanderthal. hope things go well.

I used a Marie Kondo reference at work today.

lol, this budget item does not spark joy

"The long pole in the tent"

Jeez don't let me boss hear these, he loves a good 'everything looks like a nail' or whack-a-mole reference

I have found myself saying "heavy lift" multiple times over the past few weeks. I need to fucking stop with that.

i say "going forward" and "reach out" all the damn time now :|

lots of "check in" and "chat". less "circle back" and "touch base" though, thankfully.

i prefer faux-humble-folksy work lingo to sports metaphors

I prefer "heavy lift" to "big ask" fwiw

"big rocks" just makes me think of this dude i knew back on usenet who went by ICEKNIFE whose answer to everything was "KILL THEM WITH BIG ROCKS". even when there was no question. _particularly_ when there was no question.

I used not one but TWO simpsons gifs in a Teams discussion with my Big ticket mobile client today. But he replied with "uh oh spaghettios" so there's that.

We're going into the office tomorrow but its just a prop so we have an excuse to go out for lunch. We probably wont get any work done. People come and go in dribs and drabs. but the ping pong table's folded away and the PS4 looks sad and neglected. We downsized the giant espresso machine to a little nespresso pod thingy. The Sydney office are talking about selling of a whole floor.

Selling OFF a whole floor.
They'd not do that in my office, we dont even have a whole floor, but it is in a AAA building and must cost a lot. Uninterrupted views to the bay, the MCG etc etc.

yeah, they downsized us about 6 months in. and I've not been to the new place.

immediate area has also seen a splurge of new office building as is barely recognisable now.

cannot overstate this: verify contractually in the paperwork that your new job is remote and will remain so regardless of corporate changes.

isn't the big rocks thing a dumb metaphor about prioritizing work? it's not just problems to solve, it's recognizing which take prominence

now i've shown my ass and you know i've paid too much attention at work

I believe the point of a “big rock” is that it is hard to move.

you gotta make it into smaller rocks

one bite at a time

(sorry, that's elephants, not rocks)

alls i know is i ain't bitin no damn elephant

starting to feel similar burnout this week as discussed above, though truthfully it has nothing to do with the job (it's been fairly slow this week), more just life itself making me not want to do tasks of any kind.

i'm supposed to evaluate other instructors, which I hate as the process and form are flawed, and I'm just giving everybody good ratings just cos...why not. (helps that nobody's actually been bad, because I don't have the energy to deal w/ that).

The thing that helped me when I was burnt out from work was a month of leave

― G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Monday, March 6, 2023 4:54 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

That sounds really nice right now. However, in what must be peak 21st-century American problems, I can't bring myself to use my accumulated leave. What if I then have a health and/or family emergency? (Besides, I'm supposed to be saving money in the hopes that I will be able to buy real estate, maybe next year, if prices drop instead of continuing to climb?)

My current job is probably not as bad as it feels right now (depression goggles FTL); I'm mostly bored because so little work is coming in right now. The team leads have been giving us practice project and mine is starting to lean on me about turning in my current one.

Some days I think I might be ready to go back to an office. (I'm definitely sick of having my mother's cats around all the time.)

I'm currently weighing two hybrid offers: one that wants one day a week in the office - a 25-minute commute.

The other is a longer commute (40 or 45 min) and 2-3 days in the office, but they were cool with reduced in-office hours on those days, like 10 to 3.

Going with the first one, obv., because I hate commuting. But it is interesting that market conditions are such that now is a good time to ask for what you want.

i realized this morning that I dislike imposed structure on my time, which is why I am a combination of self-employed and have a few part-time jobs with very flexible schedules. I can set my own schedule, decide what I want to work on when (except for the meetings and the things that have to be done during government/bank hours) ... I have a lot of freedom. But it also sometimes leads to this feeling of being overwhelmed when there are a lot of things to do ... and sometimes I don't feel like doing anything ... and working from home, I can sit and play Grandmaster Level Solitaire in bed for hours ...

that's 3 years now since they sent us all home. i've not been back. (actually, i did have to go in and clear out my locker)

I think it was closer to St. Patricks Day for me... I've been back twice. Once for a team meeting last June, and once for a retirement lunch thing in the fall

I can't bring myself to use my accumulated leave. What if I then have a health and/or family emergency?

