I have been working from home for almost two years now. When the COVID pandemic started in March 2021, I worked for a small software company in Mississauga. The Ontario government closed schools, and we were trapped in the house with the kids..They had their classes on Zoom.. It was frustrating because there was always something wrong with the Zoom links. .. Every hour when children had recess, they made so much noise as if their entire class was in our house. They especially enjoyed distracting us during our work meetings. I was trying to find a quiet place in the house where I could focus. First, I tried to work in the basement, but it was freezing there. Then I tried to work in the bedroom, but I was falling asleep there. Finally, I settled in the family room near a big window overlooking our quiet street. That made me feel somewhat connected to the outside world. At some point, I joined online cardio sculpt classes and took them almost daily. This workout helped me stay in shape and not get depressed. This went on for about a year .. I knew we were not in the worst situation because we could work from home, and some people could not. Still, it was frustrating. I joined a Facebook group called “Kids belong to school”. There were many petitions and a lot of pressure on the government until the schools finally opened. Soon businesses reopened offices. By that time I already changed jobs, and my new office was in downtown Toronto. Those who live at the outskirts of GTA can imagine what it’s like to commute to downtown. During the rush hour, the commute can take up to 1.5hrs. Parking is never free and is not cheap. If you find a cheap parking, prepare to walk 10-15 minutes to your destination. The public transit is more suitable for people who can live on a schedule and don’t worry about sneezes and coughs in the crowd around them. (Thanks to COVID, I now get anxious anytime i hear someone sneeze or cough nearby)
I figured that commuting to downtown was not my thing so I became a 100% remote employee. Although, I do go to the office once in a while. Every trip to the office takes half a day planning and preparation. First, I have to decide what to wear. That’s always an issue because there is always nothing to wear. Obviously, none of my colleagues would ever remember what I was wearing when I came to the office three months ago, but I still need to wear something “new”, just for my own sake! I am so used to wearing leggings and hoodies (which is sort of my stay-at-home uniform) that putting on jeans or a skirt, or a dress is literally a torture.
Then, I need to put on the makeup and do my hair and that can take another 30-45 min depending on how creative I feel at the moment. Finally, I need to reserve parking on a parking app.. Finding parking in downtown has always been a pain, especially when I had to search for parking while driving on busy streets and watching out for pedestrians constantly emerging from nowhere and crossing intersections right in front of my nose. So this parking app called Spot Hero has really been a blessing! I can reserve a spot on the app just before my trip. It costs almost nothing, and I can rest assured the spot will be waiting for me by the time I arrive. I don’t even need to put a parking ticket in my car because my license plate is stored in the app and the parking owner will know it. The only problem with these reserved parking spots is that sometimes they are really hard to find (even though the app provides really good directions). When I used the app for the first time, I had to pull into a very narrow driveway next to a building, drive all the way to the back of the building, then drive to another lot that was adjacent to the back of the building. As you can imagine, I missed that narrow driveway, and since it was on a one-way street, I had to make a huge circle to come back and finally get to my parking spot. Well, next time, I chose a different parking lot and it was much easier to find.
One day i had to go to a walk-in dermatology clinic very early in the morning just before going to the office. The average wait time for a dermatologist appointment in Ontario is 3-6 months so this clinic is for people who can’t wait that long. But you need to get there really early in the morning because they see patients on a first come first served basis from 8 till 11am. I got there at 4:30am because I just couldn’t sleep that night and was the first in the line.. The person after me was a man who arrived around 6am. He drove 4 hours straight from North Bay because apparently a wait time for a dermatologist in North Bay is 1.5 years…
I took a small suitcase and packed a camping chair and a change of clothes. The clinic opens the doors only at 7am, and I just didn’t want to stand on my feet on the street for two hours. That’s what the chair was for.
I sat in the camping chair outside the clinic in the early morning hours and was hoping I wouldn’t be taken for a homeless person. A few passersby walked by and didn’t even look in my direction. Seems like camping in downtown Toronto is a usual thing. Another usual thing is bike races at 5-6am. I saw a lot of cyclists who passed by.
