Working from Home Sucks!

Did I really say that? Yeah…I did. Don’t get me wrong. I love working from home; it suits my lifestyle and I wouldn’t give it up to go back to an office. But it’s not all fun and games; and it’s not easy. There are things about working from home that, frankly, do suck. So here is a partial list of those things I hate most about my home office: 

No IT Department. When my computer gives me a hard time, there’s no one to take care of it but me. I’m not at all computer literate, so I spend loads of time fretting, doing the wrong things to fix it, and finally biting the bullet and paying someone to get me back working. 

No Mail Room. I can’t just drop something in the outgoing box and wait for someone from the mail room to pick it up, put the postage on it, and send it on its way. Instead, I have to package it up myself, get in the car, and drive to the post office, UPS, or Federal Express. Then I need to stand in that godawful line to finally have it weighed and pay the postage. It’s unbelievable how much time this takes out of my day. 

No face-to-face meetings. While it’s nice to sit at home (sometimes in jammies) and attend meetings by phone, conference calls are like root canals. You know there’s someone in there drilling away, but you can’t see the damage. In my case, I’m on the phone with a room full of people; I can recognize some voices but not all. I can hear some voices, and others are so faint I have to strain to try to catch a few words here and there to piece their comments together. And without the benefit of seeing body language, I never quite know when I should talk or keep quiet. To make matters worse, every now and then there’s a sound delay or I can hear myself in an echo. Very unnerving and not the best way to present yourself. 

No endless supply cabinet. When I run out of something it entails getting in the car and driving to the nearest office supply store. No more heading to the office supply cabinet and grabbing what I need. This is especially frustrating when I run out of ink for my printer–usually when I’m in a rush. 

No creative team. There’s no one available to bounce an idea off of on the spur of the moment. Creative collaboration becomes an effort. 

No co-workers. When you work from home you often miss out on things that are shared in the hallways and at impromptu gatherings, and you must make a special effort to keep business relationships at the forefront. 

Again, no co-workers. When something wonderful happens, or something frustrating happens, there’s no one to share it with. No one to pat you on the back, to pick you up when you just want to throw up your hands, to laugh with you when something funny takes place. 

No escape. You’re the one who always gets stuck emptying the trash, filling the paper tray on the printer, replacing the toilet paper roll. 

No separation from home. When the house is a mess, the laundry piles up, errands need running…you’re home anyway so naturally the rest of the family expects you to do it and doesn’t understand why it didn’t get done. 

Those are just a few of the things that drive me crazy about working from home. What bugs you about having a home office?