It makes me really angrysad that americans even have to think like this. Sick/carer leave should be a seperate thing to holiday time! It is for us. No one should ever have to make sacrifices in the name of their health.

i am thankful that my company does indeed separate the two. PTO doesn't carry over year to year, but sick time does (up to a cap)

just got approved to screen for the new position and have to fill out the screener doc. just informed my boss (who's on PTO anyway).

i am going to ask a loooooooot of questions though because I don't want to walk into something I don't understand, though usually if you get one of these jobs, they dangle a big raise at you to accept, which would be hard to decline if I was offered the job.

shall see!

Good luck! Hope it's ideal!

good luck neando!

Working at a coffee shop today (Peets) because my power is still out from yesterday's winds.. I don't think I've ever done this before

It's ergonomically awful to do actual work, most people around me seem to just be staring at their screens

not the easiest, often due to spotty wifi, and noise/distractions.

I used to work out of a local Panera, would go there for lunch and stay the rest of the day, lol

Had to go into the office today to have my malfunctioning laptop looked at by IT. First time since June of 2020. Three coworkers on an office floor designed for hundreds. Dark and eerily quiet.

Took a stroll around downtown to see what restaurants and shops have closed and which remain. There was actually a bit more life than I was expecting.

what city is that, out of curiosity?

Minneapolis

I took a walk around the office neighborhood awhile back (SF SOMA) and it was pretty desolate.. a lot of small deli's etc. were gone, while most of bigger taprooms and sit-down restaurants have managed to survive.. but not much foot traffic

The WiFi at this place is pretty solid, faster than what I have at home... but yeah, I won't be coming down here again anytime soon

There was actually a bit more life than I was expecting.
...
what city is that, out of curiosity?
...
Minneapolis

Torn between a joke based on "life is just a party and parties weren't meant to last" and something more like "electric word, life, it means forever."

Sadly the Starfish and Coffee Deli has closed.

bring your own lampshade, somewhere there's a party, and parties weren't meant to last

Last time I was in Melbourne CBD (last week) I was suprised how crammed and lively it's returned to. Over the last 2 years the place had been a ghost town - our city relies (too) heavily on SEAsian students, who couldnt study here til this year due to the border closures. And everyone else WFH.

They're all back now. In fact things have become a clusterfuck because theres now a housing shortage/COL/rents have skyrocketed but thats for another thread.

Today is the third anniversary of me and my coworkers being sent home. We have since been snapped up by a different contractor, under a 100% remote contract, but sometimes I'm ready to go back to an office at least part-time.

The company I work for was aquired by another larger company in March 2020, it was announced to us on the Monday of the week where covid really started in North America (NBA shutdown, Tom Hanks, etc.). On Thursday I knew I would work from home on Friday because schools had announced they would be closed. When leaving the office, I jokingly said to my coworker who works next to me "Well, goodbye, I guess this is the last time any of us are ever coming to the office". That joke ended up true (our offices were closed permanently during the pandemic by our new parent company to cut costs). I've worked from home ever since. I miss some of the aspects of a communal office, but I definitely wouldn't go back.

PG&E sends out monthly "energy efficiency" letters about how your "home" compares to other homes with enlightening infographics and visual signifiers of positive and negative reinforcement of energy efficiency that look like they are geared to kids ... these end up being "energy shaming" to me because I work from home and have the heater on when it's cold, and have an AC unit in my home office that I run when it's hot ... I wonder if they will adjust their measurements to reflect more people actually being at home all day... idk.

haha i've installed a 4-unit mini split system and an EV charger in the last 18 months and let me tell you the usage graph is not happy with me!

kinda curious about the unhappy infographics where you are!

Still think it's wild that companies are now saving on office space while shunting the cost of heating, AC, internet and office furniture onto their employees