Working From Home

obviously not a subscriber to the henny youngman school of gender studies

In my dream home (not yet a reality), the bathrooms and showers are outside and can't be reached without leaving the house

lol rush i did think that just as i hit "submit".. i guess that simplifies things

we had an earnings call and we had a fairly disastrous year, rumors of layoffs swirling.

pro: layoffs result in severance, get 2 weeks for each year of service (I have 19)
con: i am likely the highest salaried in my department (excluding the managers) - easy target
pro: i know how to do things nobody else does on this team
con: this company has proven nobody gives a shit about that
pro: i've survived every round of layoffs before
con: i've survived every round of layoffs before

office much nicer today with exactly 0 people in it. coffee still gak though.

it is just a coincidence that today is the last opportunity i will get to use the company bandwidth to download episodes of doctor who ahead of them turning off desktop downloads and me being on holiday for a week.

Neanderthal: that is almost exactly my position, right down to the years of service! Town Hall next Thu. I guess I would hear something before that.

Most teams now have "anchor days", where they're required to come on-site once a week. I'm not included in this requirement (in fact, no one has spoken to me about WFH/office policy in over a year). We've greatly reduced our physical office space (it started pre-covid) and now - for generic hot-desk set-ups - it's a single floor (100 capacity) in the western hub (industrial estate, Z4), and a single floor (65 capacity) in the central hub (old Victorian building, Z1). Canteen in former closed permanently spring 2020. If it's free food truck day, the place is packed. The Z1 office is generally pretty full, judging by the booking app. There are also activities in this business that can't be done (easily) remotely, and those teams have always been coming in (different wing of the Z4 office).

I choose to go the Z4 hub on quiet days, once every few weeks, and never to the Z1 hub. Better ambient lighting and temperature than I have at home, especially in winter. Monitor and chair lottery, however. Free coffee, tea, toast, etc. I feel like a bit of a ghost.

I think the return-to-office was much more keenly pursued in other locations.

(we were told, mike, that the industrial estate that we share(d) with you was being sold off and required a very expensive move somewhere else - all the climate controlled storage etc had to go. did that not affect you?)

((you probably saw the auction of a bazillion vinyl albums...))

I'm never there often enough to notice what happens at other units (it's pretty vast!) but, no, I don't think that closure affected us. That place was the only reason to want to come to that part of the world! I think I'd be pretty happy archiving that stuff for the rest of my working life, instead of doing... whatever it is I do.

I like to go out for lunch to break up the monotony of the day, work a little while out, then go home and finish the day.

today, I forgot somehow that I had a meeting at 1:30, and I only arrived at the McDonald's at 1:15. oh well, I'll attend it from here. this McDonald's is quiet, and it's a short meeting.

no sooner than the meeting starts, a very noisy pair sit very close to me and the barely audible muzak suddenly turns into a very loud Usher/Lil Jon "Yea"

lol....lesson learned.

The place I work for part-time is interested in increasing my hours starting in June; meanwhile, the place I work for "full-time" as a contractor is giving me additional responsibilities and there's talk of hiring me as a full-time employee. I really hope the part-time spot doesn't want me to go full-time as well; juggling both would probably start to feel like real work.

lol, it was a valiant effort Neando.

Going out for a walk at lunchtime and forgetting about that 1pm meeting is something I do a bit too often. Likely to happen a bit more often in the coming weeks with the spring weather.

I walk down to a park a few blocks from my house almost every day, usually stopping to buy a bottle of Guinness on the way.. rain or shine
Nice to get out of my place, even if just for a half-hour

I was inspired by my trip to Stockholm last summer, seeing people laying in the grass sunbathing: "what are theses people doing? don't they have work or school? Wait, I'm gonna start doing that too."

another monthly Face to Face day where everybody is meant to come into the office. but...

one is crying off with 'diarrhea since early morning' (thanks for that)

and the one who instigated these face 2 face days has just posted 'would love to have been there, but have to wait in for delivery'

elsewhere people are commuting in having moved away during lockdown, hours of train travel and literally £100 in one case.

the other two senior managers are a) travelling in after 11 after not feeling well this morning and b) on holiday today

but nigel HAS made it in from Penge. and a colleague who nobody has seen since in person since march 2020 is here.

after last time i booked a desk on the quiet side, away from the desk-eaters and the shouty people. nice view of white city, if such a thing is possible.

Going out for a walk at lunchtime and forgetting about that 1pm meeting is something I do a bit too often.

Having the dev scrum dailies right in the middle of my lunch break (it's not anyone else's 1:30pm) is a new intrusion into routine. Walking around the rec ground, earbuds in, trying to follow a screen-share on a phone.

Going in tomorrow: the Xmas gifts have arrived! Corporate-branded merch that the kids like. Ironically perhaps. In three years we've gone from: 200 'credits' to spend in our online store, shipped to yr house in Dec, to: choose two things only, it'll be three months before you get them, collect from the office.

The best thing about working from home (which I’ve done, for, gasp, 11 YEARS now) is the lunchtime walks in relatively mellow surroundings. Just essential for clearing my head. Every now and then the work day is too crazy or the weather sucks, but without the ability to do this I might lose it

Koogs, your description of your office is straight out of Barbara Pym's Late Quartet.

another in-office day on... Tuesday, the day after Easter holiday weekend. i can guarantee people haven't seen this in their calendars because nobody looks beyond the current week, especially if the week before is short.

(and last Monday all the mixer taps were out of order so no hot drinks (short of popping to starbucks))

Dear Andrew ****,

You have 1 assignment that is 1454 days overdue.

You must complete the following assignment(s):

- Executive Series: Securely Working From Home with Quiz

Lol

I am working from home tomorrow but cannot because kids are on Easter holiday and mother-in-law in staying and I will not be able to focus for one minute. So I need to go to a cafe or a pub, however though I live in a city (Cambridge) there are no cafes or pubs within half an hour's walk.

No point here, just thought I would have a whinge.

Coffe grounds and hard boiled eggs