Your routine in these bullshit times

nemrac · 2021-01-10T00:01:27.216Z

Squandered · 2021-01-10T11:44:20.694Z

I think about this a lot - in an office if I had 30 mins between meetings I would basically just check my emails, make a tea, have a chat with a colleague. At home I feel like I need to do demonstrable work in that stupid 30 min gap instead. I’m also rarely away from my laptop over the whole lunch hour whereas in office I would have literally left the office so the whole place could have burnt down in an hour for all I cared. However I do get to nip off for 10 mins to put on a load of washing or something so it’s not like I’m fully chained to my chair, does that it even out? I’m not convinced.

Slicky · 2021-01-10T11:48:51.084Z

Something I have noticed is a grass is greener of other people’s routines. So I look at MrS who rolls out of bed, onto the sofa, to his desk and reverses that in the evening whereas I have to get up and ready and out and work, work to come home to him on the sofa where I left him.

Wondered about a poll.

I work from home and am jealous of those going ‘out’ to work
I work from home happily
I go out to work and am jealous of those WFH
I go out to work and am happy doing so
Something else

0 voters

Slicky · 2021-01-10T11:49:56.847Z

I am happy going out to work but wish the WFH members of the household would do more even some would be great of the housework whilst they are there

barleysugar · 2021-01-10T11:51:45.077Z

Yeah in the office we used to go out to buy lunch together and sometimes be meandering around for over an hour (boss included)

At home I go offline on Slack, make my lunch, then usually end up just carrying on doing work whilst eating it. Then I start getting antsy if I haven’t switched back to online after about 20 minutes ffs.

McGarnagle · 2021-01-10T11:54:14.093Z

For me it’s “I work from home happily but my team’s workload has doubled and we were already under massive resource strain so would be happy but actually just stressed all the time.”

colon_closed_bracket · 2021-01-10T11:54:59.338Z

Yes. And there’s less ‘dead’ time at home. Like, if I was attending a multi agency meeting, there’d be travel time, plus the time stood around in reception making conversation before you went in, plus the meetings themselves would be less focused. Whereas I’ll be in a meeting 1.30-2.30, then straight out into another one without a chance to think.

The other thing is that I was spending over two hours a day commuting. And rather than reclaiming that time for myself, most of it is spent working.

McGarnagle · 2021-01-10T11:57:07.354Z

colon_closed_bracket:

Whereas I’ll be in a meeting 1.30-2.30, then straight out into another one without a chance to think.

This, so much.

Don’t know about anyone else, but lunchtime meetings in the office were ok because people would bring their lunch into the room if necessary, but no-one eats on Teams. Seems much ruder somehow. So if I have meetings over lunchtime I might not get a chance to eat until 3 or something.

marckee · 2021-01-10T11:59:04.771Z

McGarnagle:

no-one eats on Teams. Seems much ruder somehow

I had someone eating a snack - UNMUTED! - on one of mine once.

frenchtoast · 2021-01-10T11:59:06.461Z

I don’t like being away from the hub of work is. Don’t really know what’s changed routine-wise but I’m waking up and finding there’s an extra 3/4 things a day to add on to the list of shit to get done in the morning. I’m knackered by 4 o’ clock. ONE WEEK TIL NOT HOLIBOBS

McGarnagle · 2021-01-10T11:59:51.584Z

If they were wearing a mic headset, then that’s a firing offence right there.

marckee · 2021-01-10T11:59:58.127Z

I’m much less productive working from home (hence the longer working hours), but I don’t miss the commute at all.

Slicky · 2021-01-10T12:22:52.507Z

I like my commute. It’s the only time I get entirely alone.

marckee · 2021-01-10T12:33:51.998Z

My commute was on the Central Line or a 40-minute cycle to work during the rush hour, so it was never relaxing and didn’t really allow me to decompress at all.

I’m entirely alone for all but 30 minutes of my waking hours, at the moment, so everything just blends into one long, 12 hour day sat at the computer.

Slicky · 2021-01-10T12:42:24.376Z

That’s really difficult. It’s very isolating…sometimes wonder what it would have been like 20odd years ago before all the online meetings, internet availability etc.

Impossible maybe.

Scagden · 2021-01-10T15:50:11.228Z

My head teacher called me into an emergency planning meeting in lockdown one at half six in the eve and I made a point of eating my entire bowl of tofu noodles the whole way through.

meowington · 2021-01-10T17:56:27.546Z

I actually think my commute enhanced my life a bit. It was 25 mins on a train where I could read or listen to a podcast and do cross stitch and then I’d always get a coffee and a little treat.

Probably massive rose tinted glasses though

frenchtoast · 2021-01-10T18:00:20.596Z

I’m with you I think. The journey was a nice bit of me time. Podcast on the way in, unwind on the trip home. Silly as it sounds, feels like I lost a bit of time just with my own thoughts and interacting with the outside world, cos I just do chores then sit down at the desk in the other room and crack on. But yeah huge red goggles on prob

barleysugar · 2021-01-10T18:00:53.472Z

I’ve definitely got rose tinted glasses on over it, because it was 4 fucking hours a day, but the one thing I slightly miss is that it put so much distance between going to bed and being in the office. Wfh means going to bed and then essentially being back in work as soon as I wake up.

colon_closed_bracket · 2021-01-10T19:34:16.856Z

Okay, so this might be a bit optimistic but:

Do you think there’s legs in a spin-off thread in which we try out tiny changes in our bullshit-times routines? And encourage each other and stuff?

Like, this week we’ve set a ‘lunch plan’ so that I know I’m having something different and nice for lunch every day. It’s a very small change but I’ll now have one extra thing to look forward to during the day.

Worth a punt? Fuck off, CCB? What do you think?