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.

[Drezza]

Be grateful for what you've got, many people are losing their jobs and would kill to have your situation.

[Gameface]

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

You won't be getting much sympathy.

[Moominho]

Woodrow Wilson said:

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.

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.

[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.

[scottri]

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.

[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?

[Xenoous]

I'm also lucky enough to be in a decent enough job, working from home on a rota (day in the office, day at home). I suppose if nothing else, right now I have a good job, and I feel genuinely lucky to not to be in the position thousands of others find themselves in. For the time being, suck it up and count yourself lucky. Perhaps when things pick up, move on to something else.

That being said, I find myself being bored a lot of the time. 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.

[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.

[toon10]

Woodrow Wilson said:

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.

You're in the same situation as me although I love working from home, I just don't love the job I'm doing. I've been in IT all my career and I get paid really well for what I do. I don't know anything else. I hate it. There's no satisfaction and I've no interest in what I do. I'd love to do a less skilled, less stressful job but I have another 15 years of work in me before I can retire and I need the money I make. Got a decent lump sitting in savings so I could survive for maybe 4 or 5 years without working but then what? Not enough to retire on that's for sure.

I'm not sure it's to do with the wrong career choice. Mine was right for years then a series of decisions and events ended up with me taking a role with far too much responsibility, far too little support and looking back, totally at odds with what I used to enjoy about IT. I managed to get out of that game but I've deskilled too much to get employed elsewhere and I'll never get my salary where I am doing anything else. It always makes me anxious when I see a job advert asking for so much (more than I can do now) then I see it's for £15k less than I'm on. I wouldn't even get that job now.

1st world problem and all that with so many people with a lot less in life and things getting worse right now but I feel you OP.

[Whatsmyname]

Drezza said:

Be grateful for what you've got, many people are losing their jobs and would kill to have your situation.

The equivalent of telling a suicidal depressive to “cheer up mate”

[scottri]

Woodrow Wilson said:

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.

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.

[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

[Xenoous]

Woodrow Wilson said:

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.

For me it was my anxiety that stopped me following what I wanted to do. Being a recluse and spending all of my life on World Of Warcraft really affected me mentally. I'm 31 now and thankfully that life has long since been put behind me, but due to being in IT for the last 8 years, I've built up a decent amount of knowledge that has enabled me to secure a semi decent job (in terms of security and pay). I don't think I could take the financial hit on moving into something else.

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

[Uggers]

How much contact with others do you get whilst WFH?

I work away long periods, and the time home it's basically the Mrs, my son and me for 4-6 weeks and then away again. Odd times I see a few mates for a beer but nothing much. Mrs WFH so she is around all the time.

I feel slightly guilty sometimes that I look forward to going away again and working with a bunch of people that isn't wife and child.

Never under estimate the power of proper human contact and interaction with people out of your immediate close circle.

[Bacon Is Proof]

Just jack it in if you don't like it.
If you can work from home your job probably isn't that important anyway.

Trollolololololololololololol.

[mike74]

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.

[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