How are people finding working from home? (Apologies if offensive)

[Dewt]

normal is never coming back

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Just scream at your toddler to shut the fuck up as you're on an important call.

I laughed

[Ferris]

Does it not make you uneasy though? Like you're going to end up sliding into the abyss, and never make the adjustment back into normal life?

My office is informal anyway, so I'm only dropping down one rung.

[Cloud]

Easily more productive.  Not having to answer the phone every 2 minutes and say "(my colleague is) not at his desk right now, you might want to try again in a bit.  No I don't know when he'll be back.  Yes he is on site, I just can't predict the exact movement and timings of someone who provides IT support.  No he doesn't have a mobile (that you can have, Mr. eager beaver chummy buddy pal pal salesman).  No I don't make decisions about purchasing IT equipment and contracts in his place.  Yes if you want to call again in an hour that's fine.  Thanks.  Bye." over and over again.  Not having said colleague talk on and on like Blathers out of Animal Crossing every time he presses a button and expecting undivided attention for it also helps!

Plus, maybe slightly overdoing it in the desire to prove that I'm actually working and not sat with an opposable digit up the old rectum all day and can actually be trusted to work from home.  Having to do a daily report of tasks completed feeds into that as well.  When actually at work they pretty much just trust us to get on with whatever, so naturally you have days when you slack a bit.

The main worry: might run out of things to do if I don't slow down and spread them out a bit!

[flotemysost]

I don't want to sound ungrateful, as I'm aware of how very hugely massively bigly fortunate I am to be able to work from home - fairly seamlessly in my case (I don't mean being naked. Not yet anyway) buuut I am struggling a bit.

My work have had a flexible policy for a while anyway, and lots of people were choosing to work from home one day a week already, but I generally choose not to - it's sort of nice now and then, but after a day or two I just feel drained and exhausted and need to get the fuck out of the house and be around people. I know I need to just grow up and get used to it, but at the moment I can barely focus on anything.

I feel like I'm being a really shit flatmate as well - the girl I live with works in retail, so she's not able to work at all (although she's still being paid, thankfully) and by the time I'm finished working, she's normally already had a day's worth of Netflix (in her room, because I'm Bogarting the kitchen table with my laptop) and has moved on to Skyping her family (who are in another time zone, so fair enough), while by the evening I'm sometimes feeling too tired to even muster up small talk - she's lovely but we're not especially close, although I'm trying to make an effort to plan stuff we can do together like online fitness classes, cooking, stalking the hot guy who lives across the road, etc.

Anyway, sorry, I know this isn't the 'Are you being a shit flatmate' thread. But that's one of the things that's stressing me out (trifling in the grand scheme of things, of course).

I'm enjoying seeing all the senior directors' bloody Farrow & Ball-coated fuckoff townhouse interiors on their company Zoom calls though. Half expecting to see a maid scuttle past in the background one of these days. We've started a Slack channel devoted to discussing them.

[peanutbutter]

I'm enjoying seeing all the senior directors' bloody Farrow & Ball-coated fuckoff townhouse interiors on their company Zoom calls though. Half expecting to see a maid scuttle past in the background one of these days. We've started a Slack channel devoted to discussing them.

Your employer has access to your slack chats if they want, I believe

[idunnosomename]

im doing bits of freelance from home but i wish i was waged to stare at the ceiling from my bed in a cannibal corpse t shirt

[Captain Crunch]

I'm enjoying seeing all the senior directors' bloody Farrow & Ball-coated fuckoff townhouse interiors on their company Zoom calls though. Half expecting to see a maid scuttle past in the background one of these days. We've started a Slack channel devoted to discussing them.

Ha ha, when I worked at a charity they made a big fuss of Yammer and it was the seniors who were most into it.  They would post pictures of their stupid kitchens (you thought Tony Bennett was bad) and stuff about how annoying it is when the au pair moves your shoes as they tidy up.  Nice to see next to the constant pleas for cash for the daft kids. 

[Alberon]

I'm technically working from home but because no one else is in work my job is basically nothing. I've just got to check the three emails that come in a day and do a 15 minute team video meeting on Teams twice a week.

I've got to go in to work on Monday for an hour or so and I'm actually looking forward to it. Me and the Mrs are really starting to climb the walls now.

[idunnosomename]

has anyone applied for dole since the lockdown? i think im gonna have to do it since so many of my avenues have died. at least they cant make me go in and talk to anyone

[bgmnts]

I swear to god if I don't get my hard earned long term dole because a million new people want it, i'm going to fucking flip!

[flotemysost]

Your employer has access to your slack chats if they want, I believe

Ha, thanks - that's probably not the most contentious thing that's been discussed on there over the years, so we're already screwed if senior management decide to unearth that litany of childishness. I expect they've got bigger things to worry about at the moment though.

(I genuinely don't want any of this to sound ungrateful or insensitive to those who can't work at all, or are having to leave the house to go to work, I'm very very very aware of how lucky I am - it's just a silly distraction.)

