“Escape Cubicle Nation!” “Quit your oppressive job and start doing what you love!” “Screw The Man and find your passion!” “Make a 6-figure income, in your dirty pajamas!”
If you’re in the Twitter or blogging community, you can’t miss these messages. Though you don’t have to be on Twitter or have a blog or even read blogs to be aware of the whole “work from home, not from work” movement. It’s everywhere.
Maybe a little too everywhere.
Of course, I’m all for people ditching sucky jobs so they can make money doing something that doesn’t suck. Let’s be specific, though: because “job” does not necessarily equal “suck.” Yes, it sucks when you’re doing something you hate, working with people you hate, or working in an environment you hate.
But not all office jobs are shitty. Some are really fun.
Sometimes even the shitty ones are at least partly fun. I once worked for a boss I hated so much, I had fantasies about slipping a dead fish into her office air conditioning duct. But working there was at least half a good time — because we all felt the same way. Common enemies are a blast.
And that’s one of several fun things you don’t get when you work by yourself.
I’m lucky enough to have a client company – a tv network – where they treat me like part of the team. So I have the best of both worlds:
- meetings to attend a few days each week in a place where I mingle with other humans;
- the option to get up at 9:30 on other days and stew in my own unshowered filth for hours while I work. (Don’t recommend it, but it’s nice that I can.)
I’m not biologically fit to be any place by ten more than once a week. Not a morning person. Or, when it’s cold, a leave-the-house person.
So I’m really fortunate to work from home most of the time. But when I do, there are things I miss about working from work. Like:
TEAM BITCHFESTS. Sitting around and going off on that one annoying, work-shirking, credit-stealing, compulsive-lying, talentless person on the team is one of the great joys of office life. In my home office, who is there to make fun of? Myself, sure. But I don’t like being the butt of the joke. The other choices are the drunk doorman or my next door neighbor, whose apartment smells of cabbage, moldy books, and decaying flesh. That’s good fodder, but then who is there to bitch about it with me besides the drunk doorman?
THE WATER COOLER.Tweeting about how over Balloon Boy you are or whether Lady Gaga is a hermaphrodite just isn’t the same as discussing them standing around the coffee pot, soda machine, or bathroom sinks.
SHARED BATHROOM. That doesn’t sound like something you’d miss, but when you look in your own bathroom mirror and say, “Oh my god, I look like death,” there’s no one else there to say, “It’s the light. It makes everyone look like death.” Nope, all you get is a telling silence — confirming that you do, in fact, look like death.
GROUP PROCRASTINATION. Misery doesn’t love company nearly as much as goofing off does. It’s so much better to be delinquent when you get other people involved. Sitting in someone’s office talking about “Jersey Shore” feels way more productive than eating Special K standing up in your kitchen. Trust me on this.
BRAINSTORMS. I feel like a user calling friends to help me come up with ideas. Wandering the office halls and bouncing ideas off of anyone I bump into, however, seems way less of an imposition. Especially if they’re just wandering the halls, too.
BIRTHDAY PARTIES. In the company I work for, these are actually just a pleasant memory from the 90s. Since the money disappeared, they’ve gone the way of big expense accounts and free plastic utensils. But I know some places still have cake when it’s someone’s birthday. At least they do at Dunder Mifflin, on “The Office.” We used to have cake and champagne! That was a license to linger around the office kitchen and not work for at least an hour.
NEW FRIENDS. Any friends I made after college are because of office jobs. And they’re some of the best friends I have. Bonds formed over that hateful boss 16 years ago have blossomed into something way greater — though we still reminisce over that bitch’s threat to cut summer Fridays. And over her too short, acid-washed “anniversary dress” from Strawberry that she wore on client calls at Saks, even though it didn’t zip all the way.
FREE OFFICE SUPPLIES. Duh.
Hey, if you hate your job and you hate office life and you want to start your own business, then by all means: get out of there.
But there’s nothing inherently wrong with working for The Man.
Especially if you like The Man, or the other people who work for The Man, or the thing The Man (or The Woman, or the Manimal) pays you to do.
I say: Don’t quit your day job. Unless you really hate your day job.
What do you say? Bet you have an opinion on office life. Comment below. The boss will be pleased.
I love that…”common enemies are a blast”
I love that…”common enemies are a blast”
I love that…”common enemies are a blast”
For the record, I am a friend you met after college and while we did technically meet in an office, it was through your friendship from a prior job which I believe took place in your boss’s apartment (as an aside, do you use the apostrophe “s” when the word is not plural but happens to end in an “s” — i always thought so but am usually corrected).
