Tell me about your commutes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I fill my time to turn it into work. Schedule a conference call. Make people do something or present to you while you drive home.

If she is just returning to the workforce, she might not have the luxury of being the scheduler of the conference calls or delegator of the tasks.

Exactly my thought. Seriously doubt OP reentered workforce as the boss.

And I would hate my boss if he called me up to have me "present" to him like that. Assy behavior.

Everybody does conference calls from the car now and then... from the airport, to the next meeting, etc. Nobody cares if you are sitting at a desk or in the carpool line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I fill my time to turn it into work. Schedule a conference call. Make people do something or present to you while you drive home.

My old boss used to do this when he was late driving in in the AM. Terrible idea.

The issue of concentrating on the road aside, what if you need to make notes of the conversation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sigh. I am trying to fill the time with audio books and calling my mom/friends. But it's still no use, I was so sad this afternoon to be stuck in traffic instead of hanging out with my kids. So incredibly bummed. So hard to handle right now, but I really need this job, esp after several years off.

Get better audiobooks. If you are sad, find something from the humor genre. I love Alexander McCall Smith's books: #1 Ladies Detective Agency, or if you are more nerdy, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series. P.G Wodehouse is also great and kid-friendly. All are widely available from the public libraries.
I personally love mystery, and some audiobooks made me go "darn!" when had to get out of the car at home and could not find out what happened next.

[Anonymous]

I LOVE my job, but hate the commute. 45-60m to/from if I don't have to pick up the kids. 90m if I do (3-4 days/week.) No work from home option.

I listen to a ton of podcasts.

I discovered Waze, which does a much better job with traffic than my GPS.

[Anonymous]

I commute from Alexandria (Fairfax County part) to Georgetown. It's anywhere from 30-50 minutes in the AM depending on what time I leave and sporadic traffic, and about 30-60 minutes in the evening depending on the same. A few minutes can make a huge difference sometimes, which bugs me. Any type of accident or work on the Reagan bridge that I take home snarls traffic and it has been up to 90 minutes before - ugh.

Because of my location, it would actually cost me more to take the metro in and it would add so much time to my commute.. I would have to drive or bus (ugh, hate waiting, especially in the cold) to nearest metro ($5 to park) then actually taking the metro (yellow line transfer to blue line) and THEN walk 9-10 blocks from Foggy Bottom (closest to G'town). Nooo thank you. Total round trip daily would be over $13 and when broken down into days, my monthly parking cost is less. I don't factor in gas, but metro/bus/walking combo would easily add 30-45 minutes on both ends of my commute, so I drive. The extra time I have at home plus avoiding the hassle and inconsistency of Metro is worth the extra cost in gas to me.

I find it incredulous that Metro wants to RAISE fares for such terrible and inconsistent rush hour service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I fill my time to turn it into work. Schedule a conference call. Make people do something or present to you while you drive home.

If she is just returning to the workforce, she might not have the luxury of being the scheduler of the conference calls or delegator of the tasks.

Exactly my thought. Seriously doubt OP reentered workforce as the boss.

And I would hate my boss if he called me up to have me "present" to him like that. Assy behavior.

Everybody does conference calls from the car now and then... from the airport, to the next meeting, etc. Nobody cares if you are sitting at a desk or in the carpool line.

It's not whether its acceptable to the other people on the call... if it's a good idea from a road safety perspective. It's distracted driving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I fill my time to turn it into work. Schedule a conference call. Make people do something or present to you while you drive home.

If she is just returning to the workforce, she might not have the luxury of being the scheduler of the conference calls or delegator of the tasks.

Exactly my thought. Seriously doubt OP reentered workforce as the boss.

And I would hate my boss if he called me up to have me "present" to him like that. Assy behavior.

Everybody does conference calls from the car now and then... from the airport, to the next meeting, etc. Nobody cares if you are sitting at a desk or in the carpool line.

It's not whether its acceptable to the other people on the call... if it's a good idea from a road safety perspective. It's distracted driving.

I've been on conference calls where one person was driving and it always sounds like they are in an f'ing wind tunnel. The white noise in the background the ENTIRE CALL is so distracting and annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been on conference calls where one person was driving and it always sounds like they are in an f'ing wind tunnel. The white noise in the background the ENTIRE CALL is so distracting and annoying.

Maybe they were driving a motorcycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been on conference calls where one person was driving and it always sounds like they are in an f'ing wind tunnel. The white noise in the background the ENTIRE CALL is so distracting and annoying.

Maybe they were driving a motorcycle.

Nope, it's the same person on a weekly call every few weeks.. they drive a car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I fill my time to turn it into work. Schedule a conference call. Make people do something or present to you while you drive home.

If she is just returning to the workforce, she might not have the luxury of being the scheduler of the conference calls or delegator of the tasks.

Exactly my thought. Seriously doubt OP reentered workforce as the boss.

And I would hate my boss if he called me up to have me "present" to him like that. Assy behavior.

Everybody does conference calls from the car now and then... from the airport, to the next meeting, etc. Nobody cares if you are sitting at a desk or in the carpool line.

Uhh no, that sounds irresponsible, especially if you are driving.

[Anonymous]

An hour each way between driving, parking, Metro, and walking. And I am dragging a 3 year old with me both ways.

It's super fun. (sarcasm font)

[Anonymous]

I have a 7 mile reverse commute ob back roads: vienna to Reston. I find that "Alice's Restaraunt" is longer than my commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If there was no traffic, I could get to my office downtown from my home in 10 minutes. IN traffic, it takes anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. It sucks but unless you are moving closer in to a point where you will actually walk still plan to have to make some kind of commute.

+1

Just about everyone I know in DC-proper and close-in is still spending 30-60 mins. commuting each way.

[Anonymous]

50 mins door to door taking the metro. Will be requesting to telework one day per week in another six months. I plan to work an extra hour or two on the telework day and spread that out over the week to soften the impact of the commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If there was no traffic, I could get to my office downtown from my home in 10 minutes. IN traffic, it takes anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. It sucks but unless you are moving closer in to a point where you will actually walk still plan to have to make some kind of commute.

+1

Just about everyone I know in DC-proper and close-in is still spending 30-60 mins. commuting each way.

Yep. I live 3 miles from work and regardless of whether I drive or Metro, it's often up to 30 minutes due to pure congestion. Off-rush hour, it takes less than 10 minutes. I can't get myself out of the door earlier, but I'm sure it would help! Just the nature of the beast around here.