My Fellow Bloggers

Well, because I'm insatiably curious, and it hasn't yet killed me the way it would've had I been born a feline, I've made the mistake of searching "telecommuting," just to see what other bloggers have to say about it. Thus far, I have yet to find anyone else, besides me, pretending to devote an entire blog solely to the topic. I also have not found many positive pronouncements on the subject. However, I've found quite a few discouraging thoughts and remarks.

The number-one theme seems to be that, no, I'm not going to be able to separate work and home life, and that either one or the other is going to suffer (we'll see. Just try telling me I can't possibly do something. So, it's 8:00 p.m., and I'm sitting at the dinner table with my laptop on my lap, husband slashing his wrists for attention, dog drunk because I accidentally poured vodka not water into her bowl, I'm not really working, you know. Besides, I just have one more thing to finish). Another theme is that one has to be a very special kind of person in order to be able to telecommute successfully (this one does kind of worry me. Despite what my parents might tell you, I certainly don't qualify as a "very special kind of person"). Thirdly, no way can I successfully manage and "groom" others from off-site (they may be adults, but I guess they just can't be trusted to work if I'm not around). And did you know this? Every single little conversation that happens in an office, no matter how innocuous it may seem, is extraordinarily important. For some odd reason, I never knew that my career depended on all those discussions my colleagues and I used to have about our spouses'/partners' annoying habits, as well as our reviews of must-see movies, but they did!

I probably could have done without reading all these verifying testaments from those who have succombed to telecommuting problems, especially since all of them have already been conjured up by my runaway imagination, which is always vying for the running-away-the-fastest-and-farthest world record. For instance, I already know it isn't easy to manage people off-site, but then, when you consider that my former boss was in the office right next door to mine, that we still communicated mainly via email, and that I can't say I would have preferred to have been in meetings with him all day, I often wonder why I feel that way. I also know telecommuters can suffer from being out-of-touch with what's going on in the office. However, I've always been the sort of person who lived in her own little world and was the last to catch on to or to know much about what was going on around her anyway, so I'm still not so sure I'd have my finger on the pulse of office doings were I on-site. I'd still say the number-one problem for me is that I miss being around my colleagues. After all, I can't exactly complain to my office mate about my spouse's annoying habits when, for all intents and purposes, he's my office mate. Well, I could, but then I'd be forced to agree with all those who predict my home life is going to suffer now that I never leave it.

I do think, though, that someone ought to start writing some upbeat articles about telecommuting from home. I haven't been doing it long enough yet to feel I can possibly be an authority on the subject (although, I know. I'm not usually one to keep my mouth shut just because I'm not an authority on the subject. Still, I'd like to have a little more experience), so I'm hoping someone else will do so and post it somewhere that it appears prominently, so I can read it and be lifted from the depths of my curiosity-induced, "destined-to-be-a-failed-telecommuter" blues.