I finished my appointment around 9am and was able to get to the office around 9:40. That’s how long it takes to get from one end of the downtown (Distillery District) to another (Yonge and Bloor) That was enough time for me to get changed and get ready for the meeting with my boss at 10am. However, my boss didn’t show up at 10am. The night before the company had a big party for the execs and my boss had a good time at that party. He was still sleeping at the hotel when I was ready to meet him at 10am. He did show up 45 min later with a bad headache but had to leave in 20 min to catch his flight back to New York. Although this was my very first in-person encounter with my boss, I was not upset as I know he is a very nice person just not very experienced in partying and consuming strong alcohol drinks.
My other trips to the office were not very remarkable, however the office itself is very entertaining. I can’t imagine how people work in this office since it looks like a museum. More than a hundred years ago this building also referred to as Masonic Temple, open its doors to house a group of Mason lodges and chapters.
In 1950-90s this building had been the home of the Concert Hall that featured appearances of many famous performers including Frank Sinatra, Led Zeppelin, Iggy Pop, Tina Turner and others.
In 2013 our company bought this building for 12.5 mln and got it renovated for the office space. The concert venue still exists and our company uses it to host its own events and also rents it out for musical events of all kind.
There is a famous Red Room where Masons used to gather. The room has authentic 100 year old furniture and employees are allowed to sit in these thrones.
There is a spiral slide installed between two floors, glass wall conference rooms, a white room with walls fully used as white boards (this used to be the marketing department room during pre-Covid times), a room with a glass floor that has a spot that marks the centre of the building, a unique hundred year old elevator, a gym, a virtual golf simulator and many other cool things.
So I wonder how people actually work in this office and don’t get distracted, especially with so many meetings during the work day.
In fact, this is my first job where I have to be in so many meetings in one day. Sometimes meetings start at 9am and end at 5pm, with a short break for lunch. This can be really exhausting. Especially since every meeting has a different topic and my brain needs to switch from one subject to another every half hour. Also not all of my coworkers have good communication skills. Some people tend to talk a lot, going into a lot of details and since my brain is more wired to digest information visually, I sometimes zone out and lose the thread of a conversation. But I am now in that age and position that I don’t feel shy to ask for clarification and the young people who work with me are all very nice and don’t mind to clarify and repeat things to me.
I do try to encourage them to use visuals in presentations as much as possible. I find that my colleagues who are of my age and generation are all visual learners like me, while the younger staff are really good at listening, making notes, and logical thinking. Well, especially the ops people, not the marketing folks.
I now have 5 of such technical marketing ops people reporting to me and they are all just too smart, hardworking and dedicated . I try to spend enough time with each person and make everyone feel important and valued. I think that’s the most important quality of a good team lead. I also have to check their work, help them solve their problems, give them advice, and ensure they make progress in their work. As you can imagine, all I do now is talking to people (not just my team but also other teams and team leads). I think the main thing I learnt in this job is leadership skills. Since I need to be able to manage other people, I almost constantly have to demonstrate confidence, composure, and contentment. And as a result I learnt to be relaxed in this job… On the other hand I miss doing hands-on work, which is one of the reasons I decided to create this site.
So is working from home good or bad? Well, it’s kind of a love-hate relationship. On one hand, I feel safe and comfortable. If I ever get fired, I won’t have to make a shameful exit through the office back door. I will just get unplugged from the corporate network. Another thing I like about WFH is being seen just as a team member and nothing extra. When I worked in the office people used to notice details about my looks (what i wear, my figure, the length of my legs etc) Remote staff are just talking heads and nobody cares about the rest parts of their bodies.
On the other hand being stuck in the house can be really depressing and getting out is always very exciting. When I get out, I feel motivated to look great. And when I meet people in person, I feel like I have been living out in the woods and it’s my first time in the town.
According to some research, people who WFH can be very productive but also very unhappy. The challenge is setting boundaries between the home and the job. Switching from a work routine into a home routine and vice versa. Sometimes I can stay up really late at night to finish a presentation and then find it very hard to get up in the morning especially if my meetings don’t start at 9am.