Advantages of Working in a REAL Office!

Okay, this post (below) is one I sent to a guy who told me to write it. . then never got back to me. Even the blog world is filled with rude people! BUT, now I'm posting it here since I'm not traveling this week. . .

Im off the road, so no road pics - enjoy one of my cat begging!

So I’ve been running my own business (yes, being a comedian is a business), for about 15 years, and every so often someone will comment about how great it must be to work out of my home making calls in my pajamas with my cat on my lap. Yes it is, but with casual Friday – and pretty much every day being casual, plus companies allowing pets at work – those benefits are getting less exclusive to home office workers. In fact those of you working at a “real office” have some real advantages over us. Here’s how I see it. . .

Office workers get. . .
Tech support – I miss tech people. . .not for their great conversation or fashion advice, but because they could fix my dang computer without me having to decipher an Indian accent. If my computer doesn’t work after rebooting and I can’t figure out what the guy in India is saying, my only other option is to smash it against the wall. So far that has never fixed the problem. 

Cheap Therapy – The good news about coworkers is that most of them are fine to chat with, but you don’t really hang together outside work. Soooo, since they’re not involved in your personal life yet they know all the players, they can pinch hit as therapists. My cats are only good listeners if I’m holding a treat.

Food – When I walk in my kitchen, no one has magically left donuts on the counter, no one had a staff meeting with leftover goodies and no one brought in a specialty dish they made at home. Granted some of the office “treats” should be avoided, but sometimes you get to taste truly unique cuisines, and at least once every week or so you could score a free sandwich from a meeting. Which brings us to. . .

Committee meetings –Sure I once sat in a 6-hour, 3-day session to determine the name of the company’s website, just to have the executive director, who didn’t attend the meetings, trash our ideas and name it himself. But overall, committee meetings gave me a chance to learn about areas outside my expertise AND interact with people in other departments (albeit sometimes it was just twirling my finger around my head making that “he’s crazy” motion, behind the back of the person who called the meeting).But a networking and learning experience at least.

Saving money - While I save on gas in my commute, my electric, home gas and water bill have taken up the slack. I can save a little by keeping my place colder, but if your boss made you walk around in a parka, because he wanted to save a buck, I’m sure there’s some federal agency you could report him to and win a big lawsuit.

A great parking space – at my last “day job” I worked in the heart of downtown Washington, DC at Dupont Circle. It was a great area AND my company subsidized the parking. Sure I had to pay a little, but whenever I wanted to go out on the town after hours, I had the building pass code and a space. . .sweet!

So enjoy all the perks you have for working in a “real” office, and now you can feel sorry for those of us left at home . . .sort of.

Jan
Jan McInnis
www.ComedyWritingBlog.como

Advantages of Working in a REAL Office!