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homeplaceofthefuture daily log 4865
Oh LinkedIn…….there’s such a love/hate relationship there. The longer I have been virtual the more I seem to loathe LinkedIn, maybe this is a sign of getting old or comfortable in a position/field. Let’s dive into a few observations.
Whenever I have doubts about my career and winding up in the homeplaceofthefuture I turn to LinkedIn. The sheer amount of crazy people and gibberish coming from their posts helps confirm to me that I’ve made the right decision for now of staying home and focusing on doing good work in my uniform. Let us not forget to that crazy in look in their eyes on LinkedIn, are they staring into my soul??? Not yet, they’re just looking for your name badge!
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homeplaceofthefuture daily log 4862
Laying in bed sick as a dog last night I turned to my wife and said I think I'll stay home tomorrow. That rib breaking laughter was the best I felt in days, but it got me thinking that really there is no such thing as a sick day when you work from home. I thought I did all the right things to take a sick day, but the phone still rings, clients still leave voicemails and if you're dumb enough like me they all have your mobile number. It's so nice to be wanted for all the wrong reasons! In-between the phone calls and cleaning up the DVR my mind still wanders to the fury of emails coming to my work machines. I smell smoke....that computer is literally going to catch on fire if it gets one more URGENT***** email! Some people can just shut the door and ignore their home office when off the clock or sick -- after 4862 days give or take a few years I'm almost married to this desk, these walls and the feeling of having to be responsive even when I feel my worst. homeplaceofthefuture daily log 4855
In case you haven't heard it's a holiday week this week here in the USA. If you're overseas (not in the USA) I'm sure your American colleagues have let you know it's a holiday and told you all about their food plans. It's a time to give thanks and eat as much food as humanly possible...a trait that us Americans are known for - we don't take anything for granted and we eat like children every chance we get .......see my earlier posts about high cholesterol and the ever increasing waistline. Holiday weeks are some of my favorite weeks to work all year long. I know it's so anti-holiday, but hear me out. All year we fly the urgent flag, deal with hundreds of emails everyday and nonstop calls and if you're like me there is a pile of notes on my desk. Throughout the year you get glimpses of actually doing work uninterrupted and its glorious (as it relates to work) -- if there's one thing we can all agree on it is we all like to work with limited interruptions. This my friends is the holiday season and these next few weeks.....limited interruptions. Enjoy it and be vigilant because all life distractions (kids, spouse, online orders coming in, activities) are amplified during this time especially here in the homeplaceofthefuture. Also as an added bonus all your colleagues take vacation during this time and while it would be nice to be off too, it's much better to be off when work is busy and your colleagues are miserably busy. homeplaceofthefuture daily log 4848
In 4848 days of working from home give or take a few years I've experienced something today for the first time. It's cold here and my work from home uniform has been modified a tad to make up for my thermostat challenge. My normal black t'shirt has been replaced with a black hoodie. I'm not ashamed to say that I've worn this hoodie for 3 days now day & night with zero shower -- who needs to leave or clean themselves in the homeplaceofthefuture especially in winter? I was feeling a bit human today and decided to shower. Crazy I know, but when I took off my hoodie I saw a t'shirt that I completely forgot I put on underneath my hoodie 3 (maybe 4) days ago! I had a good laugh because I honestly don't remember putting on this particular t'shirt - just another day in the cold & now showered homeplaceofthefuture homeplaceofthefuture daily log 4841 There are many things that I would happily sneak out of the homeplaceofthefuture for in the middle of a working day......important events such as lunch, lunch and okay fine another lunch. Voting wouldn't make the list of top 100 things to leave the office for. I'd rather get my license plates renewed or pay someone else court fees in person in small claims court! Voting is terribly annoying with candidates and their cronies hanging out by the door wanting me to vote for XYZ as I'm walking in. It's rather inefficient and my polling location is a smelly, greasy gymnasium complete with ringworm (keep your hands in your pockets) Imagine my good fortune when I discovered the absentee ballot years ago! It's like being a mystery donor - who is this guy and why is he voting for the Independents in a Blue or Red area. Anyways go vote and enjoy the homeplaceofthefuture themed voting sticker!!!! 
homeplaceofthefuture daily log 4838
Walking into a room, random events or even someone else's house with yesterday's clothes on is just normal course of business here in the homeplaceofthefuture. Family & friends love to joke about how many black t'shirts I have....and we'll keep that a secret. The idea of uniform I thought was only funny in my inner circle. Imagine my good fortune yesterday when I walked into someone else's house with my uniform on and struck up a conversation with my kids friend's dad - come to find out he's a virtual employee too for a much larger and even global company. I always wondered why he was the only other male in the drop-off zone at our school! We had a good time commiserating about how organizations in this world do not know how to handle their virtual employees and the work from home lifestyle aka 'uniforms'
These are just a few of the things companies should be doing to build loyalty with their virtual workforce. Companies may save money by not having us sit in a stuffy office somewhere, but they should at least have programs/policies in place that encourage employees to get together occasionally and not when it's just to fly in and present to a client and leave. Face to face meetings on a regular basis to team build will in turn make us more productive. Imagine how many emails (here we go again...) and calls that could be avoided by a quarterly team meeting to talk about all issues and plan for the next quarter. Revolutionary thinking for some I know! That productivity could be channeled to actually doing work and not spending 6 hours out of 10 on the phone everyday....I'm just saying. I left his house encouraged that other virtual employees get it and look to better themselves and their companies as we navigate the future. homeplaceofthefuture daily log 4836
www.homeplaceofthefuture.com is open for business and by business right now I mean just fun commentary of the life of a virtual employee. Images and changes will be constant in the coming weeks, but when I'm not saving lives on the phone wearing yesterday's clothes, I'll be working on this 'movement'. |
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September 2020
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