Working From Home. Torture

[Woodrow Wilson]

Yes, I'm know that I'm lucky to have a fairly well-paying job, to be healthy and all that.

6 months in, working from home, doing a job I am unsuited to, don't enjoy and I was already bored with at the office -but at least I got to see people.

It's fking tedious.

No obvious way out that doesn't involve poverty.

I backed the wrong horse when I made education and career choices 25 years ago, but changing direction seems virtually impossible at the moment.

Ho-hum.

[Woodrow Wilson]

Gameface said:

Well paid and working from home while hundreds of thousands will be losing their jobs.

You won't be getting much sympathy.

I acknowleged that in the first line.

I'm not looking for sympathy, just fed up of an unsatisfactory/under-achieving 20+ years of clock watching and the past 6 months of working at home.

[Woodrow Wilson]

Moominho said:

I understand this. I am in a similar position. I now get a lie in, and I'm saving around 800 a month on commuting and coffee/snacks etc. But I loathe it.

The work, the isolation or both?

[Woodrow Wilson]

scottri said:

I can't help with the stty job (I don't even have one and its turning out to take longer than i thought to get one) but i have worked from home for about the last 10 years. Take advantage of it, its easy to just sit there all day and complain it's crap (its really not!) Go for a walk before work, have a bike ride at lunch time, go for a pub lunch with a mate, sit in the garden and BBQ something good for lunch. Call people/friends at work just to have a 'catch up' - not all the calls/meetings need boring agendas. Get boring stuff done like food shopping during your lunch etc. Free up time on a night to do something you enjoy.

Seems to me that many people new to WFH are taking it to literally and like it's lock down again. If you know other people working remotely go and work along side them? Book a week in a holiday rental and go check out the area outside of working hours. Portugal has the same time zone as we do... Go for a decent coffee/lunch at a independent local and spend some of the money you are probably saving.

Cheers.

Pre-work time, I do some chores, feed the kids and supervise them getting ready for school (at least they are not still being "home-schooled"!), I do quite miss my cycle commute. I do some sort of physical activity at lunchtimes -I would have gone insane if I hadn't.

Nipping off to Portugal sounds good, but isn't really an option. My wife might object.

Working alongside somebody else isn't really an option either if I am to stick to the local Covid-19 rules.

The lack of work satisfaction -with no obvious option to change that- is the irritating thing.

[Woodrow Wilson]

Xenoous said:

I wish I moved into the Police force in my early twenties, but I followed the IT route, because it's what I'm good at. Now I have a mortgage, and a certain lifestyle, I'd find it hard to jump into something that would pay less than half when starting out.

Funnily enough, I have thought exactly the same thing myself, but at the time I felt that I needed to do something that made more use of my technical education (that I hadn't enjoyed....). I'm certain that I would have been a far better Police officer and would probably have had more opportunities to find a niche for myself.

[Woodrow Wilson]

scottri said:

Ah right i see, maybe add a bike ride at the end of the day then. Or brush up your CV and linkedin profile a bit and see if there is anything else to move it to? Join me and the hundreds of people applying for jobs and you will deffo be more thankful for what you have Lots of remote hiring happening right now so you might even get to do a interview in your lunch break.

Yes, I do try to get in two forms of activity/exercise a day. I've maintained my fitness and weight during the past 6 months.

Brushing up the CV in order to find a different employer, but still sitting here and doing the same things, has no appeal at all.

Having no job would be much more worrying, though, of course.

Edited by Woodrow Wilson on Tuesday 22 September 11:19

[Woodrow Wilson]

Xenoous said:

I don't think I could take the financial hit on moving into something else.

I wouldn't want to make my family poor with no likelihood of ever returning to the (reasonable, not wealthy) level we are at now.

Xenoous said:

It's almost nice in a way to hear about people in similar situations. I hope everyone gets through this crap time, and things start looking up. One of the first things I'll be doing is move job into something a little more technical. I wouldn't mind going down the AWS path. Perhaps some certification is on the cards

People who enjoy or able to tolerate/feel satisfaction from their work don't understand what it is not to. I'm somebody who is naturally inquisitive, hands-on and not a recluse. My work is pretty much the oppoiste of that!

It's not just a case of telling yourself to "get a grip" and start enjoying it. I certainly would if I could.

[Woodrow Wilson]

mike74 said:

The workplace isn't a social club.