Ha ha, when I worked at a charity they made a big fuss of Yammer and it was the seniors who were most into it.  They would post pictures of their stupid kitchens (you thought Tony Bennett was bad) and stuff about how annoying it is when the au pair moves your shoes as they tidy up.  Nice to see next to the constant pleas for cash for the daft kids.

Yep. "We're actively dedicated to improving diversity and inclusion within the management tiers and we're implementing ways to OH LOOK AT MY GIGANTIC SURREY PILE*"

*Not that kind of video call. Although it's early days.

[touchingcloth]

Maybe you'd be one of those people[nb]weirdos[/nb] who benefit from those services where you match up with somebody else on a webcam and you both just work. Apparently helps other FREAKS like you who can't be alone

At work each team has an all day video conference which people can drop into as they want, there's a "kitchen" which is the same thing but open to all teams, and a half hour morning and afternoon coffee break video call. It works really well, and I say that as someone who was already a home worker before the pandemic whose colleagues were almost all based in an office. Would recommend.

[Dewt]

Okay but that is fucking retarded to be honest.

[non capisco]

Have any of you lot had the balls to be in the nuddy during work hours?

FUUUUUCK YEAH BRO. LOCKDOWN WITH YOUR COCK DOWN!

[touchingcloth]

Okay but that is fucking retarded to be honest.

It's fine. I don't think anyone has been sat in there all day, so to me so far it's felt like the five minutes of chatting shit you might have in a real office when grabbing yourself a coffee.

The House Party app my posted has been shanghaied into using by some of her friends is fucking regarded. When she dialled into one I heard her telling them it seemed like a peodo's grooming aid, and having since seen it it really does.

[Harpo Speaks]

Loving the commute, but can't fucking abide the staff.

[Cuntbeaks]

A piss stained dressing gown and an emerging mullet.

[Ferris]

FUUUUUCK YEAH BRO. LOCKDOWN WITH YOUR COCK DOWN!

I've been pushing the limit of calls/meetings for my own amusement. Done one from the bog today (muted to flush), did one from the shower, managed to change a shitty diaper during another.

I don't conform to your square notions around conference call boundaries.

[EOLAN]

Was getting stressed out in the office. Have  a bad habit of focusing in on the little noises people make and struggle to focus. Working from home (selfish as it is in these times) has been good for my mental health; with some slight improvement to my productivity.

[hamfist]

I have slowed right down, no longer sprinting all the time. I like this new pace for the moment. We're also doing some structured learning for our kids which means I now have a fixed finish time and have to go do something else, whereas in the past I would have been working late to keep the stupid pace up. I have to say, I like it. I like not driving 90 minutes each day too.

[Abnormal Palm]

Working from home today. Gonna turn off the camera on Zoom and sit on my exercise bike playing Animal Crossing on the Switch and occasionally mic in to mutter some platitudes like 'I hope you're keeping well' or 'look after yourself'. Borin but I like it.

[Inspector Norse]

We're (still!) not on lockdown or anything here but those who can work from home have been advised to do so, so I'm doing so.

Some days I have the house to myself, other days my girlfriend is here: she works in an advisory capacity with hospitals so is understandably out and about quite a bit. If she is here then one of us sits in the kitchen and the other at the desk upstairs, which works fine. I can hear her listening to a discussion panel or something now.

Generally the actual work is OK; I have trouble sitting with full focus at the best of times so tend to have my private laptop open on the side. I've burned through a couple of quick Football Manager seasons in the last week. And I can have my music on and take a proper break every hour or so instead of walking into the next room and getting asked something work-related.

Given the corona situation there's some uncertainty hanging over everything so quite a few things have been put on the backburner, meaning I need to scrabble around a little for things to do sometimes; I've been honest and told my bosses I'm happy to take whatever they can give me to do, because I'd rather feel like I'm doing something than wasting time, but they're in planning meetings 24/7 so don't have time to find extra stuff for me.

My job is normally pretty flexible in terms of location but with people being advised not to take public transport if they don't need to I miss being able to nip into the city or go out somewhere nice to get lunch or something. There's a couple of good bakeries within lunch-break walking distance of home but that's about it. Otherwise I do need to take the metro if I want to do anything, so it's about three weeks since I got out of the area which is the hard part.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I worked from home regularly even before this all started. Top tips:
Put your personal phone in another room (not simply out of reach/out of sight) so you don't look at it unless you need to
If you can do video chats rather than calls, do. It's easier to stay engaged and you won't start messing about doing something else if you know people can see you.
When you're not talking to anyone, put on music which you are already very familiar with. It will stop you getting bored but also won't be too distracting.
If you are feeling in any way horny, get all masturbation out of the way before the work day starts, and certainly do not start rogering yourself with a 14 inch Anal Intruder on the aforementioned video chat.

This is all good advice, particular the playing music thing. I can't listen to music all the time, I get ear fatigue, but my productivity is massively improved when I do. Also, resist the temptation to not get dressed/spend the day in your pajamas. I used to do that and slipped into real laziness, lack of hygiene, untidiness, etc. Try and set aside 15 mins per day for some sort of exercise routine too, for physical and mental wellness. It's also tempting to just work from bed, but again you'll probably be more productive at a desk, and won't struggle to get a proper night's sleep at the end of the day.