Ooh. I get to leave.... 50 minutes early....

Whoo?

It's back up to 78 here and sunny. I so do not want to spend the next 1 hour and 50 minutes staring at this non-ringing help desk phone.

Who here telecommutes? Ever, or occasionally, or regularly? Is anyone living the dream?

Scott's job is moving out of state (but only about 40 miles away) effective Monday. He just got a brand new laptop and connects to the company's network. However the laptop is configured--it's exactly like his work PC, so it's better than when he was working from home, using our regular PC. His plan after he's settled in from the move, is to telecommute twice a week. He has worked from home occasionally. If there is a meeting, he can connect via an audio-bridge. One of his co-workers almost always telecommutes.

I have a part-time telecommute job right now but I don't think it's applicable to your situation. However, I have a friend who's a UNIX sysadmin for juliana's employer and she telecommutes maybe like 50% of the time. At my old employer (a computer book publisher), editors and others telecommuted a decent amount. We had people who'd gotten the sweet deal of being hired wherever they were. So they were the company's only employee in, say, Buffalo. They had to fly out to headquarters a couple times a year, but most of their work was done via telecommuting, email and conference calls.

Mutant Human Species Imminent

Or so warns this December, 1953 Mechanix Illustrated article ” How Nuclear Radiation Can Change Our Race” with nice opening spread illustrated by the late comic artist Kurt Schaffenberger.
An atomic war could produce an entirely new species of man. Would he be friend - or foe?

“Now hear this Earth! I am Mutant Man, Homo Superior! I have been created by radiation forces out of the loins of you, the human race, after your great terrible Atom War. Yes, I am a step up and beyond you, and I am now your master for better or worse. You created me in your blind, savage, senseless war of atomic radiation. You have only yourselves to blame if I turn out to be your — Frankenstein Monster!”

Will this voice someday thunder ominously over the World from a Mutant Man, not a human being, but as far beyond us as we are beyond the ape man? Will a new race, spawned out of the hellish radiation of a World-Wide Atomic War, go on to challenge Man’s supremacy on Earth?

The comic-book style pictures are awesome!

Who here telecommutes? Ever, or occasionally, or regularly? Is anyone living the dream?

My husband does, kinda, if the dream includes doing laundry, taking his mom to the hospital, and painting the kitchen between emails and remote logins.

I only live 5 minutes from work and it just doesn't seem worth the hassle

WWN¹! Okay, maybe not so much. Or not so much with the putting it on a form for permission to work from home.

Cindy, what does Scott do?

¹: Working While Naked

I think official policy here is up to 3 days a week, but managers have some control within that (can turn down requests, etc.) Some let people get away with a lot more than that, but it has to be done carefully, else someone gets pissy and tattles. I technically could, but that would mean messing with my computer and all this other shit, and no.

We have a few out of state contractors (mainly people who moved that we cannot afford to lose) who are just required to come in once a month (I think it's technically 1 week for every 5 offsite, travel paid for.) They *just* set up a new status of part time, 100% telecommuting, non visiting, full benefits temp employee (it's really confusing...unlike contractors, has a set end date and a minimum and maximum number of hours allowed to retain that status) for my friend because they absolutely need her through the summer, and yet her moving was unstoppable. They actually hope to use this more frequently when they have projects with a set completion and they really can't lose the person.

He's in IT, ita. He's a network engineer. He's had a bazillion titles since he took the job, and I'm quite sure that's not his title now, but that's essentially what he does.

Spidra, that sounds amazing.

if the dream includes doing laundry, taking his mom to the hospital, and painting the kitchen between emails and remote logins.

It does, actually. Since these are things that need to be done anyway, right? He's not having to take time off, or lose as much sleep as he might otherwise, to get them done.

I'd love to work from home once a week. I'm disappointed that we haven't gotten to the place where location is more transparent.

I can't bitch too hard--when the migraines were really bad I worked from home about once a week, and even worked from the ER. But those are emergency, cannot come in days. I mean, just regularly.

Spidra, that sounds amazing.

Yup. Wish I could get a gig like that. It would have to be something I'm motivated to do, though. I'm having trouble racking up enough hours in my current part-time telecommute gig because it's stuff that's demanding *and* boring. So I've found it really hard to be disciplined about putting in the hours.

I'm sorry your employer isn't cutting you slack on that. I don't know how you migraine-sufferers do it. Really, I don't. And I think it sounds like a debilitating enough condition that telecommuting should be part of ADA accommodation.