If someone's only issue with WFH is that they don't get to spend their time indulging in (or inflicting) banal small talk to their colleagues throughout the day then they need to deal with their issues of being overly needy and uncomfortable in their own company.

Cheers for that.

If you read what I wrote, I suggested that the contact with others made the already unsatisfactory job more tolerable.

Edited by Woodrow Wilson on Tuesday 22 September 11:42

[Woodrow Wilson]

Uggers said:

How much contact with others do you get whilst WFH?

At the moment, very little, other than online meetings during the week.

My wife currently works mostly from home (quite intensively, although does spend time talking to her staff), the kids are now back at school.

I do see some friends outdoors at weekends and very occasionally during the week.

A single person in a small apartment would have it much worse.

[Woodrow Wilson]

vulture1 said:

I love how the answers to working from home is st is to go for a bike ride go to the pub or go to Portugal. Basically don't do actual work. ..

If the work doesn't provide any intrinsic satisfaction, it's fair enough. I'd prefer to do something for work that didn't make me feel compelled to do and achieve things constantly outside of work hours.

kippertie said:

Many people "at work" exercise a lot as well, on the way to work, lunch, way-home, after etc etc It is too easy to become "lazy" when at home..

I'm one of those people who has always exercised and intend that to remain so. Lunchtime training is almost vital for me. It isn't seen as quite so acceptable to nip out for a bike ride 3-4 days per week at 7am and at 5pm, whilst working from home with a family, though.

[Woodrow Wilson]

rxe said:

I have utterly hated the last 6 months. Same job, but now I'm just sitting in front of a dull conference call, rather than interacting with people. I can't focus, I can't engage, its horrible.

Yes. I hear you and agree.


Complicated by the fact that I don't enjoy or get any satisfaction for my job, with no way out!

[Woodrow Wilson]

geeman237 said:

I'd like to break out and be self employed doing something involving classic cars; my passion, but it would be a big leap of faith in terms of income etc.

Yes.

Many people are able to derive enough satisfaction from their work, whatever that may be or how dull/repetitive/boring that may be -In some cases that repetition and order appears to be what satisifies them. For whatever reason, some people are not able to do this.
For example, although not sitting a desk all day, the thought of painting & decorating or tiling every day for decades fills me with horror.

Doing something more enjoyable, varied and changing direction once "established" seems a big risk, typically lacking in remuneration, and, at the moment, there appear to be even fewer options.

[Woodrow Wilson]

Hoofy said:

One trap we fall into is the match our outgoings to our income (or exceed it!!!). Can you pare back your outgoings? Do you need the family David Lloyd membership, the £1000 iPhone/£50pm contract, the £3000 annual holiday, the £50k PHP PH car, the £120pm broadband TV package, the 3 kids in private school etc?

That would be a deep trap, and many do fall into it.

We don't live like that, certainly not to those sorts of levels, other than maybe holidays over the course of a year (and my wife's home improvement ideas). I'd certainly need to be looking down the back of a lot of sofas (and not just my own) to find 3 sets of private school fees!

As others have said, I wouldn't want to be earning less than half of what I currently earn. It would bring about unnecessary hardship and money worries.

Edit: We are not talking a PH entry-level £150K salary + significant bonuses.

Edited by Woodrow Wilson on Wednesday 23 September 13:45

[Woodrow Wilson]

PCoulson said:

I'm in much of the same position.

Remind yourself of the positives:

Saving cash until this all blows over.
You don't have to listen Sharon in accounts talking about how amazing her holiday was or her new diet.
You can sit in your pants all day (be careful if doing Teams meetings).
No need to iron shirts.
You never miss a parcel delivery and you are on first name terms with the Amazon driver (be careful about your pants).
You don't have to share a toilet with Geoff from sales who pisses on the seat.
You are an eco warrior - deodorant is killing the planet.

All very good points

If only I'd chosen my home to be somewhere next to a mountain range....

[Woodrow Wilson]

lyonspride said:

Keep the job, use the money to do what you love in your spare time, and who knows, maybe it'll turn a profit......

My interests cost me money. I'm an outdoorsy, pseudo-gentleman, amateur jack of all trades (a poor man's polymath). Maybe had a major war broken out when I was younger I could have joined SOE or the LRDG?

lyonspride said:

The whole "career" thing is a lie, "find a job your passionate about" is a lie, most people will NEVER achieve this whilst working for someone else.