I considered that when writing this post. I thought, if I hadn’t had that office job (which was at her husband’s office), I wouldn’t have met Vic! So no, we didn’t work together, but it was because of work. Which is a compelling argument for office jobs.
Oh Laura. God I love ya!
I’ve had a myriad of jobs, but could totally relate.
One of my favorite things about being in “traditional” work place is being around people, like you said. I’ve made soo many great friends, often at the most randomass work “establishments.” I do love a good bitchfest. They can be loads of fun, as you so aptly put it. And I’ve always marveled at how, when you’re in a work environment, group procrastination can still FEEL like work! You def don’t feel as guilty as when you’re procrastinating all by your lonesome…
Killer stuff. Per usual. xxxo
Thanks, Catherine. Yeah, people are great. Even the ones who suck. Gotta have those, too.
xoL
it’s so great that The Man is paying me to peruse your blog!
catchy title, too.
Oh, I do wish The Man would pay me to write my blog. Think you could ask him?
Great post, as usual! Enjoyed the trip down memory lane.
Laura, I just made a huge scene laughing out loud in my office. Thank you! What a way to start the day. I think of boss X often now that I am a crazy, working mom. You are sworn to tell me if you ever see any similarities. J
Laura! This is the best ever twist to the “work from home” concept! I just started working from home and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it…but that’s mainly because I have worked in an office all of my adult life and this is new and fun to me. But
I can soooo see that after a year or so, I am going to REALLY miss those endless office supplies (seriously-I am an office supply whore) and the interactions of the people I love at work. Great reminder that all jobs don’t suck and if it’s working for you, don’t knock it! Keep ’em coming…I love everything you write 🙂
Thanks, Amy!
I also love working from home, and can’t see going back. Especially since I only had one real 9-5 job ever, and it was for 6 months 16 years ago. I’m just not equipped for it. But if I were a morning person, I’d totally consider working in an office.
Glad to have you here!
Jana!!
What a delight to have a comment from you.
We will always have B——y “Where’s the rest of that dress” H—- A—.
And, of course, memories of a certain gnome collector. Also priceless.
You couldn’t come close if you tried, even on Halloween. Though that would be a great costume. And cheap.
xo
Thanks, Adrienne.
Hey Laura…Hilarious! I think I was “The Man” up until a few weeks ago. I’m sure my staff loved me and never tallked smack about me! oh my…..maybe the did! Nah….. now I find myself working on the computer (comical) cooking at home (really comical) and talking continuously to my cats…whom I’m not sure if I really like! 🙂
I hope your cats aren’t talking shit about you. Better give them all a raise.
Haha… Laura, this post is really great! 😀
I completely agree that it doesn’t mean by starting your own business you’ll be happier…
The corporate world will change very soon as people are advancing and human evolution is happening now… 🙂
The new evolutionary corporate world will make working life much much interesting and joyful !
I really like the “simple” attire that you have… 😉
Hi Yin Li,
Whatever happens in the corporate world, there will always be great jobs and shitty jobs. Each with its merits.
awwwww. . . .
Aww, you made me feel nostalgic about bathroom sink talk, office parties with cake and goofing off en masse…by yourself it’s just goofing off…together it’s team-building! Oh, wait, I just remembered the commute I don’t have anymore…I’ll just relish in those memories and keep working from home!
No doubt the office is nostalgic for you! And I do not blame you for giving up the commute. I would have quit after day one of that shit. I can’t even fathom moving to Brooklyn, because then I couldn’t walk to the office on the one or two days a week. I don’t like being forced onto trains of any kind.
You make me laugh! I love working from home but the things I miss the most you summed up beautifully. I hate not having a “team” to bounce ideas off of or to laugh at stupid things with or colleagues to tell me when I’m being annoying. Instead I just continue to annoy myself. And, yeah, I love being able to stay in my pajamas, hell I have two kids and spend half the night awake so being able to have my “comfy” pants on is great but I always feel better when I’m showered and dressed in something a step up from PJ’s – like jeans and a t-shirt! Who am I kidding – those are my “going out” clothes 🙂
Even though having my own business is WAY harder than I ever imagined it to be, it beats my old soul sucking life depleting job any day.
Later.
Jen
Jen, I try to make a habit of showering and putting on jeans early in the day. But it takes real effort. Just having underwear on, even under my sweats, makes me feel super-professional.