Comments on: Oh No She Didn’t! A Small Rant For People Who Don’t Get It

By: Sharon

Sharon — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 15:08:10 +0000

I enjoy working at home so much that when it’s time to “get a real job” I’ll probably continue to be self-employed. Dh had a great opportunity during college summers working on software. Guess what? He gave it up. He tried “working at home” during college summers. His mom expected him to run errands, cook dinner, clean, etc. all while his unemployed brother sit and watched. He got so frustrated he gave up the job because as a college student he still wasn’t in the mind frame to tell his family to shove it. Basically, the software was cutting edge for the industry and the time period, and the end result would have most likely been lucrative. Unfortunately, his family didn’t respect his personal space and he didn’t know how to navigate unreasonable demands when he was “at home all day doing nothing.”

So, yes, it’s unfortunate how single-minded people can be when it comes to not recognizing working at home as real actual work.

By: At Home All Day | LoriCamper.Com Blog

At Home All Day | LoriCamper.Com Blog — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 05:32:21 +0000

[...] Here’s a post for anyone that has worked from home. I did it for several years and heard many times, "Why can’t you do it? You’re at home all day." [...]

By: Lori

Lori — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 04:41:50 +0000

You got it! I used to work from home. I understand completely. I got tired of hearing, “Why can’t you do it? You’re at home all day” as if ‘at home’ translated to ‘eating BonBons and watch soap operas.’

By: Victoria

Victoria — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:54:28 +0000

I loved this rant, Deb. I’ve also linked it on my blog -and also went off on my own tangent (which happens regularly at the “Sarcasm Cafe”).
Feel free to visit my Mojito-inspired tale: http://sarcasmcafe.multiply.com/journal/item/91?mark_read=sarcasmcafe:journal:91

Best,
~v.v.

By: AnitaK

AnitaK — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:43:17 +0000

The big difference between your “average” employee that spends time doing eprsonal stuff at work, goes on food runs and chats at the water cooler, and the “freelancer” is that the “cubicle dweller” gets paid for all the extraneous activities no matter their productivity, and the “work at homer” gets paid based on their productivity. For a entrepreneur, what you invest makes a big difference. I am sure to let people know that I am busy. My husband sure knows, he’s stopped expecting dinner to be ready when he gets home…we still cook together just like when we both worked outside the house.

By: Kimberley

Kimberley — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:22:12 +0000

I often find myself working late into the night. If I am close to a solution, I keep working without even noticing the time. Come 5:00 pm, out of the home office workers are out the door. Often they slack off at 4:00 pm. I know for a fact that most out of the home office workers still a great deal of time from their employers. I can count the number that I know spend half the day wasting time on the internet, blogging and just surfing.

I keep thinking that it would be great to find a job out of the home so I won’t work so hard all the time.

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:58:28 +0000

When I first read the post, I was in total agreement – FRY THEM ALL!

As I read through the comments I reflected more on my own life. It’s no wonder people are jealous of those of us who work at home. We really do have it made. There is very little about our jobs that we can’t stop for five minutes to watch the kids put on their play or have a meal with the family or just go outside and throw the ball around.

Many of us that right (and have a lap top) also have the ability to take the office with us where ever we go. We can write while we take our parents to the doctor’s office – or while we wait for the kids at their practice.

I do think it takes a special breed to work at home – like Deb said in the post. We are self-motivators and self-employed (just like those that own a business that is based outside the home). And most of the time we are the great multi-taskers – able to balance writing, laundry and lunch all at the same time.

Don’t get mad at the people who can’t relate (or who are so jealous that they want to make you feel guilty). Just smile at the knowledge that you do sit around all day doing the things that you love surrounded by the people and the atmosphere that you love – and you get paid to do it!

By: Anjeeta

Anjeeta — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 10:10:13 +0000

Well said Deb, I work from home as well and get comments like this all the time especially from my husband who cant understand why I cant get a ‘real’ job with the all important benefits et al. I don’t have children so apparently I don’t have a justification to work from home. It doesn’t matter that I like working for myself as I have always run my own business even when I lived in my home country and have no interest in working for anybody else.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:24:35 +0000

Ah, Deb, I read this post this morning and chuckled because I go through the same thing with both my live-in boyfriend and family. On my mom’s days off, she’ll call and ask if I want to go to an art fair, lunch, or a museum during the day – once a month, I will take her up on her offer, but that means I’m working late that night or all weekend to make up for that missed day.

Today, my boyfriend came home and mentioned he went out to lunch with his coworkers and they were asking about me. The girls said it must be nice that I’m home all day because I can do the cooking and his laundry and the bills and what not. That’s not true however, and he asked me tonight,after explaining his conversation, why I didn’t do those things (we split everything evenly now). Instead of being a mature adult, I walked into the other room and didn’t talk to him for a few hours, but I was pretty upset. I came back and told him that I could do all those things during the day, but if that’s the case, not to expect me to be able to pay any bills; otherwise, he could hire a maid.

He shut up after that.

By: Robin Marie

Robin Marie — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 03:02:59 +0000

Annoyed Writer – I love your tactic. Very smoooth. It cracked me up.