Work from Home Vs. Working on site

I have decided to become a work from home customer service agent after the incident I had at work that made me unable to perform my job duties as a surgical technologist. If you are anything like me, you are probably thinking what a trade. Driving to work and sitting in traffic everyday opposed to the commute I will have to the office every morning. You don’t have to wake up early to get to work and you are saving all that money on gas. The only traffic congestion I might get in would be on the stairs on my journey to the first floor. You think about how I won’t need to deal with a boss all day and someone watching over you or the politics of an office job. Also, you will be home so if your children need you, you are right there to help them and you don’t need to pay for childcare. I thought all these things as well but let me tell you the reality of it.

Let’s start with the commute, yes, I do save on gas and that is a huge plus in these times. The commute would be great if it wasn’t for the fact that my husband now thinks that since I am home, I can do all the household chores by myself. He used to feed the cats and dogs in the morning and let them out. Now, as soon as I get out of bed the dogs and cats are following me around like they haven’t been fed in years. So, getting to sleep in is not the case. I have to wake up at the same time I did when I worked outside the home so that I can get all the chores done before I start my work. The traffic on the stairs on my way to the office is dangerous with all the animals so far up my ass I can’t even see my feet when i am taking a step, so let’s just say the commute can be a little crazy. Then throughout the day my breaks consist of letting the dogs out and making sure the house is still in one piece and the kids are fine. Also, making breakfast or lunch for them.

Moving on to the working by myself issue. depending on who you work for you may never hear from you direct boss but there is always someone watching over you. They are listening in on your calls and timing you to make sure you hit certain marks and if you don’t, you better believe you will hear from a supervisor. Some think you can just sit in bed and work on your computer, and I am sure with some jobs you can, but I have not found one. The job I have is easier with two monitors and that means I am at a desk all day. When you come from a job where you can potentially be standing in one spot for 12 hours or running your ass off for 12 hours, sitting all day at first is torture.

Nevertheless, let’s move on to the big and final difference between working from home and working outside the home, this is the children. Yes, the children, first let me just say I love being with my children but there has to be some separation. What is that they say? Absence makes the heart grow fonder and staying makes you want to wonder; I added the last part in lol. I am never away from them now and when I am working, I am still mom, so I have to wear both hats on at the same time and believe me it gets exhausting. When my shift is over, I just want to go to sleep. You can’t call off because you need to stay home with your sick child. The company wants you in a secluded quiet place away from everyone. That is hard to accomplish with 3 kids and all their friends (since my house is the cool house) and your office is right off the living room. It is summer and I don’t think it’s fair to make them stay quiet all day, so I moved the computer to a little spot between the wall and my dresser in my bedroom. This makes the day so much harder. I am stuck in my very cramped room all day and the dogs have to be where I am, so the big black lab pushes herself back and forth past me getting to her bed and the door, she is worse than the kids when it comes to sitting still. Now i know that my kids know I am working but they will come up to room and ask me some crazy off the wall questions. Yesterday my youngest comes in the room to tell me he was air pod covers and then stays in the room and gets on my laptop to find the ones he wants and has to show me he put them in the Amazon cart, really, we had to do that just then, this couldn’t have waited till my lunch or after work. My oldest calls me and asks me to pick him up from his friend’s house down the street because it is raining, and he was hungry, and they didn’t have anything he likes there. Being me, I went and got him on my break so again no time for me to relax and take a couple minutes to myself.

In conclusion, I took this job out of necessity, but I would much rather GO to work it is way less stressful because all you have to do is concentrate on your job. Working from home with kids is a totally different ball game. Yes, the cafeteria is way better and you always get to eat whatever you want the prices are better for sure. I can honestly say that the people that have been working from home with children are amazing people! They are hard workers with a lot of skill and patients. Give me a trauma room in the OR any day over this, because this is the hardest job I have ever had, and my husband looks at me like I’m crazy because I say I had a hard day. He says, “you work from home Hunny, how hard can it be”, well dear let me tell you……