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Working Hints for a New Telecommuter?

Posted by Cliff on from the worries-when-working-from-home dept.

McPierce asks: "This week I accepted an offer to work for a company in a different state (I'm located in NC, USA, and the company's located in NY,USA). As part of my employment, the company's going to give me a laptop, a PDA (Blackberry 6510) for email/development and will fly me to NY every 6-8 weeks for meetings. My question is to those who telecommute for a living and who have families at home. How do you do your work at home? Do you go out (bookstore/library/coffee shop) to get things done, or do you have a home office and boundaries setup with your family to keep them from distracting your during working hours? How about accepting phone calls from your employer? In my case, I'm concerned about getting calls outside of the normal business hours (8am-6pm) since the philosophy might be 'we'll call when we need to since you're working remotely'? Any ideas or suggestions?"

9 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. You lucky bastard! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Care to post the company's contact info so I can apply too?

  2. Only one way to do it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I've tried this before, and the only way to get it to work is to start off by killing every single member of your family.

  3. My experience by L.+VeGas · · Score: 3, Funny

    pros: You get to work in your underwear.

    cons: You have to go put on some underwear.

    --
    Best Windows Freeware
  4. Did it for a year by rubinson · · Score: 4, Funny

    In the year that I telecommuted, I learned:

    1. Turn off the speakers if you're playing Quake while on a conference call.
    2. Mute the volume and turn on subtitles if you're watching t.v. while on a conference call.
    3. Don't flush the toilet if you go to the bathroom while on a conference call.

    1. Re:Did it for a year by Ledge · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ha Ha, the toilet thing happened to me only a few weeks ago. I had one of those nasty stomach viruses that has stuff coming out both ends for the whole night before an early conference call. I ended up exploding in the midst of the call and got a good laugh from all others attending.

      --
      If it ain't a Model M, it's a piece of crap.
  5. Re:Moderation question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is there a [-1 Way more info than we needed to know] moderation?

  6. Speaking from experience as a telecommuter by phUnBalanced · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do not read slashdot.

  7. Re:Masturbate! by Joel+Rowbottom · · Score: 3, Funny
    My brother came up with the word "procrasturbation" - putting work off by having a wank.

    Possibly unacceptable while on a conference call tho ;)

    --
    Smegma.
  8. A/S/L? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    A/S/L?