Possibly so, but many people do appear to be able to knuckle down and derive satisfaction from the most banal and tedious of tasks, including checking long lists of details or drawings. Not me.

[Woodrow Wilson]

TrackDays29 said:

I'd be happy to have a job. Lost mine back in March, ruined by Lockdown. No chance of work any time soon, and I am quite literally crawling the walls.

Really struggling with anxiety/depression at the moment, and I've noticed myself losing interest in the things I used to enjoy. Hate to admit that I might have to get some help.

All the best to anyone else feeling the same.

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you do find something soon.

[Woodrow Wilson]

Fishlegs said:

Or.... is now the best time ever for a change?

If you're working from home, have your costs reduced?

If they have reduced, can you afford to take a pay cut to go do something you enjoy without being too much out of pocket at the end of the month?

This is exactly what I've done, and it's great! Stuck in a management role for far too long, I'd lost all technical credibility on my CV. I'd have to take a big pay cut to get back on the tools. So... I did! No more MS Project. No more HR issues to deal with. No more bullst. I get to do what I love again, and I won't lose the roof over my head.

So, 4 weeks from now I'll have worked my notice and I'll be starting a brand new job. This horrible economic climate is either a threat or an opportunity, depending on what you make of it.

You have access to more jobs, because everyone is working from home, so it doesn't matter where you are. Search nationally.
You can take a pay cut to compensate for a change in role and the obvious lack of experience that comes with the new role.
You might not actually be much worse off if you don't have to pay for commuting/lunches/childcare or whatever applies to your own situation.

If you work in desk-based IT/engineering and the 1000s of other people looking don't get it first, you too could find another working from home job that you don't want.

[Woodrow Wilson]

85Carrera said:

Woodrow Wilson said:

I'm an outdoorsy, pseudo-gentleman, amateur jack of all trades (a poor man's polymath). Maybe had a major war broken out when I was younger I could have joined SOE or the LRDG.

If you’re half the pseudo-polymath you claim to be, you should have plenty of interests to occupy your time; if you’re not, bad luck. I’ve got a very tedious role at the moment on st money (well below my usual rate, but fortunately it looks like I can dump it soon for something both more interesting and more lucrative) but it’s that or nothing (for now) and I’ve got got lots of car and garden projects done, cycled and run loads and read a load of books, so I do the needful, then do what I want. I don’t lose time and money to commuting so what’s not to like?

As for joining the SOE, etc if you can’t hack a bit of working from home, I suspect you would have been more use in the Wrens than on the front line, but we can all dream, eh?

I do have plenty (too many?) of interests, physical and technical, that I juggle with family life. I'm certainly not somebody who sits around during my time off.

The working from home has combined with a job/career I've long disliked, but become stuck in. "work" has long been endured, but I work hard at my interests, just nothing that I could see as a future source of income.

"Torture" was a little hyperbolic and "a polymath....joining SOE" was a little tongue-in-cheek.

[Woodrow Wilson]

Dog Star said:

I started off going for a mountain bike ride before work or at lunchtime - it's mountain bike nirvana here. This was great with the beautiful sunny weather until the start of June, when "summer" started; here in Rossendale (Lancs) "summer" is a deluge, and it simply never stopped raining after that. It would require more motivation than I have to be able to get up and go for a mountain bike rain in the pouring rain and mud and 7am. So that was the end of that. Was nice while it lasted.

Running is a bit more practical and sustainable for daytime exercise. I quite like running in the rain (with a cap to keep it out of my eyes). No bike to lube (and maybe wash) afterwards either.

Working from home. Still tedious.....

[Woodrow Wilson]

Chicken_Satay said:

I'm severely bored now. Lots of stuff to be getting on with but I find that because I'm sat at home I easily get distracted/find myself too relaxed....

...I was planning to be back in the office last week but the new rules ended that hope

I'm really fed up with it. The job/work is tedious enough, from which I derive zero intrinsic satisfaction, without being confined to the house for months on end. When I can think of an alternative job (careers? My conclusion is that they are over-rated. You are very lucky if you find something that you enjoy or gain satisfaction from.) and there are jobs available, I will try hard to get one.

I've managed to arrange some days in the sparsely populated office, which will hopefully help a bit.

Edited by Woodrow Wilson on Tuesday 27th October 10:33