Hey OP, I completely understand. I also wfh and am accountable from my home office throughout the day. I could only imagine answering a work call at Starbucks! There's no way that would go over well.

As isolated as I feel, I still make sure I find time to work out at lunch and use some of my flexibility to throw laundry in or unload the dishwasher. Being home when my kids get on and off the bus is invaluable, as is being here to get my kids to practice and other activities in time.

I figure everybody would like to change something about their job. WFH is a love/hate relationship. I have to put up with isolation and self-structure in order to have flexibility and no commute. In the end, it's worth it.

Anonymous wrote:Hi, this is OP. Thanks all for your input. I *do* need to get better at both creating a schedule for myself and advocating for myself...even just little things like taking a lunch every day. I did take a shower and get dressed today, so that's a start!

And before lunch! You go girl.

Hi, this is OP. Thanks all for your input. I *do* need to get better at both creating a schedule for myself and advocating for myself...even just little things like taking a lunch every day. I did take a shower and get dressed today, so that's a start!

Anonymous wrote:I find it odd with the traffic in the DC area that there are that many jobs that allow you work from home every single day.

OP - are you allowed to start earlier so you can take a full hour for lunch, or finish the day earlier?

I never knew Outlook had a messenger system. That being said, if someone gets a ton of e-mail, it would be hard to prove whether someone is really working or not. Certain tasks/e-mails take priority, and if one doesn't reply in 5 minutes, it shouldn't mean someone isn't working.

Why do you find it odd? There are hundreds of thousands of people trying to get into DC and surrounding areas every day - many for work, school field trips, tourists, or people just driving around. A lot of companies and the fed government encourage telework but most people I know who telework don't do so 100%. So on any given day many are going to still be coming in. Also I do know some who telework 100% but still need to go in DC for meetings, events, conferences, briefings, etc.

We don't use Outlook and there's no messaging system at my WFH job. I've been WFH for a long time. A few years ago one of my coworkers tried to get us all on a messaging system, and it drove me nuts. Luckily, there was no support for it from the boss.

I bust my ass at work, and I have to finish projects on time. It's not an easy job, but at least I have some say in how I structure my day. If I also had to be chained to my desk because because I had to be available at a moment's notice for eight hours straight, M-F, I'd lose my mind.

That's your problem, OP - having to be chained to your desk. When my colleague was campaigning for our group to be on instant messenger, complete with "idle" and "active" status updates, some of us joked that we would need to enable custom updates like "taking a shit" and "walking to the fridge". If your manager and your group need to be in your business so much that being away from your desk for a few minutes is a concern, you are going to be miserable.