Anonymous wrote:Will say it again, will say it once. The real answer is finding new locations. What about Aspen Hill? What about the local library? What about a parked car? What about Home Depot? What about Wegners/Wegmans/Redners? In the WFH scene, what matters is the W and the F. Anywhere can he H. Please enjoy!

Most people need real internet (not hot spot or public wifi) and a real desk setup with monitors etc. Working from your car is not that. Most people need someplace private to take calls as well, so library and shops are out.

Also if you are the PP who suggested working from a furniture store ... there's something wrong with you, that's incredibly rude.

Let’s switch places op.you go smile at my coworkers while I work from bed

A mix at best. If you work alone all the time, and it's "best," then I guarantee you aren't doing anything of importance or particular value.

Will say it again, will say it once. The real answer is finding new locations. What about Aspen Hill? What about the local library? What about a parked car? What about Home Depot? What about Wegners/Wegmans/Redners? In the WFH scene, what matters is the W and the F. Anywhere can he H. Please enjoy!

Agree with poster above. Who, when people express their trouble with something, respond first "I don’t feel sorry for you"?

OP, ignore the trolls. Youre being brave in putting your feelings into words and asking for advice.

I second what people have said about ways to get social time and add that online midday classes can be fun, too. I’m sure there are lots of things like this for retired people. I took a class through a Jewish learning network that met during the work day. It’s fun to expand your mind and knowledge in a new way and interact with different people.

Anonymous wrote:I don't get this at all. I work so much better alone.

Same. OP sounds like she has a dream job. But for introverts!

If you feel really lonely (who could blame you?) just keep in mind that you need a job like this for now since your children are still young.

When they get older you can always find another job where you are required to work outside of the house.

Creating pop-up office spaces can be a strategy to employ. Why not work on a neighbor's front porch, outside the Giant, on a bus or the Metro (riding the Red, Green or Blue lines to the end, then switching directions), in furniture store (finding a comfy armchair)?, etc etc etc. The possibilities are endless. You, OP, YOU are the problem, YOU Are the obstacle, YOU are the barrier and your incessant woe is me whining (and dining?) is putting a lot of people off. Get up, get out there and create a rolling series of pop-up office spaces you will no longer, as YOU put it, be working from hell (WFH).

Volunteering somewhere creates real relationships because you are doing work tasks with others toward a goal. You engage in a way that is more fulfilling than just saying hi or chatting. I think it's possible to create relationship in other ways (some hobbies and sports teams) but when somebody says they're lonely, I know they don't volunteer. And relatedly, more men are lonely than women because men do less volunteering.

Do you guys not have friends/neighbors/kids/hobbies?!

Anonymous wrote:I don’t feel sorry for you. I wish I still had full time telework and flexibility. But thanks to Trump now I don’t. I was never lonely. My colleagues and I would still talk and I would play you tube ambiance videos in the background. I didn’t have so many commuting costs like I have now. And stress. And I was more productive then, rather than having to haul my ass 1.5 hours each morning and evening to get to and from home and miss out on my kids activities.

PP, me too. I hate it!

I don’t feel sorry for you. I wish I still had full time telework and flexibility. But thanks to Trump now I don’t. I was never lonely. My colleagues and I would still talk and I would play you tube ambiance videos in the background. I didn’t have so many commuting costs like I have now. And stress. And I was more productive then, rather than having to haul my ass 1.5 hours each morning and evening to get to and from home and miss out on my kids activities.

Anonymous wrote:I have some coworkers who go to coworking spaces for this reason--it's the same people who use them most of the time, so you start being able to have water cooler conversations with them.

Then they should socialize outside of work instead of cornering people at work for forced conversation. We all know these people it's obnoxious.

I have some coworkers who go to coworking spaces for this reason--it's the same people who use them most of the time, so you start being able to have water cooler conversations with them.