365 Challenge, Day 11: When You Work From Home, Your Co-Workers Suck

The picture before you is of my workstation. I spend 8(ish) hour a day, 5(ish) days a week working at or around this desk. In my apartment. Alone. Isolated.

I have been with my current employer for almost five years. My 5th anniversary would be on October 31, but I will not be around that long. My language training starts on September 7th, and that in itself will be a full-time job.

During that almost five years of loyalty I have held many titles within the organization. In June of 2009 I accepted an offer to join the company's Quality Assurance team. It was this decision that proved to be my greatest contribution later when TJ joined the Foreign Service. Of all the positions that I have held (and wanted to hold), this is the only one that would have allowed me to easily continue working. As previously discussed, this was important not only because it allowed us to continue being a dual-income household, but because it was the only way to ensure that we both had uninterrupted health coverage.

I should be thankful. My team consists of myself and five others. I am the only one that has been granted the privilege of working from home, and this is only because of my unique situation. The offer to allow me to work from home was contingent upon my continuing to make a positive contribution to the team and understanding that the offer was valid only so long as I remained in the country.

Great. No problem.

Only, I didn't realize how much I needed human interaction. I've always been a bit of an introvert. I like my alone time. I thought working from home would be great. But it's not. I know some of my peers would like to work from home, but if the opportunity is ever presented, I truly think they should give it a trial run before making that decision.

I miss the sage advice Glinda would often provide (solicited or not). I miss walking to the cafeteria with Shalinn and Shauna in the morning...always buying that nasty breakfast burrito and vowing never to do it again. I miss not understanding a word that Josh and Ron ever said. I miss the way Nikki always laughed at everything she said. I miss the non-work related chats with the boss-lady, Senaida. I miss being able to wander off for a few minutes and chit chat with familiar faces throughout the building.

No matter how much you love yourself, you kinda suck when you're the only person around to talk to.